Anna Karenina - Part 5

When Levin went upstairs, his wife was sitting near the new

silver samovar behind the new tea service, and, having settled

old Agafea Mihalovna at a little table with a full cup of tea,

was reading a letter from Dolly, with whom they were in continual

and frequent correspondence.

"You see, your good lady's settled me here, told me to sit a bit

with her," said Agafea Mihalovna, smiling affectionately at

Kitty.

In these words of Agafea Mihalovna, Levin read the final act of

the drama which had been enacted of late between her and Kitty.

He saw that, in spite of Agafea Mihalovna's feelings being hurt

by a new mistress taking the reins of government out of her

hands, Kitty had yet conquered her and made her love her.

"Here, I opened your letter too," said Kitty, handing him an

illiterate letter. "It's from that woman, I think, your

brother's..." she said. "I did not read it through. This is

from my people and from Dolly. Fancy! Dolly took Tanya and

Grisha to a children's ball at the Sarmatskys': Tanya was a

French marquise."

But Levin did not hear her. Flushing, he took the letter from

Marya Nikolaevna, his brother's former mistress, and began to

read it. This was the second letter he had received from Marya

Nikolaevna. In the first letter, Marya Nikolaevna wrote that his

brother had sent her away for no fault of hers, and, with

touching simplicity, added that though she was in want again, she

asked for nothing, and wished for nothing, but was only tormented

by the thought that Nikolay Dmitrievitch would come to grief

without her, owing to the weak state of his health, and begged

his brother to look after him. Now she wrote quite differently.

She had found Nikolay Dmitrievitch, had again made it up with him

in Moscow, and had moved with him to a provincial town, where he

had received a post in the government service. But that he had

quarreled with the head official, and was on his way back to

Moscow, only he had been taken so ill on the road that it was

doubtful if he would ever leave his bed again, she wrote. "It's

always of you he has talked, and, besides, he has no more money

left."

"Read this; Dolly writes about you," Kitty was beginning, with a

smile; but she stopped suddenly, noticing the changed expression

on her husband's face.

"What is it? What's the matter?"

"She writes to me that Nikolay, my brother, is at death's door.

I shall go to him."