Emma Watson Pussy
Books:
Anna Karenina
War And Peace
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were heard
again. Two snipe, playing and chasing one another, and only
whistling, not crying, flew straight at the very heads of the
sportsmen. There was the report of four shots, and like swallows
the snipe turned swift somersaults in the air and vanished from
sight.
The stand-shooting was capital. Stepan Arkadyevitch shot two
more birds and Levin two, of which one was not found. It began
to get dark. Venus, bright and silvery, shone with her soft
light low down in the west behind the birch trees, and high up in
the east twinkled the red lights of Arcturus. Over his head
Levin made out the stars of the Great Bear and lost them again.
The snipe had ceased flying; but Levin resolved to stay a little
longer, till Venus, which he saw below a branch of birch, should
be above it, and the stars of the Great Bear should be perfectly
plain. Venus had risen above the branch, and the ear of the
Great Bear with its shaft was now all plainly visible against the
dark blue sky, yet still he waited.
"Isnt it time to go home?" said Stepan Arkadyevitch.
It was quite still now in the copse, and not a bird was stirring.
"Lets stay a little while," answered Levin.
"As you like."
They were standing now about fifteen paces from one another.
"Stiva!" said Levin unexpectedly; "how is it you dont tell me
whether your sister-in-laws married yet, or when shes going to
be?"
Levin felt so resolute and serene that no answer, he fancied,
could affect him. But he had never dreamed of what Stepan
Arkadyevitch replied.
"Shes never thought of being married, and isnt thinking of it;
but shes very ill, and the doctors have sent her abroad.
Theyre positively afraid she may not live."
"What!" cried Levin. "Very ill? What is wrong with her? How
has she...?"
While they were saying this, Laska, with ears pricked up, was
looking upwards at the sky, and reproachfully at them.
"They have chosen a time to talk," she was thinking. "Its on
the wing.... Here it is, yes, it is. Theyll miss it," thought
Laska.
But at that very instant both suddenly heard a shrill whistle
which, as it were, smote on their ears, and both suddenly seized
their guns and two flashes gleamed, and two gangs sounded at the
very same instant. The snipe flying high above instantly folded
its wings and fell into a thicket, bending down the delicate
shoots.
"Splendid! Together!" cried Levin, and he ran with Laska into the
thicket to look for the snipe.
"Oh, yes, what was it that was unpleasant?" he wondered. "Yes,
Kittys ill.... Well, it cant be helped; Im very sorry," he
thought.
"Shes found it! Isnt she a clever thing?" he said, taking the
warm bird from Laskas mouth and packing it into the almost full
game bag. "Ive got it, Stiva!" he shouted.
Chapter 16
On the way home Levin asked all details of Kittys illness and
the Shtcherbatskys plans, and though he would have been ashamed
to admit it, he was pleased at what he heard. He was pleased
that there was still hope, and still more pleased that she should
be suffering who had made him suffer so much. But when Stepan
Arkadyevitch began to speak of the causes of Kittys illness, and
mentioned Vronskys name, Levin cut him short.
"I have no right whatever to know family matters, and, to tell
the truth, no interest in them either."
Stepan Arkadyevitch smiled hardly perceptibly, catching the
instantaneous change he knew so well in Levins face, which had
become as gloomy as it had been bright a minute before.
"Have you quite settled about the forest with Ryabinin?" asked
Levin.
"Yes, its settled. The price is magnificent; thirty-eight
thousand. Eight straight away, and the rest in six years. Ive
been bothering about it for ever so long. No one would give
more."
"Then youve as good as given away your forest for nothing," said
Levin gloomily.
"How do you mean for nothing?" said Stepan Arkadyevitch with a
good-humored smile, knowing that nothing would be right in
Levins eyes now.
"Because the forest is worth at least a hundred and fifty roubles
the acre," answered Levin.
"Oh, these farmers!" said Stepan Arkadyevitch playfully. "Your
tone of contempt for us poor townsfolk!... But when it comes to
business, we do it better than anyone. I assure you I have
reckoned it all out," he said, "and the forest is
Anna Karenina page 93 Anna Karenina page 95
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