________________________________________________
_ The particulars which the princess had learned in regard to
Varenka's past and her relations with Madame Stahl were as
follows:
Madame Stahl, of whom some people said that she had worried her
husband out of his life, while others said it was he who had made
her wretched by his immoral behavior, had always been a woman of
weak health and enthusiastic temperament. When, after her
separation from her husband, she gave birth to her only child,
the child had died almost immediately, and the family of Madame
Stahl, knowing her sensibility, and fearing the news would kill
her, had substituted another child, a baby born the same night
and in the same house in Petersburg, the daughter of the chief
cook of the Imperial Household. This was Varenka. Madame Stahl
learned later on that Varenka was not her own child, but she went
on bringing her up, especially as very soon afterwards Varenka
had not a relation of her own living. Madame Stahl had now been
living more than ten years continuously abroad, in the south,
never leaving her couch. And some people said that Madame Stahl
had made her social position as a philanthropic, highly religious
woman; other people said she really was at heart the highly
ethical being, living for nothing but the good of her
fellow-creatures, which she represented herself to be. No one
knew what her faith was--Catholic, Protestant, or Orthodox. But
one fact was indubitable--she was in amicable relations with the
highest dignitaries of all the churches and sects.
Varenka lived with her all the while abroad, and every one who
knew Madame Stahl knew and liked Mademoiselle Varenka, as every
one called her.
Having learned all these facts, the princess found nothing to
object to in her daughter's intimacy with Varenka, more
especially as V.arenka's breeding and education were of the
best--she spoke French and English extremely well--and what was
of the most weight, brought a message from Madame Stahl
expressing her regret that she was prevented by her ill-health
from making the acquaintance of the princess.
After getting to know Varenka, Kitty became more and more
fascinated by her friend, and every day she discovered new
virtues in her.
The princess, hearing that Varenka had a good voice, asked her to
come and sing to them in the evening.
"Kitty plays, and we have a piano, not a good one, it's true, but
you will give us so much pleasure?" said the princess with her
affected smile, which Kitty disliked particularly just then,
because she noticed that Varenka had no inclination to sing.
Varenka came, however, in the evening and brought a roll of music
with her. The princess had invited Marya Yevgenyevna and her
daughter and the colonel.
Varenka seemed quite unaffected by there being persons present
she did not know, and she went directly to the piano. She could
not accompany herself, but she could sing music at sight very
well. Kitty, who played well, accompanied her.
"You have an extraordinary talent," the princess said to her
after Varenka had sung the first song extremely well.
Marya Yevgenyevna and her daughter expressed their thanks and
admiration.
"Look," said the colonel, looking out of the window, "what an
audience has collected to listen to you." There actually was
quite a considerable crowd under the windows.
"I am very glad it gives you pleasure," Varenka answered simply.
Kitty looked with pride at her friend. She was enchanted by her
talent, and her voice and her face, but most of all by her
manner, by the way Varenka obviously thought nothing of her
singing and was quite unmoved by their praises. She seemed only
to be asking: "Am I to sing again, or is that enough?"
"If it had been I," thought Kitty, "how proud I should have been,
How delighted I should have been to see that crowd under the
windows) But she's utterly unmoved by it. Her only motive is to
avoid refusing and to please mamma. What is there in her? What is
it gives her the power to look down on everything, to be calm
independently of everything? How I should like to know it and to
learn it of her!" thought Kitty, gazing into her serene face. The
princess asked Varenka to sing again, and Varenka sang another
song, also smoothly, distinctly, and well, standing erect at the
piano and beating time on it with her thin, dark-skinned hand.
The next song in the book was an Italian one. Kitty played the
opening bars, and looked round at Varenka.
"Let's skip that," said Varenka, flushing a little. Kitty let her
eyes rest on Varenka's face, with a look of dismay and inquiry.
"Very well, the next one," she said hurriedly, turning over the
pages, and at once feeling that there was something connected
with the song.
"No," answered Varenka with a smile, laying her hand on the
music, "no, let's have that one." And she sang it just as
quietly, as coolly, and as well as the others.
When she had finished, they all thanked her again, and went off
to tea. Kitty and Varenka went out into the little garden that
adjoined the house.
"Am I right, that you have some reminiscences connected with that
songs" said Kitty. "Don't tell me," she added hastily, "only say
if I'm right."
"No, why not? I'll tell you simply," said Varenka, and, without
waiting for a reply, she went on: "Yes, it brings up memories,
once painful ones. I cared for some one once, and I used to sing
him that song."
Kitty with big, wide-open eyes gazed silently, sympathetically at
Varenka.
"I cared for him, and he cared for me; but his mother did not
wish it, and he married another girl. He's living now not far
from us, and I see him sometimes. You didn't think I had a
love-story too," she said, and there was a faint gleam in her
handsome face of that fire which Kitty felt must once have glowed
all over her.
"I didn't think so? Why, if I were a man, I could never care for
any one else after knowing you. Only I can't understand how he
could, to please his mother, forget you and make you unhappy; he
had no heart."
"Oh, no, he's a very good man, and I'm not unhappy; quite the
contrary, I'm very happy. Well, so we shan't be singing any more
now," she added, turning towards the house.
"How good you are! how good you are!" cried Kitty, and stopping
her, she kissed her. "If I could only be even a little like you!"
"Why should you be like any one? You're nice as you are," said
Varenka, smiling her gentle, weary smile.
"No, I'm not nice at all. Come, tell me ...Stop a minute,
let's sit down," said Kitty, making her sit down again beside
her. "Tell me, isn't it humiliating to think that a man has
disdained your love, that he hasn't cared for it? . . ."
"But he didn't disdain it; I believe he cared for me, but he was
a dutiful son . . ."
"Yes, but if it hadn't been on account of his mother, if it had
been his own doing? . . ." said Kitty, feeling she was giving
away her secret, and that her face, burning with the flush of
shame, had betrayed her already.
"In that case he would have done wrong, and I should not have
regretted him," answered Varenka, evidently realizing that they
were now talking not of her, but of Kitty.
"But the humiliation," said Kitty, "the humiliation one can never
forget, can never forget," she said, remembering her look at the
last ball during the pause in the music.
"Where is the humiliation? Why, you did nothing wrong?"
"Worse than wrong--shameful."
Varenka shook her head and laid her hand on Kitty's hand.
"Why, what is there shameful?" she said. "You didn't tell a man,
who didn't care for you, that you loved him, did you?"
"Of course not, I never said a word, but he knew it. No, no,
there are looks, there are ways; I can't forget it, if I live a
hundred years."
"Why so? I don't understand. The whole point is whether you love
him now or not," said Varenka, who called everything by its name.
"I hate him; I can't forgive myself."
"Why, what for?"
"The shame, the humiliation!"
"Oh! if every one were as sensitive as you are!" said Varenka.
"There isn't a girl who hasn't been through the same. And it's
all so unimportant."
"Why, what is important?" said Kitty, looking into her face with
inquisitive wonder.
"Oh, there's so much that's important," said Varenka, smiling.
"Why, what?"
"Oh, so much that's more important," answered Varenka, not
knowing what to say. But at that instant they heard the
princess's voice from the window. "Kitty, it's cold! Either get a
shawl, or come indoors."
"It really is time to go in!" said Varenka, getting up. "I have
to go on to Madame Berthe's; she asked me to."
Kitty held her by the hand, and with passionate curiosity and
entreaty her eyes asked her: "What is it, what is this of such
importance that gives you such tranquillity? You know, tell me!"
But Varenka did not even know what Kitty's eyes were asking her.
She merely thought that she had to go to see Madame Berthe too
that evening, and to make haste home in time for maman's tea at
twelve o'clock. She went indoors, collected her music, and saying
good-bye to every one, was about to go.
"Allow me to see you home," said the colonel.
"Yes, how can you go alone at night like this?" chimed in the
princess. "Anyway, I'll send Parasha."
Kitty saw that Varenka could hardly restrain a smile at the idea
that she needed an escort.
"No, I always go about alone and nothing ever happens to me," she
said, taking her hat. And kissing Kitty once more, without saying
what was important, she stepped out courageously with the music
under her arm and vanished into the twilight of the summer night,
bearing away with her her secret of what was important and what
gave her the calm and dignity so much to be envied. _
Read next: Part Two: Chapter 33
Read previous: Part Two: Chapter 31
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