________________________________________________
_ In spite of Vronsky's apparently frivolous life in society,he was
a man who hated irregularity. In early youth in the Corps of
Pages, he had experienced the humiliation of a refusal, when he
had tried, being in difficulties, to borrow money, and since then
he had never once put himself in the same position again.
In order to keep his affairs in some sort of order, he used about
five times a year (more or less frequently, according to
circumstances) to shut himself up alone and put all his affairs
into definite shape. This he used to call his day of reckoning or
faire la lessive.
On waking up the day after the races, Vronsky put on a white
linen coat, and without shaving or taking his bath, he
distributed about the table moneys, bills, and letters, and set
to work. Petritsky, who knew he was ill-tempered on such
occasions, on waking up and seeing his comrade at the
writing-table, quietly dressed and went out without getting in
his way.
Every man who knows to the minutest details all the complexity of
the conditions surrounding him, cannot help imagining that the
complexity of these conditions, and the difficulty of making them
clear, is something exceptional and personal, peculiar to
himself, and never supposes that others are surrounded by just as
complicated an array of personal affairs as he is. So indeed it
seemed to Vronsky. And not with out inward pride, and not without
reason, he thought that any other man would long ago have been in
difficulties, would have been forced to some dishonorable course,
if he had found himself in such a difficult position. But Vronsky
felt that now especially it was essential for him to clear up and
define his position if he were to avoid getting into
difficulties.
What Vronsky attacked first as being the easiest was his
pecuniary position. Writing out on note-paper in his minute hand
all that he owed, he added up the amount and found that his debts
amounted to seventeen thousand and some odd hundreds, which he
left out for the sake of clearness. Reckoning up his money and
his bank-book, he found that he had left one thousand eight
hundred roubles, and nothing coming in before the New Year.
Reckoning over again his List of debts, Vronsky copied it,
dividing it into three classes. In the first class he put the
debts which he would have to pay at once, or for which he must in
any case have the money ready so that on demand for payment there
could not be a moment's delay in paying. Such debts amounted to
about four thousand: one thousand five hundred for a horse, and
two thousand five hundred as surety for a young comrade,
Venovsky, who had lost that sum to a cardsharper in Vronsky's
presence. Vronsky had wanted to pay the money at the time (he had
that amount then), but Venovsky and Yashvin had insisted that
they would pay and not Vronsky, who had not played. That was so
far well, but Vronsky knew that in this dirty business, though
his only share in it was undertaking by word of mouth to be
surety for Venovsky, it was absolutely necessary for him to have
the two thousand five hundred roubles so as to be able to fling
it at the swindler, and have no more words with him. And so for
this first and most important division he must have four thousand
roubles. The second class--eight thousand roubles--consisted of
less important debts. These were principally accounts owing in
connection with his race-horses, to the purveyor of oats and hay,
the English saddler, and so on. He would have to pay some two
thousand roubles on these debts too, in order to be quite free
from anxiety. The last class of debts--to shops, to hotels, to
his tailor--were such as need not be considered. So that he
needed at least six thousand roubles for current expenses, and he
only had one thousand eight hundred. For a man with one hundred
thousand roubles of revenue, which was what every one fixed as
Vronsky's income, such debts, one would suppose, could hardly be
embarrassing; but the fact was that he was far from having one
hundred thousand. His father's immense property, which alone
yielded a yearly income of two hundred thousand, was left
undivided between the brothers. At the time when the elder
brother, with a mass of debts, married Princess Varya Tchirkova,
the daughter of a Decembrist without any fortune whatever, Alexey
had given up to his elder brother almost the whole income from
his father's estate, reserving for himself only twenty-five
thousand a year from it. Alexey had said at the time to his
brother that that sum would be sufficient for him until he
married, which he probably never would do. And his brother, who
was in command of one of the most expensive regiments, and was
only just married, could not decline the gift. His mother, who
had her own separate property, had allowed ALexey every year
twenty thousand in addition to the twenty-five thousand he had
reserved, and ALexey had spent it all. Of late his mother,
incensed with him on account of his love- affair and his leaving
Moscow, had given up sending him the money. And in consequence of
this, Vronsky, who had been in the habit of Living on the scale
of forty-five thousand a year, having only received twenty
thousand that year, found himself now in difficulties.. To get
out of these difficulties, he could not apply to his mother for
money. Her last letter, which he had received the day before, had
particularly exasperated him by the hints in it that she was
quite ready to help him to succeed in the world and in the army,
but not to lead a life which was a scandal to all good society.
His mother's attempt to buy him stung him to the quick and made
him feel colder than ever to her. But he could not draw back from
the generous word when it was once uttered, even though he felt
now, vaguely foreseeing certain eventuaLities in his intrigue
with Madame Karenina, that this generous word had been spoken
thoughtlessly, and that even though he were not married he might
need all the hundred thousand of income. But it was impossible to
draw back. He had only to recall his brother's wife, to remember
how that sweet, delightful Varya sought, at every convenient
opportunity, to remind him that she remembered his generosity and
appreciated it, to grasp the impossibility of taking back his
gift. It was as impossible as beating a woman, stealing, or
Iying. One thing only could and ought to be done, and Vronsky
determined upon it without an instant's hesitation: to borrow
money from a money-lender, ten thousand roubles, a proceeding
which presented no difficulty, to cut down his expenses
generally, and to sell his race-horses. Resolving on this, he
promptly wrote a note to Rolandak, who had more than once sent to
him with offers to buy horses from him. Then he sent for the
Englishman and the money-lender, and divided what money he had
according to the accounts he intended to pay. Having finished
this business, he wrote a cold and cutting answer to his mother.
Then he took out of his note-book three notes of Anna's, read
them again, burned them, and remembering their conversation on
the previous day, he sank into meditation. _
Read next: Part Three: Chapter 20
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