Part 7. Chapter 4.

Lvov, the husband of Natalia, Kitty's sister, had spent all his life in foreign capitals, where he had been educated, and had been in the diplomatic service. During the previous year he had left the diplomatic service, not owing to any "unpleasantness" (he never had any "unpleasantness" with anyone), and was transferred to the department of the court of the palace in Moscow, in order to give his two boys the best education possible. Au cours de l'année précédente, il avait quitté le service diplomatique, sans aucun "désagrément" (il n'avait jamais eu de "désagrément" avec personne), et avait été transféré au département de la cour du palais de Moscou, afin de donner son deux garçons la meilleure éducation possible. In spite of the striking contrast in their habits and views and the fact that Lvov was older than Levin, they had seen a great deal of one another that winter, and had taken a great liking to each other.

Lvov was at home, and Levin went in to him unannounced.

Lvov, in a house coat with a belt and in chamois leather shoes, was sitting in an armchair, and with a pince-nez with blue glasses he was reading a book that stood on a reading desk, while in his beautiful hand he held a half-burned cigarette daintily away from him. Lvov, dans un habit avec une ceinture et des chaussures en peau de chamois, était assis dans un fauteuil, et avec un pince-nez à lunettes bleues, il lisait un livre posé sur un bureau de lecture, tandis que dans sa belle main il tenait un cigarette à moitié brûlée délicatement loin de lui. Lvovas, apsivilkęs namų apsiaustą diržu ir su zomšiniais odiniais batais, sėdėjo fotelyje ir su žnyplėmis su mėlynais akiniais skaitė knygą, stovėjusią ant skaitymo stalo, o gražioje rankoje laikė pusiau sudeginta cigaretė, smarkiai nutolusi nuo jo.

His handsome, delicate, and still youthful-looking face, to which his curly, glistening silvery hair gave a still more aristocratic air, lighted up with a smile when he saw Levin. Son visage beau, délicat et encore jeune, auquel ses cheveux bouclés et argentés luisants donnaient un air encore plus aristocratique, s'illumina d'un sourire en voyant Levin.

"Capital! I was meaning to send to you. How's Kitty? Sit here, it's more comfortable." He got up and pushed up a rocking chair. "Have you read the last circular in the Journal de St. «Avez-vous lu la dernière circulaire du Journal de St. Petersbourg? I think it's excellent," he said, with a slight French accent. Levin told him what he had heard from Katavasov was being said in Petersburg, and after talking a little about politics, he told him of his interview with Metrov, and the learned society's meeting. Levin lui a dit que ce qu'il avait entendu de Katavasov était dit à Pétersbourg, et après avoir parlé un peu de politique, il lui a parlé de son entretien avec Metrov et de la réunion de la société savante. To Lvov it was very interesting.

"That's what I envy you, that you are able to mix in these interesting scientific circles," he said. And as he talked, he passed as usual into French, which was easier to him. "It's true I haven't the time for it. «C'est vrai que je n'ai pas le temps pour ça. My official work and the children leave me no time; and then I'm not ashamed to own that my education has been too defective." Mon travail officiel et les enfants ne me laissent pas le temps; et puis je n'ai pas honte d'admettre que mon éducation a été trop défectueuse. " "That I don't believe," said Levin with a smile, feeling, as he always did, touched at Lvov's low opinion of himself, which was not in the least put on from a desire to seem or to be modest, but was absolutely sincere. «Ça, je ne crois pas», dit Levin avec un sourire, se sentant, comme il l'a toujours fait, touché par la basse opinion de Lvov sur lui-même, qui n'était pas du tout due au désir de paraître ou d'être modeste, mais qui était absolument sincère. "Oh, yes, indeed! I feel now how badly educated I am. To educate my children I positively have to look up a great deal, and in fact simply to study myself. Pour éduquer mes enfants, je dois absolument chercher beaucoup, et en fait simplement m'étudier moi-même. For it's not enough to have teachers, there must be someone to look after them, just as on your land you want laborers and an overseer. Car il ne suffit pas d'avoir des professeurs, il doit y avoir quelqu'un pour s'occuper d'eux, tout comme sur votre terre vous voulez des ouvriers et un surveillant. See what I'm reading"—he pointed to Buslaev's Grammar on the desk—"it's expected of Misha, and it's so difficult…. Voyez ce que je lis »- il montra la grammaire de Buslaev sur le bureau -« on attend de Misha, et c'est si difficile…. Come, explain to me…. Here he says…" Levin tried to explain to him that it couldn't be understood, but that it had to be taught; but Lvov would not agree with him. Levin essaya de lui expliquer que cela ne pouvait pas être compris, mais qu'il fallait l'enseigner; mais Lvov ne serait pas d'accord avec lui. "Oh, you're laughing at it!" "On the contrary, you can't imagine how, when I look at you, I'm always learning the task that lies before me, that is the education of one's children." "Au contraire, vous ne pouvez pas imaginer comment, quand je vous regarde, j'apprends toujours la tâche qui m'attend, c'est l'éducation de ses enfants." - Priešingai, jūs neįsivaizduojate, kaip aš, žvelgdamas į jus, visada mokausi užduoties, kuri yra prieš mane, tai yra savo vaikų ugdymas. "Well, there's nothing for you to learn," said Lvov. "All I know," said Levin, "is that I have never seen better brought-up children than yours, and I wouldn't wish for children better than yours." Lvov visibly tried to restrain the expression of his delight, but he was positively radiant with smiles.

"If only they're better than I! That's all I desire. You don't know yet all the work," he said, "with boys who've been left like mine to run wild abroad." Vous ne savez pas encore tout le travail », a-t-il dit,« avec des garçons qui sont restés comme les miens pour se déchaîner à l'étranger ». "You'll catch all that up. «Vous allez rattraper tout cela. They're such clever children. The great thing is the education of character. That's what I learn when I look at your children." "You talk of the education of character. You can't imagine how difficult that is! You have hardly succeeded in combating one tendency when others crop up, and the struggle begins again. Vous avez à peine réussi à combattre une tendance lorsque d'autres surgissent, et la lutte recommence. If one had not a support in religion—you remember we talked about that—no father could bring children up relying on his own strength alone without that help." This subject, which always interested Levin, was cut short by the entrance of the beauty Natalia Alexandrovna, dressed to go out.

"I didn't know you were here," she said, unmistakably feeling no regret, but a positive pleasure, in interrupting this conversation on a topic she had heard so much of that she was by now weary of it. "Well, how is Kitty? I am dining with you today. I tell you what, Arseny," she turned to her husband, "you take the carriage." Je te dis quoi, Arseny, "elle se tourna vers son mari," tu prends la voiture. " And the husband and wife began to discuss their arrangements for the day. As the husband had to drive to meet someone on official business, while the wife had to go to the concert and some public meeting of a committee on the Eastern Question, there was a great deal to consider and settle. Comme le mari devait conduire pour rencontrer quelqu'un pour des affaires officielles, tandis que l'épouse devait aller au concert et à une réunion publique d'un comité sur la question orientale, il y avait beaucoup à considérer et à régler. Levin had to take part in their plans as one of themselves. Levin a dû prendre part à leurs plans comme l'un d'eux-mêmes. It was settled that Levin should go with Natalia to the concert and the meeting, and that from there they should send the carriage to the office for Arseny, and he should call for her and take her to Kitty's; or that, if he had not finished his work, he should send the carriage back and Levin would go with her. Il fut décidé que Levin irait avec Natalia au concert et à la réunion, et qu'à partir de là, ils enverraient la voiture au bureau d'Arseny, et il l'appellerait et l'emmènerait chez Kitty; ou que, s'il n'avait pas fini son travail, il devrait renvoyer la voiture et Levin l'accompagnerait. "He's spoiling me," Lvov said to his wife; "he assures me that our children are splendid, when I know how much that's bad there is in them." «Il me gâte», dit Lvov à sa femme; «il m'assure que nos enfants sont splendides, quand je sais combien il y a de mauvais en eux». "Arseny goes to extremes, I always say," said his wife. "If you look for perfection, you will never be satisfied. And it's true, as papa says,—that when we were brought up there was one extreme—we were kept in the basement, while our parents lived in the best rooms; now it's just the other way—the parents are in the wash house, while the children are in the best rooms. Et c'est vrai, comme le dit papa, - que lorsque nous avons grandi, il y avait un extrême - nous étions enfermés au sous-sol, tandis que nos parents vivaient dans les meilleures chambres; maintenant c'est juste l'inverse - les parents sont dans la buanderie, tandis que les enfants sont dans les meilleures pièces. Parents now are not expected to live at all, but to exist altogether for their children." On ne s'attend plus du tout à ce que les parents vivent du tout, mais qu'ils existent entièrement pour leurs enfants. " Tikimasi, kad dabar tėvai apskritai negyvens, bet iš viso egzistuos savo vaikams “. "Well, what if they like it better?" "Et bien, et s'ils l'aiment mieux?" Lvov said, with his beautiful smile, touching her hand. "Anyone who didn't know you would think you were a stepmother, not a true mother." "Quiconque ne vous savait pas penserait que vous étiez une belle-mère, pas une vraie mère." "No, extremes are not good in anything," Natalia said serenely, putting his paper knife straight in its proper place on the table. "Non, les extrêmes ne sont bons en rien," dit sereinement Natalia, mettant son coupe-papier à sa place sur la table. "Well, come here, you perfect children," Lvov said to the two handsome boys who came in, and after bowing to Levin, went up to their father, obviously wishing to ask him about something. Levin would have liked to talk to them, to hear what they would say to their father, but Natalia began talking to him, and then Lvov's colleague in the service, Mahotin, walked in, wearing his court uniform, to go with him to meet someone, and a conversation was kept up without a break upon Herzegovina, Princess Korzinskaya, the town council, and the sudden death of Madame Apraksina. Levin aurait aimé leur parler, entendre ce qu'ils diraient à leur père, mais Natalia a commencé à lui parler, puis le collègue de Lvov dans le service, Mahotin, est entré, vêtu de son uniforme de cour, pour aller avec lui pour le rencontrer. quelqu'un, et une conversation a été entretenue sans interruption sur l'Herzégovine, la princesse Korzinskaya, le conseil municipal et la mort subite de Mme Apraksina. Levin even forgot the commission intrusted to him. Levin a même oublié la commission qui lui avait été confiée. He recollected it as he was going into the hall.

"Oh, Kitty told me to talk to you about Oblonsky," he said, as Lvov was standing on the stairs, seeing his wife and Levin off. "Oh, Kitty m'a dit de te parler d'Oblonsky," dit-il, alors que Lvov se tenait dans l'escalier, voyant sa femme et Levin partir. "Yes, yes, maman wants us, les beaux-frères, to attack him," he said, blushing. "But why should I?" "Well, then, I will attack him," said Madame Lvova, with a smile, standing in her white sheepskin cape, waiting till they had finished speaking. - Eh bien, je vais l'attaquer, dit madame Lvova avec un sourire, debout dans sa cape de peau de mouton blanche, attendant qu'ils aient fini de parler. "Come, let us go." "Venez, laissez-nous partir."