介绍:
CHAPTER V
Stepan Arkadyevitch had done well at school, by reason of his excellent natural gifts, but he was lazy and mischievous(调皮), and consequently had been at the foot of his class ; but, in spite of his irregular habits, his low rank in the Service, and his youth, he, nevertheless, held an im- portant salaried position as nachalnik, or president of one of the courts in Moscow. This place he had secured through the good offices of his sister Anna's husband, Aleksef Aleksandrovitch Karenin, who occupied one of the most influential positions in the ministry of which he was a member. But even if Karenin had not been able to get this place for his brother-in-law, a hundred other people — brothers, sisters, cousins, second cousins, uncles, aunts — would have got it for Stiva Oblonsky, or some place as good, together with the six thousand rubles' salary which he needed for his establishment, his affairs being somewhat out of order in spite of his wife's con- siderable fortune.
Half the people of Moscow and St. Petersburg were relatives or friends of Stepan Arkadyevitch ; he was born into the society of the rich and powerful of this world. A third of the older officials attached to the court and in government employ had been friends of his father, and had known him from the time when he wore petticoats（衬裙） ; a second third addressed him familiarly in the second person singular ; the others were " hail fel- lows well met." He had, therefore, as his friends, all those whose function it is to dispense earthly blessings in the shape of places, leases, concessions, and the like, and who could not neglect their own. And so Oblonsky had no special difficulty in obtaining an excellent place. All he had to do was not to shirk, not to be jealous, not to be quarrelsome, not to be thin-skinned, and he never gave way to these faults, because of his natural good temper. It would have seemed ridiculous to him if he had been told that he could not have any salaried place that he wanted, because it did not seem to him that he demanded anything extraordinary. He asked only for what his companions were obtaining, and he felt that he was as capable as any of them of performing the duties of such a position.
Stepan Arkadyevitch was liked by every one for his good and amiable（亲切友好的） character and his unimpeachable honesty. There was moreover something in his brilliant and attractive personality, in his bright, sparkling eyes, his black brows, his hair, his vivid coloring, which exer- cised a strong physical influence as of friendliness and gayety on those who came in touch with him. " Aha, Stiva ! Oblonsky ! Here he is ! " people would generally say, with a smile of pleasure. Even if it happened that the results of meeting him were not particularly gratifying(令人欣慰), nevertheless people were just as glad to meet him the second day and the third.
After filling for three years the office of nachalnik of one of the chief judiciary positions in Moscow, Stepan Ar- kadyevitch had gained, not only the friendship, but also the respect of his colleagues, both those above and those below him in station, as well as of all who had had dealings with him. The principal qualities that had gained him this universal esteem were, first, his extreme indulgence for people, and this was founded on his knowledge of his own weaknesses ; secondly, his absolute liberality, which was not the liberalism which he read about in the news- papers, but that which was in his blood, and caused him to be agreeable to every one, in whatever station in life ; and thirdly and principally, his perfect indifference to the business which he transacted, so that he never lost his temper, and therefore never made mistakes.
As soon as he reached his tribunal((特别法庭)), Stepan Arkadye- vitch, escorted by the solemn Swiss who bore his port- folio, went to his little private office, put on his uniform, and proceeded to the court-room. The clerks and other employees all stood up, bowing eagerly and respectfully. Stepan Arkadyevitch, as usual, hastened to his place, shook hands with his colleagues, and took his seat. He got off some pleasantry((客套)) and made some remark suitable to the occasion, and then opened the session. No one better than he understood how far to go within the limits of freedom, frankness, and that official dignity which is so useful in the expedition of official business. A clerk came with papers, and, with the free and yet re- spectful air common to all who surrounded Stepan Arkadyevitch, spoke in the familiarly liberal tone which Stepan Arkadyevitch had introduced : — " We have at last succeeded in obtaining reports from the Government of Penza. Here they are, if you care to ...."
" So we have them at last," said Stepan Arkadyevitch, touching the document with his finger. " Now, then, gentlemen ...." And the proceedings began.
" If they knew," he said to himself, as he bent his head with an air of importance while the report was read, " how much their president, only half an hour since, looked like a naughty school-boy!" and a gleam of amusement came into his eyes as he listened to the report. The session generally lasted till two o'clock without interruption, and was followed by recess and luncheon(午餐). The clock had not yet struck two, when the great glass doors of the court-room were suddenly thrown open, and some one entered.
All the members, glad of any diversion（消遣）, looked round from where they sat under the Emperor's portrait and behind the zertsdlo, or procla- mation-table ; but the doorkeeper instantly ejected the intruder, and shut the door on him.
After the business was read through, Stepan Arkadye- vitch arose, stretched himself, and in a spirit of sacri- fice to the liberalism of the time took out his cigarette, while still in the court-room, and then passed into his private office. Two of his colleagues, the aged veteran Nikitin, and the chamberlain Grinevitch, followed him.
" There '11 be time enough to finish after luncheon," said Oblonsky.
"How we are rushing through with it!" replied Nikitin.
" This Famin must be a precious rascal(无赖)," said Grine- vitch, alluding to one of the characters in the affair which they had beqn investigating. Stepan Arkadyevitch knitted his brows at Grinevitch's words, as if to signify that it was not the right thing to form snap judgments, and he made no reply.
" Who was it came into the court-room .?" he asked of the doorkeeper.
'' Some one who entered without permission, your excellency, while my back was turned. He asked to see you : I said, * When the court adjourns, then .... ' "
" Where is he .? "
" Probably in the vestibule(前厅) ; he ,was there just now. Ah ! there he is," said the doorkeeper, pointing to a solidly built, broad-shouldered man with curly beard, who, without taking off his sheepskin cap, was lightly and quickly running up the well-worn steps of the stone staircase. A lean chinovnik, on his way down, with a portfolio under his arm, stopped to look, with some indig- nation, at the newcomer's feet, and turned to Oblonsky with a glance of inquiry. Stepan Arkadyevitch stood at the top of the staircase, and his bright, good-natured face, set off by the embroidered collar of his uniform, was still more radiant when he recognized the visitor.
" Here he is ! Levin, at last," he cried, with a friendly, ironical smile, as he looked at his approaching friend. " What ! you got tired of waiting for me, and have come to find me in this den } " he went on to say, not satisfied with pressing his hand, but kissing him affec- tionately. " Have you been in town long ? "
" I just got here, and was in a hurry to see you," said Levin, looking about him timidly, and at the same time with a fierce and anxious expression.
"Well, come into my office," said Stepan Arka- dyevitch, who was aware of his visitor's egotistic sensi- tiveness, and, taking him by the hand, he led him along as if he were conducting him through manifold(多种) dangers.
Stepan Arkadyevitch addressed almost all his acquain- tances with the familiar "thou," — old men of three- score, young men of twenty, actors and ministers, merchants and generals, so that there were very many of these familiarly addressed acquaintances from both extremes of the social scale, and they would have been astonished to know that through Oblonsky they had something in common. He thus addressed all with whom he had drunk champagne, and he had drunk champagne with every one, and so when in the presence of his subordinates he met any of his shameful intimates, as he jestingly called some of his acquaintances, his characteristic tact was sufficient to diminish the dis- agreeable impressions that they might have. Levin was not one of his shameful intimates, but Oblonsky instinctively felt that Levin might think he would not like to make a display of their intimacy be- fore his subordinates, and so he hastened to take him into his private office.
Levin was about the same age as Oblonsky, and their intimacy was not based on champagne alone. Levin was a friend and companion from early boyhood. In spite of the difference in their characters and their tastes, they were fond of each other as friends are who have grown up together. And yet, as often happens among men who have chosen different spheres of activity, each, while approving the work of the other, really despised it. Each believed his own mode of life to be the only rational way of living, while that led by his friend was only illusion. At the sight of Levin, Oblonsky could not repress a slight ironical smile. How many times had he seen him in Moscow just in from the country, where he had been doing something, though Oblonsky did not know exactly what and scarcely took any interest in it. Levin always came to Moscow anxious, hurried, a trifle annoyed, and vexed because he was annoyed, and generally bringing with him entirely new and unexpected views of things. Stepan Arkadyevitch laughed at this and yet liked it. In somewhat the same way Levin despised the city mode of his friend's life, and his official employment, which he considered trifling, and made sport of it. But the difference between them lay in this : that Oblonsky, doing what every one else was doing, laughed self-con- fidently and good-naturedly, while Levin, because he was not assured in his own mind, sometimes lost his temper.
" We have been expecting you for some time," said Stepan Arkadyevitch, as he entered his office, and let go his friend's hand to show that the danger was past. " I am very, very glad to see you," he continued. " How goes it .-* how are you .'' When did you come ? "
Levin was silent, and looked at the unknown faces of Oblonsky's two colleagues, and especially at the elegant Grinevitch's hand, with its long, white fingers and their long, yellow, and pointed nails, and his cuffs, with their huge, gleaming cuff-buttons. It was evident that his hands absorbed all of his attention and allowed him to think of nothing else. Oblonsky instantly noticed this, and smiled.
" Ah, yes," said he, " allow me to make you acquainted(认识) with my colleagues, Filipp Ivanuitch Nikitin, Mikhail Stanislavitch Grinevitch ; " then turning to Levin, "A landed proprietor, a rising man, a member of the zemstsvo, and a gymnast who can lift two hundred pounds with one hand, a raiser of cattle, and huntsman, and my friend, Konstantin Dmitrievitch Levin, the brother of SergyeT Ivanuitch Koznuishef."
" Very happy," said the little old man. *' I have the honor of knowing your brother, Sergyei' Ivanuitch," said Grinevitch, extending his delicate hand with its long nails.
Levin frowned ; he coldly shook hands, and turned to Oblonsky. Although he had much respect for his half-brother, a writer universally known in Russia, it was none the less unpleasant for him to be addresse
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