Anna Karenina (Dole)/Part Five/Chapter 18
CHAPTER XVIII
Levin could not bear to look at his brother, could not even be himself and feel at ease in his presence. When he came into the sick man's room, his eyes and his motions entirely absorbed him, and he did not see and did not realize the details of his frightful situation.
He perceived the horrid odor, he saw the uncleanliness and disorder, he heard the sick man's groans, and it seemed to him that there was no way of helping it. It did not occur to him to investigate how the body lay under the coverlid; how the lean long legs, the thighs, the back, were doubled up and accommodated; nor did he ask whether he might not help him to lie more easily and do something to improve his condition, at least to make a bad situation less trying.
The mere thought of these details made a cold chill run down his back; he was undoubtedly persuaded in his own mind that it was impossible to do anything either to prolong his life or to lighten his sufferings, and the sick man, feeling instinctively that his brother was powerless to help him, was irritated. And this made it all the harder for Levin. To be in the sick-room was painful to him; to be away from it was still worse. And he kept leaving the room under various pretexts, and coming back again, for he was unable to stay alone by himself.
Kitty thought, felt, and acted in an entirely different way: as soon as she saw the sick man, she was filled with pity for him, and this pity in her womanly heart, instead of arousing a sense of fear or repulsion as it did in her husband's case, moved her to act, moved her to find out all the details of his condition and to ameliorate them. And as she had not the slightest doubt that it was her duty to help him, neither did she doubt the possibility of it, and she set herself to work without delay.
The details the mere thought of which repelled her husband were the very ones that attracted her attention.
She sent for a doctor; she sent to the drug-store; she set her own maid and Marya Nikolayevna to sweeping, washing, and dusting, and she even helped them herself. She had all needless articles carried away, and she had them replaced by things that were needed. She went several times to her room, paying no heed to those whom she met on the way, and she unpacked and carried with her sheets, pillow-cases, towels, shirts.
The waiter who served the table d'hôte dinner to the engineers several times came with surly face when she rang; but she gave her orders with such gentle authority that he never failed to execute them. Levin did not approve of all this. He did not believe that any advantage would result from it for the sick man. More than all, he was afraid that it would worry his brother. But Nikolaï, although he seemed to be indifferent, did not lose his temper and only felt a little ashamed and watched with a certain interest everything she did for him.
When Levin came back from the doctor's, whither Kitty had sent him, he saw, on opening the door, that, under Kitty's directions, they were changing the sick man's linen. His long white back and his stooping shoulders, his prominent ribs and vertebrae, were all uncovered, while Marya Nikolayevna and the lackey were in great perplexity over the sleeves of Nikolaï's night-shirt, into which they were vainly striving to get his long, thin arms. Kitty, quickly closing the door behind Levin, did not look at him; but the sick man groaned and she hastened to him.
"Be quick," she said.
"There! don't come near me," muttered the sick man, angrily. "I myself ...."
"What do you say?" asked Marya.
But Kitty had heard and understood that he was ashamed of being stripped in her presence.
"I am not looking, I am not looking," said she, trying to get his arm into the night-shirt. "Marya Nikolayevna, you go to the other side of the bed and help us.—Please go and get a little flask out of my bag, and bring it to me," she said to her husband. "You know, in the side pocket; please bring it, and in the meantime we will finish arranging him."
When Levin came back with the flask, he found the invalid lying down in bed, and everything about him had assumed a different appearance. The oppressive odor had been exchanged for that of aromatic vinegar which Kitty, pursing up her lips and puffing out her rosy cheeks, was scattering about from a glass tube. The dust was all gone; a rug was spread under the bed; on the table were arranged the medicine vials, a carafe, the necessary linen, and Kitty's English embroidery. On another table, near the bed, stood a candle, his medicine, and powders. The sick man, bathed, with smoothly brushed hair, was lying between clean sheets, and propped up by several pillows, was dressed in a clean night-shirt, the white collar of which came around his unnaturally thin neck. A new expression of hope shone in his eyes as he looked at Kitty.
The doctor whom Levin went for and found at the club was not the one who had been treating Nikolaï and had aroused his indignation. The new doctor brought his stethoscope and carefully sounded the sick man's lungs, shook his head, wrote a prescription, and gave exphcit directions first about the application of his remedies and then about the diet which he wished him to observe. He ordered fresh eggs, raw, or at least scarcely cooked, and Seltzer water with milk heated to a certain temperature. After he was gone, the sick man said a few words to his brother, but Levin heard only the last words: "....your Katya." But by the way he looked at Kitty, Levin knew that he said something in her praise. Then he called Katya, as he had named her:—
"I feel much better already," he said to her. "With you I should have got well long ago! how good everything is."
He took her hand and lifted it to his lips; but as if he feared that it might be unpleasant to her, he hesitated, put it down again and only caressed it. Kitty pressed his hand affectionately between her own.
"Now turn me over on the left side, and all of you go to bed."
No one heard what he said; Kitty alone understood. She understood because she was ceaselessly on the watch for what he needed.
"Turn him on the other side," said she to her husband. "He always sleeps on that side. It is not pleasant to call the man. I cannot do it. Can you?" she asked of Marya Nikolayevna.
"I am afraid not," she replied.
Levin, terrible as it was to him to put his arms around this frightful body, to feel what he did not wish to feel under the coverlid, submitted to his wife's influence, and assuming that resolute air which she knew so well, and putting in his arms, took hold of him; but in spite of all his strength he was amazed at the strange weight of these emaciated limbs. While he was, with difficulty, changing his brother's position, Nikolaï threw his arms around his neck, and Kitty quickly turned the pillows so as to make the bed more comfortable, and carefully arranged his head and his thin hair, which was again sticking to his temples.
Nikolaï kept one of his brother's hands in his. Levin felt that the sick man was going to do something with his hand and was drawing it toward him. His heart sank within him! Yes, Nikolaï put it to his lips and kissed it! Then, shaken with sobs. Levin hurried from the room, without being able to utter a word.