They reached the door, talking about the weather, just as Stepan Arkadyevitch overtook them.
The old Prince Aleksandr Dmitrievitch Shcherbatsky, young Shcherbatsky, Turovtsuin, Kitty, and Karenin were already in the drawing-room.
Stepan Arkadyevitch instantly perceived that matters in the drawing-room were going badly without him. Darya Aleksandrovna, in her best gray silk gown, especially preoccupied with the children, who should have been eating their supper in the nursery by themselves, and anxious because her husband was late, did not succeed very well in entertaining her guests. All were sitting "like a pope's daughters making a call," as the old prince expressed it, evidently perplexed to know why they had come and with difficulty finding a few words so that the silence might not be absolute. The good-natured Turovtsuin apparently felt out of his sphere and the smile on his thick lips when he greeted Stepan Arkadyevitch spoke louder than words: "Well, my dear fellow, you have got me here with clever people! We are making merry here. It is a regular château des fleurs! .... I am doing my part."
The old prince was sitting in silence looking out of the corner of his bright eyes at Stepan Arkadyevitch, and Stepan Arkadyevitch perceived that he was trying to think up something worth saying to make an impression on this great statesman who was being served up like a sterlet for the benefit of the guests. Kitty kept glancing at the door, trying with all her might not to be caught blushing when Konstantin Levin should appear. Young Shcherbatsky, who had not been presented to Karenin, was trying to show that this did not cause him any constraint.
Karenin himself was in black coat and white necktie, according to the Petersburg custom, and Stepan Arkadyevitch perceived by his face that he had come only to keep his promise and by mingling in this society was performing a burdensome task. He more than any one else was the cause of the chill which froze all the guests into silence until Stepan Arkadyevitch made his appearance.
