in a nook of the walk. He was standing in front of her.
"I see that she seems happy," he repeated; and the doubt whether Anna was happy again rose in Darya Aleksandrovna's mind more strongly than ever. "But will it last? Whether we did right or wrong is a hard question; but the die is cast," he said, changing from Russian to French, "and we are joined for life; we are joined by the ties of love. We have one child, and we may have others. But the law and all the conditions of our state are such that there are a thousand complications, which Anna, now that she is resting after her afflictions and sufferings, does not see and will not see. It is natural; but I cannot help seeing. My daughter, according to the law, is not my daughter, but Karenin's, and I do not like this falsehood," said he, with an energetic gesture of repulsion, and looking at Darya Aleksandrovna with a gloomy, questioning face.
She did not reply, but simply looked at him. He continued:—
"To-morrow a son may be born—my son—and by law he would be a Karenin, and could, inherit neither my name nor my property, and, however happy we were here at home, and however many children we had, there would be no legal connection between me and them. They would be Karenins. You understand the cruelty, the horror, of this state of things? I try to explain this to Anna. It irritates her—she will not understand me, and I cannot tell her all. Now look at the other side. I am happy in her love, but I must have occupation. I have taken up my present enterprise, and I am proud of it, and consider it far more beneficial than the occupations of my former comrades at the court and in the service. And certainly I would not change my occupation for theirs. I work here, on my own place, and I am happy and contented, and we need nothing more for our happiness. I love my activity, cela n'est pas un pis aller; far from it."
Darya Aleksandrovna noticed that at this point of his explanation he became entangled, and she did not under
