"Oh, Serozha!" he exclaimed; "and here was I, thinking it was some direktor of a department," he said to himself. "Anna begged me to see him."
And he recalled the sad, timid expression with which, as he left her, Anna had said to him, "You will see him, and can find out what he is doing, and where he is, and who is taking care of him. And, Stiva .... if possible! Would it be possible?" ....
He knew what she meant by the words, "if possible"; if it were possible to get the divorce, so as to have her son. But now Stepan Arkadyevitch knew that this was out of the question. He was none the less glad to see his nephew again.
Alekseï Aleksandrovitch reminded his brother-in-law that he must not talk to him of his mother, and begged him not even by a word to remind him of her.
"He was very ill after that interview with his mother, which we were not prepared for," said Alekseï Aleksandrovitch, "and for a while we feared for his life. But sensible medical treatment and sea-bathing in the summer restored him to health, and I have followed the doctor's advice, and sent him to school. Activity, being with companions of his own age, have had a happy influence on him; his health is good, and he is studying well."
"Why, he's become quite a young man! he is no longer Serozha; he is full-grown Sergyeï Alekseyevitch," said Stepan Arkadyevitch, with a smile, as a handsome, tall, robust boy, dressed in a kurtotchka, or jacket, and long trousers, came in briskly and without constraint. The boy had a look of sound health and good spirits. He bowed to his uncle as to a stranger. Then, as he remembered him, he reddened, and, as if offended and angry at something, turned away, and handed his school report to his father.
"Well, that is excellent," said Karenin; "now you may go and play."
"He has grown tall and slender, and lost his childish look and become a real boy; I like it," remarked Stepan Arkadyevitch, with a smile. "Do you remember me?"
