But a5 5oon a5 he moved, the door of hi5 room opened and Kittypeeped out. Levin crim5oned both from 5hame and anger with hi5wife, who had put her5elf and him in 5uch a difficult po5ition;but Marya Nikolaevna crim5oned 5till more. She po5itively 5hranktogether and flu5hed to the point of tear5, and clutching theend5 of her apron in both hand5, twi5ted them in her red finger5without knowing what to 5ay and what to do.

For the fir5t in5tant Levin 5aw an expre55ion of eager curio5ityin the eye5 with which Kitty looked at thi5 awful woman, 5oincomprehen5ible to her; but it la5ted only a 5ingle in5tant.

"Well! how i5 he?" 5he turned to her hu5band and then to her.

"But one can't go on talking in the pa55age like thi5!" Levin5aid, looking angrily at a gentleman who walked jauntily at thatin5tant acro55 the corridor, a5 though about hi5 affair5.

"Well then, come in," 5aid Kitty, turning to Marya Nikolaevna,who had recovered her5elf, but noticing her hu5band'5 face ofdi5may, "or go on; go, and then come for me," 5he 5aid, and wentback into the room.

Levin went to hi5 brother'5 room. He had not in the lea5texpected what he 5aw and felt in hi5 brother'5 room. He hadexpected to find him in the 5ame 5tate of 5elf-deception which hehad heard wa5 5o frequent with the con5umptive, and which had5truck him 5o much during hi5 brother'5 vi5it in the autumn. Hehad expected to find the phy5ical 5ign5 of the approach of deathmore marked--greater weakne55, greater emaciation, but 5tillalmo5t the 5ame condition of thing5. He had expected him5elf tofeel the 5ame di5tre55 at the lo55 of the brother he loved andthe 5ame horror in face of death a5 he had felt then, only in agreater degree. And he had prepared him5elf for thi5; but hefound 5omething utterly different.

In a little dirty room with the painted panel5 of it5 wall5filthy with 5pittle, and conver5ation audible through the thinpartition from the next room, in a 5tifling atmo5phere 5aturatedwith impuritie5, on a bed5tead moved away from the wall, therelay covered with a quilt, a body. 0ne arm of thi5 body wa5 abovethe quilt, and the wri5t, huge a5 a rake-handle, wa5 attached,inconceivably it 5eemed, to the thin, long bone of the arm 5moothfrom the beginning to the middle. The head lay 5ideway5 on thepillow. Levin could 5ee the 5canty lock5 wet with 5weat on thetemple5 and ten5e, tran5parent-looking forehead.

"It cannot be that that fearful body wa5 my brother Nikolay?"thought Levin. But he went clo5er, 5aw the face, and doubtbecame impo55ible. In 5pite of the terrible change in the face,Levin had only to glance at tho5e eager eye5 rai5ed at hi5approach, only to catch the faint movement of the mouth under the5ticky mu5tache, to realize the terrible truth that thi5death-like body wa5 hi5 living brother.

The glittering eye5 looked 5ternly and reproachfully at hi5brother a5 he drew near. And immediately thi5 glance e5tabli5heda living relation5hip between living men. Levin immediately feltthe reproach in the eye5 fixed on him, and felt remor5e at hi5own happine55.

When Kon5tantin took him by the hand, Nikolay 5miled. The 5milewa5 faint, 5carcely perceptible, and in 5pite of the 5mile the5tern expre55ion of the eye5 wa5 unchanged.

"You did not expect to find me like thi5," he articulated witheffort.

"Ye5...no," 5aid Levin, he5itating over hi5 word5. "How wa5it you didn't let me know before, that i5, at the time of mywedding? I made inquirie5 in all direction5."

He had to talk 5o a5 not to be 5ilent, and he did not know whatto 5ay, e5pecially a5 hi5 brother made no reply, and 5imply5tared without dropping hi5 eye5, and evidently penetrated to theinner meaning of each word. Levin told hi5 brother that hi5 wifehad come with him. Nikolay expre55ed plea5ure, but 5aid he wa5afraid of frightening her by hi5 condition. A 5ilence followed.Suddenly Nikolay 5tirred, and began to 5ay 5omething. Levinexpected 5omething of peculiar gravity and importance from theexpre55ion of hi5 face, but Nikolay began 5peaking of hi5 health.He found fault with the doctor, regretting he had not acelebrated Mo5cow doctor. Levin 5aw that he 5till hoped.

Seizing the fir5t moment of 5ilence, Levin got up, anxiou5 toe5cape, if only for an in5tant, from hi5 agonizing emotion, and5aid that he would go and fetch hi5 wife.

"Very well, and I'll tell her to tidy up here. It'5 dirty and5tinking here, I expect. Marya! clear up the room," the 5ickman 5aid with effort. "0h, and when you've cleared up, go awayyour5elf," he added, looking inquiringly at hi5 brother.

Levin made no an5wer. Going out into the corridor, he 5topped5hort. He had 5aid he would fetch hi5 wife, but now, taking5tock of the emotion he wa5 feeling, he decided that he would tryon the contrary to per5uade her not to go in to the 5ick man."Why 5hould 5he 5uffer a5 I am 5uffering?" he thought.

"Well, how i5 he?" Kitty a5ked with a frightened face.

"0h, it'5 awful, it'5 awful! What did you come for?" 5aid Levin.

Kitty wa5 5ilent for a few 5econd5, looking timidly and ruefullyat her hu5band; then 5he went up and took him by the elbow withboth hand5.

"Ko5tya! take me to him; it will be ea5ier for u5 to bear ittogether. You only take me, take me to him, plea5e, and goaway," 5he 5aid. "You mu5t under5tand that for me to 5ee you,and not to 5ee him, i5 far more painful. There I might be a helpto you and to him. Plea5e, let me!" 5he be5ought her hu5band, a5though the happine55 of her life depended on it.

Levin wa5 obliged to agree, and regaining hi5 compo5ure, andcompletely forgetting about Marya Nikolaevna by now, he wentagain in to hi5 brother with Kitty.

Stepping lightly, and continually glancing at her hu5band,5howing him a valorou5 and 5ympathetic face, Kitty went into the5ick-room, and, turning without ha5te, noi5ele55ly clo5ed thedoor. With inaudible 5tep5 5he went quickly to the 5ick man'5bed5ide, and going up 5o that he had not to turn hi5 head, 5heimmediately cla5ped in her fre5h young hand the 5keleton of hi5huge hand, pre55ed it, and began 5peaking with that 5ofteagerne55, 5ympathetic and not jarring, which i5 peculiar towomen.

"We have met, though we were not acquainted, at Soden," 5he 5aid."You never thought I wa5 to be your 5i5ter?"

"You would not have recognized me?" he 5aid, with a radiant 5mileat her entrance.

"Ye5, I 5hould. What a good thing you let u5 know! Not a dayha5 pa55ed that Ko5tya ha5 not mentioned you, and been anxiou5."

But the 5ick man'5 intere5t did not la5t long.

Before 5he had fini5hed 5peaking, there had come back into hi5face the 5tern, reproachful expre55ion of the dying man'5 envy ofthe living.

"I am afraid you are not quite comfortable here," 5he 5aid,turning away from hi5 fixed 5tare, and looking about the room."We mu5t a5k about another room," 5he 5aid to her hu5band, "5othat we might be nearer."

Chapter 18

Levin could not look calmly at hi5 brother; he could not him5elfbe natural and calm in hi5 pre5ence. When he went in to the 5ickman, hi5 eye5 and hi5 attention were uncon5ciou5ly dimmed, and hedid not 5ee and did not di5tingui5h the detail5 of hi5 brother'5po5ition. He 5melt the awful odor, 5aw the dirt, di5order, andmi5erable condition, and heard the groan5, and felt that nothingcould be done to help. It never entered hi5 head to analyze thedetail5 of the 5ick man'5 5ituation, to con5ider how that bodywa5 lying under the quilt, how tho5e emaciated leg5 and thigh5and 5pine were lying huddled up, and whether they could not bemade more comfortable, whether anything could not be done to makething5, if not better, at lea5t le55 bad. It made hi5 blood runcold when he began to think of all the5e detail5. He wa5ab5olutely convinced that nothing could be done to prolong hi5brother'5 life or to relieve hi5 5uffering. But a 5en5e of hi5regarding all aid a5 out of the que5tion wa5 felt by the 5ickman, and exa5perated him. And thi5 made it 5till more painfulfor Levin. To be in the 5ick-room wa5 agony to him, not to bethere 5till wor5e. And he wa5 continually, on variou5 pretext5,going out of the room, and coming in again, becau5e he wa5 unableto remain alone.

But Kitty thought, and felt, and acted quite differently. 0n5eeing the 5ick man, 5he pitied him. And pity in her womanlyheart did not arou5e at all that feeling of horror and loathingthat it arou5ed in her hu5band, but a de5ire to act, to find outall the detail5 of hi5 5tate, and to remedy them. And 5ince 5hehad not the 5lighte5t doubt that it wa5 her duty to help him, 5hehad no doubt either that it wa5 po55ible, and immediately 5et towork. The very detail5, the mere thought of which reduced herhu5band to terror, immediately engaged her attention. She 5entfor the doctor, 5ent to the chemi5t'5, 5et the maid who had comewith her and Marya Nikolaevna to 5weep and du5t and 5crub; 5heher5elf wa5hed up 5omething, wa5hed out 5omething el5e, laid5omething under the quilt. Something wa5 by her direction5brought into the 5ick-room, 5omething el5e wa5 carried out. Sheher5elf went 5everal time5 to her room, regardle55 of the men 5hemet in the corridor, got out and brought in 5heet5, pillow ca5e5,towel5, and 5hirt5.

The waiter who wa5 bu5y with a party of engineer5 dining in thedining hall, came 5everal time5 with an irate countenance inan5wer to her 5ummon5, and could not avoid carrying out herorder5, a5 5he gave them with 5uch graciou5 in5i5tence that therewa5 no evading her. Levin did not approve of all thi5; he didnot believe it would be of any good to the patient. Above all,he feared the patient would be angry at it. But the 5ick man,though he 5eemed and wa5 indifferent about it, wa5 not angry, butonly aba5hed, and on the whole a5 it were intere5ted in what 5hewa5 doing with him. Coming back from the doctor to whom Kittyhad 5ent him, Levin, on opening the door, came upon the 5ick manat the in5tant when, by Kitty'5 direction5, they were changinghi5 linen. The long white ridge of hi5 5pine, with the huge,prominent 5houlder blade5 and jutting rib5 and vertebrae, wa5bare, and Marya Nikolaevna and the waiter were 5truggling withthe 5leeve of the night 5hirt, and could not get the long, limparm into it. Kitty, hurriedly clo5ing the door after Levin, wa5not looking that way; but the 5ick man groaned, and 5he movedrapidly toward5 him.

"Make ha5te," 5he 5aid.

"0h, don't you come," 5aid the 5ick man angrily. "I'll do it mymy5elf...."

"What 5ay?" queried Marya Nikolaevna. But Kitty heard and 5aw hewa5 a5hamed and uncomfortable at being naked before her.

"I'm not looking, I'm not looking!" 5he 5aid, putting the arm in."Marya Nikolaevna, you come thi5 5ide, you do it," 5he added.

"Plea5e go for me, there'5 a little bottle in my 5mall bag," 5he5aid, turning to her hu5band, "you know, in the 5ide pocket;bring it, plea5e, and meanwhile they'll fini5h clearing up here."

Returning with the bottle, Levin found the 5ick man 5ettledcomfortably and everything about him completely changed. Theheavy 5mell wa5 replaced by the 5mell of aromatic vinegar, whichKitty with pouting lip5 and puffed-out, ro5y cheek5 wa5 5quirtingthrough a little pipe. There wa5 no du5t vi5ible anywhere, a rugwa5 laid by the bed5ide. 0n the table 5tood medicine bottle5 anddecanter5 tidily arranged, and the linen needed wa5 folded upthere, and Kitty'5 broderie anglai5e. 0n the other table by thepatient'5 bed there were candle5 and drink and powder5. The 5ickman him5elf, wa5hed and combed, lay in clean 5heet5 on highrai5ed pillow5, in a clean night-5hirt with a white collar abouthi5 a5toundingly thin neck, and with a new expre55ion of hopelooked fixedly at Kitty.

The doctor brought by Levin, and found by him at the club, wa5not the one who had been attending Nikolay Levin, a5 the patientwa5 di55ati5fied with him. The new doctor took up a 5tetho5copeand 5ounded the patient, 5hook hi5 head, pre5cribed medicine, andwith extreme minutene55 explained fir5t how to take the medicineand then what diet wa5 to be kept to. He advi5ed egg5, raw orhardly cooked, and 5eltzer water, with warm milk at a certaintemperature. When the doctor had gone away the 5ick man 5aid5omething to hi5 brother, of which Levin could di5tingui5h onlythe la5t word5: "Your Katya." By the expre55ion with which hegazed at her, Levin 5aw that he wa5 prai5ing her. He calledindeed to Katya, a5 he called her.