Anna Karenina — Chapter 144 in French
By Leo Tolstoy
Dès qu’Alexis Alexandrovitch eut compris, grâce à ses explications avec Betsy et Stépan Arkadiévitch, ce que le monde et sa femme elle-même attendaient de lui, à savoir qu’il délivrât sa femme de sa présence, il se sentit si troublé, si incapable d’aucun désir, d’aucune décision personnelle, qu’il se remit aux mains de tiers, trop heureux d’avoir à s’occuper de ses affaires, prêt à accepter tout ce qu’on lui proposerait. AS soon as Alekseï Aleksandrovitch had learned from Betsy and Stepan Arkadyevitch that all that was expected of him was that he should leave his wife in peace and not trouble her with his presence, and that his wife herself wished this, he had felt himself in too great perplexity to be able to decide anything for himself, and he did not know what he wanted; but, having placed his fate in the hands of others, who were willing enough to occupy themselves with his affairs, he was ready to accept whatever might be proposed to him.
Il ne comprit clairement sa situation que le lendemain du départ d’Anna, quand l’Anglaise lui fit demander si elle devait dîner à table ou à part ; et il en fut horrifié. Only when Anna had taken her departure and when the English governess sent to inquire if she should dine with him or by herself, did he for the first time clearly realize his position and its full horror.
Le plus terrible pour lui était qu’il ne pouvait ni renier son passé ni le concilier avec le présent. The hardest element in this state of affairs was that he could not coordinate and reconcile his past with the present. Ce n'était pas l'époque où il vivait heureux avec sa femme qui le troublait. Nor was it the past when he lived happily with his wife that disturbed him. Ce n’était pas l’époque où il vivait heureux avec sa femme qui le troublait ; depuis qu’il avait acquis la certitude de l’infidélité de celle-ci, ce temps s’était effacé de sa mémoire ; certes la transition avait été pénible mais c’était chose faite. The transition from that past to the knowledge of his wife's infidelity he had borne like a martyr; that state of things was trying, but it was comprehensible to him. Si en lui déclarant son infidélité sa femme l’avait quitté, il eût évidemment été triste et malheureux ; cependant il eût évité de tomber dans la situation désespérée et incompréhensible où il se trouvait maintenant. If at the time when his wife had confessed her wrong to him she had left him, he would have been mortified and unhappy; but he would not have been in that inextricable, incomprehensible position in which he now felt that he was. Pouvait-il en effet concilier son récent pardon, son attendrissement, son affection pour sa femme malade et l’enfant d’un autre, avec les événements actuels ? Telle était donc la récompense de sa miséricordieuse bonté : il serait désormais seul, honteux, ridicule, inutile, méprisé ! He could never now reconcile his recent position, his reconciliation, his love for his sick wife and the alien child, with the present state of things; in other words, with the fact that as a reward for all his sacrifices he was now deserted, disgraced, useful to no one, and a ridiculous laughing-stock to all.
Les deux premiers jours qui suivirent le départ de sa femme Alexis Alexandrovitch reçut les solliciteurs et son chef de cabinet, il se rendit aux séances du comité, dîna chez lui comme d’habitude, sans se rendre compte pourquoi il faisait tout cela. The first two days after his wife's departure Alekseï Aleksandrovitch received petitioners and his chief secretary, attended committee-meetings, and ate his meals in the dining-room as usual. Pendant ces deux jours toutes les forces de son âme tendirent à un but : avoir l’air calme et même indifférent. Without trying to explain to himself why he did this, he directed all the powers of his mind to one single aim—to seem calm and indifferent. Il fit des efforts surhumains pour répondre aux questions des domestiques relativement aux mesures à prendre pour l’appartement d’Anna et ses affaires, de l’air d’un homme préparé aux événements et qui n’y voit rien d’extraordinaire. As he answered the questions of the servants in regard to what should be done about Anna's rooms and her things, he made superhuman efforts to assume the manner of a man for whom the event that had occurred was not unexpected, and had nothing in it outside the range of ordinary, every-day events, and he accomplished his purpose; no one would have detected in him any signs of despair. Mais le lendemain du départ de sa femme, quand Korneï lui apporta la facture de la modiste qu’Anna avait oublié de payer et le prévint que l’employé attendait, Alexis Alexandrovitch ordonna d’introduire l’employé. But on the second day after her departure Korneï handed him a milliner's bill which Anna had neglected to pay, and told him that the manager of the business himself was waiting. Alekseï Aleksandrovitch fit introduire cet homme. Alekseï Aleksandrovitch had the man shown in.