Anna Karenina — Chapter 150 in French
By Leo Tolstoy
Après la leçon du professeur vint celle du père. After the professor, came the lesson with his father. En l’attendant Serge, accoudé à sa table de travail, jouait avec son canif et se plongeait dans de nouvelles méditations. Serozha, while waiting for him, sat at the table, playing with his pen-knife, and he fell into new thoughts.
Une de ses occupations favorites consistait à chercher sa mère pendant ses promenades. One of his favorite occupations was to look for his mother while he was out walking. Il ne croyait pas à la mort, en général, et surtout à celle de sa mère, malgré les affirmations de la comtesse Lydie Ivanovna et de son père. He did not believe in death as a general thing; and specially he did not believe that his mother was dead, in spite of what the Countess Lidia Ivanovna told him, and though his father confirmed it. Aussi, bien qu’on lui eût dit qu’elle était morte, la cherchait-il dans ses promenades. And therefore, after they told him that she was dead, he used to watch for her while he was out for his walk. Chaque fois qu’il apercevait une femme forte, gracieuse, brune, son cœur se gonflait de tendresse, à tel point qu’il en suffoquait, des larmes lui venaient aux yeux, et il s’attendait à ce que cette dame s’approchât de lui, levât son voile. Alors il reverrait son visage ; elle sourirait, l’embrasserait ; il sentirait son parfum, la douce caresse de sa main, et pleurerait de joie, comme un soir qu’il s’était roulé à ses pieds parce qu’elle le chatouillait et avait tant ri en mordillant sa main blanche couverte de bagues. Every tall, graceful woman with dark hair he imagined to be his mother; at the sight of such a woman, his heart would swell with love, the tears would come into his eyes, and he would wait until the lady drew near him, and raised her veil; then he would see her face; she would kiss him, smile upon him; he would feel the sweet caress of her hand, smell the well-known perfume, and weep with joy, as he did one evening when he lay at her feet, and she tickled him, and he laughed so heartily, and gently bit her white hand, covered with rings.
Plus tard, quand, par hasard sa vieille bonne lui apprit que sa mère n’était pas morte, mais que son père et Lydie Ivanovna le disaient parce qu’elle était devenue méchante (il ne pouvait le croire parce qu’il l’aimait), il l’attendit et la chercha plus attentivement encore. Later, when he learned accidentally from the old nurse that his mother was alive, and that his father and the countess had told him that she was dead because she was a wicked woman, this seemed still more impossible to Serozha, because he loved her; and he looked for her, and longed for her.
Ce jour-là, au Jardin d’été, il avait aperçu une dame en voile lilas, et pensant que c’était elle, son cœur s’était mis à battre lorsqu’il la vit prendre la même allée que lui. Mais cette dame n’arriva pas jusqu’à eux ; elle tourna quelque part et disparut. That very day, in the summer garden, there had been a lady in a lilac veil, and, with his heart beating violently, expecting that it was she, he saw her take the same footpath where he was walking; but this lady did not come up where he was, and she disappeared from sight. Aujourd’hui, Serge sentait sa tendresse pour sa mère plus vive que jamais, et pendant qu’il attendait son père et tailladait de son canif le bord de la table, les yeux brillants, il regardait devant lui et pensait à elle. Serozha felt a stronger love than ever for his mother; and now, while waiting for his father, he was cutting his desk with his penknife; with shining eyes, he was looking straight ahead, and thinking of her.