Anna Karenina — Chapter 198 in French
By Leo Tolstoy
Elle se leva à sa rencontre sans cacher sa joie de le voir, et dans la façon dont elle lui tendit sa main petite, énergique, le présenta à Vorkouiev, et lui indiqua la jolie fillette rousse, qui travaillait, assise, et qu’elle appelait sa pupille. She advanced to meet him, and did not conceal the pleasure which his visit caused her. Lévine remarqua l’aisance agréable d’une femme du grand monde toujours maîtresse d’elle-même et naturelle. With the ease and simplicity which Levin recognized as characteristic of a woman of the best society, she extended to him a small, energetic hand, introduced him to Vorkuyef, and called his attention to a light-complexioned and pretty little girl—her pupil, she said—who was seated with her work near the table.
— Je suis très, très heureuse, répéta-t-elle, et pour Lévine ces paroles prirent une signification particulière. "I am very, very glad," she repeated; and in these simple words, spoken by her. Lévine y trouva une signification extraordinaire. Levin found an extraordinary significance. Je vous connais depuis longtemps et vous estime, et pour votre amitié avec Stiva et à cause de votre femme. "I have known you and liked you for ever so long, both because of your friendship with Stiva and because of your wife. Je l’ai très peu vue mais elle m’a laissé l’impression d’une fleur charmante, je dis bien une fleur, et voilà qu’elle sera bientôt maman… I knew her a very short time, but she gave me the impression of a flower, a lovely flower. et voilà qu'elle sera bientôt maman! she will soon be a mother!"
Elle parlait aisément, sans se hâter, regardant tour à tour Lévine et son frère. She talked freely and without haste, occasionally looking from Levin to her brother, and Levin was conscious that the impression which he produced was excellent, and he immediately felt perfectly at his ease with her and on the simplest and most friendly terms, as if he had known her from childhood.
À Oblonsky qui lui demandait s'il lui était permis de fumer, elle répondit :— To Oblonsky, who asked if smoking was allowed, she replied:—