Anna Karenina — Chapter 69 in French
By Leo Tolstoy
Le prince avait transmis sa bonne humeur à ses familiers, à ses connaissances et même à son propriétaire, un Allemand. The prince's gayety and good humor were contagious; his household and acquaintances, and even their German landlord, felt it.
Au retour de la source avec Kitty, le prince qui avait invité pour le café le colonel, Maria Evguenievna et Varenka, ordonna de mettre la table et les chaises dans le jardin sous les marronniers et d’y servir le déjeuner. When he came in with Kitty, from the springs, the prince invited the colonel, Marya Yevgenyevna and her daughter, and Varenka, to luncheon, and had the table and chairs brought out under the chestnut trees in the garden, and there the guests were served. Et maîtres et domestiques s’amusèrent sous l’influence de sa gaîté ; ils connaissaient sa générosité. The landlord and his domestics were filled with zeal under the influence of his good spirits. Une demi-heure après, un médecin de Hambourg, malade, qui habitait en haut, regardait avec ennui, par la fenêtre, cette joyeuse compagnie russe de gens bien portants réunis sous le marronnier, à l’ombre des feuilles tremblotantes, en demi-cercle devant la table couverte d’une nappe blanche, sur laquelle étaient servis le café, le pain, le beurre, le fromage, la volaille froide ; la princesse, en bonnet à rubans lilas, était assise et distribuait les tasses et les tartines. They knew his generosity; and before half an hour was over a sick Hamburg doctor, who had rooms on the upper floor, was looking down with envy on the happy group of hearty Russians sitting under the chestnut trees.
Under the flickering shade of the sun-flecked leaves sat the princess, in a bonnet trimmed with lilac ribbons, presiding over the table spread with a white cloth, whereon were placed the coffee-service, the bread, butter, cheese, and cold game; she was distributing cups and tarts. Le prince était à l’autre bout, il mangeait avec appétit et causait joyeusement, à haute voix. At the other end of the table sat the prince, eating with good appetite, and talking with great animation. Il avait étalé autour de lui ses achats (un petit coffret, des coupe-papier de toutes sortes) achetés en diverses villes d’eaux, et il les distribuait à tous, et à Lischen, la servante, et au propriétaire avec qui il plaisantait en mauvais allemand, lui affirmant que ce n’étaient pas les eaux qui avaient guéri Kitty mais son excellente cuisine et surtout sa soupe aux pruneaux. He had spread out in front of him his purchases,—carved boxes, jackstraws, paper-cutters of all kinds, which he had brought back from all the places where he had been; and he was distributing them around to all, including Lieschen the maid, and the landlord, with whom he joked in his comically bad German, assuring him that it was not the waters that had cured Kitty, but his excellent cuisine, and particularly his prune soup.
La princesse se moquait de son mari pour ses habitudes russes, mais était amusée et joyeuse comme elle ne l’avait pas été depuis son arrivée à Soden. The princess laughed at her husband for his Russian peculiarities; but never, since she had been at the Spa, had she been so gay and lively. Le colonel, comme toujours, souriait aux plaisanteries du prince mais prenait le parti de la princesse, s’imaginant connaître l’Europe à fond. The colonel, as always, was amused at the prince's jests; but he agreed with the princess on the European question, which he imagined that he understood thoroughly. La bonne Maria Evguenievna pouffait de rire à tout ce que le prince disait de drôle, et Varenka, que Kitty n’avait jamais vu rire, s’épanouissait en un petit rire que provoquaient les plaisanteries du prince. The good Marya Yevgenyevna laughed at every good thing that the prince said; and even Varenka, to Kitty's great astonishment, laughed till she was tired, with undemonstrative but infectious hilarity awakened by the prince's jests. C'était quelque chose que Kitty n'avait jamais vu arriver auparavant. This was something Kitty had never known to happen before.