KARÉNIN. Yes, but how can a woman be free when she is bound by marriage?
ANNA PÁVLOVNA. By divorce. He promised her a divorce, and we shall insist on it.
KARÉNIN. Yes, but Elisabeth Andréyevna loved him so.…
ANNA PÁVLOVNA. Ah, but her love has suffered such trials that there can hardly be anything left of it! Drunkenness, deception, and infidelity … Can one love such a husband?
KARÉNIN. Nothing is impossible to love.
ANNA PÁVLOVNA. You talk of love! But how can one love such a man—a broken reed, whom one can never depend on? Don't you know what it came to …? [Looks round at the door, and continues hurriedly] All his affairs in a muddle, everything pawned, nothing to pay with! Then their uncle sends 2,000 roubles to pay the interest on their mortgaged estates, and he takes the money and disappears. His wife is left at home, with a sick baby, waiting for him—and at last gets a note asking her to send him his clothes and things!
KARÉNIN. Yes, yes; I know.
Enter Lisa and Sásha.
ANNA PÁVLOVNA. Well, here is Victor Miháylovich,[3] obedient to your summons.
KARÉNIN. Yes, but I am sorry I was delayed for a few minutes.