that her
supposed illness and the remedies she had to endure were nonsense. What
did they amount to? Nothing more than the gathering up of the fragments
of a broken vase to patch it up again. Her heart was broken, and could
it be healed by pills and powders?

_VI_

Absorbed by his passion, Vronsky yet proceeded in his regular manner of
life, sustaining as usual his social and military relations. He loved
his regiment and was very popular in it. Naturally, he spoke not a
syllable to anyone about his passion. He drank moderately, and not an
indiscreet word escaped him. But his mother was not a little disturbed
when she discovered that his infatuation for Madame Karenina had
impelled him to refuse an excellent promotion which would have
necessitated his removal from the metropolis. She feared that instead of
being a flirtation of which she might not disapprove, this passion might
develop into a Werther-like tragedy and lead her son to commit some
imprudence.

Many fashionable young ladies who were jealous of Anna and were weary of
hearing her praised, were malignantly pleased to hear rumours to her
disparagement and to feel justified in alluding scornfully to her.
Vronsky received a message from his mother in Moscow. She desired him to
come to her. His elder brother, though not himself by any means a
pattern of perfect propriety, strongly expressed his dissatisfaction,
because he felt that the unpleasant rumours would be likely to cause
displeasure in certain high quarters.

Early in the spring, Anna Karenina's husband went abroad, according to
his annual custom, to take the water-cure after the toils of winter.
Returning in July to St. Petersburg, he at once resumed his official
duties with the usual vigour. Anna had already gone into the country,
not far from the capital, to the summer _datcha_ at Peterhof. Since the
pair had failed to come to a mutual understanding coolness had existed,
but it was simply a cloud, not an actual alienation.

He resolved for the sake of appearances to visit his wife once a week.
To his astonishment, his doctor called voluntarily on him, to ask if he
might examine into the condition of his health. The secret reason of
this was that a kind friend, the Countess Lidia, had begged the doctor
to do so, as she had noticed that Aleksei did not look well. The medical
man after the diagnosis was perturbed with the result, for Aleksei's
liver was congested and his digestion was out of order