Anna Karenina

Chapter 19
In spite of Vronsky's apparently frivolous life in society, he was a man who
hated irregularity. In early youth in the Corps of Pages, he had experienced
the humiliation of a refusal, when he had tried, being in difficulties, to
borrow money, and since then he had never once put himself in the same
position again.
In order to keep his affairs in some sort of order, he used about five times a
year (more or less frequently, according to circumstances) to shut himself
up alone and put all his affairs into definite shape. This he used to call his
day of reckoning or faire la lessive.
On waking up the day after the races, Vronsky put on a white linen coat,
and without shaving or taking his bath, he distributed about the table
moneys, bills, and letters, and set to work. Petritsky, who knew he was
ill-tempered on such occasions, on waking up and seeing his comrade at the
writing-table, quietly dressed and went out without getting in his way.
Every man who knows to the minutest details all the complexity of the
conditions surrounding him, cannot help imagining that the complexity of
these conditions, and the difficulty of making them clear, is something
exceptional and personal, peculiar to himself, and never supposes that
others are surrounded by just as complicated an array of personal affairs as
he is. So indeed it seemed to Vronsky. And not with out inward pride, and
not without reason, he thought that any other man would long ago have
been in difficulties, would have been forced to some dishonorable course, if
he had found himself in such a difficult position. But Vronsky felt that now
especially it was essential for him to clear up and define his position if he
were to avoid getting into difficulties.
What Vronsky attacked first as being the easiest was his pecuniary position.
Writing out on note paper in his minute hand all that he owed, he added up
the amount and found that his debts amounted to seventeen thousand and
some odd hundreds, which he left out for the sake of clearness. Reckoning
up his money and his bank book, he found that he had left one thousand
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eight hundred roubles, and nothing coming in before the New Year.
Reckoning over again his list of debts, Vronsky copied it, dividing it into
three classes. In the first class he put the debts which he would have to pay
at once, or for which he must in any case have the money ready so that on
demand for payment there could not be a moment's delay in paying. Such
debts amounted to about four thousand: one thousand five hundred for a
horse, and two thousand five hundred as surety for a young comrade,
Venovsky, who had lost that sum to a cardsharper in Vronsky's presence.
Vronsky had wanted to pay the money at the time (he had that amount
then), but Venovsky and Yashvin had insisted that they would pay and not
Vronsky, who had not played. That was so far well, but Vronsky knew that
in this dirty business, though his only share in it was undertaking by word
of mouth to be surety for Venovsky, it was absolutely necessary for him to
have the two thousand five hundred roubles so as to be able to fling it at the
swindler, and have no more words with him. And so for this first and most
important division he must have four thousand roubles. The second
class--eight thousand roubles--consisted of less important debts. These
were principally accounts owing in connection with his race horses, to the
purveyor of oats and hay, the English saddler, and so on. He would have to
pay some two thousand roubles on these debts too, in order to be quite free
from anxiety. The last class of debts--to shops, to hotels, to his tailor--were
such as need not be considered. So that he needed at least six thousand
roubles for current expenses, and he only had one thousand eight hundred.
For a man with one hundred thousand roubles of revenue, which was what
everyone fixed as Vronsky's income, such debts, one would suppose, could
hardly be embarrassing; but the fact was that he was far from having one
hundred thousand. His father's immense property, which alone yielded a
yearly income of two hundred thousand, was left undivided between the
brothers. At the time when the elder brother, with a mass of debts, married
Princess Varya Tchirkova, the daughter of a Decembrist without any
fortune whatever, Alexey had given up to his elder brother almost the
whole income from his father's estate, reserving for himself only
twenty-five thousand a year from it. Alexey had said at the time to his
brother that that sum would be sufficient for him until he married, which he
probably never would do. And his brother, who was in command of one of
the most expensive regiments, and was only just married, could not decline
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the gift. His mother, who had her own separate property, had allowed
Alexey every year twenty thousand in addition to the twenty-five thousand
he had reserved, and Alexey had spent it all. Of late his mother, incensed
with him on account of his love affair and his leaving Moscow, had given
up sending him the money. And in consequence of this, Vronsky, who had
been in the habit of living on the scale of forty-five thousand a year, having
only received twenty thousand that year, found himself now in difficulties.
To get out of these difficulties, he could not apply to his mother for money.
Her last letter, which he had received the day before, had particularly
exasperated him by the hints in it that she was quite ready to help him to
succeed in the world and in the army, but not to lead a life which was a
scandal to all good society. His mother's attempt to buy him stung him to
the quick and made him feel colder than ever to her. But he could not draw
back from the generous word when it was once uttered, even though he felt
now, vaguely foreseeing certain eventualities in his intrigue with Madame
Karenina, that this generous word had been spoken thoughtlessly, and that
even though he were not married he might need all the hundred thousand of
income. But it was impossible to draw back. He had only to recall his
brother's wife, to remember how that sweet, delightful Varya sought, at
every convenient opportunity, to remind him that she remembered his
generosity and appreciated it, to grasp the impossibility of taking back his
gift. It was as impossible as beating a woman, stealing, or lying. One thing
only could and ought to be done, and Vronsky determined upon it without
an instant's hesitation: to borrow money from a money-lender, ten thousand
roubles, a proceeding which presented no difficulty, to cut down his
expenses generally, and to sell his race horses. Resolving on this, he
promptly wrote a note to Rolandak, who had more than once sent to him
with offers to buy horses from him. Then he sent for the Englishman and
the money-lender, and divided what money he had according to the
accounts he intended to pay. Having finished this business, he wrote a cold
and cutting answer to his mother. Then he took out of his notebook three
notes of Anna's, read them again, burned them, and remembering their
conversation on the previous day, he sank into meditation.
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