Page 664 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

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.

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