Page 101 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

so anxious for the marriage itself, and still more for relief
from her fears, that she believed it was so. Bitter as it was
for the princess to see the unhappiness of her eldest
daughter, Dolly, on the point of leaving her husband, her

anxiety over the decision of her youngest daughter’s fate
engrossed all her feelings. Today, with Levin’s
reappearance, a fresh source of anxiety arose. She was
afraid that her daughter, who had at one time, as she
fancied, a feeling for Levin, might, from extreme sense of
honor, refuse Vronsky, and that Levin’s arrival might
generally complicate and delay the affair so near being
concluded.
‘Why, has be been here long?’ the princess asked about
Levin, as they returned home.
‘He came today, mamma.’
‘There’s one thing I want to say...’ began the princess,
and from her serious and alert face, Kitty guessed what it
would be.
‘Mamma,’ she said, flushing hotly and turning quickly
to her, ‘please, please don’t say anything about that. I
know, I know all about it.’
She wished for what her mother wished for, but the
motives of her mother’s wishes wounded her.
‘I only want to say that to raise hopes..’

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