Page 1082 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

Persian powder. She showed that alertness, that swiftness
of reflection comes out in men before a battle, in conflict,
in the dangerous and decisive moments of life—those
moments when a man shows once and for all his value,

and that all his past has not been wasted but has been a
preparation for these moments.
Everything went rapidly in her hands, and before it was
twelve o’clock all their things were arranged cleanly and
tidily in her rooms, in such a way that the hotel rooms
seemed like home: the beds were made, brushes, combs,
looking-glasses were put out, table napkins were spread.
Levin felt that it was unpardonable to eat, to sleep, to
talk even now, and it seemed to him that every movement
he made was unseemly. She arranged the brushes, but she
did it all so that there was nothing shocking in it.
They could neither of them eat, however, and for a
long while they could not sleep, and did not even go to
bed.
‘I am very glad I persuaded him to receive extreme
unction tomorrow,’ she said, sitting in her dressing jacket
before her folding looking glass, combing her soft, fragrant
hair with a fine comb. ‘I have never seen it, but I know,
mamma has told me, there are prayers said for recovery.’

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