Page 1150 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

in the same position, if one knows that there’s nothing to
prevent one’s changing one’s position; but if a man knows
that he must remain sitting so with crossed legs, then
cramps come on, the legs begin to twitch and to strain

towards the spot to which one would like to draw them.
This was what Vronsky was experiencing in regard to the
world. Though at the bottom of his heart he knew that
the world was shut on them, he put it to the test whether
the world had not changed by now and would not receive
them. But he very quickly perceived that though the
world was open for him personally, it was closed for Anna.
Just as in the game of cat and mouse, the hands raised for
him were dropped to bar the way for Anna.
One of the first ladies of Petersburg society whom
Vronsky saw was his cousin Betsy.
‘At last!’ she greeted him joyfully. ‘And Anna? How
glad I am! Where are you stopping? I can fancy after your
delightful travels you must find our poor Petersburg
horrid. I can fancy your honeymoon in Rome. How
about the divorce? Is that all over?’
Vronsky noticed that Betsy’s enthusiasm waned when
she learned that no divorce had as yet taken place.

1149 of 1759