Page 1171 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

not to smile, not to kiss the baby, impossible not to hold
out a finger for her to clutch, crowing and prancing all
over; impossible not to offer her a lip which she sucked
into her little mouth by way of a kiss. And all this Anna

did, and took her in her arms and made her dance, and
kissed her fresh little cheek and bare little elbows; but at
the sight of this child it was plainer than ever to her that
the feeling she had for her could not be called love in
comparison with what she felt for Seryozha. Everything in
this baby was charming, but for some reason all this did
not go deep to her heart. On her first child, though the
child of an unloved father, had been concentrated all the
love that had never found satisfaction. Her baby girl had
been born in the most painful circumstances and had not
had a hundredth part of the care and thought which had
been
concentrated on her first child. Besides, in the little girl
everything was still in the future, while Seryozha was by
now almost a personality, and a personality dearly loved.
In him there was a conflict of thought and feeling; he
understood her, he loved her, he judged her, she thought,
recalling his words and his eyes. And she was forever—not
physically only but spiritually—divided from him, and it
was impossible to set this right.

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