Page 1187 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

footlights, caught sight of him in the distance and
beckoned to him, smiling.
Vronsky had not yet seen Anna. He purposely avoided
looking in her direction. But he knew by the direction of

people’s eyes where she was. He looked round discreetly,
but he was not seeking her; expecting the worst, his eyes
sought for Alexey Alexandrovitch. To his relief Alexey
Alexandrovitch was not in the theater that evening.
‘How little of the military man there is left in you!’
Serpuhovskoy was saying to him. ‘A diplomat, an artist,
something of that sort, one would say.’
‘Yes, it was like going back home when I put on a
black coat,’ answered Vronsky, smiling and slowly taking
out his opera glass.
‘Well, I’ll own I envy you there. When I come back
from abroad and put on this,’ he touched his epaulets, ‘I
regret my freedom.’
Serpuhovskoy had long given up all hope of Vronsky’s
career, but he liked him as before, and was now
particularly cordial to him.
‘What a pity you were not in time for the first act!’
Vronsky, listening with one ear, moved his opera glass
from the stalls and scanned the boxes. Near a lady in a
turban and a bald old man, who seemed to wave angrily in

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