Page 1288 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

white breast on the wet mire. Another bird did not linger,
but rose behind Levin without the dog. When Levin
turned towards it, it was already some way off. But his
shot caught it. Flying twenty paces further, the second

grouse rose upwards, and whirling round like a ball,
dropped heavily on a dry place.
‘Come, this is going to be some good!’ thought Levin,
packing the warm and fat grouse into his game bag. ‘Eh,
Laska, will it be good?’
When Levin, after loading his gun, moved on, the sun
had fully risen, though unseen behind the storm-clouds.
The moon had lost all of its luster, and was like a white
cloud in the sky. Not a single star could be seen. The
sedge, silvery with dew before, now shone like gold. The
stagnant pools were all like amber. The blue of the grass
had changed to yellow-green. The marsh birds twittered
and swarmed about the brook and upon the bushes that
glittered with dew and cast long shadows. A hawk woke
up and settled on a haycock, turning its head from side to
side and looking discontentedly at the marsh. Crows were
flying about the field, and a bare-legged boy was driving
the horses to an old man, who had got up from under his
long coat and was combing his hair. The smoke from the
gun was white as milk over the green of the grass.

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