Page 1302 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

Chapter 15

After escorting his wife upstairs, Levin went to Dolly’s
part of the house. Darya Alexandrovna, for her part, was
in great distress too that day. She was walking about the
room, talking angrily to a little girl, who stood in the
corner roaring.
‘And you shall stand all day in the corner, and have
your dinner all alone, and not see one of your dolls, and I
won’t make you a new frock,’ she said, not knowing how
to punish her.
‘Oh, she is a disgusting child!’ she turned to Levin.
‘Where does she get such wicked propensities?’
‘Why, what has she done?’ Levin said without much
interest, for he had wanted to ask her advice, and so was
annoyed that he had come at an unlucky moment.
‘Grisha and she went into the raspberries, and there...I
can’t tell you really what she did. It’s a thousand pities
Miss Elliot’s not with us. This one sees to nothing—she’s a
machine.... Figurez-vous que la petite?..’
And Darya Alexandrovna described Masha’s crime.
‘That proves nothing; it’s not a question of evil
propensities at all, it’s simply mischief,’ Levin assured her.

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