Page 1338 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

When they went in, the baby, with nothing on but her
little smock was sitting in a little elbow chair at the table,
having her dinner of broth which she was spilling all over
her little chest. The baby was being fed, and the Russian

nursery maid was evidently sharing her meal. Neither the
wet-nurse nor the head nurse were there; they were in the
next room, from which came the sound of their
conversation in the queer French which was their only
means of communication.
Hearing Anna’s voice, a smart, tall, English nurse with
a disagreeable face and a dissolute expression walked in at
the door, hurriedly shaking her fair curls, and immediately
began to defend herself though Anna had not found fault
with her. At every word Anna said, the English nurse said
hurriedly several times, ‘Yes, my lady.’
The rosy baby with her black eyebrows and hair, her
sturdy red little body with tight goose-flesh skin, delighted
Darya Alexandrovna in spite of the cross expression with
which she stared at the stranger. She positively envied the
baby’s healthy appearance. She was delighted, too, at the
baby’s crawling. Not one of her own children had crawled
like that. When the baby was put on the carpet and its
little dress tucked up behind, it was wonderfully charming.
Looking round like some little wild animal at the grown-

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