Page 1340 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

as to escape the plaything standing in the doorway. ‘It was
very different with my first child.’
‘I expected it to be the other way,’ said Darya
Alexandrovna shyly.

‘Oh, no! By the way, do you know I saw Seryozha?’
said Anna; screwing up her eyes, as though looking at
something far away. ‘But we’ll talk about that later. You
wouldn’t believe it, I’m like a hungry beggar woman
when a full dinner is set before her, and she does not
know what to begin on first. The dinner is you, and the
talks I have before me with you, which I could never have
with anyone else; and I don’t know which subject to
begin upon first. Mais je ne vous ferai grace de rien. I
must have everything out with you.’
‘Oh, I ought to give you a sketch of the company you
will meet with us,’ she went on. ‘I’ll begin with the ladies.
Princess Varvara—you know her, and I know your
opinion and Stiva’s about her. Stiva says the whole aim of
her existence is to prove her superiority over Auntie
Katerina Pavlovna: that’s all true; but she’s a good-natured
woman, and I am so grateful to her. In Petersburg there
was a moment when a chaperon was absolutely essential
for me. Then she turned up. But really she is good-
natured. She did a great deal to alleviate my position. I see

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