Page 1367 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

Darya Alexandrovna saw that Anna disliked the tone of
raillery that existed between her and Veslovsky, but fell in
with it against her will.
Vronsky acted in this matter quite differently from

Levin. He obviously attached no significance to
Veslovsky’s chattering; on the contrary, he encouraged his
jests.
‘Come now, tell us, Veslovsky, how are the stones held
together?’
‘By cement, of course.’
‘Bravo! And what is cement?’
‘Oh, some sort of paste ...no, putty,’ said Veslovsky,
raising a general laugh.
The company at dinner, with the exception of the
doctor, the architect, and the steward, who remained
plunged in gloomy silence, kept up a conversation that
never paused, glancing off one subject, fastening on
another, and at times stinging one or the other to the
quick. Once Darya Alexandrovna felt wounded to the
quick, and got so hot that she positively flushed and
wondered afterwards whether she had said anything
extreme or unpleasant. Sviazhsky began talking of Levin,
describing his strange view that machinery is simply
pernicious in its effects on Russian agriculture.

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