Page 1369 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

‘For my part,’ pursued Vronsky, who was evidently for
some reason or other keenly affected by this conversation,
‘such as I am, I am, on the contrary, extremely grateful for
the honor they have done me, thanks to Nikolay Ivanitch’

(he indicated Sviazhsky), ‘in electing me a justice of the
peace. I consider that for me the duty of being present at
the session, of judging some peasants’ quarrel about a
horse, is as important as anything I can do. And I shall
regard it as an honor if they elect me for the district
council. It’s only in that way I can pay for the advantages I
enjoy as a landowner. Unluckily they don’t understand the
weight that the big landowners ought to have in the state.’
It was strange to Darya Alexandrovna to hear how
serenely confident he was of being right at his own table.
She thought how Levin, who believed the opposite, was
just as positive in his opinions at his own table. But she
loved Levin, and so she was on his side.
‘So we can reckon upon you, count, for the coming
elections?’ said Sviazhsky. ‘But you must come a little
beforehand, so as to be on the spot by the eighth. If you
would do me the honor to stop with me.’
‘I rather agree with your beau-frere,’ said Anna,
‘though not quite on the same ground as he,’ she added
with a smile. ‘I’m afraid that we have too many of these

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