Page 1394 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

when he would be back. He looked intently at her, at a
loss to explain this composure. She smiled at his look. He
knew that way she had of withdrawing into herself, and
knew that it only happened when she had determined

upon something without letting him know her plans. He
was afraid of this; but he was so anxious to avoid a scene
that he kept up appearances, and half sincerely believed in
what he longed to believe in—her reasonableness.
‘I hope you won’t be dull?’
‘I hope not,’ said Anna. ‘I got a box of books yesterday
from Gautier’s. No, I shan’t be dull.’
‘She’s trying to take that tone, and so much the better,’
he thought, ‘or else it would be the same thing over and
over again.’
And he set off for the elections without appealing to
her for a candid explanation. It was the first time since the
beginning of their intimacy that he had parted from her
without a full explanation. From one point of view this
troubled him, but on the other side he felt that it was
better so. ‘At first there will be, as this time, something
undefined kept back, and then she will get used to it. I any
case I can give up anything for her, but not my masculine
independence,’ he thought.

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