Page 1437 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

of the same way of thinking, who were at the same time
clever and well bred. They drank, also half in jest, to the
health of the new marshal of the province, of the
governor, of the bank director, and of ‘our amiable host.’

Vronsky was satisfied. He had never expected to find so
pleasant a tone in the provinces.
Towards the end of dinner it was still more lively. The
governor asked Vronsky to come to a concert for the
benefit of the Servians which his wife, who was anxious to
make his acquaintance, had been getting up.
‘There’ll be a ball, and you’ll see the belle of the
province. Worth seeing, really.’
‘Not in my line,’ Vronsky answered. He liked that
English phrase. But he smiled, and promised to come.
Before they rose from the table, when all of them were
smoking, Vronsky’s valet went up to him with a letter on
a tray.
‘From Vozdvizhenskoe by special messenger,’ he said
with a significant expression.
‘Astonishing! how like he is to the deputy prosecutor
Sventitsky,’ said one of the guests in French of the valet,
while Vronsky, frowning, read the letter.
The letter was from Anna. Before he read the letter, he
knew its contents. Expecting the elections to be over in

1436 of 1759