Page 1458 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

Levin was not by now struck as he had been at first by
the fact that to get from one end of Moscow to the other
he had to have two powerful horses put into a heavy
carriage, to take the carriage three miles through the

snowy slush and to keep it standing there four hours,
paying five roubles every time.
Now it seemed quite natural.
‘Hire a pair for our carriage from the jobmaster,’ said
he.
‘Yes, sir.’
And so, simply and easily, thanks to the facilities of
town life, Levin settled a question which, in the country,
would have called for so much personal trouble and
exertion, and going out onto the steps, he called a sledge,
sat down, and drove to Nikitsky. On the way he thought
no more of money, but mused on the introduction that
awaited him to the Petersburg savant, a writer on
sociology, and what he would say to him about his book.
Only during the first days of his stay in Moscow Levin
had been struck by the expenditure, strange to one living
in the country, unproductive but inevitable, that was
expected of him on every side. But by now he had grown
used to it. That had happened to him in this matter which
is said to happen to drunkards—the first glass sticks in the

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