Page 1484 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

‘Your hat, please,’ the porter said to Levin, who forgot
the club rule to leave his hat in the porter’s room. ‘Long
time since you’ve been. The prince put your name down
yesterday. Prince Stepan Arkadyevitch is not here yet.’

The porter did not only know Levin, but also all his
ties and relationships, and so immediately mentioned his
intimate friends.
Passing through the outer hall, divided up by screens,
and the room partitioned on the right, where a man sits at
the fruit buffet, Levin overtook an old man walking slowly
in, and entered the dining room full of noise and people.
He walked along the tables, almost all full, and looked
at the visitors. He saw people of all sorts, old and young;
some he knew a little, some intimate friends. There was
not a single cross or worried-looking face. All seemed to
have left their cares and anxieties in the porter’s room with
their hats, and were all deliberately getting ready to enjoy
the material blessings of life. Sviazhsky was here and
Shtcherbatsky, Nevyedovsky and the old prince, and
Vronsky and Sergey Ivanovitch.
‘Ah! why are you late?’ the prince said smiling, and
giving him his hand over his own shoulder. ‘How’s Kitty?’
he added, smoothing out the napkin he had tucked in at
his waistcoat buttons.

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