Page 1524 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

‘Kostya, don’t be frightened. It’s all right. But I fancy....
We ought to send for Lizaveta Petrovna.’
The candle was lighted again. She was sitting up in bed,
holding some knitting, which she had been busy upon

during the last few days.
‘Please, don’t be frightened, it’s all right. I’m not a bit
afraid,’ she said, seeing his scared face, and she pressed his
hand to her bosom and then to her lips.
He hurriedly jumped up, hardly awake, and kept his
eyes fixed on her, as he put on his dressing gown; then he
stopped, still looking at her. He had to go, but he could
not tear himself from her eyes. He thought he loved her
face, knew her expression, her eyes, but never had he seen
it like this. How hateful and horrible he seemed to
himself, thinking of the distress he had caused her
yesterday. Her flushed face, fringed with soft curling hair
under her night cap, was radiant with joy and courage.
Though there was so little that was complex or artificial
in Kitty’s character in general, Levin was struck by what
was revealed now, when suddenly all disguises were
thrown off and the very kernel of her soul shone in her
eyes. And in this simplicity and nakedness of her soul, she,
the very woman he loved in her, was more manifest than
ever. She looked at him, smiling; but all at once her brows

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