Page 1552 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

‘Yes, that’s very true,’ he said, when Alexey
Alexandrovitch took off the pince-nez, without which he
could not read now, and looked inquiringly at his former
brother-in-law, ‘that’s very true in particular cases, but still

the principle of our day is freedom.’
‘Yes, but I lay down another principle, embracing the
principle of freedom,’ said Alexey Alexandrovitch, with
emphasis on the word ‘embracing,’ and he put on his
pince-nez again, so as to read the passage in which this
statement was made. And turning over the beautifully
written, wide-margined manuscript, Alexey
Alexandrovitch read aloud over again the conclusive
passage.
‘I don’t advocate protection for the sake of private
interests, but for the public weal, and for the lower and
upper classes equally,’ he said, looking over his pince-nez
at Oblonsky. ‘But THEY cannot grasp that, THEY are
taken up now with personal interests, and carried away by
phrases.’
Stepan Arkadyevitch knew that when Karenin began to
talk of what THEY were doing and thinking, the persons
who would not accept his report and were the cause of
everything wrong in Russia, that it was coming near the
end. And so now he eagerly abandoned the principle of

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