Page 1561 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

ask for her son now. Alexey Alexandrovitch, you are a
good man. Put yourself in her position for a minute. The
question of divorce for her in her position is a question of
life and death. If you had not promised it once, she would

have reconciled herself to her position, she would have
gone on living in the country. But you promised it, and
she wrote to you, and moved to Moscow. And here she’s
been for six months in Moscow, where every chance
meeting cuts her to the heart, every day expecting an
answer. Why, it’s like keeping a condemned criminal for
six months with the rope round his neck, promising him
perhaps death, perhaps mercy. Have pity on her, and I will
undertake to arrange everything. Vos scrupules..’
‘I am not talking about that, about that...’ Alexey
Alexandrovitch interrupted with disgust. ‘But, perhaps, I
promised what I had no right to promise.’
‘So you go back from your promise?’
‘I have never refused to do all that is possible, but I
want time to consider how much of what I promised is
possible.’
‘No, Alexey Alexandrovitch!’ cried Oblonsky, jumping
up, ‘I won’t believe that! She’s unhappy as only an
unhappy woman can be, and you cannot refuse in such..’

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