Page 1578 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

Chapter 21

After a capital dinner and a great deal of cognac drunk
at Bartnyansky’s, Stepan Arkadyevitch, only a little later
than the appointed time, went in to Countess Lidia
Ivanovna’s.
‘Who else is with the countess?—a Frenchman?’ Stepan
Arkadyevitch asked the hall porter, as he glanced at the
familiar overcoat of Alexey Alexandrovitch and a queer,
rather artless-looking overcoat with clasps.
‘Alexey Alexandrovitch Karenin and Count Bezzubov,’
the porter answered severely.
‘Princess Myakaya guessed right,’ thought Stepan
Arkadyevitch, as he went upstairs. ‘Curious! It would be
quite as well, though, to get on friendly terms with her.
She has immense influence. If she would say a word to
Pomorsky, the thing would be a certainty.’
It was still quite light out-of-doors, but in Countess
Lidia Ivanovna’s little drawing room the blinds were
drawn and the lamps lighted. At a round table under a
lamp sat the countess and Alexey Alexandrovitch, talking
softly. A short, thinnish man, very pale and handsome,
with feminine hips and knock-kneed legs, with fine

1577 of 1759