Page 1580 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

‘She was here today, poor thing!’ the countess said,
turning to Alexey Alexandrovitch. ‘This separation is
awful for her. It’s such a blow to her!’
‘And he positively is going?’ queried Alexey

Alexandrovitch.
‘Yes, he’s going to Paris. He heard a voice yesterday,’
said Countess Lidia Ivanovna, looking at Stepan
Arkadyevitch.
‘Ah, a voice!’ repeated Oblonsky, feeling that he must
be as circumspect as he possibly could in this society,
where something peculiar was going on, or was to go on,
to which he had not the key.
A moment’s silence followed, after which Countess
Lidia Ivanovna, as though approaching the main topic of
conversation, said with a fine smile to Oblonsky:
‘I’ve known you for a long while, and am very glad to
make a closer acquaintance with you. Les amis de nos amis
sont nos amis. But to be a true friend, one must enter into
the spiritual state of one’s friend, and I fear that you are
not doing so in the case of Alexey Alexandrovitch. You
understand what I mean?’ she said, lifting her fine pensive
eyes.
‘In part, countess, I understand the position of Alexey
Alexandrovitch...’ said Oblonsky. Having no clear idea

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