Page 1672 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

He was unmistakably tipsy, and was relating some story
that had occurred at his school. Facing him sat a middle-
aged officer in the Austrian military jacket of the Guards
uniform. He was listening with a smile to the hollow-

chested youth, and occasionally pulling him up. The third,
in an artillery uniform, was sitting on a box beside them.
A fourth was asleep.
Entering into conversation with the youth, Katavasov
learned that he was a wealthy Moscow merchant who had
run through a large fortune before he was two-and-
twenty. Katavasov did not like him, because he was
unmanly and effeminate and sickly. He was obviously
convinced, especially now after drinking, that he was
performing a heroic action, and he bragged of it in the
most unpleasant way.
The second, the retired officer, made an unpleasant
impression too upon Katavasov. He was, it seemed, a man
who had tried everything. He had been on a railway, had
been a land-steward, and had started factories, and he
talked, quite without necessity, of all he had done, and
used learned expressions quite inappropriately.
The third, the artilleryman, on the contrary, struck
Katavasov very favorably. He was a quiet, modest fellow,
unmistakably impressed by the knowledge of the officer

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