Page 1736 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

child—I imagine you would not stop to inquire whether
war had been declared on the men, but would throw
yourself on them, and protect the victim.’
‘But I should not kill them,’ said Levin.

‘Yes, you would kill them.’
‘I don’t know. If I saw that, I might give way to my
impulse of the moment, but I can’t say beforehand. And
such a momentary impulse there is not, and there cannot
be, in the case of the oppression of the Slavonic peoples.’
‘Possibly for you there is not; but for others there is,’
said Sergey Ivanovitch, frowning with displeasure. ‘There
are traditions still extant among the people of Slavs of the
true faith suffering under the yoke of the ‘unclean sons of
Hagar.’ The people have heard of the sufferings of their
brethren and have spoken.’
‘Perhaps so,’ said Levin evasively; ‘but I don’t see it.
I’m one of the people myself, and I don’t feel it.’
‘Here am I too,’ said the old prince. ‘I’ve been staying
abroad and reading the papers, and I must own, up to the
time of the Bulgarian atrocities, I couldn’t make out why
it was all the Russians were all of a sudden so fond of their
Slavonic brethren, while I didn’t feel the slightest affection
for them. I was very much upset, thought I was a monster,
or that it was the influence of Carlsbad on me. But since I

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