Page 1737 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

have been here, my mind’s been set at rest. I see that there
are people besides me who’re only interested in Russia,
and not in their Slavonic brethren. Here’s Konstantin too.’
‘Personal opinions mean nothing in such a case,’ said

Sergey Ivanovitch; ‘it’s not a matter of personal opinions
when all Russia—the whole people—has expressed its
will.’
‘But excuse me, I don’t see that. The people don’t
know anything about it, if you come to that,’ said the old
prince.
‘Oh, papa!...how can you say that? And last Sunday in
church?’ said Dolly, listening to the conversation. ‘Please
give me a cloth,’ she said to the old man, who was looking
at the children with a smile. ‘Why, it’s not possible that
all..’
‘But what was it in church on Sunday? The priest had
been told to read that. He read it. They didn’t understand
a word of it. Then they were told that there was to be a
collection for a pious object in church; well, they pulled
out their halfpence and gave them, but what for they
couldn’t say.’
‘The people cannot help knowing; the sense of their
own destinies is always in the people, and at such
moments as the present that sense finds utterance,’ said

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