Page 176 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

Chapter 23

Vronsky and Kitty waltzed several times round the
room. After the first waltz Kitty went to her mother, and
she had hardly time to say a few words to Countess
Nordston when Vronsky came up again for the first
quadrille. During the quadrille nothing of any significance
was said: there was disjointed talk between them of the
Korsunskys, husband and wife, whom he described very
amusingly, as delightful children at forty, and of the future
town theater; and only once the conversation touched her
to the quick, when he asker her about Levin, whether he
was here, and added that he liked him so much. But Kitty
did not expect much from the quadrille. She looked
forward with a thrill at her heart to the mazurka. She
fancied that in the mazurka everything must be decided.
The fact that he did not during the quadrille ask her for
the mazurka did not trouble her. She felt sure she would
dance the mazurka with him as she had done at former
balls, and refused five young men, saying she was engaged
for the mazurka. The whole ball up to the last quadrille
was for Kitty an enchanted vision of delightful colors,
sounds, and motions. she only sat down when she felt too

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