Page 199 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

‘But I personally value friendly relations with you more
because..’
‘Why, why?’
Konstantin could not say that he valued it more

because Nikolay was unhappy, and needed affection. But
Nikolay knew that this was just what he meant to say, and
scowling he took up the vodka again.
‘Enough, Nikolay Dmitrievitch!’ said Marya
Nikolaevna, stretching out her plump, bare arm towards
the decanter.
‘Let it be! Don’t insist! I’ll beat you!’ he shouted.
Marya Nikolaevna smiled a sweet and good-humored
smile, which was at once reflected on Nikolay’s face, and
she took the bottle.
‘And do you suppose she understands nothing?’ said
Nikolay. ‘She understands it all better than any of us. Isn’t
it true there’s something good and sweet in her?’
‘Were you never before in Moscow?’ Konstantin said
to her, for the sake of saying something.
‘Only you mustn’t be polite and stiff with her. It
frightens her. No one ever spoke to her so but the justices
of the peace who tried her for trying to get out of a house
of ill-fame. Mercy on us, the senselessness in the world!’

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