Page 216 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

Anna was hurt.
‘Oh no, oh no! I’m not Stiva,’ she said, knitting her
brows. ‘That’s why I’m telling you, just because I could
never let myself doubt myself for an instant,’ said Anna.

But at the very moment she was uttering the words,
she felt that they were not true. She was not merely
doubting herself, she felt emotion at the thought of
Vronsky, and was going away sooner than she had meant,
simply to avoid meeting him.
‘Yes, Stiva told me you danced the mazurka with him,
and that he..’
‘You can’t imagine how absurdly it all came about. I
only meant to be matchmaking, and all at once it turned
out quite differently. Possibly against my own will..’
She crimsoned and stopped.
‘Oh, they feel it directly?’ said Dolly.
‘But I should be in despair if there were anything
serious in it on his side,’ Anna interrupted her. ‘And I am
certain it will all be forgotten, and Kitty will leave off
hating me.’
‘All the same, Anna, to tell you the truth, I’m not very
anxious for this marriage for Kitty. And it’s better it should
come to nothing, if he, Vronsky, is capable of falling in
love with you in a single day.’

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