Page 238 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

To me you’re nicer than anyone in the world.’
‘I know that,’ said Seryozha, smiling.
Anna had not had time to drink her coffee when the
Countess Lidia Ivanovna was announced. The Countess

Lidia Ivanovna was a tall, stout woman, with an
unhealthily sallow face and splendid, pensive black eyes.
Anna liked her, but today she seemed to be seeing her for
the first time with all her defects.
‘Well, my dear, so you took the olive branch?’ inquired
Countess Lidia Ivanovna, as soon as she came into the
room.
‘Yes, it’s all over, but it was all much less serious than
we had supposed,’ answered Anna. ‘My belle-soeur is in
general too hasty.’
But Countess Lidia Ivanovna, though she was
interested in everything that did not concern her, had a
habit of never listening to what interested her; she
interrupted Anna:
‘Yes, there’s plenty of sorrow and evil in the world. I
am so worried today.’
‘Oh, why?’ asked Anna, trying to suppress a smile.
‘I’m beginning to be weary of fruitlessly championing
the truth, and sometimes I’m quite unhinged by it. The
Society of the Little Sisters’ (this was a religiously-

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