Page 243 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

‘Yes, my solitude is over. You wouldn’t believe how
uncomfortable’ (he laid stress on the word uncomfortable)
‘it is to dine alone.’
At dinner he talked a little to his wife about Moscow

matters, and, with a sarcastic smile, asked her after Stepan
Arkadyevitch; but the conversation was for the most part
general, dealing with Petersburg official and public news.
After dinner he spent half an hour with his guests, and
again, with a smile, pressed his wife’s hand, withdrew, and
drove off to the council. Anna did not go out that evening
either to the Princess Betsy Tverskaya, who, hearing of
her return, had invited her, nor to the theater, where she
had a box for that evening. She did not go out principally
because the dress she had reckoned upon was not ready.
Altogether, Anna, on turning, after the departure of her
guests, to the consideration of her attire, was very much
annoyed. She was generally a mistress of the art of dressing
well without great expense, and before leaving Moscow
she had given her dressmaker three dresses to transform.
The dresses had to be altered so that they could not be
recognized, and they ought to have been ready three days
before. It appeared that two dresses had not been done at
all, while the other one had not been altered as Anna had
intended. The dressmaker came to explain, declaring that

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