Page 246 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

‘I was very, very glad. It shows that at last a reasonable
and steady view of the matter is becoming prevalent
among us.’
Having drunk his second cup of tea with cream, and

bread, Alexey Alexandrovitch got up, and was going
towards his study.
‘And you’ve not been anywhere this evening? You’ve
been dull, I expect?’ he said.
‘Oh, no!’ she answered, getting up after him and
accompanying him across the room to his study. ‘What are
you reading now?’ she asked.
‘Just now I’m reading Duc de Likke, Poesie des Enfers,’
he answered. ‘A very remarkable book.’
Anna smiled, as people smile at the weaknesses of those
they love, and, putting her hand under his, she escorted
him to the door of the study. She knew his habit, that had
grown into a necessity, of reading in the evening. She
knew, too, that in spite of his official duties, which
swallowed up almost the whole of his time, he considered
it his duty to keep up with everything of note that
appeared in the intellectual world. She knew, too, that he
was really interested in books dealing with politics,
philosophy, and theology, that art was utterly foreign to
his nature; but, in spite of this, or rather, in consequence

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