Page 284 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

gay smile under his mustaches that he lowered the opera
glass and looked at his cousin.
‘But why was it you didn’t come to dinner?’ she said,
admiring him.

‘I must tell you about that. I was busily employed, and
doing what, do you suppose? I’ll give you a hundred
guesses, a thousand...you’d never guess. I’ve been
reconciling a husband with a man who’d insulted his wife.
Yes, really!’
‘Well, did you succeed?’
‘Almost.’
‘You really must tell me about it,’ she said, getting up.
‘Come to me in the next entr’acte.’
‘I can’t; I’m going to the French theater.’
‘From Nilsson?’ Betsy queried in horror, though she
could not herself have distinguished Nilsson’s voice from
any chorus girl’s.
‘Can’t help it. I’ve an appointment there, all to do with
my mission of peace.’
’ Blessed are the peacemakers; theirs is the kingdom of
heaven,’’ said Betsy, vaguely recollecting she had heard
some similar saying from someone. ‘Very well, then, sit
down, and tell me what it’s all about.’
And she sat down again.

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