Page 321 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

Alexey Alexandrovitch paused, and rubbed his forehead
and his eyes. He saw that instead of doing as he had
intended—that is to say, warning his wife against a mistake
in the eyes of the world—he had unconsciously become

agitated over what was the affair of her conscience, and
was struggling against the barrier he fancied between
them.
‘This is what I meant to say to you,’ he went on coldly
and composedly, ‘and I beg you to listen to it. I consider
jealousy, as you know, a humiliating and degrading
feeling, and I shall never allow myself to be influenced by
it; but there are certain rules of decorum which cannot be
disregarded with impunity. This evening it was not I
observed it, but judging by the impression made on the
company, everyone observed that your conduct and
deportment were not altogether what could be desired.’
‘I positively don’t understand,’ said Anna, shrugging
her shoulders—‘He doesn’t care,’ she thought. ‘But other
people noticed it, and that’s what upsets him.’—‘You’re
not well, Alexey Alexandrovitch,’ she added, and she got
up, and would have gone towards the door; but he moved
forward as though he would stop her.
His face was ugly and forbidding, as Anna had never
seen him. She stopped, and bending her head back and on

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