Page 327 - ANNA KARENINA
P. 327

Anna Karenina




                                                        Chapter 11


                                     That which for Vronsky had been almost a whole year
                                  the one absorbing desire of his life, replacing all his old
                                  desires; that which for Anna had been an impossible,
                                  terrible, and even for that reason more entrancing dream
                                  of bliss, that desire had been fulfilled. He stood before her,
                                  pale, his lower jaw quivering, and besought her to be
                                  calm, not knowing how or why.
                                     ‘Anna! Anna!’ he said with a choking voice, ‘Anna, for
                                  pity’s sake!..’
                                     But the louder he spoke, the lower she dropped her
                                  once proud and gay, now shame-stricken head, and she
                                  bowed down and sank from the sofa where she was sitting,
                                  down on the floor, at his feet; she would have fallen on
                                  the carpet if he had not held her.
                                     ‘My God! Forgive me!’ she said, sobbing, pressing his
                                  hands to her bosom.
                                     She felt so sinful, so guilty, that nothing was left her but
                                  to humiliate herself and beg forgiveness; and as now there
                                  was no one in her life but him, to him she addressed her
                                  prayer for forgiveness. Looking at him, she had a physical
                                  sense of her humiliation, and she could say nothing more.




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