Page 373 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

Chapter 17

Stepan Arkadyevitch went upstairs with his pocket
bulging with notes, which the merchant had paid him for
three months in advance. The business of the forest was
over, the money in his pocket; their shooting had been
excellent, and Stepan Arkadyevitch was in the happiest
frame of mind, and so he felt specially anxious to dissipate
the ill-humor that had come upon Levin. He wanted to
finish the day at supper as pleasantly as it had been begun.
Levin certainly was out of humor, and in spite off all
his desire to be affectionate and cordial to his charming
visitor, he could not control his mood. The intoxication
of the news that Kitty was not married had gradually
begun to work upon him.
Kitty was not married, but ill, and ill from love for a
man who had slighted her. This slight, as it were,
rebounded upon him. Vronsky had slighted her, and she
had slighted him, Levin. Consequently Vronsky had the
right to despise Levin, and therefore he was his enemy.
But all this Levin did not think out. He vaguely felt that
there was something in it insulting to him, and he was not
angry now at what had disturbed him, but he fell foul of

372 of 1759