Page 418 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

‘I beg you, I entreat you,’ she said suddenly, taking his
hand, and speaking in quite a different tone, sincere and
tender, ‘never speak to me of that!’
‘But, Anna..’

‘Never. Leave it to me. I know all the baseness, all the
horror of my position; but it’s not so easy to arrange as
you think. And leave it to me, and do what I say. Never
speak to me of it. Do you promise me?...No, no,
promise!..’
‘I promise everything, but I can’t be at peace, especially
after what you have told me. I can’t be at peace, when
you can’t be at peace...’
‘I?’ she repeated. ‘Yes, I am worried sometimes; but
that will pass, if you will never talk about this. When you
talk about it—it’s only then it worries me.’
‘I don’t understand,’ he said.
‘I know,’ she interrupted him, ‘how hard it is for your
truthful nature to lie, and I grieve for you. I often think
that you have ruined your whole life for me.’
‘I was just thinking the very same thing,’ he said; ‘how
could you sacrifice everything for my sake? I can’t forgive
myself that you’re unhappy!’
‘I unhappy?’ she said, coming closer to him, and
looking at him with an ecstatic smile of love. ‘I am like a

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