Page 447 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

but strain a string to its very utmost, and the mere weight
of one finger on the strained string will snap it. And with
his close assiduity, his conscientious devotion to his work,
he’s strained to the utmost; and there’s some outside

burden weighing on him, and not a light one,’ concluded
the doctor, raising his eyebrows significantly. ‘Will you be
at the races?’ he added, as he sank into his seat in the
carriage.
‘Yes, yes, to be sure; it does waste a lot of time,’ the
doctor responded vaguely to some reply of Sludin’s he had
not caught.
Directly after the doctor, who had taken up so much
time, came the celebrated traveler, and Alexey
Alexandrovitch, by means of the pamphlet he had only
just finished reading and his previous acquaintance with
the subject, impressed the traveler by the depth of his
knowledge of the subject and the breadth and
enlightenment of his view of it.
At the same time as the traveler there was announced a
provincial marshal of nobility on a visit to Petersburg, with
whom Alexey Alexandrovitch had to have some
conversation. After his departure, he had to finish the daily
routine of business with his secretary, and then he still had
to drive round to call on a certain great personage on a

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