Page 465 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

of all he had seen, Alexey Alexandrovitch still did not
allow himself to consider his wife’s real condition. He
merely saw the outward symptoms. He saw that she was
behaving unbecomingly, and considered it his duty to tell

her so. But it was very difficult for him not to say more, to
tell her nothing but that. He opened his mouth to tell her
she had behaved unbecomingly, but he could not help
saying something utterly different.
‘What an inclination we all have, though, for these
cruel spectacles,’ he said. ‘I observe..’
‘Eh? I don’t understand,’ said Anna contemptuously.
He was offended, and at once began to say what he had
meant to say.
‘I am obliged to tell you,’ he began.
‘So now we are to have it out,’ she thought, and she
felt frightened.
‘I am obliged to tell you that your behavior has been
unbecoming today,’ he said to her in French.
‘In what way has my behavior been unbecoming?’ she
said aloud, turning her head swiftly and looking him
straight in the face, not with the bright expression that
seemed covering something, but with a look of
determination, under which she concealed with difficulty
the dismay she was feeling.

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