Page 503 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

who, as though on purpose, at the very instant they
approached walked away after a child that had run off
along a path.
‘Poor fellow! and what a nice face he has!’ said the

prince. ‘Why don’t you go up to him? He wanted to
speak to you.’
‘Well, let us go, then,’ said Kitty, turning round
resolutely. ‘How are you feeling today?’ she asked Petrov.
Petrov got up, leaning on his stick, and looked shyly at
the prince.
‘This is my daughter,’ said the prince. ‘Let me
introduce myself.’
The painter bowed and smiled, showing his strangely
dazzling white teeth.
‘We expected you yesterday, princess,’ he said to Kitty.
He staggered as he said this, and then repeated the motion,
trying to make it seem as if it had been intentional.
‘I meant to come, but Varenka said that Anna Pavlovna
sent word you were not going.’
‘Not going!’ said Petrov, blushing, and immediately
beginning to cough, and his eyes sought his wife. ‘Anita!
Anita!’ he said loudly, and the swollen veins stood out like
cords on his thin white neck.
Anna Pavlovna came up.

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