Page 514 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

‘Well, and for some reason Anna Pavlovna told him
that he didn’t want to go because you are here. Of course,
that was nonsense; but there was a dispute over it—over
you. You know how irritable these sick people are.’

Kitty, scowling more than ever, kept silent, and
Varenka went on speaking alone, trying to soften or
soothe her, and seeing a storm coming—she did not know
whether of tears or of words.
‘So you’d better not go.... You understand; you won’t
be offended?..’
‘And it serves me right! And it serves me right!’ Kitty
cried quickly, snatching the parasol out of Varenka’s hand,
and looking past her friend’s face.
Varenka felt inclined to smile, looking at her childish
fury, but she was afraid of wounding her.
‘How does it serve you right? I don’t understand,’ she
said.
‘It serves me right, because it was all sham; because it
was all done on purpose, and not from the heart. What
business had I to interfere with outsiders? And so it’s come
about that I’m a cause of quarrel, and that I’ve done what
nobody asked me to do. Because it was all a sham! a sham!
a sham! . . .’
‘A sham! with what object?’ said Varenka gently.

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