Page 571 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

and in a week’s time everything actually had come round.
The roof was mended, a kitchen maid was found—a
crony of the village elder’s—hens were bought, the cows
began giving milk, the garden hedge was stopped up with

stakes, the carpenter made a mangle, hooks were put in
the cupboards, and they ceased to burst open
spontaneously, and an ironing-board covered with army
cloth was placed across from the arm of a chair to the
chest of drawers, and there was a smell of flatirons in the
maids’ room.
‘Just see, now, and you were quite in despair,’ said
Marya Philimonovna, pointing to the ironing-board. They
even rigged up a bathing-shed of straw hurdles. Lily began
to bathe, and Darya Alexandrovna began to realize, if only
in part, her expectations, if not of a peaceful, at least of a
comfortable, life in the country. Peaceful with six children
Darya Alexandrovna could not be. One would fall ill,
another might easily become so, a third would be without
something necessary, a fourth would show symptoms of a
bad disposition, and so on. Rare indeed were the brief
periods of peace. But these cares and anxieties were for
Darya Alexandrovna the sole happiness possible. Had it
not been for them, she would have been left alone to
brood over her husband who did not love her. And

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