Page 609 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

Chapter 13

None but those who were most intimate with Alexey
Alexandrovitch knew that, while on the surface the
coldest and most reasonable of men, he had one weakness
quite opposed to the general trend of his character. Alexey
Alexandrovitch could not hear or see a child or woman
crying without being moved. The sight of tears threw him
into a state of nervous agitation, and he utterly lost all
power of reflection. The chief secretary of his department
and his private secretary were aware of this, and used to
warn women who came with petitions on no account to
give way to tears, if they did not want to ruin their
chances. ‘He will get angry, and will not listen to you,’
they used to say. And as a fact, in such cases the emotional
disturbance set up in Alexey Alexandrovitch by the sight
of tears found expression in hasty anger. ‘I can do nothing.
Kindly leave the room!’ he would commonly cry in such
cases.
When returning from the races Anna had informed him
of her relations with Vronsky, and immediately afterwards
had burst into tears, hiding her face in her hands, Alexey
Alexandrovitch, for all the fury aroused in him against her,

608 of 1759