Page 620 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

Chapter 14

As he neared Petersburg, Alexey Alexandrovitch not
only adhered entirely to his decision, but was even
composing in his head the letter he would write to his
wife. Going into the porter’s room, Alexey
Alexandrovitch glanced at the letters and papers brought
from his office, and directed that they should be brought
to him in his study.
‘The horses can be taken out and I will see no one,’ he
said in answer to the porter, with a certain pleasure,
indicative of his agreeable frame of mind, emphasizing the
words, ‘see no one.’
In his study Alexey Alexandrovitch walked up and
down twice, and stopped at an immense writing-table, on
which six candles had already been lighted by the valet
who had preceded him. He cracked his knuckles and sat
down, sorting out his writing appurtenances. Putting his
elbows on the table, he bent his head on one side, thought
a minute, and began to write, without pausing for a
second. He wrote without using any form of address to
her, and wrote in French, making use of the plural ‘vous,’

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