Page 63 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

went towards the mounds, whence came the clank of the
chains of sledges as they slipped down or were dragged up,
the rumble of the sliding sledges, and the sounds of merry
voices. He walked on a few steps, and the skating-ground

lay open before his eyes, and at once, amidst all the skaters,
he knew her.
He knew she was there by the rapture and the terror
that seized on his heart. She was standing talking to a lady
at the opposite end of the ground. There was apparently
nothing striking either in her dress or her attitude. But for
Levin she was as easy to find in that crowd as a rose
among nettles. Everything was made bright by her. She
was the smile that shed light on all round her. ‘Is it
possible I can go over there on the ice, go up to her?’ he
thought. The place where she stood seemed to him a holy
shrine, unapproachable, and there was one moment when
he was almost retreating, so overwhelmed was he with
terror. He had to make an effort to master himself, and to
remind himself that people of all sorts were moving about
her, and that he too might come there to skate. He walked
down, for a long while avoiding looking at her as at the
sun, but seeing her, as one does the sun, without looking.
On that day of the week and at that time of day people
of one set, all acquainted with one another, used to meet

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