Page 648 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

alien as it was to her nature, had become not merely
simple and natural in society, but a positive source of
satisfaction. Why she said this, which she had not thought
of a second before, she could not have explained. She had

said it simply from the reflection that as Vronsky would
not be here, she had better secure her own freedom, and
try to see him somehow. But why she had spoken of old
Madame Vrede, whom she had to go and see, as she had
to see many other people, she could not have explained;
and yet, as it afterwards turned out, had she contrived the
most cunning devices to meet Vronsky, she could have
thought of nothing better.
‘No. I’m not going to let you go for anything,’
answered Betsy, looking intently into Anna’s face. ‘Really,
if I were not fond of you, I should feel offended. One
would think you were afraid my society would
compromise you. Tea in the little dining room, please,’
she said, half closing her eyes, as she always did when
addressing the footman.
Taking the note from him, she read it.
‘Alexey’s playing us false,’ she said in French; ‘he writes
that he can’t come,’ she added in a tone as simple and
natural as though it could never enter her head that
Vronsky could mean anything more to Anna than a game

647 of 1759