Page 677 - ANNA KARENINA
P. 677
Anna Karenina
‘How glad I am!’ he said, squeezing his hand and
drawing him on one side.
‘You look after him,’ the colonel shouted to Yashvin,
pointing to Vronsky; and he went down below to the
soldiers.
‘Why weren’t you at the races yesterday? I expected to
see you there,’ said Vronsky, scrutinizing Serpuhovskoy.
‘I did go, but late. I beg your pardon,’ he added, and he
turned to the adjutant: ‘Please have this divided from me,
each man as much as it runs to.’ And he hurriedly took
notes for three hundred roubles from his pocketbook,
blushing a little.
‘Vronsky! Have anything to eat or drink?’ asked
Yashvin. ‘Hi, something for the count to eat! Ah, here it
is: have a glass!’
The fete at the colonel’s lasted a long while. There was
a great deal of drinking. They tossed Serpuhovskoy in the
air and caught him again several times. Then they did the
same to the colonel. Then, to the accompaniment of the
band, the colonel himself danced with Petritsky. Then the
colonel, who began to show signs of feebleness, sat down
on a bench in the courtyard and began demonstrating to
Yashvin the superiority of Russia over Poland, especially
in cavalry attack, and there was a lull in the revelry for a
676 of 1759