Page 69 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

‘Now, go and skate, go and skate. Our Kitty has
learned to skate nicely, hasn’t she?’
When Levin darted up to Kitty her face was no longer
stern; her eyes looked at him with the same sincerity and

friendliness, but Levin fancied that in her friendliness there
was a certain note of deliberate composure. And he felt
depressed. After talking a little of her old governess and
her peculiarities, she questioned him about his life.
‘Surely you must be dull in the country in the winter,
aren’t you?’ she said.
‘No, I’m not dull, I am very busy,’ he said, feeling that
she was holding him in check by her composed tone,
which he would not have the force to break through, just
as it had been at the beginning of the winter.
‘Are you going to stay in town long?’ Kitty questioned
him.
‘I don’t know,’ he answered, not thinking of what he
was saying. The thought that if he were held in check by
her tone of quiet friendliness he would end by going back
again without deciding anything came into his mind, and
he resolved to make a struggle against it.
‘How is it you don’t know?’
‘I don’t know. It depends upon you,’ he said, and was
immediately horror-stricken at his own words.

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