Page 71 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

‘How splendid, how nice he is!’ Kitty was thinking at
that time, as she came out of the pavilion with Mlle.
Linon, and looked towards him with a smile of quiet
affection, as though he were a favorite brother. ‘And can it

be my fault, can I have done anything wrong? They talk
of flirtation. I know it’s not he that I love; but still I am
happy with him, and he’s so jolly. Only, why did he say
that?...’ she mused.
Catching sight of Kitty going away, and her mother
meeting her at the steps, Levin, flushed from his rapid
exercise, stood still and pondered a minute. He took off
his skates, and overtook the mother and daughter at the
entrance of the gardens.
‘Delighted to see you,’ said Princess Shtcherbatskaya.
‘On Thursdays we are home, as always.’
‘Today, then?’
‘We shall be pleased to see you,’ the princess said stiffly.
This stiffness hurt Kitty, and she could not resist the
desire to smooth over her mother’s coldness. She turned
her head, and with a smile said:
‘Good-bye till this evening.’
At that moment Stepan Arkadyevitch, his hat cocked
on one side, with beaming face and eyes, strode into the
garden like a conquering hero. But as he approached his

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