Page 72 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

mother-in-law, he responded in a mournful and crestfallen
tone to her inquiries about Dolly’s health. After a little
subdued and dejected conversation with his mother-in-
law, he threw out his chest again, and put his arm in

Levin’s.
‘Well, shall we set off?’ he asked. ‘I’ve been thinking
about you all this time, and I’m very, very glad you’ve
come,’ he said, looking him in the face with a significant
air.
‘Yes, come along,’ answered Levin in ecstasy, hearing
unceasingly the sound of that voice saying, ‘Good-bye till
this evening,’ and seeing the smile with which it was said.
‘To the England or the Hermitage?’
‘I don’t mind which.’
‘All right, then, the England,’ said Stepan Arkadyevitch,
selecting that restaurant because he owed more there than
at the Hermitage, and consequently considered it mean to
avoid it. ‘Have you got a sledge? That’s first-rate, for I sent
my carriage home.’
The friends hardly spoke all the way. Levin was
wondering what that change in Kitty’s expression had
meant, and alternately assuring himself that there was
hope, and falling into despair, seeing clearly that his hopes
were insane, and yet all the while he felt himself quite

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