Page 789 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

that I’m your wife, that he’s outside, that he’s
superfluous.... Don’t let’s talk of him!..’
‘You’re unfair, very unfair, dearest,’ said Vronsky,
trying to soothe her. ‘But never mind, don’t let’s talk of

him. Tell me what you’ve been doing? What is the
matter? What has been wrong with you, and what did the
doctor say?’
She looked at him with mocking amusement.
Evidently she had hit on other absurd and grotesque
aspects in her husband and was awaiting the moment to
give expression to them.
But he went on:
‘I imagine that it’s not illness, but your condition.
When will it be?’
The ironical light died away in her eyes, but a different
smile, a consciousness of something, he did not know
what, and of quiet melancholy, came over her face.
‘Soon, soon. You say that our position is miserable, that
we must put an end to it. If you knew how terrible it is to
me, what I would give to be able to love you freely and
boldly! I should not torture myself and torture you with
my jealousy.... And it will come soon but not as we
expect.’

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