Page 80 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

get our meals over as soon as we can, so as to be ready for
our work, while here are we trying to drag out our meal
as long as possible, and with that object eating oysters..’
‘Why, of course,’ objected Stepan Arkadyevitch. ‘But

that’s just the aim of civilization—to make everything a
source of enjoyment.’
‘Well, if that’s its aim, I’d rather be a savage.’
‘And so you are a savage. All you Levins are savages.’
Levin sighed. He remembered his brother Nikolay, and
felt ashamed and sore, and he scowled; but Oblonsky
began speaking of a subject which at once drew his
attention.
‘Oh, I say, are you going tonight to our people, the
Shtcherbatskys’, I mean?’ he said, his eyes sparkling
significantly as he pushed away the empty rough shells,
and drew the cheese towards him.
‘Yes, I shall certainly go,’ replied Levin; ‘though I
fancied the princess was not very warm in her invitation.’
‘What nonsense! That’s her manner.... Come, boy, the
soup!.... That’s her manner—grande dame,’ said Stepan
Arkadyevitch. ‘I’m coming, too, but I have to go to the
Countess Bonina’s rehearsal. Come, isn’t it true that
you’re a savage? How do you explain the sudden way in
which you vanished from Moscow? The Shtcherbatskys

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