Page 818 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

Stepan Arkadyevitch liked dining, but still better he
liked to give a dinner, small, but very choice, both as
regards the food and drink and as regards the selection of
guests. He particularly liked the program of that day’s

dinner. There would be fresh perch, asparagus, and la
piece de resistance— first-rate, but quite plain, roast beef,
and wines to suit: so much for the eating and drinking.
Kitty and Levin would be of the party, and that this might
not be obtrusively evident, there would be a girl cousin
too, and young Shtcherbatsky, and la piece de resistance
among the guests—Sergey Koznishev and Alexey
Alexandrovitch. Sergey Ivanovitch was a Moscow man,
and a philosopher; Alexey Alexandrovitch a Petersburger,
and a practical politician. He was asking, too, the well-
known eccentric enthusiast, Pestsov, a liberal, a great
talker, a musician, an historian, and the most delightfully
youthful person of fifty, who would be a sauce or garnish
for Koznishev and Karenin. He would provoke them and
set them off.
The second installment for the forest had been received
from the merchant and was not yet exhausted; Dolly had
been very amiable and goodhumored of late, and the idea
of the dinner pleased Stepan Arkadyevitch from every
point of view. He was in the most light-hearted mood.

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