Page 821 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

He shook hands with the peasant and sat down on the
edge of a chair, without taking off his coat and hat.
‘Come, take off your coat and stay a little,’ said Levin,
taking his hat.

‘No, I haven’t time; I’ve only looked in for a tiny
second,’ answered Stepan Arkadyevitch. He threw open
his coat, but afterwards did take it off, and sat on for a
whole hour, talking to Levin about hunting and the most
intimate subjects.
‘Come, tell me, please, what you did abroad? Where
have you been?’ said Stepan Arkadyevitch, when the
peasant had gone.
‘Oh, I stayed in Germany, in Prussia, in France, and in
England— not in the capitals, but in the manufacturing
towns, and saw a great deal that was new to me. And I’m
glad I went.’
‘Yes, I knew your idea of the solution of the labor
question.’
‘Not a bit: in Russia there can be no labor question. In
Russia the question is that of the relation of the working
people to the land; though the question exists there too—
but there it’s a matter of repairing what’s been ruined,
while with us..’
Stepan Arkadyevitch listened attentively to Levin.

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