Page 837 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

when he had had a glimpse of her on the highroad. He
had known at the bottom of his heart that he would see
her here today. But to keep his thoughts free, he had tried
to persuade himself that he did not know it. Now when

he heard that she was here, he was suddenly conscious of
such delight, and at the same time of such dread, that his
breath failed him and he could not utter what he wanted
to say.
‘What is she like, what is she like? Like what she used
to be, or like what she was in the carriage? What if Darya
Alexandrovna told the truth? Why shouldn’t it be the
truth?’ he thought.
‘Oh, please, introduce me to Karenin,’ he brought out
with an effort, and with a desperately determined step he
walked into the drawing room and beheld her.
She was not the same as she used to be, nor was she as
she had been in the carriage; she was quite different.
She was scared, shy, shame-faced, and still more
charming from it. She saw him the very instant he walked
into the room. She had been expecting him. She was
delighted, and so confused at her own delight that there
was a moment, the moment when he went up to her sister
and glanced again at her, when she, and he, and Dolly,
who saw it all, thought she would break down and would

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