Page 843 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

today? Why such a conquering hero?’ he thought. He did
not know that Levin was feeling as though he had grown
wings. Levin knew she was listening to his words and that
she was glad to listen to him. And this was the only thing

that interested him. Not in that room only, but in the
whole world, there existed for him only himself, with
enormously increased importance and dignity in his own
eyes, and she. He felt himself on a pinnacle that made him
giddy, and far away down below were all those nice
excellent Karenins, Oblonskys, and all the world.
Quite without attracting notice, without glancing at
them, as though there were no other places left, Stepan
Arkadyevitch put Levin and Kitty side by side.
‘Oh, you may as well sit there,’ he said to Levin.
The dinner was as choice as the china, in which Stepan
Arkadyevitch was a connoisseur. The soupe Marie-Louise
was a splendid success; the tiny pies eaten with it melted in
the mouth and were irreproachable. The two footmen and
Matvey, in white cravats, did their duty with the dishes
and wines unobtrusively, quietly, and swiftly. On the
material side the dinner was a success; it was no less so on
the immaterial. The conversation, at times general and at
times between individuals, never paused, and towards the
end the company was so lively that the men rose from the

842 of 1759