Page 868 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

did not marry should find a woman’s duties in a family.
He supported this view by the fact that no family can get
on without women to help; that in every family, poor or
rich, there are and must be nurses, either relations or

hired.
‘No,’ said Kitty, blushing, but looking at him all the
more boldly with her truthful eyes; ‘a girl may be so
circumstanced that she cannot live in the family without
humiliation, while she herself..’
At the hint he understood her.
‘Oh, yes,’ he said. ‘Yes, yes, yes—you’re right; you’re
right!’
And he saw all that Pestsov had been maintaining at
dinner of the liberty of woman, simply from getting a
glimpse of the terror of an old maid’s existence and its
humiliation in Kitty’s heart; and loving her, he felt that
terror and humiliation, and at once gave up his arguments.
A silence followed. She was still drawing with the chalk
on the table. Her eyes were shining with a soft light.
Under the influence of her mood he felt in all his being a
continually growing tension of happiness.
‘Ah! I’ve scribbled all over the table!’ she said, and
laying down the chalk, she made a movement as though
to get up.

867 of 1759