Page 89 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

‘One word more: in any case I advise you to settle the
question soon. Tonight I don’t advise you to speak,’ said
Stepan Arkadyevitch. ‘Go round tomorrow morning,
make an offer in due form, and God bless you..’

‘Oh, do you still think of coming to me for some
shooting? Come next spring, do,’ said Levin.
Now his whole soul was full of remorse that he had
begun this conversation with Stepan Arkadyevitch. A
feeling such as his was prefaced by talk of the rivalry of
some Petersburg officer, of the suppositions and the
counsels of Stepan Arkadyevitch.
Stepan Arkadyevitch smiled. He knew what was
passing in Levin’s soul.
‘I’ll come some day,’ he said. ‘But women, my boy,
they’re the pivot everything turns upon. Things are in a
bad way with me, very bad. And it’s all through women.
Tell me frankly now,’ he pursued, picking up a cigar and
keeping one hand on his glass; ‘give me your advice.’
‘Why, what is it?’
‘I’ll tell you. Suppose you’re married, you love your
wife, but you’re fascinated by another woman..’
‘Excuse me, but I’m absolutely unable to comprehend
how...just as I can’t comprehend how I could now, after
my dinner, go straight to a baker’s shop and steal a roll.’

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