Page 891 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

And at the confectioner’s, and at Fomin’s, and at
Foulde’s he saw that he was expected; that they were
pleased to see him, and prided themselves on his
happiness, just as every one whom he had to do with

during those days. What was extraordinary was that
everyone not only liked him, but even people previously
unsympathetic, cold, and callous, were enthusiastic over
him, gave way to him in everything, treated his feeling
with tenderness and delicacy, and shared his conviction
that he was the happiest man in the world because his
betrothed was beyond perfection. Kitty too felt the same
thing. When Countess Nordston ventured to hint that she
had hoped for something better, Kitty was so angry and
proved so conclusively that nothing in the world could be
better than Levin, that Countess Nordston had to admit it,
and in Kitty’s presence never met Levin without a smile of
ecstatic admiration.
The confession he had promised was the one painful
incident of this time. He consulted the old prince, and
with his sanction gave Kitty his diary, in which there was
written the confession that tortured him. He had written
this diary at the time with a view to his future wife. Two
things caused him anguish: his lack of purity and his lack
of faith. His confession of unbelief passed unnoticed. She

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