Page 990 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

‘They say if anyone’s best man more than ten times,
he’ll never be married. I wanted to be for the tenth time,
but the post was taken,’ said Count Siniavin to the pretty
Princess Tcharskaya, who had designs on him.

Princess Tcharskaya only answered with a smile. She
looked at Kitty, thinking how and when she would stand
with Count Siniavin in Kitty’s place, and how she would
remind him then of his joke today.
Shtcherbatsky told the old maid of honor, Madame
Nikolaeva, that he meant to put the crown on Kitty’s
chignon for luck.
‘She ought not to have worn a chignon,’ answered
Madame Nikolaeva, who had long ago made up her mind
that if the elderly widower she was angling for married
her, the wedding should be of the simplest. ‘I don’t like
such grandeur.’
Sergey Ivanovitch was talking to Darya Dmitrievna,
jestingly assuring her that the custom of going away after
the wedding was becoming common because newly
married people always felt a little ashamed of themselves.
‘Your brother may feel proud of himself. She’s a marvel
of sweetness. I believe you’re envious.’

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