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which were just being led away from the steps. “It is a nice horse, isn’t
it? It’s my cob; my favorite. Lead him here and bring me some sugar.
Where is the count?” she inquired of two smart footmen who darted
out. “Ah, there he is!” she said, seeing Vronsky coming to meet her with
Veslovsky.
“Where are you going to put the princess?” said Vronsky in French,
addressing Anna, and without waiting for a reply, he once more greeted
Darya Alexandrovna, and this time he kissed her hand. “I think the
big balcony room.”
“Oh, no, that’s too far off! Better in the corner room, we shall see
each other more. Come, let’s go up,” said Anna, as she gave her favor-
ite horse the sugar the footman had brought her.
“Et vous oubliez votre devoir,” she said to Veslovsky, who came out
too on the steps.
“Pardon, j’en ai tout plein les poches,” he answered, smiling, put-
ting his fingers in his waistcoat pocket.
“Mais vous venez trop tard,” she said, rubbing her handkerchief on
her hand, which the horse had made wet in taking the sugar.
Anna turned to Dolly. “You can stay some time? For one day only?
That’s impossible!”
“I promised to be back, and the children...” said Dolly, feeling em-
barrassed both because she had to get her bag out of the carriage, and
because she knew her face must be covered with dust.
“No, Dolly, darling!... Well, we’ll see. Come along, come along!”
and Anna led Dolly to her room.
That room was not the smart guest chamber Vronsky had sug-
gested, but the one of which Anna had said that Dolly would excuse it.
And this room, for which excuse was needed, was more full of luxury
than any in which Dolly had ever stayed, a luxury that reminded her of
the best hotels abroad.
“Well, darling, how happy I am!” Anna said, sitting down in her
riding habit for a moment beside Dolly. “Tell me about all of you. Stiva
I had only a glimpse of, and he cannot tell one about the children. How
is my favorite, Tanya? Quite a big girl, I expect?”
“Yes, she’s very tall,” Darya Alexandrovna answered shortly, sur-
prised herself that she should respond so coolly about her children.
“We are having a delightful stay at the Levins’,” she added.
“Oh, if I had known,” said Anna, “that you do not despise me!...
You might have all come to us. Stiva’s an old friend and a great friend
of Alexey’s, you know,” she added, and suddenly she blushed.
“Yes, but we are all...” Dolly answered in confusion.
“But in my delight I’m talking nonsense. The one thing, darling, is
that I am so glad to have you!” said Anna, kissing her again. “You
haven’t told me yet how and what you think about me, and I keep
wanting to know. But I’m glad you will see me as I am. The chief thing
I shouldn’t like would be for people to imagine I want to prove any-
thing. I don’t want to prove anything; I merely want to live, to do no one
harm but myself. I have the right to do that, haven’t I? But it is a big
subject, and we’ll talk over everything properly later. Now I’ll go and
dress and send a maid to you.”