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He told her about the elections, and Anna, with her questions, was able to guide him to the very thing that cheered him - his success. She told him about everything that interested him at home. And all her news was most cheerful.

But late at night, when they were alone, Anna, seeing that she was again in full possession of him, wished to wipe away the painful impression of that look owing to the letter. She said:

‘But confess, you were vexed to get the letter and didn’t believe me?’

As soon as she said it, she realized that however amorously disposed he was towards her now, he had not forgiven her for it.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘The letter was so strange. First Annie’s sick, and then you want to come yourself.’

‘It was all true.’

‘I don’t doubt that.’

‘Yes, you do. You’re displeased, I can see.’

‘Not for one minute. I’m only displeased, it’s true, that you seem not to want to admit there are responsibilities ...’

‘Responsibilities to go to a concert ...’

‘Let’s not talk about it,’ he said.

‘And why not talk about it?’ she said.

‘I merely wish to say that business may come up, something necessary. Now, you see, I’ll have to go to Moscow to do with the house ... Ah, Anna, why are you so irritable? Don’t you know I can’t live without you?’

‘If so,’ said Anna, in a suddenly changed voice, ‘then this life is a burden to you ... Yes, you’ll come for a day and then go, as men do ...’

‘Anna, that’s cruel. I’m ready to give my whole life ...’

But she was not listening to him.

‘If you go to Moscow, I’ll go, too. I won’t stay here. Either we separate or we live together.’

‘You know that that is my only wish. But for that ...’

‘A divorce is necessary? I’ll write to him. I see that I can’t live like this ... But I will go with you to Moscow.’

‘It’s as if you’re threatening me. Yet there’s nothing I wish more than not to be separated from you,’ Vronsky said, smiling.

But the look that flashed in his eyes as he spoke those tender words was not only the cold, angry look of a persecuted and embittered man.

She saw that look and correctly guessed its meaning.

‘If it is like this, it is a disaster!’ said the look. It was a momentary impression, but she never forgot it.

Anna wrote a letter to her husband asking him for a divorce, and at the end of November, having parted with Princess Varvara, who had to go to Petersburg, she moved to Moscow with Vronsky. Expecting a reply from Alexei Alexandrovich any day, to be followed by a divorce, they now settled together like a married couple.

Part Seven

I

The Levins were already living for the third month in Moscow. The term was long past when, by the surest calculations of people who knew about such things, Kitty ought to have given birth; and yet she was still expecting, and there was no indication that the time was nearer now than two months ago. The doctor, the midwife, Dolly, her mother, and Levin especially, who could not think of the approaching event without horror, were beginning to feel impatient and anxious; Kitty alone was perfectly calm and happy.

She was now clearly aware of the new feeling of love being born in her for the future child who, for her, was already partly present, and she delighted in attending to this feeling. It was no longer wholly a part of her now, but sometimes lived its own life independent of her. It often caused her pain, but at the same time made her want to laugh with a strange new joy.

Everyone she loved was with her, and everyone was so kind to her, took such care of her, she saw so much of sheer pleasantness in all that was offered to her, that if she had not known and felt that it must soon end, she could not even have wished for a better or more pleasant life. The one thing that spoiled the charm of that life for her was that her husband was not the way she loved him and the way he used to be in the country.

She loved his calm, gentle, and hospitable tone in the country. But in the city he was constantly anxious and wary, as if fearing someone might offend him and, above all,