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‘It’s my own fault, I’m irritable, I’m senselessly jealous. I’ll make peace with him, we’ll leave for the country, I’ll be calmer there,’ she said to herself.

‘Unnatural’ - she suddenly remembered the most offensive thing, not the word so much as the intention to cause her pain.

‘I know what he wanted to say. He wanted to say that it’s unnatural for me to love someone else’s child when I don’t love my own daughter. What does he understand about the love for children, about my love for Seryozha, whom I have sacrificed for him? But this wish to cause me pain! No, he loves another woman, it can’t be anything else.’

And seeing that, while wishing to calm herself, she had gone round the circle she had already completed so many times and come back to her former irritation, she was horrified at herself. ‘Is it really impossible? Can I really not take it upon myself?’ she said to herself, and began again from the beginning. ‘He’s truthful, he’s honest, he loves me. I love him, the divorce will come any day now. What more do we need? We need peace, trust, and I’ll take it upon myself. Yes, now, when he comes, I’ll tell him it was my fault, though it wasn’t, and we’ll leave.’

And so as not to think any more and not to yield to irritation, she rang the bell and ordered the trunks to be brought in order to pack things for the country.

At ten o‘clock Vronsky arrived.

XXIV

‘So, did you have a good time?’ she asked, coming out to meet him with a guilty and meek expression on her face.

‘As usual,’ he replied, understanding at a glance that she was in one of her good moods. He had become used to these changes, and was especially glad of it today, because he himself was in the best of spirits.

‘What’s this I see! That’s good!’ he said, pointing to the trunks in the hallway.

‘Yes, we must leave. I went for a ride, and it’s so nice that I wanted to go to the country. Nothing’s keeping you?’

‘It’s my only wish. I’ll come at once and we’ll talk, I only have to change. Send for tea.’

And he went to his study.

There was something offensive in his saying ‘That’s good,’ as one speaks to a child when it stops misbehaving; still more offensive was the contrast between her guilty and his self-assured tone; and for a moment she felt a desire to fight rising in her; but, making an effort, she suppressed it and met Vronsky just as cheerfully.

When he came out to her, she told him, partly repeating words she had prepared, about her day and her plans for departure.

‘You know, it came to me almost like an inspiration,’ she said. ‘Why wait for the divorce here? Isn’t it the same in the country? I can’t wait any longer. I don’t want to hope, I don’t want to hear anything about the divorce. I’ve decided it’s no longer going to influence my life. Do you agree?’

‘Oh, yes!’ he said, looking uneasily into her excited face.

‘And what were you all doing there? Who came?’ she said after a pause.

Vronsky named the guests.

‘The dinner was excellent, and the boat race and all that was quite nice, but in Moscow they can’t do without the ridicule. Some lady appeared, the queen of Sweden’s swimming teacher, and demonstrated her art.’

‘How? She swam?’ Anna said, frowning.

‘In some red costume de natation,dp old, ugly. So, when do we leave?’

‘What a stupid fantasy! Does she swim in some special way?’ Anna said without answering.

‘Certainly nothing special. That’s what I’m saying - terribly stupid. So, when do you think of leaving?’

Anna shook her head as if wishing to drive some unpleasant thought away.

‘When? The sooner the better. We won’t be ready tomorrow. The day after tomorrow.’

‘Yes ... no, wait. The day after tomorrow is Sunday, I must call on maman,’ Vronsky said, embarrassed, because as soon as he mentioned his mother, he felt her intent, suspicious look fixed on him. His embarrassment confirmed her suspicions. She flushed and drew away from him. Now it was no longer the queen of Sweden’s teacher that Anna pictured to herself, but Princess Sorokin, who lived on Countess