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 Alekseï Aleksandrovitch hastened to his wife, and courteously offered her his arm.

"Come, if it is your wish to go," said he, in French; but Anna was listening eagerly to what the general said, and paid no attention to her husband.

"He has broken his leg, they say; but this is not at all likely," said the general.

Anna did not look at her husband; but, taking her glass, she gazed at the place where Vronsky had fallen. It was so distant, and the crowd was so dense, that she could not make anything out of it. She dropped her binocle, and started to go; but at that instant an officer came galloping up to make some report to the emperor. Anna leaned forward, and listened.

"Stiva! Stiva!" she cried to her brother.

He did not hear her.

She again made an effort to leave the pavilion.

"I again offer you my arm, if you wish to go," repeated Alekseï Aleksandrovitch, touching her hand.

Anna drew back from him with aversion, and replied without looking at him:—

"No, no; leave me; I am going to stay."

She now saw an officer riding at full speed across the race-course from the place of the accident to the pavilion. Betsy beckoned to him with her handkerchief; the officer brought the news that the rider was uninjured but the horse had broken her back.

When she heard this, Anna quickly sat down, and hid her face behind her fan. Alekseï Aleksandrovitch noticed, not only that she was weeping, but that she could not keep back the tears or even control the sobs that heaved her bosom. He stepped in front of her to shield her from the public gaze and give her a chance to regain her self-command.

"For the third time I offer you my arm," said he, turning to her at the end of a few moments.

Anna looked at him, not knowing what to say. The Princess Betsy came to her aid.

"No, Alekseï Aleksandrovitch. I brought Anna, and