Page:Anna Karenina.djvu/849

 Vronsky both played very well and earnestly. They followed the tennis-ball with quick eyes as it was sent from one side to the other, not wasting their energies, and not getting confused, skilfully running to meet it, waiting till it should bound, and with good aim and perfect accuracy catching it on the racket and sending it over the net.

Veslovsky played worse than the others. He got too much excited, but nevertheless by his gayety he kept up the spirits of the other players. His jests and shouts never ceased. Like the other men, by the advice of the ladies he took off his coat and played, and his tall, well-shaped figure in his shirt-sleeves, and his ruddy, warm face, and his violent motions made a pleasant picture to remember.

When Darya Aleksandrovna that night lay down in her bed, as soon as she closed her eyes she saw Vasenka Veslovsky dancing about on the croquet-ground.

But while they were playing, Darya Aleksandrovna did not feel happy. She was displeased with the frivolity which Vasenka Veslovsky and Anna still kept up while they were playing; nor did such a childish game played by grown men and women by themselves, without children, seem natural or sensible. But lest she should destroy the pleasure of the others and so as to pass away the time, she rested a little while and then took part in another game and made believe that she was gay. All that day it seemed to her as if she were acting in a comedy with better actors than herself, and that her bad acting spoiled the whole piece. She had come intending to stay for two days if they urged her. But in the evening, during the game of tennis, she made up her mind to go home the next day. Those very same maternal cares which she had so hated as she thought them over during her journey, now, after two days' absence, presented themselves in another light and began to attract her. When, after tea and after a moonlight row in the boat, she went alone to her room, took off her gown, and began to put up her thin hair for the night, she felt a great sense of relief.