Page:Anna Karenina.djvu/859

 Darya Aleksandrovna; I don't know how it was with you," said he, turning to her his good, handsome face.

"Yes, and so did I. But do you think we shall get home this evening?"

"We must get home."

On reaching home and finding every one perfectly happy and glad to see her, Darya Aleksandrovna, with great liveliness, told the story of her trip and how warmly she had been received, about the luxury and good taste of the Vronskys' estabhshment and about their amusements; and she would not allow any one to say a word against them.

"You must know Anna and Vronsky,—and I know him better than I did,—to appreciate how kind and affectionate they are," said she, with perfect sincerity, forgetting the vague feeling of discomfort that she had felt when she was there.

CHAPTER XXV

Vronsky and Anna passed the rest of the summer and part of the autumn in the country under the same conditions, and took no steps toward getting a divorce. It was agreed between them that they should not make any visits; but they both felt that the longer they lived alone, particularly in the autumn, and without guests, the more unendurable became their life, and that they must have some change.

Nothing which constitutes happiness was apparently wanting to them. They were rich, young, well; they had one child, and they had pleasant occupations. Though they had no guests, Anna continued to take the greatest care of her person and her dress. She read much, both in the way of novels and of serious literature, and sent abroad for valuable books which she saw praised in the foreign magazines and journals. And she read carefully, as one can do only when in the solitude of the country. Moreover, all subjects which interested Vronsky, she studied up in books and scien-