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When Anna returned with the album, he was already gone, and

Stepan Arkadyevitch was telling them that he had called to

inquire about the dinner they were giving next day to a celebrity

who had just arrived. "And nothing would induce him to come up.

What a queer fellow he is!" added Stepan Arkadyevitch.

Kitty blushed. She thought that she was the only person who knew

why he had come, and why he would not come up. "He has been at

home," she thought, "and didn't find me, and thought I should be

here, but he did not come up because he thought it late, and

Anna's here."

All of them looked at each other, saying nothing, and began to

look at Anna's album.

There was nothing either exceptional or strange in a man's

calling at half-past nine on a friend to inquire details of a

proposed dinner party and not coming in, but it seemed strange to

all of them. Above all, it seemed strange and not right to Anna.

Chapter 22