Pagina 411 di 2288

But every time he began talking to her, he felt that the spirit

of evil and deceit, which had taken possession of her, had

possession of him too, and he talked to her in a tone quite

unlike that in which he had meant to talk. Involuntarily he

talked to her in his habitual tone of jeering at anyone who

should say what he was saying. And in that tone it was impossible

to say what needed to be said to her.

Chapter 11

That which for Vronsky had been almost a whole year the one

absorbing desire of his life, replacing all his old desires; that

which for Anna had been an impossible, terrible, and even for

that reason more entrancing dream of bliss, that desire had been

fulfilled. He stood before her, pale, his lower jaw quivering,

and besought her to be calm, not knowing how or why.

"Anna! Anna!" he said with a choking voice, "Anna, for pity's

sake!..."