Page:Anna Karenina.djvu/619

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ANNA KARENINA
291

And while he was speaking he studied Golenishchef's face.

"Ah! I did not know," remarked Golenishchef, carelessly; but he did know, "Have you been here long?"

"I? Oh, this is the fourth day," replied Vronsky, continuing to study his companion.

"Yes! He is a gentleman, and looks upon things in the right light," he said to himself, giving a favorable interpretation to Golenishchef's way of turning the conversation; "he can be presented to Anna; his views are all right"

Vronsky, during this three months which he had been spending with Anna abroad, had felt every time that he met with new acquaintances a hesitation as to the manner in which they would look on his relations with Anna, and for the most part the men had looked on them "in the right light." If he or they had been asked what they meant by the expression "in the right light," they would have found it hard to tell. In reality, those that according to Vronsky looked on it "in the right light" had never looked on it at all, but as a general thing contented themselves with a wise discretion, not asking questions or making allusions, and behaved altogether as well-bred people behave when presented with delicate and complex questions such as surround life on all sides. They pretended that they fully appreciated the meaning and significance of the situation, recognized and even approved of it, but considered it ill-judged and superfluous to explain it.

Vronsky instantly saw that Golenishchef was one of these discreet people, and was therefore glad to meet him.

In fact Golenishchef behaved toward Madame Karenin when he was introduced to her in exactly the manner that Vronsky demanded; it evidently cost him no effort to avoid all words that would lead to any awkwardness.

He had never seen Anna before, and was dehghted with her beauty, and still more with the perfect simplicity with which she accepted the situation. She flushed when she saw Vronsky come in with Goleni-