Page 60 (1/2)

This playing ords, this hiding of a secret, had a great

fascination for Anna, as, indeed, it has for all women And it

was not the necessity of concealment, not the aim hich the

concealment was contrived, but the process of concealment itself

which attracted her

"I can't be more Catholic than the Pope," she said "Stremov

and Liza Merkalova, why, they're the cream of the cream of

society Besides, they're received everywhere, and _I_"--she

laid special stress on the I--"have never been strict and

intolerant It's simply that I haven't the time"

"No; you don't care, perhaps, to meet Stremov? Let him and

Alexey Alexandrovitch tilt at each other in the committee--

that's no affair of ours But in the world, he's the most

amiable man I know, and a devoted croquet player You shall see

And, in spite of his absurd position as Liza's lovesick swain at

his age, you ought to see how he carries off the absurd position

He's very nice Sappho Shtoltz you don't know? Oh, that's a new

type, quite new"

Betsy said all this, and, at the salance, Anna felt that she partly guessed

her plight, and was hatching so for her benefit They

were in the little boudoir