of that, but everything together, he began
this hospital to prove, do you see, that he was not miserly about
money. _C'est une petitesse_, if you like, but I love him all the
more for it. And now you'll see the house in a moment. It was
his grandfather's house, and he has had nothing changed outside."

"How beautiful!" said Dolly, looking with involuntary admiration
at the handsome house with columns, standing out among the
different-colored greens of the old trees in the garden.

"Isn't it fine? And from the house, from the top, the view is
wonderful."

They drove into a courtyard strewn with gravel and bright with
flowers, in which two laborers were at work putting an edging of
stones round the light mould of a flower bed, and drew up in a
covered entry.

"Ah, they're here already!" said Anna, looking at the saddle
horses, which were just being led away from the steps. "It is a
nice horse, isn't it? It's my cob; my favorite. Lead him here
and bring me some sugar. Where is the count?" she inquired of
two smart footmen who darted out. "Ah, there he is!" she said,
seeing Vronsky coming to meet her with Veslovsky.

"Where are you going to put the princess?" said Vronsky in
French, addressing Anna, and without waiting for a reply, he once
more greeted Darya Alexandrovna, and this time he kissed her
hand. "I think the big balcony room."

"Oh, no, that's too far off! Better in the corner room, we shall
see each other more. Come, let's go up," said Anna, as she gave
her favorite horse the sugar the footman had brought her.

"_Et vous oubliez votre devoir_," she said to Veslovsky, who came
out too on the steps.

"_Pardon, j'en ai tout plein les poches_," he answered, smiling,
putting his fingers in his waistcoat pocket.

"_Mais vous venez trop tard_," she said, rubbing her handkerchief
on her hand, which the horse had made wet in taking the sugar.

Anna turned to Dolly. "You can stay some time? For one day
only? That's impossible!"

"I promised to be back, and the children..." said Dolly, feeling
embarrassed both because she had to get her bag out of the
carriage, and because she knew her face must be covered with
dust.

"No, Dolly, darling!... Well, we'll see. Come along, come
along!" and Anna led Dolly to her room.

That room was not the smart guest chamber Vronsky had suggested,
but the one of which Anna had said that Dolly would excuse it.
And this room, for which excuse was needed, was