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and tucked him up. She was glad she had not gone out anywhere, and had spent the evening so well. She felt so light-hearted and serene, she saw so clearly that all that had seemed to her so important on her railway journey was only one of the common trivial incidents of fashionable life, and that she had no reason to feel ashamed before anyone else or before herself. Anna sat down at the hearth with an English novel and waited for her husband. Exactly at half-past nine she heard his ring, and he came into the room. "Here you are at last!" she observed, holding out her hand to him. He kissed her hand and sat down beside her. "Altogether then, I see your visit was a success," he said to her. "Oh, yes," she said, and she began telling him about everything from the beginning: her journey with Countess Vronskaya, her arrival, the accident at the station. Then she described the pity she had felt, first for her brother, and afterwards for Dolly. "I imagine one cannot exonerate such a man from blame, though he is your brother," said Alexey Alexandrovitch severely. Anna smiled. She knew that he said that simply to show that family considerations could not prevent him from expressing his genuine opinion. She knew that characteristic in her husband, and liked it. "I am glad it has all ended so satisfactorily, and that you are back again," he went on. "Come, what do they say about the new act I have got passed in the council?" Anna had heard nothing of this act, And she felt conscience-stricken at having been able so readily to forget what was to him of such importance. "Here, on the other hand, it has made a great sensation," he said, with a complacent smile. She saw that Alexey Alexandrovitch wanted to tell her something pleasant to him about it, and she brought him by questions to telling it. With the same complacent smile he told her of the ovations he had received in consequence of the act he had passed. "I was very, very glad. It shows that at last a reasonable and steady view of the matter is becoming prevalent among us." Having drunk his second cup of tea with cream, and bread, Alexey Alexandrovitch got up, and was going towards his study. "And you've not been anywhere this evening? You've been dull, I expect?" he said. "Oh, no!" she answered, getting up after him and accompanying him across the room to his study. "What are you reading now?" she asked. "Just now I'm readin
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