The croquet party to which the Princess Tverskaya had invited

Anna was to consist of two ladies and their adorers. These two

ladies were the chief representatives of a select new Petersburg

circle, nicknamed, in imitation of some imitation, _les sept

merveilles du monde_. These ladies belonged to a circle which,

though of the highest society, was utterly hostile to that in

which Anna moved. Moreover, Stremov, one of the most influential

people in Petersburg, and the elderly admirer of Liza Merkalova,

was Alexey Alexandrovitch's enemy in the political world. From

all these considerations Anna had not meant to go, and the hints

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in Princess Tverskaya's note referred to her refusal. But now

Anna was eager to go, in the hope of seeing Vronsky.

Anna arrived at Princess Tverskaya's earlier than the other

guests.

At the same moment as she entered, Vronsky's footman, with

side-whiskers combed out like a _Kammerjunker_, went in too.

He stopped at the door, and, taking off his cap, let her pass.

Anna recognized him, and only then recalled that Vronsky had

told her the day before that he would not come. Most likely

he was sending a note to say so.

As she took off her outer garment in the hall, she heard the

footman, pronouncing his "r's" even like a _Kammerjunker_, say,

"From the count for the princess," and hand the note.

She longed to question him as to where his master was. She

longed to turn back and send him a letter to come and see her, or

to go herself to see him. But neither the first nor the second

nor the third course was possible. Already she heard bells

ringing to announce her arrival ahead of her, and Princess

Tverskaya's footman was standing at the open door waiting for her

to go forward into the inner rooms.

"The princess is in the garden; they will inform her immediately.

Would you be pleased to walk into the garden?" announced another

footman in another room.

The position of uncertainty, of indecision, was still the same as

at home--worse, in fact, since it was impossible to take any

step, impossible to see Vronsky, and she had to remain here among

outsiders, in company so uncongenial to her present mood. But

she was wearing a dress that she knew suited her. She was not

alone; all around was that luxurious setting of idleness that she

was used to, and she felt less wretched than at home. She was

not forced to think what she was to do. Everything would be done

of itself. On meeting Betsy coming towards her in a white gown

that struck her by its elegance, Anna smiled at her just as she

always did. Princess Tverskaya was walking with Tushkevitch and

a young lady, a relation, who, to the great joy of her parents in

the provinces, was spending the summer with the fashionable

princess.




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