Turning again to the lectern, the priest with some difficulty

took Kitty's little ring, and asking Levin for his hand, put it

on the first joint of his finger. "The servant of God,

Konstantin, plights his troth to the servant of God, Ekaterina."

And putting his big ring on Kitty's touchingly weak, pink little

finger, the priest said the same thing.

And the bridal pair tried several times to understand what they

had to do, and each time made some mistake and were corrected by

the priest in a whisper. At last, having duly performed the

ceremony, having signed the rings with the cross, the priest

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handed Kitty the big ring, and Levin the little one. Again they

were puzzled, and passed the rings from hand to hand, still

without doing what was expected.

Dolly, Tchirikov, and Stepan Arkadyevitch stepped forward to set

them right. There was an interval of hesitation, whispering, and

smiles; but the expression of solemn emotion on the faces of the

betrothed pair did not change: on the contrary, in their

perplexity over their hands they looked more grave and deeply

moved than before, and the smile with which Stepan Arkadyevitch

whispered to them that now they would each put on their own ring

died away on his lips. He had a feeling that any smile would jar

on them.

"Thou who didst from the beginning create male and female," the

priest read after the exchange of rings, "from Thee woman was

given to man to be a helpmeet to him, and for the procreation of

children. O Lord, our God, who hast poured down the blessings of

Thy Truth according to Thy Holy Covenant upon Thy chosen

servants, our fathers, from generation to generation, bless Thy

servants Konstantin and Ekaterina, and make their troth fast in

faith, and union of hearts, and truth, and love...."

Levin felt more and more that all his ideas of marriage, all his

dreams of how he would order his life, were mere childishness,

and that it was something he had not understood hitherto, and now

understood less than ever, though it was being performed upon

him. The lump in his throat rose higher and higher, tears that

would not be checked came into his eyes.




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