Анна Каренина

Chapter 6

           

           “She’sexceptionallygoodasanactress;onecanseeshe’sstudiedKaulbach,”saidadiplomaticattachéinthegrouproundtheambassador’swife.“Didyounoticehowshefelldown?...”

           “Oh,please,don’tletustalkaboutNilsson!Noonecanpossiblysayanythingnewabouther,”saidafat,red-faced,flaxen-headedlady,withouteyebrowsandchignon,wearinganoldsilkdress.ThiswasPrincessMyakaya,notedforhersimplicityandtheroughnessofhermanners,andnicknamedenfantterrible.PrincessMyakaya,sittinginthemiddlebetweenthetwogroups,andlisteningtoboth,tookpartintheconversationfirstofoneandthenoftheother.“ThreepeoplehaveusedthatveryphraseaboutKaulbachtometodayalready,justasthoughtheyhadmadeacompactaboutit.AndIcan’tseewhytheylikedthatremarkso.”

           Theconversationwascutshortbythisobservation,andanewsubjecthadtobethoughtofagain.

           “Dotellmesomethingamusingbutnotspiteful,”saidtheambassador’swife,agreatproficientintheartofthatelegantconversationcalledbytheEnglishsmalltalk.Sheaddressedtheattaché,whowasatalossnowwhattobeginupon.

           “Theysaythatthat’sadifficulttask,thatnothing’samusingthatisn’tspiteful,”hebeganwithasmile.“ButI’lltry.Getmeasubject.Itallliesinthesubject.Ifasubject’sgivenme,it’seasytospinsomethingroundit.Ioftenthinkthatthecelebratedtalkersofthelastcenturywouldhavefounditdifficulttotalkcleverlynow.Everythingcleverissostale....

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