This discovery, suddenly throwing light on all those families of

one or two children, which had hitherto been so incomprehensible

to her, aroused so many ideas, reflections, and contradictory

emotions, that she had nothing to say, and simply gazed with

wide-open eyes of wonder at Anna. This was the very thing she

had been dreaming of, but now learning that it was possible, she

was horrified. She felt that it was too simple a solution of too

complicated a problem.

_"N'est-ce pas immoral?"_ was all she said, after a brief pause.

"Why so? Think, I have a choice between two alternatives: either

to be with child, that is an invalid, or to be the friend and

companion of my husband--practically my husband," Anna said in a

tone intentionally superficial and frivolous.

"Yes, yes," said Darya Alexandrovna, hearing the very arguments

she had used to herself, and not finding the same force in them

as before.

"For you, for other people," said Anna, as though divining her

thoughts, "there may be reason to hesitate; but for me.... You

must consider, I am not his wife; he loves me as long as he

loves me. And how am I to keep his love? Not like this!"

She moved her white hands in a curve before her waist with

extraordinary rapidity, as happens during moments of excitement;

ideas and memories rushed into Darya Alexandrovna's head. "I,"

she thought, "did not keep my attraction for Stiva; he left me

for others, and the first woman for whom he betrayed me did not

keep him by being always pretty and lively. He deserted her and

took another. And can Anna attract and keep Count Vronsky in

that way? If that is what he looks for, he will find dresses and

manners still more attractive and charming. And however white

and beautiful her bare arms are, however beautiful her full

figure and her eager face under her black curls, he will find

something better still, just as my disgusting, pitiful, and

charming husband does."

Dolly made no answer, she merely sighed. Anna noticed this sigh,

indicating dissent, and she went on. In her armory she had other

arguments so strong that no answer could be made to them.

"Do you say that it's not right? But you must consider," she

went on; "you forget my position. How can I desire children?

I'm not speaking of the suffering, I'm not afraid of that. Think

only, what are my children to be? Ill-fated children, who will

have to bear a stranger's name. For the very fact of their birth

they will be forced to be ashamed of their mother, their father,

their birth."




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