"Why did Priatchnikof fight a duel?"
"On account of his wife; he behaved bravely about it,—he challenged the other man, and killed him."
"Ah!" said Alekseï Aleksandrovitch, with unconcern; and, raising his eyebrows, he went to the drawing-room.
Dolly met him in a little parlor leading into the drawing-room, and said, smiling timidly:—
"How glad I am that you came! I want to talk with you. Let us sit down here."
Alekseï Aleksandrovitch, preserving the air of indifference caused by his elevated eyebrows, sat down near her, pretending to smile.
"All the more willingly," said he, "as I wish to ask you to excuse me for leaving you as soon as possible. I have to go away to-morrow morning."
Darya Aleksandrovna was firmly convinced of Anna's innocence, and she was conscious of growing pale and trembling with anger before this heartless, unfeeling man, who coolly proposed to ruin her innocent friend.
"Alekseï Aleksandrovitch," she said with desperate firmness, looking him full in the face, "I asked you about Anna, and you did not reply; how is she?"
"I think that she is well, Darya Aleksandrovna," replied Karenin, without looking at her.
"Pardon me, if I have no right to insist on it .... but I love Anna like a sister; tell me, I beseech you, what has happened between you and her, and what do you accuse her of."
Alekseï Aleksandrovitch frowned, and bent his head, almost closing his eyes:—
"Your husband must have told you, I think, the reasons which oblige me to break my relations with Anna Arkadyevna," said he, avoiding her eyes but casting a glance of annoyance at Shcherbatsky, who was passing through the room.
"I do not believe it, I do not believe it! and I cannot believe it!" murmured Dolly, pressing her thin hands together energetically. She rose quickly, and, touching
