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"Oh, I should think so! I always note them all down. Well, Kitty,

have you been skating again?..."

And she began talking to Kitty. Awkward as it was for Levin to

withdraw now, it would still have been easier for him to

perpetrate this awkwardness than to remain all the evening and

see Kitty, who glanced at him now and then and avoided his eyes.

He was on the point of getting up, when the princess, noticing

that he was silent, addressed him.

"Shall you be long in Moscow? You're busy with the district

council, though, aren't you, and can't be away for long?"

"No, princess, I'm no longer a member of the council," he said.

"I have come up for a few days."

"There's something the matter with him," thought Countess

Nordston, glancing at his stern, serious face. "He isn't in his

old argumentative mood. But I'll draw him out. I do love making a

fool of him before Kitty, and I'll do it."