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As everyone had been listening while Princess Myakaya spoke, and

so the conversation around the ambassador's wife had dropped,

Princess Betsy tried to bring the whole party together, and

turned to the ambassador's wife.

"Will you really not have tea? You should come over here by us."

"No, we're very happy here," the ambassador's wife responded with

a smile, and she went on with the conversation that had been

begun.

It was a very agreeable conversation. They were criticizing the

Karenins, husband and wife.

"Anna is quite changed since her stay in Moscow. There's

something strange about her," said her friend.

"The great change is that she brought back with her the shadow of

Alexey Vronsky," said the ambassador's wife.

"Well, what of it? There's a fable of Grimm's about a man without

a shadow, a man who's lost his shadow. And that's his punishment

for something. I never could understand how it was a punishment.

But a woman must dislike being without a shadow."