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"Ah, pride, pride!" said Darya Alexandrovna, as though despising

him for the baseness of this feeling in comparison with that

other feeling which only women know. "At the time when you made

Kitty an offer she was just in a position in which she could not

answer. She was in doubt. Doubt between you and Vronsky. Him she

was seeing every day, and you she had not seen for a long while.

Supposing she had been older ... I, for instance, in her place

could have felt no doubt. I always disliked him, and so it has

turned out."

Levin recalled Kitty's answer. She had said: "No, that cannot

be...."

"Darya Alexandrovna," he said dryly, "I appreciate your

confidence in me; I believe you are making a mistake. But whether

I am right or wrong, that pride you so despise makes any thought

of Katerina Alexandrovna out of the question for me,-you

understand, utterly out of the question."