"Anywhere that you please."
And Korsunsky, still waltzing with Kitty but with a slower step, made his way toward the group on the left, saying as he went, "Pardon, mesdames; pardon, pardon, mesdames;" and steering skilfully through the sea of laces, tulle, and ribbons, without catching a feather, placed her in a chair after a final turn, which gave a glimpse of her slender ankles in dainty blue stockings, while her train spread out like a fan and covered Krivin's knees.
Korsunsky bowed, then straightened himself up, and offered Kitty his arm to conduct her to Anna Arkadyevna. Kitty, blushing a little, freed Krivin from the folds of her train, and, just a trifle dizzy, looked around in search of Anna. Anna was not dressed in violet, as Kitty had hoped, but in a low-cut black velvet gown, which showed her plump shoulders and bosom smooth as ivory, her beautiful round arms, and her delicate slender wrists. Her robe was adorned with Venetian guipure; on her head, gracefully set on her dark locks, was a little garland of heartsease[1]; and a similar bouquet was fastened in her black ribbon-belt in the midst of white lace. Her hair, which was all her own, was dressed very simply; there was nothing remarkable about it except the abundance of little natural curls, which strayed in fascinating disorder about her neck and temples. She wore a string of pearls about her firm round throat.
Kitty had seen Anna every day, and had fallen in love with her; but now that she saw her dressed in black, instead of the violet which she had expected, she was conscious that she had never before appreciated her full beauty. She saw her in a new and unexpected light. Now she realized that violet would not have been becoming to her, and that her charm consisted entirely in her independence of toilet; that her toilet was only an accessory, and her black gown with the magnificent laces was only an accessory, was only a frame for her, and nothing else was to be thought of but herself in all her simplicity, naturalness, elegance, and at the same time her gayety and animation.
- ↑ Viola tricolor, called in Russian anyútini glázki, or Anna's eyes
