She heard, or thought she heard, the names of KurĆ”gin and Bolkónski. But she was always imagining that. It always seemed to her that everyone who looked at her was thinking only of what had happened to her. With a sinking heart, wretched as she always was now when she found herself in a crowd, NatĆ”sha in her lilac silk dress trimmed with black lace walkedā āas women can walkā āwith the more repose and stateliness the greater the pain and shame in her soul. She knew for certain that she was pretty, but this no longer gave her satisfaction as it used to. On the contrary it tormented her more than anything else of late, and particularly so on this bright, hot summer day in town. āItās Sunday againā āanother week past,ā she thought, recalling that she had been here the Sunday before, āand always the same life that is no life, and the same surroundings in which it used to be so easy to live. Iām pretty, Iām young, and I know that now I am good. I used to be bad, but now I know I am good,ā she thought, ābut yet my best years are slipping by and are no good to anyone.ā She stood by her motherās side and exchanged nods with acquaintances near her.
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