Part 1 section 13: Kitty is nervous about Levin and Vronsky meeting for the first time. She is sure that Levin loves her, and feels herself simple and clear around him, but she pictures herself with Vronsky. Levin arrives to the house early, and Kitty is alone with him. He asks her to be his wife, and this makes Kitty quite happy, but she replies that it cannot be. Levin turns to leave.
Part 1 section 14: He is stopped by Kitty's mother. She sees Levin and Kitty's expressions and is grateful that Kitty has refused him. The Countess Nordston arrives. She likes to make fun of Levin, and the two have a hostile relationship. Vronsky arrives, and Levin looks at Kitty and sees that she is in love with him. The conversation turns to spiritualism and table turning, and the Countess teases Levin for not believing in it and thinking he knows everything. Vronsky proposes that they try table-turning then, and Levin turns to go but is stopped by Kitty's father. He embraces Levin and hardly notices Vronsky.
Part 1 section 15: Later Kitty tells her mother that she refused Levin. Kitty is happy that she has had a proposal, and feels that she has done the right thing, but something about it doesn't sit right with her. Her parents have an argument, her father arguing that Levin is a thousand times a better man than Vronsky. He thinks that his wife will realize this too late, just as she did with their daughter Dolly.
Part 1 section 16: Vronsky has never really known family life. He would be surprised if he knew that Kitty and her parents thought about him marrying Kitty. He likes being with her company and does not want to hurt her, but has never considered marrying her.
Part 1 section 17: The next morning Vronsky and Oblonsky happen to meet at the train station. Vronsky is there to meet his mother, and Oblonsky to meet his sister Anna. Oblonsky tells Vronsky that his sister's husband is Karenin, the politician. He also asks Vronsky if he met Levin the night before. He hints that there was a reason that he may have been happy or unhappy that night, and Vronsky asks him straight out if he proposed to Kitty. He thinks that she could make a better match than Levin.
Part 1 section 18: The train arrives, and Vronsky is drawn to a woman who exits it, and they look at each other. He then goes in to get his mother, and when the woman comes back in, he realizes that she is Anna, and that she had sat with his mother on the ride. He learns that they had both talked about their sons all the way over, as Anna has an eight-year-old boy. His mother thinks that Anna is quite charming, and he thinks so too, and cannot stop smiling at her. As they all are leaving, there is a commotion at the station. It is determined that a watchman had stumbled on to the tracks and been run over. Anna wonders if anything can be done for his widow, and Vronsky goes and gives some money that is to go to her. They all leave again, Oblonsky telling Anna about what is going on at home.
Part 1 section 19: Even though Dolly had said that she would not prepare things for her sister in law's visit, she does. Anna arrives and talks to Dolly about all of her children, and then tells her that Oblonsky has told her what has happened. Dolly expects her to try to console her, but she does not. Anna tells her that she is sorry for her and that Oblonsky is full of remorse. She then asks her if she has enough love in her soul for forgiveness. Dolly tells her that things will never be the same, but perhaps she could forgive him.
Part 1 section 20: Anna sends a note to Oblonsky to tell him to be sure to come to diner. After dinner Oblonsky and Dolly talk alone. Kitty arrives soon after dinner, and Anna likes her. They talk about the ball that is to occur the next week. Oblonsky had told Anna that all expect Vronsky to propose to Kitty, so she congratulates Kitty and tells her that she had met Vronsky at the railway station.
Part 1 section 21: When Dolly and Oblonsky come out after their talk, Anna can see that they have reconciled. A bit later Vronsky stops by to talk with Oblonsky, but he sees Anna and when invited, he does not come in. There is nothing really strange about it, but all find it strange anyway.
Part 1 section 22: The ball begins, and Kitty dances with the master of the Ceremonies, George Korsunsky. She then has him take her over to Anna. She sees that Levin is there, and that he is looking at her. Korsunsky tries to get Anna to dance, and she refuses until she sees Vronsky approaching, and then she accepts. Vronsky and Kitty dance, but she realizes that her looks of love to him get no response.
Part 1 section 23: Vronsky and Kitty dance several times. Kitty did not expect anything really to happen during the quadrille, but she is waiting for the mazurka to settle everything between them. Later she notices how happy Anna looks, and when she looks to see who she is dancing with, she sees that it is Vronsky, and that he obviously admires Anna. The mazurka is about to begin, and Kitty is in despair because she has no partner as she thought she would be dancing with Vronsky. The Countess Nordston has seen Vronsky and Anna together and asks Kitty what it means. Kitty ends up dancing with Korsunsky again. During the dance she notices how Vronsky and Anna dance as if they were alone in the room together. Anna does not stay to supper and tells Vronsky that she plans to leave the next day to return to Petersburg.
Part 1 section 24: When Levin leaves the Shcherbatskys after Kitty's refusal, he is convinced that there is something repellent about him. He does not know how he imagined that she would accept him, and realizes that he should have looked for Nicholas sooner. Nicholas had lived a simple and religious life, but then he started hanging out with vile people and lived a life of debauchery. Levin arrives at Nicholas' address and finds him there with a young man and woman. He sees that he looks quite ill. Nicholas introduces Levin to the woman, Mary Nikolavna, his life's companion.
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