The Prince and Princess quarrel

Kitty tells her mother about the proposal and is pleased to have had one, yet lies awake pursued by Levin's face as he stood listening to her father. She consoles herself with Vronsky and falls asleep repeating 'Lord have mercy', her happiness troubled by a doubt she cannot name. Below, her parents have one of their frequent scenes. The Prince, flourishing his arms in his squirrel-lined dressing-gown, accuses the Princess of vile idiotic match-making, of enticing a suitor and turning the child's head; Levin, he says, is a thousand times the better man, while Vronsky is a Petersburg fop, machine-made by the dozen. The Princess answers that if she listened to him they would never see Kitty married. He warns that she will find out too late, as with Dolly. They cross themselves, kiss, and part, each keeping their opinion. Alone, the Princess repeats her daughter's prayer.

Mother and daughter end the chapter on the same three words, which is how Tolstoy marks a family running on the same fear. The Prince's judgement is correct in every particular and carries no authority, because he is shouting; the novel repeatedly gives its truest readings to people nobody is currently listening to.