A note left with Betsy

Betsy's croquet party belongs to a newer, higher and hostile circle, Les sept merveilles du monde, and includes old Stremov, Karenin's official enemy; Anna comes only for the hope of Vronsky, and meets his footman at the door delivering the note that says he will not. She invents a promised call on the old Countess Vrede, lying now so easily in Society that it gives her pleasure, without knowing why she chose that name. Betsy writes to Vronsky asking him to dinner and leaves the envelope with Anna, who adds at the bottom: 'I must see you. Come to Vrede's garden. I shall be there at six.' Over tea they discuss Lisa Merkalova; Anna asks what her relations with Prince Kaluzhsky are and Betsy laughs helplessly — in good Society no one talks about certain details of the toilet, and it is the same here. Betsy suggests a thing may be taken tragically or gaily, and that Anna inclines to tragedy. Anna wonders aloud whether she is worse than others, and answers herself: worse.

Tolstoy puts Anna's ruin beside the going rate for the same conduct: Lisa Merkalova is received everywhere, and Betsy's advice is simply not to take it tragically. The lie about Countess Vrede arrives before Anna knows why she needs it, which is the chapter's picture of a mind already working ahead of its owner. Her verdict on herself is the one honest sentence spoken over the tea.