Veslovsky arrives in a Scotch bonnet

Everyone talks with peculiar animation about extraneous topics; Koznyshev and Varenka feel like pupils who have failed an examination, and Levin and Kitty are ashamed of being so happy in front of them. The old Princess's voice quavers over the empty family nest, and her daughters exchange a glance meaning that Mama always finds something sad. Levin takes over Grisha's Latin, which Dolly has ruled must be done by the book and not in his way, so he does it half-heartedly. Then wheels on the gravel: not the old Prince but Vasenka Veslovsky in a Scotch bonnet with streaming ribbons, a Shcherbatsky cousin and passionate sportsman. He kisses Kitty's hand with a tender gallant air and squeezes Levin's very hard. Within minutes everything is spoiled: Oblonsky caressing the wife he deceives, Dolly pleased by it, the Princess welcoming the beribboned stranger, Koznyshev feigning friendliness, Varenka's saint nitouche air, and worst of all Kitty smiling back at Veslovsky. Levin goes off to the office, where the work is no holiday task.

Jealousy arrives in a hat with ribbons and turns every person in the house repulsive within a paragraph — Tolstoy shows the poison working outward from one hand-kiss rather than from any act. The Latin lesson establishes in advance that Levin will submit to other people's methods in his own house. The failed proposal is left behind as a social awkwardness nobody mentions again.