Anna talks to Levin

Anna greets Levin with the ease of a woman of good society, speaks of Kitty as a lovely flower, and has him comfortable within a minute. They talk of Vashchenko's pictures and of the new French illustrations to the Bible; Levin says the French, having pushed convention furthest, find poetry in leaving off lying, and Anna laughs with delight and extends the thought to Zola and Daudet. He has never been so pleased with anything he has said. Her face changes for a moment into curiosity, anger and pride when the club is mentioned, then closes. Of the English girl she says love cannot be ordered — energy is based on love, and she could not attach herself to the village school. She will not show her manuscript, comparing it to the baskets prisoners carve. Levin finds sincerity added to her intelligence and beauty, feels a surprising tenderness and pity, and fears Vronsky does not understand her. At eleven she holds his hand and sends word to Kitty that she does not wish to be forgiven.

Anna's charm is shown working on the man who had judged her hardest, and Tolstoy makes the method visible: she attaches great value to her interlocutor's ideas and none to her own. Levin leaves convinced of her sincerity, which is real, and unaware of the intention, which is also real. Her message to Kitty — do not forgive me — is offered as a kindness.