In one of the best hotels in St. Petersburg, Anna Karenina, her daughter, and maid stay in one suite of rooms. Vronsky stays in a separate room. Once they arrive, Vronsky visits his brother and finds that his mother is also there, visiting from Moscow. She and his sister-in-law visit with him as always, and neither of them mentions one word about Anna Karenina. Vronsky’s brother visits him the next day and asks about her directly. Vronsky says he considers Anna Karenina to be his wife; he hopes to secure a divorce and then marry her, and he asks his brother to report his intentions to his wife and their mother. The older brother has nothing against the arrangement, no matter what society has said, and he spends some time visiting with Anna Karenina, as well. They discuss her going to stay at Vronsky’s estate.

Despite his significant social experience, Vronsky is uncomfortable in society for the first time because of the new position into which he has been placed. Given his experience, Vronsky should have understood that society is now closed to the unmarried pair, but he assumes that is an old-fashioned philosophy and that a more modern view will accept their circumstances. He does not expect that they would be received at court, but he is certain their intimate friends “can and must look at it in the proper light.” When he puts it to the test, though, he realizes the world is open to him but not to Anna Karenina.

Princess Betsy is one of the first people Vronsky meets in St. Petersburg; while she greets him joyfully, her enthusiasm wanes when she discovers that there will be no divorce. Despite the likely repercussions, Princess Betsy goes to visit Anna Karenina, though her tone is not the same as in former days. She prides herself on her courage, but she only stays for ten minutes of sharing society gossip before leaving. On her way out, she asks when the divorce will be final and warns that until there is a marriage they are likely to be ignored by most of society.

Vronsky should have gathered from Princess Betsy’s tone what he might expect from others, but he makes another effort with his family. His mother is unrelenting and will not visit Anna Karenina, so Vronsky then appeals to his sister-in-law. She knows what he is asking: that she go visit her, that she invite Anna Karenina into her own home and thereby “rehabilitate her” in society. She explains that she has daughters and she must guard both their and her husband’s reputation. She does agree to go visit her quietly. Vronsky is angry because he knows Anna Karenina is a better person than many who are regularly received in society, but his sister-in-law begs him not to blame her for the way things are. Vronsky leaves, saying things have changed between the two of them as well.

The time in St. Petersburg is painful for Vronsky; everywhere he turns he hears about or is at risk of seeing Alexey Alexandrovitch. It is worsened by Anna Karenina’s fluctuations between love and impenetrable coldness. She is worrying about something but does not share it with him, and she does not seem to notice the poisonous humiliations he continually endures.