As he leaves Anna Karenina, Levin is thinking that she is a marvelous, sweet, but unhappy woman. She is clever, but it is not her cleverness which has won him over; it is her depth of feeling. Levin spends his journey home thinking of her.

At home Levin reads two letters. The first is from his bailiff, telling Levin they cannot sell the corn, for the price is much too low right now. The second is from his sister, scolding him for not yet completing her business. He quickly decides they must sell the corn, even at such a low price. This is usually the kind of weighty decision which Levin ponders for a long time, but he decides this immediately and without any painful deliberation. Levin knows his sister is right, but he has been quite busy; he resolves to make time to do it tomorrow. Levin’s entire day had been spent in conversations he had either heard or participated in; none of them were about things that he would normally talk about, but here they were quite interesting. Levin only has misgivings about two moments: one is his fish comment, and the other is the tender sympathy he is feeling for Anna Karenina.

Kitty is in low spirits. She and her sisters had dined and then waited for him to come home. Finally they left and Kitty was left alone. She asks Levin, looking directly at him, what he has been doing. Her eyes are shining with a suspicious brightness, but she conceals her scrutiny so he will tell her everything. With an approving smile, she listens to his account.

He says he now feels natural rather than awkward around Vronsky. When he thinks about where he went after leaving Vronsky, Levin blushes and comments that the peasants are not the only group of people who can drink. Kitty is not in the least interested in the drinking habits of either class of people; she saw Levin blush, and she wants to know why.

Levin finally tells Kitty that Stepan Arkadyevitch insisted he go with him to see Anna Karenina, and as he says it he blushes again. Now Levin’s questions about whether he had done the right thing by going on this visit are answered: he should not have gone. Kitty’s eyes open in a curious way and gleam at the mention of Anna Karenina’s name, but she conceals her emotions.

He tells her about the visit and relays the message Anna Karenina sent to Kitty;  she barely comments on it, except to say that the woman is certainly very much to be pitied.  Kitty changes the subject, and Levin believes no damage has been done and goes to change his clothes. When he returns, Kitty bursts into sobs and accuses him of being in love with “that hateful woman.” She claims Anna Karenina has bewitched him and they must leave the city tomorrow.

It is a long time before Levin soothes his wife by admitting that he had drunk too much wine and had felt too much pity for her, causing him to “succumb to Anna Karenina’s artful influence.” He vows to avoid her, admitting that city life has caused him to degenerate. By three o’clock they are reconciled and ready for bed.