Agafea Mihalovna leaves the nursery on tiptoe; the nurse lowers the blinds and sits down to wave a birch branch over Kitty and her son. Kitty rocks a little and tenderly squeezes Mitya’s plump little hand as it waves feebly. She wants desperately to kiss his hand, but he is wavering between sleeping and waking and she does not want to wake him. Finally Mitya’s hand is still and his eyes close. Occasionally he continues sucking and looks up at his mother with dark, wet eyes that look black in the twilight. The nurse is no longer fanning, as she, too, has fallen asleep.

Above her, Kitty hears her father’s voice and Katavasov’s chuckle. Though she is a bit vexed that Levin is still out while they have guests, she is thankful that he finds contentment in his work. Levin is much happier in every way than he was in the spring; then he was continually gloomy and worried and she felt quite frightened for him.

Kitty knows what is worrying her husband: his unbelief. If anyone had forced her to admit it, based on his unbelief, Kitty knows Levin would be damned if he died today; however, in general his unbelief does not cause her much unhappiness. She understands that there is no salvation for an unbeliever’s soul and she loves Levin’s soul “more than anything in the world,” so when she thinks of his unbelief she convinces herself he is being absurd.

Levin has been reading books on philosophy; he says he would like to believe and Kitty does not understand why he does not believe. Perhaps he is thinking too much, which probably comes from spending too much time alone. Perhaps he will be glad of these visitors. Perhaps Levin will revel in intellectual discussions, especially with the professor.

Her thoughts are disrupted for a moment, but she comes back to one thought: Levin is better off as a true unbeliever than someone who feigns belief. One recent instance of Levin’s goodness comes immediately to her mind. Several weeks ago, Stepan Arkadyevitch had sent a letter to Dolly begging her to save his honor by selling the remainder of her estate to pay his debts. Dolly was in despair. She despised her husband and resolved to separate from him and refuse his request, but in the end she agreed to sell her share of her property. Once the decision was made, Levin made repeated awkward efforts to broach the subject (to his great embarrassment). Finally he offered a solution to Dolly’s problem. He suggested that Kitty relinquish her share of the property, something which had never occurred to her.

Even now, Kitty smiles when she remembers. No unbeliever would have been so careful about others’ feelings. Even Sergey Ivanovitch simply expects Levin to act as his steward, as does their sister. Now Dolly and her family are under his guardianship just as the local peasants expect him to be at their service. She quietly tells Mitya to be only like his father.