Anna Karenina, Part 2, Chapter 8 summary

What happens

1. Alexey Alexandrovitch sees others disapprove of Anna Arkadyevna’s conversation with Vronsky and decides to speak to her.
2. At home, his usual reading and bedtime routine give way to anxious pacing through the rooms.
3. He considers the possibility that Anna loves someone else, but repeatedly argues that nothing improper has happened.
4. Her writing desk prompts him to imagine her independent inner life, a thought he quickly rejects.
5. He assigns her feelings to conscience and religion, then prepares a warning about propriety, marriage, their son, and her unhappiness.
6. A carriage arrives, and Anna’s approaching footsteps leave him afraid despite his carefully prepared speech.

In this chapter

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