- Kitty is compared to a young man going into combat, as she prepares herself to go out to a party where she might receive a proposal of marriage.
- Tonight is also the night when her two suitors, Levin and Vronsky, will meet one another for the first time.
- Levin sits down with her and stammers out his proposal.
- Kitty refuses him, saying, "It is impossible. Forgive me."