- Kitty nurses Mitya as the nanny sleeps. Kitty can hear her guests laughing on the balcony, and is a little peeved that Levin isn't around to greet them.
- She reflects that Levin has been spending a lot of time alone lately, mostly tending to his beehives. He knows that her husband is bothered by his lack of faith.
- She notes that he reads philosophy incessantly yet finds no answers, then reflects that he'll enjoy the company of his visitors. This train of thought leads her to worry that there are no clean sheets to offer the guests.
- She returns to pondering her husband's unbelief, deciding that she would rather have him be an unbeliever than be a believer full of pretense, like Madame Stahl.
- She knows that her husband is a good man, thinking of a recent suggestion that helped the Oblonskys out of financial difficulties. Kitty thinks of all the duties that he assumes caring for his relatives' estates, Dolly and her children, and all the peasants who seek his guidance.
- Kitty bends over her son and murmurs a wish that he turns out to be just like his father.