Kitty knew that what she had said in her anger about the unfaithfulness of Dolly's husband and about her humiliation had cut her poor sister to the depths of her heart, but that she was forgiven; while Dolly on her side learnt all that she wanted to know, her suspicions were confirmed and she understood that Kitty's grief, her hopeless grief, was really caused by the fact that Levin had proposed to her and that she had rejected him, and now that Vronsky had deceived her, she was prepared to love Levin and to hate Vronsky.
Kitty capì che le parole pronunziate nella furia sull’infedeltà del cognato e sulla posizione umiliante della sorella avevano sì, ferito la poveretta in fondo al cuore, ma ch’ella aveva perdonato. Dolly da parte sua seppe quello che voleva sapere: si convinse cioè che le sue supposizioni erano fondate, che il dolore, l’inguaribile dolore di Kitty, consisteva proprio in questo: che Levin aveva fatto la sua proposta di matrimonio, e Kitty gli aveva detto di no, mentre Vronskij l’aveva ingannata; e ch’ella avrebbe amato Levin e odiato Vronskij.