On entering the drawing-room Oblonsky made his excuses, explaining that he had been kept by the particular Prince who was his usual scapegoat whenever he was late or absent, and in a moment he had reintroduced everybody, and having brought Karenin and Koznyshev together, he started them off on the subject of the Russification of Poland, and they immediately caught on, Pestsov joining them.
Entrando in salotto, Stepan Arkad’ic si scusò, spiegò che era stato trattenuto da quel tale principe che era l’eterno capro espiatorio di tutti i suoi ritardi e di tutte le sue assenze e, in un attimo, presentò tutti e, messi insieme Aleksej Aleksandrovic con Sergej Koznyšev, lanciò loro il tema della russificazione della Polonia al quale essi si aggrapparono subito insieme a Pescov.