Chapter 121 — Anna Karenina

Karenin enters Anna's room after Betsy leaves, repeating gratitude in French and then in intimate Russian. The affectionate thou form, once reserved for love, now produces physical revulsion in Anna. She controls herself outwardly while inwardly rejecting the idea that Vronsky should not come to say goodbye.

Their talk turns from Vronsky to the baby. Anna learns the nurse lacks milk and erupts over being denied the right to nurse her own child when she had begged to do so. Grief and accusation mix with apology as she asks him to leave.

Karenin exits convinced the situation cannot continue. He sees clearly that the world, his wife, and some brutal social force all demand conduct he cannot reconcile with his recent spiritual turn. Anna's hatred and his own anger threaten the peace he thought forgiveness had secured.

Anna's revulsion at Karenin's intimate thou and her rage over nursing rights show forgiveness did not restore intimacy. She wants Vronsky's goodbye; Karenin leaves knowing peace was illusion and the world's verdict still demands action he cannot perform.

The intimate thou that once meant love now produces revulsion; nursing rights become the battlefield where post-forgiveness hatred speaks plainly again. The chapter closes on that beat with no easy moral, only the next consequence waiting in the following pages.