Chapter 167 — Anna Karenina

Veslovsky drives so smartly they reach the great marsh too early while it is still hot. Levin and Stepan Arkadyevitch both want to shed Veslovsky and hunt freely; Oblonsky's face shows a sportsman's anxiety mixed with good humored slyness. Levin maps the reeds, divides the party, and lands on the wider right with Veslovsky while Stiva takes the left alone.

Kitty's parting warning returns: Mind you don't shoot one another. Veslovsky fires at distant ducks and scares the snipe; Oblonsky kills cleanly while Levin misses his first birds and, as always on such days, grows hot, out of temper, and shoots worse the longer he tries. Veslovsky pops away merrily, killing nothing yet not abashed, which deepens Levin's sense of disgrace before a spectator.

When peasants invite them to vodka, Levin sends Veslovsky off with Allons, c'est curieux and hopes solitude will save the day, but alone he still misses. Exhausted, bitter tasting, he keeps walking until a disgraceful miss makes him fling his gun and his hat on the ground. He recovers, drinks stagnant water, tries to keep cool, and ends with only five birds against Oblonsky's fourteen at the alders, softened by Stiva's gracious blame of Veslovsky and the single dog.