Chapter 189 — Anna Karenina

Before Vronsky's departure for elections Anna reflected that scenes repeated each time he left might only make him cold to her instead of attaching him, and resolved to control herself and bear parting with composure. She did not write jealous letters and tried new calm; it seemed to succeed until his return.

When he comes she runs joyfully yet he scans her hair and dress he knows she wore for him with cold familiarity; stern stony expression settles. She admits to herself she is a burden; if so, it's a calamity his glance says. Evening ends gaily with Varvara while Anna takes morphine only when he is away.

She writes Karenin asking about divorce; toward end of November, leaving Varvara for Petersburg, she goes with Vronsky to Moscow expecting answer and legal change, established themselves together like married people. Tolstoy ends Part Seven bridging to Levin's Moscow waiting in Part Eight.

Anna resolved to bear parting with composure and not write jealous letters until Vronsky's return. He scans her hair and the dress she wore for him; control fails and the old scene repeats with sharper teeth.

Tolstoy closes the chapter on that beat without easy moral, only the next consequence waiting.