Stiva will tell himself the truth, but only the kind that keeps him comfortable. He does not repent the affair with their former governess; he repents failing to hide it better. He had vaguely assumed Darya Alexandrovna would long ago have suspected him, shut her eyes, and take an indulgent view like other wives he knows. It turned out quite the other way, and now he circles the same cry without a plan: awful, awful, what is to be done?
When thought offers no exit, he reaches for the answer life gives to every hard question: live in the needs of the day, forget oneself. Sleep and last night's dream are closed to him, so he rises, rings for Matvey, reads telegrams, and brightens when his sister Anna Arkadyevna arrives tomorrow, alone. Matvey reads the visit as hope for reconciliation. Stiva sends the telegram to Dolly and waits. Her answer comes back through Matvey: she is going away, and he may do as he likes. Matrona, Dolly's chief ally in the house, still begs him to go, own his fault again, pray, pity the children. He says Dolly will not see him, blushes, sends her off, and tells Matvey to dress him.
Anna arrives tomorrow, alone, and Stiva will greet her hope before he has offered Dolly anything Matrona would call an apology.
Coming Up in Chapter 3
He dresses for the day like nothing happened: scent, cufflinks, coffee beside office letters. A damp liberal paper blurs his brain while Dolly has not slept and the children run wild without lessons. By the time he finishes a widow's petition and writes a fluent note, only one thing remains forgotten on purpose.
