Chapter 222 — Anna Karenina

Sergey Ivanovitch and Katavasov reach the busy Kursk line station where volunteers arrive in four cabs with bouquets and a cheering crowd. The princess asks Sergey about eight hundred sent, subscriptions, and telegram victories; she requests a note for a young man Countess Lydia Ivanovna favors.

Stiva appears beaming, praises the patriotic speech, asks Sergey to encourage volunteers, and sends regards to Kitty with committee appointment news. Princess notes Vronsky going by this train; Stiva's face briefly saddens then he sees only hero and old friend. Vronsky, aged and stony, lifts his hat to Sergey and the princess, leaves his mother, disappears into a compartment.

Platform rings God save the Tsar, hurrah, jivio; hollow-chested volunteer bows conspicuously. Tolstoy contrasts public martial fervor with Vronsky's private wreck on the same train Sergey boards for Levin's country.

Volunteers arrive with bouquets; princess asks about eight hundred sent and Lydia Ivanovna's protégé. Stiva praises patriotic speech; Vronsky, aged and stony, lifts hat and vanishes into compartment as God save the Tsar rings.

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

Platform rings hurrah and jivio; hollow-chested volunteer bows while Vronsky's private wreck rides the same train as public fervor.