Charm That Papers Over the Real Question — Anna Karenina

Half Moscow is Stiva's cousin or chum, and his board presidency with its six-thousand-ruble salary came through Karenin and would have come through someone else anyway. Charm is the real credential: he indulges others, treats every rank the same, and stays serenely indifferent to the papers on his desk, so the room trusts him while he barely reads the work. During the morning sitting he listens to a report with laughing eyes, privately amused that these officials would be shocked to see the guilty little boy he was at home half an hour ago.

After the break, Levin storms up the stairs in country dress, shy and furious at once. Stiva pulls him into a private room, introduces the polished colleagues, and listens to Levin quit the district council in a blaze: local government is either play-parliament or a salary racket for the district coterie. Each man secretly thinks the other's life is unreal. Levin asks about the Shtcherbatskys. Stiva smiles, knows Levin loves Kitty, lets the secretary interrupt, and hints that nothing has changed until Levin panics. He offers a map instead of an answer: the Zoological Gardens at four, Kitty skates, dinner later.

Levin leaves forgetting to bow to the officials. Stiva sighs that he is in a poor way himself, then returns to the papers. At four o'clock Levin will be at the rink where Kitty skates, carrying hope where he needed a clear reply.