Anna Karenina

On the drive home, "as Darya Alexandrovna, with all her children round her, their heads still wet from their bath, and a kerchief tied over her own head, was getting near the house, the coachman said, 'There's some gentleman coming: the master of Pokrovskoe, I do believe.'" Levin is arriving. "Darya Alexandrovna peeped out in front, and was delighted when she recognized in the gray hat and gray coat the familiar figure of Levin walking to meet them. She was glad to see him at any time, but at this moment she was specially glad he should see her in all her glory. No one was better able to appreciate her grandeur than Levin." She wants Levin to see her with her children - he understands family values. "Seeing her, he found himself face to face with one of the pictures of his daydream of family life." For Levin, Dolly with her children represents his ideal. "You're like a hen with your chickens, Darya Alexandrovna." He greets her affectionately. They talk. Levin tries to discuss agricultural theory, but Dolly finds it confusing: "General principles, as to the cow being a machine for the production of milk, she looked on with suspicion. It seemed to her that such principles could only be a hindrance in farm management. It all seemed to her a far simpler matter: all that was needed, as Marya Philimonovna had explained, was to give Brindle and Whitebreast more food and drink, and not to let the cook carry all the kitchen slops to the laundry maid's cow. That was clear. But general propositions as to feeding on meal and on grass were doubtful and obscure." Dolly has practical farming knowledge based on experience; Levin's theoretical principles seem useless to her. She'd rather feed individual cows (with names like Brindle and Whitebreast) properly than worry about abstract theories. "And, what was most important, she wanted to talk about Kitty." Never mind farming - she wants to discuss his failed romance.