Chapter 86 — Anna Karenina

Princess Tverskaya's croquet party gathers the new Petersburg set nicknamed les sept merveilles du monde, a circle hostile to Anna's world and linked to Stremov, Karenin's political enemy. Anna had meant to refuse, but after Karenin's letter she arrives early, hoping Vronsky will appear. His footman enters with a note for Betsy saying Alexey cannot come, and Anna is trapped in luxury she cannot use: she cannot question the servant, cannot leave without scandal, and must perform ease while her need for Vronsky sharpens every glance.

With Betsy she invents a visit to old Madame Vrede to keep an exit open, then watches Betsy read Vronsky's excuse with studied innocence. Anna discovers that concealment itself fascinates her, not only its purpose. When Betsy asks her to seal a dinner invitation to Vronsky, Anna adds her own lines beneath: meet her at the Vrede garden at six, and sends it in Betsy's presence. Over tea the women gossip about Liza Merkalova, Kaluzhsky, and the new manners where husbands carry shawls and no one inquires further.

Betsy lights a cigarette and argues that the same situation can be tragic or humorous, that Liza profits from not understanding, and that Anna may look at life too tragically. Anna answers that she would like to know others as she knows herself, and believes she is worse. Betsy calls her enfant terrible just as footsteps announce the next guests. The chapter is Anna maneuvering inside hostile brilliance: social performance as both armor and the only channel left to reach her lover.