Chapter 87 — Anna Karenina

Sappho Shtoltz arrives with Vaska, a young man so well fed he barely greets Anna before chaining himself to Sappho's footsteps. Tolstoy catalogs Sappho's extreme dress and masculine handshake, then stacks the room with more ornaments of the new set: another forgotten celebrity guest, Prince Kaluzhsky, Liza Merkalova, and Stremov. Anna prefers Liza's soft sincerity to Sappho's performance, reading her as a real diamond among glass, though both women keep young and old admirers orbiting them.

Liza refuses croquet and draws Anna aside, praising her as alive while confessing that Petersburg's liveliest set is awfully bored. Anna blushes under the scrutiny and answers that she does nothing. Stremov, Karenin's political enemy, flatters the formula: do not anticipate boredom, work to enjoy yourself. Liza counters that she cannot pretend her work matters. The talk is witty, empty, and intimate at once, the kind of conversation that flatters without deciding anything.

When croquet calls, Liza and Stremov beg Anna to stay, arguing that Madame Vrede will only spread scandal while here she inspires elevated feelings. For a moment the easy salon almost wins. Anna remembers clutching her hair in despair at home, the difficult explanation waiting with Vronsky, and leaves. The chapter contrasts performed vitality with Anna's hidden crisis: she can look enviable in a drawing room and still flee back toward pain.