Chapter 99 — Anna Karenina

By late September Levin's experiment looks like proof. Timber is carted for the peasants' cattleyard, butter is sold, profits are divided, and the association seems to work. He waits only for wheat money to fund a trip abroad where he will study foreign land systems and finish a book meant to overturn political economy entirely. Autumn rains stall harvest, ruin roads, wash away mills, and block even wheat delivery.

On September thirtieth a brief sunbreak sends Levin into confident motion. Soaked but exhilarated after estate rounds, he sees peasants adjusting to the new arrangement and hears old Ivan volunteer to buy into the cattle partnership. Riding home through hail, he dreams of a bloodless revolution spreading from his district to the world, comparing himself to Franklin and dismissing Kitty's refusal as irrelevant to a just idea.

After dinner the bailiff returns with partial wheat payment and news that everyone's losses dwarf Levin's. Levin tries to write an introduction to his book, receives the head peasants, then loses focus when Kitty's face returns. Agafea Mihalovna urges warm springs, praises his service to the peasants, then pivots to marriage and soul's salvation, hitting the wound he was already nursing. At nine o'clock a carriage bell sounds through the mud. Levin rushes past her to the door, work stalled and grateful for any visitor.