While his carriage awaits him, Stiva sees a petitioner and gives her advice. Taking his hat, he feels as if he forgot something. Lighting a cigarette, squaring his shoulders, he rapidly walks to his wife's bedroom.
Darya Alexandrovna is collecting her things and the children's clothes in order to pack up and leave for her mother's house. Regarding her husband out of startled eyes, prominent in her sunken and thin face, she scans his figure which radiates health and freshness. Though he tries to look pitiful and humble, she notes with disgust that good nature of his which everyone praises and likes so well.
The brief interview fails. Dolly shrilly insists she will leave the house, while Stiva pleads his guilt and begs her to forgive his one lapse of passion which could not belie their nine years of happy marriage. When he weeps in sympathy for her, Dolly becomes angrier than ever: she seeks his love, not his pity.
Dolly leaves the room to attend to a child crying in the nursery. Plunging into the duties of the day, she crowds the grief out of her mind for a time. Stiva slowly leaves the room. "Maybe she will come around," he tells himself.
