“Why?  For the same reason as you.”

“And, at a moment of such gravity for me, she only thinks of her being dull by herself,” thought Levin.  And this lack of candor in a matter of such gravity infuriated him.

“It’s out of the question,” he said sternly.

Agafea Mihalovna, seeing that it was coming to a quarrel, gently put down her cup and withdrew.  Kitty did not even notice her.  The tone in which her husband had said the last words wounded her, especially because he evidently did not believe what she had said.

“I tell you, that if you go, I shall come with you; I shall certainly come,” she said hastily and wrathfully.  “Why out of the question?  Why do you say it’s out of the question?”

“Because it’ll be going God knows where, by all sorts of roads and to all sorts of hotels.  You would be a hindrance to me,” said Levin, trying to be cool.

“Not at all.  I don’t want anything.  Where you can go, I can....”

“Well, for one thing then, because this woman’s there whom you can’t meet.”

“I don’t know and don’t care to know who’s there and what.  I know that my husband’s brother is dying and my husband is going to him, and I go with my husband too....”

“Kitty!  Don’t get angry.  But just think a little:  this is a matter of such importance that I can’t bear to think that you should bring in a feeling of weakness, of dislike to being left alone.  Come, you’ll be dull alone, so go and stay at Moscow a little.”

“There, you always ascribe base, vile motives to me,” she said with tears of wounded pride and fury.  “I didn’t mean, it wasn’t weakness, it wasn’t...I feel that it’s my duty to be with my husband when he’s in trouble, but you try on purpose to hurt me, you try on purpose not to understand....”

“No; this is awful!  To be such a slave!” cried Levin, getting up, and unable to restrain his anger any longer.  But at the same second he felt that he was beating himself.

“Then why did you marry?  You could have been free.  Why did you, if you regret it?” she said, getting up and running away into the drawing room.

When he went to her, she was sobbing.

He began to speak, trying to find words not to dissuade but simply to soothe her.  But she did not heed him, and would not agree to anything.  He bent down to her and took her hand, which resisted him.  He kissed her hand, kissed her hair, kissed her hand again—­still she was silent.  But when he took her face in both his hands and said “Kitty!” she suddenly recovered herself, and began to cry, and they were reconciled.