Count Vronsky spent the entire night awake in his railway carriage, looking around with complete indifference and ignoring the attempts of a nervous young man to engage him. He felt elevated by the immense power of his love for Anna Arkadievna, experiencing a proud and energized focus toward a single goal. When he had briefly seen Anna at the Bologoi station, he had impulsively expressed his feelings, leaving them both conscious that she now knew everything. Arriving in St Petersburg, Vronsky felt remarkably fresh and hoped to catch another glimpse of her walk, face, or smile upon leaving the train.
Instead, the first person he saw was her husband, Alexei Alexandrovitch Karenin, politely escorted through the crowd by the station master. This reality hit Vronsky with the unpleasant realization that the husband was an essential part of Anna's existence, a fact he had previously refused to acknowledge. Watching Karenin's stiff posture and self-assured demeanor evoked in Vronsky the disgruntled feeling of a thirsty man finding a pure spring defiled by an animal. Yet, when Anna appeared, her familiar presence instantly revived him, and he perceived a subtle constraint in how she greeted her husband, convincing him that she did not and could not love Karenin.
As Vronsky approached them, he greeted both husband and wife to allow Karenin his rightful place. Anna looked tired, but a sudden flash in her eyes upon seeing Vronsky confirmed his hopes. Alexei Alexandrovitch responded with icy indifference, formally acknowledging Vronsky and noting his travel companions before turning the conversation exclusively to his wife with sarcastic remarks meant to signal his desire for privacy. Vronsky stepped back but managed to ask for the honor of calling upon them, to which Karenin coldly replied that they received guests on Mondays.
As Karenin escorted Anna toward their carriage, he bantered about his affection and her return a day early, mentioning that Countess Lydie Ivanovna was eager to see her. Anna listened half-heartedly while still attuned to Vronsky's footsteps behind them, pushing away her doubts with the thought of what it mattered. Karenin continued talking about their son Seryozha and the plans for the day before warmly pressing her hand and seeing her off to her carriage.