Maid takes samovár, and exit. ANNA PÁVLOVNA [to Sásha who has risen and is going out] It turns out just as I told you! She sent for him at once.... SÁSHA. She may have sent for him for quite a different reason. ANNA PÁVLOVNA. What for, then? SÁSHA. Now, at this moment, Karénin is the same to her as old Nurse Trífonovna. ANNA PÁVLOVNA. Well, you'll see.... Don't I know her? She has sent for him to comfort her. SÁSHA. Oh mother, how little you know her, to be able to suppose ...! ANNA PÁVLOVNA. Well, we'll see!... And I am very, very glad. SÁSHA. We _shall_ see! [Exit, humming a tune]. ANNA PÁVLOVNA [alone, shakes her head and mutters] It's all right, it's all right! Enter Maid. MAID. Mr. Karénin has come. ANNA PÁVLOVNA. Well then, show him in, and tell your mistress. Maid exit by inner door. Enter Karénin, who bows to Anna Pávlovna. KARÉNIN. Your daughter wrote to me to come. I meant to come and see you to-night, anyhow. So I was very pleased ... Is Elisabeth Andréyevna[2] well? [2] Elisabeth Andréyevna is the polite way of speaking of Mrs. Protásova, otherwise Lisa. ANNA PÁVLOVNA. Yes, she is well, but Baby is a bit restless. She will be here directly. [In a melancholy voice] Ah yes! It is a sad time.... But you know all about it, don't you? KARÉNIN. I do. I was here, you know, the day before yesterday, when his letter came. But is it possible that everything is irrevocably settled? ANNA PÁVLOVNA. Why of course! Naturally! To go through it all again would be intolerable. KARÉNIN. This is a case where the proverb applies: "Measure ten times before you cut once." ... It is very painful to cut into the quick. ANNA PÁVLOVNA. Of course it is; but then their marriage has long had a rift in it, so that the tearing asunder was easier than one would have thought. He himself sees that, after what has occurred, it is impossible for him to return. KARÉNIN. Why so? ANNA PÁVLOVNA. How can you expect it, after all his horrid goings-on--after he swore it should not happen again, and that if it did he would renounce all rights as a husband and set her perfectly free? KARÉNIN. Yes, but how can a woman be free when she is bound by marriage? ANNA PÁVLOVNA. By divorce. He promised her a divorce, and we shall insist on it. KARÉNIN. Yes, but Elisabeth Andréyevna loved him so.... ANNA PÁVLOVNA. Ah, but her love has suffered such trials that there can hardly be anything left of it! Drunkenness, deception, and infidelity ... Can one love such a husband? KARÉNIN. Nothing is impossible to love.