小公主基蒂·谢尔巴茨卡娅年方十八。这是她初入社交界的第一个冬天。她在社交界的成功远超两个姐姐，甚至超出了她母亲的预期。且不说莫斯科舞会上的年轻男子几乎全都倾心于基蒂，就在这第一个冬天里，便出现了两位认真的追求者：列文，以及他离开后随即现身的弗龙斯基伯爵。
冬初列文的到访、频繁的探望，以及他对基蒂显而易见的爱慕，引发了基蒂父母之间关于女儿未来的首次严肃对话，也导致了他们之间的争执。公爵站在列文一边；他说自己再没有比列文更中意的女婿人选了。而公爵夫人则以女性特有的方式回避正题，坚持说基蒂年纪尚小，列文并未拿出实际行动证明自己的诚意，基蒂对他也没什么特别的吸引力——还扯了些旁枝末节。但她始终未提及最核心的理由：她希望为女儿寻一门更好的亲事，列文不合她的心意，她也不理解这个人。待列文突然离去，公爵夫人满心欢喜，得意洋洋地对丈夫说：“看吧，我说得没错。”待弗龙斯基出现，她更是喜出望外，愈发确信基蒂的婚事不仅美满，而且将是一桩显赫的姻缘。
在母亲眼中，弗龙斯基与列文之间根本没有可比性。列文令她反感的是他那古怪而不妥协的见解，以及在社交场合的腼腆——她认为这源于他的傲慢和那种古怪的生活方式，整天沉迷于牲口和农民。她尤其不悦的是，这个爱上她女儿的人，竟一连六个礼拜天天登门，却仿佛在等待什么，审视着什么，好像生怕提出求婚会太过抬举他们似的——他似乎意识不到，一个男人若持续拜访有待嫁女儿的家庭，就必须表明自己的意图。而他就这么不声不响地消失了。“好在基蒂对他没动真情，不至于被迷住，”母亲暗想。
弗龙斯基则完全符合母亲的一切期望。他极为富有、聪慧过人、出身贵族世家，在军队和宫廷中前程似锦，本人又魅力十足。再没有比这更理想的人选了。
弗龙斯基在舞会上公然与基蒂调情，与她共舞，又频频登门拜访——因此他的心意毋庸置疑是认真的。但即便如此，母亲整个冬天仍处于极度的焦虑与不安之中。
谢尔巴茨卡娅公爵夫人本人三十年前是由姑母撮合结婚的。关于她未来的丈夫，一切早已了然于心：他前来见过了未来的新娘，也被新娘相看过。做媒的姑母探明了双方的心意并转达给彼此。那印象是好的。随后在预先定好的日子，预期的求婚被正式提出，并得到了应允。一切都如此简单、轻松。至少在公爵夫人看来是这样的。但轮到自己女儿的婚事时，她才深切体会到，这桩看似平常的嫁女之事，远非那么简单轻松。当年为大女儿达里娅和二女儿娜塔莉亚操办婚事时，她经历了多少惊恐，耗费了多少心力，浪费了多少金钱，又和丈夫吵了多少架！如今小女儿初入社交界，她再次经受同样的恐惧、同样的犹疑，甚至与丈夫的争吵比前两次更为激烈。老公爵如同天下所有父亲一样，对女儿们的名誉和声望极为挑剔。他对女儿们怀有一种非理性的妒忌，尤其偏爱基蒂。他随时随地都会因公爵夫人“连累女儿”而与她大吵。公爵夫人早已因前两个女儿习惯了这些，但她现在感到公爵的敏感不无道理。她看到近年来社交风尚已大变，做母亲的职责变得更加艰难。她看到与基蒂同龄的姑娘们组织各种俱乐部，去听各类讲座，与男性自由交往；许多姑娘独自乘车招摇过市，连屈膝礼都不行——而最重要的是，所有姑娘都坚信选择丈夫是自己的事，与父母无关。“如今的婚姻早不像从前那样了”——所有年轻姑娘乃至她们的长辈都这样想这样说。但如今婚姻究竟是怎样的，公爵夫人却无人可以请教。法国那种父母包办儿女终身的风气已遭摒弃和谴责。英国那种姑娘完全独立的做法也不被接受，在俄国社会根本行不通。俄国那种靠媒人牵线的传统，也不知为何被视为有失体统；遭到所有人的嘲笑，连公爵夫人自己也不例外。但姑娘们究竟该如何出嫁，做父母的又该如何为她们操办，谁也不知道。公爵夫人偶然与人们谈起此事时，大家的回答如出一辙：“哎呀，如今是什么时代了，早该抛弃那些老一套啦。结婚的是年轻人，又不是他们的父母；所以就该让年轻人自己拿主意嘛。”说这种话的人当然轻松，因为他们没有女儿——但公爵夫人明白，在相互了解的过程中，女儿可能坠入情网，而爱上的也许是个根本不愿娶她、或者完全不配做她丈夫的人。无论别人怎样向她灌输“现在的年轻人应该自己安排生活”，她都无法相信——正如她无法相信，给五岁孩童最合适的玩具竟会是上了膛的手枪一样。因此，公爵夫人为基蒂操的心，比前两个女儿更多。
眼下她担心的是弗龙斯基可能只限于和女儿调情。她看得出女儿已坠入爱河，但只能自我安慰：他是个正人君子，不会这么做。可同时她也知道，以如今这放纵的风气，让一个姑娘神魂颠倒有多么容易，而男人们通常又多么轻率地看待这种“罪行”。一周前，基蒂曾告诉母亲一段她与弗龙斯基在玛祖卡舞间的谈话。这段对话让公爵夫人稍感宽慰，但仍无法完全安心。弗龙斯基告诉基蒂，他和哥哥都习惯遵从母亲的意见，凡重要决定必先请示母亲。“正巧，”他对基蒂说，“我正急切地等候母亲从彼得堡来，这将是个特别的幸运。”
基蒂转述这话时并未在意其中深意，但母亲却看出了门道。她知道老夫人随时会到，而且必然会满意儿子的选择，因此她感到奇怪：弗龙斯基迟迟不求婚，莫非是怕惹母亲不快？然而，她太盼望这门婚事能成——更盼望着能从焦虑中解脱——于是她宁愿相信事实就是如此。虽说看到大女儿多莉即将与丈夫分手的痛苦处境令公爵夫人心酸，但此刻对幼女命运决定的忧虑完全占据了她的心。今天列文再度出现，又添了新的担忧。她担心女儿——按她揣测，曾对列文有过好感——可能出于极端的自尊心而拒绝弗龙斯基，而列文的到来更可能使这件临近圆满的婚事变得复杂、拖延。
“怎么，他来了很久了吗？”回家路上，公爵夫人问起列文的事。
“他今天来的，妈妈。”
“有件事我想对你说……”公爵夫人开口了，从她严肃而警觉的表情，基蒂猜到了她要说什么。
“妈妈，”她脸一红，飞快地转向母亲，“求您了，求您别提那件事。我知道，我全都知道。”
她想要母亲所期望的，但母亲期望的动机却令她受伤。
“我只想说，不要给人家希望……”
“妈妈，亲爱的，看在上帝份上，别说了。说这种事太可怕了。”
“我不说了，”母亲见女儿眼中含泪，便住了口，“但有一点，亲爱的：你答应过我对你毫无秘密的。你会的，对吗？”
“永远会的，妈妈，绝无隐瞒，”基蒂答道，微微红了脸，直视着母亲，“可是我没什么可告诉您的，我……我……就算想告诉您，也不知道该说什么，该怎么说……我真的不知道……”
“不，她那双眼睛是撒不了谎的，”母亲望着女儿激动而幸福的模样，心里暗笑。公爵夫人笑了——此刻发生在女儿心灵中的事，在这可怜的孩子看来，竟是如此宏大、如此重要。
The young Princess Kitty Shtcherbatskaya was eighteen. It was the first
winter that she had been out in the world. Her success in society had
been greater than that of either of her elder sisters, and greater even
than her mother had anticipated. To say nothing of the young men who
danced at the Moscow balls being almost all in love with Kitty, two
serious suitors had already this first winter made their appearance:
Levin, and immediately after his departure, Count Vronsky.
Levin’s appearance at the beginning of the winter, his frequent visits,
and evident love for Kitty, had led to the first serious conversations
between Kitty’s parents as to her future, and to disputes between them.
The prince was on Levin’s side; he said he wished for nothing better
for Kitty. The princess for her part, going round the question in the
manner peculiar to women, maintained that Kitty was too young, that
Levin had done nothing to prove that he had serious intentions, that
Kitty felt no great attraction to him, and other side issues; but she
did not state the principal point, which was that she looked for a
better match for her daughter, and that Levin was not to her liking,
and she did not understand him. When Levin had abruptly departed, the
princess was delighted, and said to her husband triumphantly: “You see
I was right.” When Vronsky appeared on the scene, she was still more
delighted, confirmed in her opinion that Kitty was to make not simply a
good, but a brilliant match.
In the mother’s eyes there could be no comparison between Vronsky and
Levin. She disliked in Levin his strange and uncompromising opinions
and his shyness in society, founded, as she supposed, on his pride and
his queer sort of life, as she considered it, absorbed in cattle and
peasants. She did not very much like it that he, who was in love with
her daughter, had kept coming to the house for six weeks, as though he
were waiting for something, inspecting, as though he were afraid he
might be doing them too great an honor by making an offer, and did not
realize that a man, who continually visits at a house where there is a
young unmarried girl, is bound to make his intentions clear. And
suddenly, without doing so, he disappeared. “It’s as well he’s not
attractive enough for Kitty to have fallen in love with him,” thought
the mother.
Vronsky satisfied all the mother’s desires. Very wealthy, clever, of
aristocratic family, on the highroad to a brilliant career in the army
and at court, and a fascinating man. Nothing better could be wished
for.
Vronsky openly flirted with Kitty at balls, danced with her, and came
continually to the house, consequently there could be no doubt of the
seriousness of his intentions. But, in spite of that, the mother had
spent the whole of that winter in a state of terrible anxiety and
agitation.
Princess Shtcherbatskaya had herself been married thirty years ago, her
aunt arranging the match. Her husband, about whom everything was well
known beforehand, had come, looked at his future bride, and been looked
at. The matchmaking aunt had ascertained and communicated their mutual
impression. That impression had been favorable. Afterwards, on a day
fixed beforehand, the expected offer was made to her parents, and
accepted. All had passed very simply and easily. So it seemed, at
least, to the princess. But over her own daughters she had felt how far
from simple and easy is the business, apparently so commonplace, of
marrying off one’s daughters. The panics that had been lived through,
the thoughts that had been brooded over, the money that had been
wasted, and the disputes with her husband over marrying the two elder
girls, Darya and Natalia! Now, since the youngest had come out, she was
going through the same terrors, the same doubts, and still more violent
quarrels with her husband than she had over the elder girls. The old
prince, like all fathers indeed, was exceedingly punctilious on the
score of the honor and reputation of his daughters. He was irrationally
jealous over his daughters, especially over Kitty, who was his
favorite. At every turn he had scenes with the princess for
compromising her daughter. The princess had grown accustomed to this
already with her other daughters, but now she felt that there was more
ground for the prince’s touchiness. She saw that of late years much was
changed in the manners of society, that a mother’s duties had become
still more difficult. She saw that girls of Kitty’s age formed some
sort of clubs, went to some sort of lectures, mixed freely in men’s
society; drove about the streets alone, many of them did not curtsey,
and, what was the most important thing, all the girls were firmly
convinced that to choose their husbands was their own affair, and not
their parents’. “Marriages aren’t made nowadays as they used to be,”
was thought and said by all these young girls, and even by their
elders. But how marriages were made now, the princess could not learn
from anyone. The French fashion—of the parents arranging their
children’s future—was not accepted; it was condemned. The English
fashion of the complete independence of girls was also not accepted,
and not possible in Russian society. The Russian fashion of matchmaking
by the offices of intermediate persons was for some reason considered
unseemly; it was ridiculed by everyone, and by the princess herself.
But how girls were to be married, and how parents were to marry them,
no one knew. Everyone with whom the princess had chanced to discuss the
matter said the same thing: “Mercy on us, it’s high time in our day to
cast off all that old-fashioned business. It’s the young people have to
marry; and not their parents; and so we ought to leave the young people
to arrange it as they choose.” It was very easy for anyone to say that
who had no daughters, but the princess realized that in the process of
getting to know each other, her daughter might fall in love, and fall
in love with someone who did not care to marry her or who was quite
unfit to be her husband. And, however much it was instilled into the
princess that in our times young people ought to arrange their lives
for themselves, she was unable to believe it, just as she would have
been unable to believe that, at any time whatever, the most suitable
playthings for children five years old ought to be loaded pistols. And
so the princess was more uneasy over Kitty than she had been over her
elder sisters.
