The two sisters brought all the six children successfully through it, but Kitty was no better in health, and in Lent the Shtcherbatskys went abroad.

The highest Petersburg society is essentially one: in it everyone knows everyone else, everyone even visits everyone else.

But this great set has its subdivisions.

Anna Arkadyevna Karenina had friends and close ties in three different circles of this highest society.

One circle was her husband's government official set, consisting of his colleagues and subordinates, brought together in the most various and capricious manner, and belonging to different social strata.