- Arkady doesn't even have time to shake the dust off as his father embraces him. Nikolai is ecstatic and insists on having a look at his son.
- He quickly begins leading the carriage to a parking place, but Arkady tells him that first he has to introduce his new friend, Bazarov.
- Nikolai turns and goes back to grip Bazarov's hand. Bazarov is slow in offering it to him, and as he introduces himself his face is "animated by a tranquil smile betokening self-assurance and intelligence" (2.8).
- Nikolai yells at Piotr to harness Arkady's horses. Nikolai takes Arkady in his own barouch (a type of four-wheeled carriage with two seats facing each other), while Bazarov rides behind in the tarantass (a different type of four-wheeled carriage resting on two parallel wooden bars).
- Arkady encourages his father not to stand on ceremony (take too much trouble) for them.
- Nikolai's coachman, Mitya, brings the horses around. Bazarov yells at him to hurry up, calling him "old bushy-beard" (2.18). The other driver kids him about it, but Mitya makes no reply.
- They all load up in the carriages and head toward Nikolai's house.