Emperor," said Rostov, and was about to spur his horse. "Count! Count!" shouted Berg who ran up from the other side as eager as Boris. "Count! I am wounded in my right hand" (and he showed his bleeding hand with a handkerchief tied round it) "and I remained at the front. I held my sword in my left hand, Count. All our family - the von Bergs - have been knights!" He said something more, but Rostov did not wait to hear it and rode away. Having passed the Guards and traversed an empty space, Rostov, to avoid again getting in front of the first line as he had done when the Horse Guards charged, followed the line of reserves, going far round the place where the hottest musket fire and cannonade were heard. Suddenly he heard musket fire quite close in front of him and behind our troops, where he could never have expected the enemy to be. "What can it be?" he thought. "The enemy in the rear of our army? Impossible!" And suddenly he was seized by a panic of fear for himself and for the issue of the whole battle. "But be that what it may," he reflected, "there is no riding round it now. I must look for the commander in chief here, and if all is lost it is for me to perish with the rest." The foreboding of evil that had suddenly come over Rostov was more and more confirmed the farther he rode into the region behind the village of Pratzen, which was full of troops of all kinds. "What does it mean? What is it? Whom are they firing at? Who is firing?" Rostov kept asking as he came up to Russian and Austrian soldiers running in confused crowds across his path. "The devil knows! They’ve killed everybody! It’s all up now!" he was told in Russian, German, and Czech by the crowd of fugitives who understood what was happening as little as he did. "Kill the Germans!" shouted one. "May the devil take them - the traitors!" "Zum Henker diese Russen!" * muttered a German. * "Hang these Russians!" Several wounded men passed along the road, and words of abuse, screams, and groans mingled in a general hubbub, then the firing died down. Rostov learned later that Russian and Austrian soldiers had been firing at one another. "My God! What does it all mean?" thought he. "And here, where at any moment the Emperor may see them.... But no, these must be only a handful of scoundrels. It will soon be over, it can’t be that, it can’t be! Only to get past them quicker, quicker!" The idea of defeat and flight could not enter Rostov’s head. Though he saw French cannon and French troops on the Pratzen Heights just where he had been ordered to look for the commander in chief, he could not, did not wish to, believe that. CHAPTER XVIII Rostov had been ordered to look for Kutuzov and the Emperor near the village of Pratzen. But neither they nor a single commanding officer were there, only disorganized crowds of troops of various kinds. He urged on his already weary horse to get quickly past these crowds, but the farther he went the more disorganized they were. The highroad on which he had come out was thronged with caleches, carriages of all sorts, and Russian and Austrian soldiers of all arms, some wounded and some not. This whole mass droned and jostled in confusion under the dismal influence of cannon balls flying from the French batteries stationed on the Pratzen Heights. "Where is the Emperor? Where is Kutuzov?" Rostov kept asking everyone he could stop, but got no answer from anyone. At last seizing a soldier by his collar he forced him to answer. "Eh, brother! They’ve all bolted long ago!" said the soldier, laughing for some reason and shaking himself free. Having left that soldier who was evidently drunk, Rostov stopped the horse of a batman or groom of some important personage and began to question him. The man announced that the Tsar had been driven in a carriage at full speed about an hour before along that very road and that he was dangerously wounded. "It can’t be!" said Rostov. "It must have been someone else." "I saw him myself," replied the man with a self-confident smile of derision. "I ought to know the Emperor by now, after the times I’ve seen him in Petersburg. I saw him just as I see you.... There he sat in the carriage as pale as anything. How they made the four black horses fly! Gracious me, they did rattle past! It’s time I knew the Imperial horses and Ilya Ivanych. I don’t think Ilya drives anyone except the Tsar!" Rostov let go of the horse and was about to ride on, when a wounded officer passing by addressed him: "Who is it you want?" he asked. "The commander in chief? He was killed by a cannon ball - struck in the breast before our regiment." "Not killed - wounded!" another officer corrected him. "Who? Kutuzov?" asked Rostov. "Not Kutuzov, but what’s his name - well, never mind... there are not many left alive. Go that way, to that village, all the commanders are there," said the officer, pointing to the village of Hosjeradek, and he walked on. Rostov rode on at a footpace not knowing why or to whom he was now going. The Emperor was wounded, the battle lost. It was impossible to doubt it now. Rostov rode in the direction pointed out to him, in which he saw turrets and a church. What need to hurry? What was he now to say to the Tsar or to Kutuzov, even if they were alive and unwounded? "Take this road, your honor, that way you will be killed at once!" a soldier shouted to him. "They’d kill you there!" "Oh, what are you talking about?" said another. "Where is he to go? That way is nearer." Rostov considered, and then went in the direction where they said he would be killed. "It’s all the same now. If the Emperor is wounded, am I to try to save myself?" he thought. He rode on to the region where the greatest number of men had perished in fleeing from Pratzen. The French had not yet occupied that region, and the Russians - the uninjured and slightly wounded - had left it long ago. All about the field, like heaps of manure on well-kept plowland, lay from ten to fifteen dead and wounded to each couple of acres. The wounded crept together in twos and threes and one could hear their distressing screams and groans, sometimes feigned - or so it seemed to Rostov. He put his horse to a trot to avoid seeing all these suffering men, and he felt afraid - afraid not for his life, but for the courage he needed and which he knew would not stand the sight of these unfortunates. The French, who had ceased firing at this field strewn with dead and wounded where there was no one left to fire at, on seeing an adjutant riding over it trained a gun on him and fired several shots. The sensation of those terrible whistling sounds and of the corpses around him merged in Rostov’s mind into a single feeling of terror and pity for himself. He remembered his mother’s last letter. "What would she feel," thought he, "if she saw me here now on this field with the cannon aimed at me?" In the village of Hosjeradek there were Russian troops retiring from the field of battle, who though still in some confusion were less disordered. The French cannon did not reach there and the musketry fire sounded far away. Here everyone clearly saw and said that the battle was lost. No one whom Rostov asked could tell him where the Emperor or Kutuzov was. Some said the report that the Emperor was wounded was correct, others that it was not, and explained the false rumor that had spread by the fact that the Emperor’s carriage had really galloped from the field of battle with the pale and terrified Ober-Hofmarschal Count Tolstoy, who had ridden out to the battlefield with others in the Emperor’s suite. One officer told Rostov that he had seen someone from headquarters behind the village to the left, and thither Rostov rode, not hoping to find anyone but merely to ease his conscience. When he had ridden about two miles and had passed the last of the Russian troops, he saw, near a kitchen garden with a ditch round it, two men on horseback facing the ditch. One with a white plume in his hat seemed familiar to Rostov; the other on a beautiful chestnut horse (which Rostov fancied he had seen before) rode up to the ditch, struck his horse with his spurs, and giving it the rein leaped lightly over. Only a little earth crumbled from the bank under the horse’s hind hoofs. Turning the horse sharply, he again jumped the ditch, and deferentially addressed the horseman with the white plumes, evidently suggesting that he should do the same. The rider, whose figure seemed familiar to Rostov and involuntarily riveted his attention, made a gesture of refusal with his head and hand and by that gesture Rostov instantly recognized his lamented and adored monarch. "But it can’t be he, alone in the midst of this empty field!" thought Rostov. At that moment Alexander turned his head and Rostov saw the beloved features that were so deeply engraved on his memory. The Emperor was pale, his cheeks sunken and his eyes hollow, but the charm, the mildness of his features, was all the greater. Rostov was happy in the assurance that the rumors about the Emperor being wounded were false. He was happy to be seeing him. He knew that he might and even ought to go straight to him and give the message Dolgorukov had ordered him to deliver. But as a youth in love trembles, is unnerved, and dares not utter the thoughts he has dreamed of for nights, but looks around for help or a chance of delay and flight when the longed-for moment comes and he is alone with her, so Rostov, now that he had attained what he had longed for more than anything else in the world, did not know how to approach the Emperor, and a thousand reasons occurred to him why it would be inconvenient, unseemly, and impossible to do so. "What! It is as if I were glad of a chance to take advantage of his being alone and despondent! A strange face may seem unpleasant or painful to him at this moment of sorrow; besides, what can I say to him now, when my heart fails me and my mouth feels dry at the mere sight of him?" Not one of the innumerable speeches addressed to the Emperor that he had composed in his imagination could he now recall. Those speeches were intended for quite other conditions, they were for the most part to be spoken at a moment of victory and triumph, generally when he was dying of wounds and the sovereign had thanked him for heroic deeds, and while dying he expressed the love his actions had proved. "Besides how can I ask the Emperor for his instructions for the right flank now that it is nearly four o’clock and the battle is lost? No, certainly I must not approach him, I must not intrude on his reflections. Better die a thousand times than risk receiving an unkind look or bad opinion from him," Rostov decided; and sorrowfully and with a heart full despair he rode away, continually looking back at the Tsar, who still remained in the same attitude of indecision. While Rostov was thus arguing with himself and riding sadly away, Captain von Toll chanced to ride to the same spot, and seeing the Emperor at once rode up to him, offered his services, and assisted him to cross the ditch on foot. The Emperor, wishing to rest and feeling unwell, sat down under an apple tree and von Toll remained beside him. Rostov from a distance saw with envy and remorse how von Toll spoke long and warmly to the Emperor and how the Emperor, evidently weeping, covered his eyes with his hand and pressed von Toll’s hand. "And I might have been in his place!" thought Rostov, and hardly restraining his tears of pity for the Emperor, he rode on in utter despair, not knowing where to or why he was now riding. His despair was all the greater from feeling that his own weakness was the cause of his grief. He might... not only might but should, have gone up to the sovereign. It was a unique chance to show his devotion to the Emperor and he had not made use of it.... "What have I done?" thought he. And he turned round and galloped back to the place where he had seen the Emperor, but there was no one beyond the ditch now. Only some carts and carriages were passing by. From one of the drivers he learned that Kutuzov’s staff were not far off, in the village the vehicles were going to. Rostov followed them. In front of him walked Kutuzov’s groom leading horses in horsecloths. Then came a cart, and behind that walked an old, bandy-legged domestic serf in a peaked cap and sheepskin coat. "Tit! I say, Tit!" said the groom. "What?" answered the old man absent-mindedly. "Go, Tit! Thresh a bit!" "Oh, you fool!" said the old man, spitting angrily. Some time passed in silence, and then the same joke was repeated. Before five in the evening the battle had been lost at all points. More than a hundred cannon were already in the hands of the French. Przebyszewski and his corps had laid down their arms. Other columns after losing half their men were retreating in disorderly confused masses. The remains of Langeron’s and Dokhturov’s mingled forces were crowding around the dams and banks of the ponds near the village of Augesd. After five o’clock it was only at the Augesd Dam that a hot cannonade (delivered by the French alone) was still to be heard from numerous batteries ranged on the slopes of the Pratzen Heights, directed at our retreating forces. In the rearguard, Dokhturov and others rallying some battalions kept up a musketry fire at the French cavalry that was pursuing our troops. It was growing dusk. On the narrow Augesd Dam where for so many years the old miller had been accustomed to sit in his tasseled cap peacefully angling, while his grandson, with shirt sleeves rolled up, handled the floundering silvery fish in the watering can, on that dam over which for so many years Moravians in shaggy caps and blue jackets had peacefully driven their two-horse carts loaded with wheat and had returned dusty with flour whitening their carts - on that narrow dam amid the wagons and the cannon, under the horses’ hoofs and between the wagon wheels, men disfigured by fear of death now crowded together, crushing one another, dying, stepping over the dying and killing one another, only to move on a few steps and be killed themselves in the same way. Every ten seconds a cannon ball flew compressing the air around, or a shell burst in the midst of that dense throng, killing some and splashing with blood those near them. Dolokhov - now an officer - wounded in the arm, and on foot, with the regimental commander on horseback and some ten men of his company, represented all that was left of that whole regiment. Impelled by the crowd, they had got wedged in at the approach to the dam and, jammed in on all sides, had stopped because a horse in front had fallen under a cannon and the crowd were dragging it out. A cannon ball killed someone behind them, another fell in front and splashed Dolokhov with blood. The crowd, pushing forward desperately, squeezed together, moved a few steps, and again stopped. "Move on a hundred yards and we are certainly saved, remain here another two minutes and it is certain death," thought each one. Dolokhov who was in the midst of the crowd forced his way to the edge of the dam, throwing two soldiers off their feet, and ran onto the slippery ice that covered the millpool. "Turn this way!" he shouted, jumping over the ice which creaked under him; "turn this way!" he shouted to those with the gun. "It bears!..." The ice bore him but it swayed and creaked, and it was plain that it would give way not only under a cannon or a crowd, but very soon even under his weight alone. The men looked at him and pressed to the bank, hesitating to step onto the ice. The general on horseback at the entrance to the dam raised his hand and opened his mouth to address Dolokhov. Suddenly a cannon ball hissed so low above the crowd that everyone ducked. It flopped into something moist, and the general fell from his horse in a pool of blood. Nobody gave him a look or thought of raising him. "Get onto the ice, over the ice! Go on! Turn! Don’t you hear? Go on!" innumerable voices suddenly shouted after the ball had struck the general, the men themselves not knowing what, or why, they were shouting. One of the hindmost guns that was going onto the dam turned off onto the ice. Crowds of soldiers from the dam began running onto the frozen pond. The ice gave way under one of the foremost soldiers, and one leg slipped into the water. He tried to right himself but fell in up to his waist. The nearest soldiers shrank back, the gun driver stopped his horse, but from behind still came the shouts: "Onto the ice, why do you stop? Go on! Go on!" And cries of horror were heard in the crowd. The soldiers near the gun waved their arms and beat the horses to make them turn and move on. The horses moved off the bank. The ice, that had held under those on foot, collapsed in a great mass, and some forty men who were on it dashed, some forward and some back, drowning one another. Still the cannon balls continued regularly to whistle and flop onto the ice and into the water and oftenest of all among the crowd that covered the dam, the pond, and the bank. CHAPTER XIX On the Pratzen Heights, where he had fallen with the flagstaff in his hand, lay Prince Andrew Bolkonski bleeding profusely and unconsciously uttering a gentle, piteous, and childlike moan. Toward evening he ceased moaning and became quite still. He did not know how long his unconsciousness lasted. Suddenly he again felt that he was alive and suffering from a burning, lacerating pain in his head. "Where is it, that lofty sky that I did not know till now, but saw today?" was his first thought. "And I did not know this suffering either," he thought. "Yes, I did not know anything, anything at all till now. But where am I?" He listened and heard the sound of approaching horses, and voices speaking French. He opened his eyes. Above him again was the same lofty sky with clouds that had risen and were floating still higher, and between them gleamed blue infinity. He did not turn his head and did not see those who, judging by the sound of hoofs and voices, had ridden up and stopped near him. It was Napoleon accompanied by two aides-de-camp. Bonaparte riding over the battlefield had given final orders to strengthen the batteries firing at the Augesd Dam and was looking at the killed and wounded left on the field. "Fine men!" remarked Napoleon, looking at a dead Russian grenadier, who, with his face buried in the ground and a blackened nape, lay on his stomach with an already stiffened arm flung wide. "The ammunition for the guns in position is exhausted, Your Majesty," said an adjutant who had come from the batteries that were firing at Augesd. "Have some brought from the reserve," said Napoleon, and having gone on a few steps he stopped before Prince Andrew, who lay on his back with the flagstaff that had been dropped beside him. (The flag had already been taken by the French as a trophy.) "That’s a fine death!" said Napoleon as he gazed at Bolkonski. Prince Andrew understood that this was said of him and that it was Napoleon who said it. He heard the speaker addressed as Sire. But he heard the words as he might have heard the buzzing of a fly. Not only did they not interest him, but he took no notice of them and at once forgot them. His head was burning, he felt himself bleeding to death, and he saw above him the remote, lofty, and everlasting sky. He knew it was Napoleon - his hero - but at that moment Napoleon seemed to him such a small, insignificant creature compared with what was passing now between himself and that lofty infinite sky with the clouds flying over it. At that moment it meant nothing to him who might be standing over him, or what was said of him; he was only glad that people were standing near him and only wished that they would help him and bring him back to life, which seemed to him so beautiful now that he had today learned to understand it so differently. He collected all his strength, to stir and utter a sound. He feebly moved his leg and uttered a weak, sickly groan which aroused his own pity. "Ah! He is alive," said Napoleon. "Lift this young man up and carry him to the dressing station." Having said this, Napoleon rode on to meet Marshal Lannes, who, hat in hand, rode up smiling to the Emperor to congratulate him on the victory. Prince Andrew remembered nothing more: he lost consciousness from the terrible pain of being lifted onto the stretcher, the jolting while being moved, and the probing of his wound at the dressing station. He did not regain consciousness till late in the day, when with other wounded and captured Russian officers he was carried to the hospital. During this transfer he felt a little stronger and was able to look about him and even speak. The first words he heard on coming to his senses were those of a French convoy officer, who said rapidly: "We must halt here: the Emperor will pass here immediately; it will please him to see these gentlemen prisoners." "There are so many prisoners today, nearly the whole Russian army, that he is probably tired of them," said another officer. "All the same! They say this one is the commander of all the Emperor Alexander’s Guards," said the first one, indicating a Russian officer in the white uniform of the Horse Guards. Bolkonski recognized Prince Repnin whom he had met in Petersburg society. Beside him stood a lad of nineteen, also a wounded officer of the Horse Guards. Bonaparte, having come up at a gallop, stopped his horse. "Which is the senior?" he asked, on seeing the prisoners. They named the colonel, Prince Repnin. "You are the commander of the Emperor Alexander’s regiment of Horse Guards?" asked Napoleon. "I commanded a squadron," replied Repnin. "Your regiment fulfilled its duty honorably," said Napoleon. "The praise of a great commander is a soldier’s highest reward," said Repnin. "I bestow it with pleasure," said Napoleon. "And who is that young man beside you?" Prince Repnin named Lieutenant Sukhtelen. After looking at him Napoleon smiled. "He’s very young to come to meddle with us." "Youth is no hindrance to courage," muttered Sukhtelen in a failing voice. "A splendid reply!" said Napoleon. "Young man, you will go far!" Prince Andrew, who had also been brought forward before the Emperor’s eyes to complete the show of prisoners, could not fail to attract his attention. Napoleon apparently remembered seeing him on the battlefield and, addressing him, again used the epithet "young man" that was connected in his memory with Prince Andrew. "Well, and you, young man," said he. "How do you feel, mon brave?" Though five minutes before, Prince Andrew had been able to say a few words to the soldiers who were carrying him, now with his eyes fixed straight on Napoleon, he was silent.... So insignificant at that moment seemed to him all the interests that engrossed Napoleon, so mean did his hero himself with his paltry vanity and joy in victory appear, compared to the lofty, equitable, and kindly sky which he had seen and understood, that he could not answer him. Everything seemed so futile and insignificant in comparison with the stern and solemn train of thought that weakness from loss of blood, suffering, and the nearness of death aroused in him. Looking into Napoleon’s eyes Prince Andrew thought of the insignificance of greatness, the unimportance of life which no one could understand, and the still greater unimportance of death, the meaning of which no one alive could understand or explain. The Emperor without waiting for an answer turned away and said to one of the officers as he went: "Have these gentlemen attended to and taken to my bivouac; let my doctor, Larrey, examine their wounds. Au revoir, Prince Repnin!" and he spurred his horse and galloped away. His face shone with self-satisfaction and pleasure. The soldiers who had carried Prince Andrew had noticed and taken the little gold icon Princess Mary had hung round her brother’s neck, but seeing the favor the Emperor showed the prisoners, they now hastened to return the holy image. Prince Andrew did not see how and by whom it was replaced, but the little icon with its thin gold chain suddenly appeared upon his chest outside his uniform. "It would be good," thought Prince Andrew, glancing at the icon his sister had hung round his neck with such emotion and reverence, "it would be good if everything were as clear and simple as it seems to Mary. How good it would be to know where to seek for help in this life, and what to expect after it beyond the grave! How happy and calm I should be if I could now say: ‘Lord, have mercy on me!’... But to whom should I say that? Either to a Power indefinable, incomprehensible, which I not only cannot address but which I cannot even express in words - the Great All or Nothing-" said he to himself, "or to that God who has been sewn into this amulet by Mary! There is nothing certain, nothing at all except the unimportance of everything I understand, and the greatness of something incomprehensible but all-important." The stretchers moved on. At every jolt he again felt unendurable pain; his feverishness increased and he grew delirious. Visions of his father, wife, sister, and future son, and the tenderness he had felt the night before the battle, the figure of the insignificant little Napoleon, and above all this the lofty sky, formed the chief subjects of his delirious fancies. The quiet home life and peaceful happiness of Bald Hills presented itself to him. He was already enjoying that happiness when that little Napoleon had suddenly appeared with his unsympathizing look of shortsighted delight at the misery of others, and doubts and torments had followed, and only the heavens promised peace. Toward morning all these dreams melted and merged into the chaos and darkness of unconciousness and oblivion which in the opinion of Napoleon’s doctor, Larrey, was much more likely to end in death than in convalescence. "He is a nervous, bilious subject," said Larrey, "and will not recover." And Prince Andrew, with others fatally wounded, was left to the care of the inhabitants of the district. BOOK FOUR: 1806 CHAPTER I Early in the year 1806 Nicholas Rostov returned home on leave. Denisov was going home to Voronezh and Rostov persuaded him to travel with him as far as Moscow and to stay with him there. Meeting a comrade at the last post station but one before Moscow, Denisov had drunk three bottles of wine with him and, despite the jolting ruts across the snow-covered road, did not once wake up on the way to Moscow, but lay at the bottom of the sleigh beside Rostov, who grew more and more impatient the nearer they got to Moscow. "How much longer? How much longer? Oh, these insufferable streets, shops, bakers’ signboards, street lamps, and sleighs!" thought Rostov, when their leave permits had been passed at the town gate and they had entered Moscow. "Denisov! We’re here! He’s asleep," he added, leaning forward with his whole body as if in that position he hoped to hasten the speed of the sleigh. Denisov gave no answer. "There’s the corner at the crossroads, where the cabman, Zakhar, has his stand, and there’s Zakhar himself and still the same horse! And here’s the little shop where we used to buy gingerbread! Can’t you hurry up? Now then!" "Which house is it?" asked the driver. "Why, that one, right at the end, the big one. Don’t you see? That’s our house," said Rostov. "Of course, it’s our house! Denisov, Denisov! We’re almost there!" Denisov raised his head, coughed, and made no answer. "Dmitri," said Rostov to his valet on the box, "those lights are in our house, aren’t they?" "Yes, sir, and there’s a light in your father’s study." "Then they’ve not gone to bed yet? What do you think? Mind now, don’t forget to put out my new coat," added Rostov, fingering his new mustache. "Now then, get on," he shouted to the driver. "Do wake up, Vaska!" he went on, turning to Denisov, whose head was again nodding. "Come, get on! You shall have three rubles for vodka - get on!" Rostov shouted, when the sleigh was only three houses from his door. It seemed to him the horses were not moving at all. At last the sleigh bore to the right, drew up at an entrance, and Rostov saw overhead the old familiar cornice with a bit of plaster broken off, the porch, and the post by the side of the pavement. He sprang out before the sleigh stopped, and ran into the hall. The house stood cold and silent, as if quite regardless of who had come to it. There was no one in the hall. "Oh God! Is everyone all right?" he thought, stopping for a moment with a sinking heart, and then immediately starting to run along the hall and up the warped steps of the familiar staircase. The well-known old door handle, which always angered the countess when it was not properly cleaned, turned as loosely as ever. A solitary tallow candle burned in the anteroom. Old Michael was asleep on the chest. Prokofy, the footman, who was so strong that he could lift the back of the carriage from behind, sat plaiting slippers out of cloth selvedges. He looked up at the opening door and his expression of sleepy indifference suddenly changed to one of delighted amazement. "Gracious heavens! The young count!" he cried, recognizing his young master. "Can it be? My treasure!" and Prokofy, trembling with excitement, rushed toward the drawing room door, probably in order to announce him, but, changing his mind, came back and stooped to kiss the young man’s shoulder. "All well?" asked Rostov, drawing away his arm. "Yes, God be thanked! Yes! They’ve just finished supper. Let me have a look at you, your excellency." "Is everything quite all right?" "The Lord be thanked, yes!" Rostov, who had completely forgotten Denisov, not wishing anyone to forestall him, threw off his fur coat and ran on tiptoe through the large dark ballroom. All was the same: there were the same old card tables and the same chandelier with a cover over it; but someone had already seen the young master, and, before he had reached the drawing room, something flew out from a side door like a tornado and began hugging and kissing him. Another and yet another creature of the same kind sprang from a second door and a third; more hugging, more kissing, more outcries, and tears of joy. He could not distinguish which was Papa, which Natasha, and which Petya. Everyone shouted, talked, and kissed him at the same time. Only his mother was not there, he noticed that. "And I did not know... Nicholas... My darling!..." "Here he is... our own... Kolya, * dear fellow... How he has changed!... Where are the candles?... Tea!..." * Nicholas. "And me, kiss me!" "Dearest... and me!" Sonya, Natasha, Petya, Anna Mikhaylovna, Vera, and the old count were all hugging him, and the serfs, men and maids, flocked into the room, exclaiming and oh-ing and ah-ing. Petya, clinging to his legs, kept shouting, "And me too!" Natasha, after she had pulled him down toward her and covered his face with kisses, holding him tight by the skirt of his coat, sprang away and pranced up and down in one place like a goat and shrieked piercingly. All around were loving eyes glistening with tears of joy, and all around were lips seeking a kiss. Sonya too, all rosy red, clung to his arm and, radiant with bliss, looked eagerly toward his eyes, waiting for the look for which she longed. Sonya now was sixteen and she was very pretty, especially at this moment of happy, rapturous excitement. She gazed at him, not taking her eyes off him, and smiling and holding her breath. He gave her a grateful look, but was still expectant and looking for someone. The old countess had not yet come. But now steps were heard at the door, steps so rapid that they could hardly be his mother’s. Yet it was she, dressed in a new gown which he did not know, made since he had left. All the others let him go, and he ran to her. When they met, she fell on his breast, sobbing. She could not lift her face, but only pressed it to the cold braiding of his hussar’s jacket. Denisov, who had come into the room unnoticed by anyone, stood there and wiped his eyes at the sight. "Vasili Denisov, your son’s friend," he said, introducing himself to the count, who was looking inquiringly at him. "You are most welcome! I know, I know," said the count, kissing and embracing Denisov. "Nicholas wrote us... Natasha, Vera, look! Here is Denisov!" The same happy, rapturous faces turned to the shaggy figure of Denisov. "Darling Denisov!" screamed Natasha, beside herself with rapture, springing to him, putting her arms round him, and kissing him. This escapade made everybody feel confused. Denisov blushed too, but smiled and, taking Natasha’s hand, kissed it. Denisov was shown to the room prepared for him, and the Rostovs all gathered round Nicholas in the sitting room. The old countess, not letting go of his hand and kissing it every moment, sat beside him: the rest, crowding round him, watched every movement, word, or look of his, never taking their blissfully adoring eyes off him. His brother and sisters struggled for the places nearest to him and disputed with one another who should bring him his tea, handkerchief, and pipe. Rostov was very happy in the love they showed him; but the first moment of meeting had been so beatific that his present joy seemed insufficient, and he kept expecting something more, more and yet more. Next morning, after the fatigues of their journey, the travelers slept till ten o’clock. In the room next their bedroom there was a confusion of sabers, satchels, sabretaches, open portmanteaus, and dirty boots. Two freshly cleaned pairs with spurs had just been placed by the wall. The servants were bringing in jugs and basins, hot water for shaving, and their well-brushed clothes. There was a masculine odor and a smell of tobacco. "Hallo, Gwiska - my pipe!" came Vasili Denisov’s husky voice. "Wostov, get up!" Rostov, rubbing his eyes that seemed glued together, raised his disheveled head from the hot pillow. "Why, is it late?" "Late! It’s nearly ten o’clock," answered Natasha’s voice. A rustle of starched petticoats and the whispering and laughter of girls’ voices came from the adjoining room. The door was opened a crack and there was a glimpse of something blue, of ribbons, black hair, and merry faces. It was Natasha, Sonya, and Petya, who had come to see whether they were getting up. "Nicholas! Get up!" Natasha’s voice was again heard at the door. "Directly!" Meanwhile, Petya, having found and seized the sabers in the outer room, with the delight boys feel at the sight of a military elder brother, and forgetting that it was unbecoming for the girls to see men undressed, opened the bedroom door. "Is this your saber?" he shouted. The girls sprang aside. Denisov hid his hairy legs under the blanket, looking with a scared face at his comrade for help. The door, having let Petya in, closed again. A sound of laughter came from behind it. "Nicholas! Come out in your dressing gown!" said Natasha’s voice. "Is this your saber?" asked Petya. "Or is it yours?" he said, addressing the black-mustached Denisov with servile deference. Rostov hurriedly put something on his feet, drew on his dressing gown, and went out. Natasha had put on one spurred boot and was just getting her foot into the other. Sonya, when he came in, was twirling round and was about to expand her dresses into a balloon and sit down. They were dressed alike, in new pale-blue frocks, and were both fresh, rosy, and bright. Sonya ran away, but Natasha, taking her brother’s arm, led him into the sitting room, where they began talking. They hardly gave one another time to ask questions and give replies concerning a thousand little matters which could not interest anyone but themselves. Natasha laughed at every word he said or that she said herself, not because what they were saying was amusing, but because she felt happy and was unable to control her joy which expressed itself by laughter. "Oh, how nice, how splendid!" she said to everything. Rostov felt that, under the influence of the warm rays of love, that childlike smile which had not once appeared on his face since he left home now for the first time after eighteen months again brightened his soul and his face. "No, but listen," she said, "now you are quite a man, aren’t you? I’m awfully glad you’re my brother." She touched his mustache. "I want to know what you men are like. Are you the same as we? No?" "Why did Sonya run away?" asked Rostov. "Ah, yes! That’s a whole long story! How are you going to speak to her - thou or you?" "As may happen," said Rostov. "No, call her you, please! I’ll tell you all about it some other time. No, I’ll tell you now. You know Sonya’s my dearest friend. Such a friend that I burned my arm for her sake. Look here!" She pulled up her muslin sleeve and showed him a red scar on her long, slender, delicate arm, high above the elbow on that part that is covered even by a ball dress. "I burned this to prove my love for her. I just heated a ruler in the fire and pressed it there!" Sitting on the sofa with the little cushions on its arms, in what used to be his old schoolroom, and looking into Natasha’s wildly bright eyes, Rostov re-entered that world of home and childhood which had no meaning for anyone else, but gave him some of the best joys of his life; and the burning of an arm with a ruler as a proof of love did not seem to him senseless, he understood and was not surprised at it. "Well, and is that all?" he asked. "We are such friends, such friends! All that ruler business was just nonsense, but we are friends forever. She, if she loves anyone, does it for life, but I don’t understand that, I forget quickly." "Well, what then?" "Well, she loves me and you like that." Natasha suddenly flushed. "Why, you remember before you went away?... Well, she says you are to forget all that.... She says: ‘I shall love him always, but let him be free.’ Isn’t that lovely and noble! Yes, very noble? Isn’t it?" asked Natasha, so seriously and excitedly that it was evident that what she was now saying she had talked of before, with tears. Rostov became thoughtful. "I never go back on my word," he said. "Besides, Sonya is so charming that only a fool would renounce such happiness." "No, no!" cried Natasha, "she and I have already talked it over. We knew you’d say so. But it won’t do, because you see, if you say that - if you consider yourself bound by your promise - it will seem as if she had not meant it seriously. It makes it as if you were marrying her because you must, and that wouldn’t do at all." Rostov saw that it had been well considered by them. Sonya had already struck him by her beauty on the preceding day. Today, when he had caught a glimpse of her, she seemed still more lovely. She was a charming girl of sixteen, evidently passionately in love with him (he did not doubt that for an instant). Why should he not love her now, and even marry her, Rostov thought, but just now there were so many other pleasures and interests before him! "Yes, they have taken a wise decision," he thought, "I must remain free." "Well then, that’s excellent," said he. "We’ll talk it over later on. Oh, how glad I am to have you!" "Well, and are you still true to Boris?" he continued. "Oh, what nonsense!" cried Natasha, laughing. "I don’t think about him or anyone else, and I don’t want anything of the kind." "Dear me! Then what are you up to now?" "Now?" repeated Natasha, and a happy smile lit up her face. "Have you seen Duport?" "No." "Not seen Duport - the famous dancer? Well then, you won’t understand. That’s what I’m up to." Curving her arms, Natasha held out her skirts as dancers do, ran back a few steps, turned, cut a caper, brought her little feet sharply together, and made some steps on the very tips of her toes. "See, I’m standing! See!" she said, but could not maintain herself on her toes any longer. "So that’s what I’m up to! I’ll never marry anyone, but will be a dancer. Only don’t tell anyone." Rostov laughed so loud and merrily that Denisov, in his bedroom, felt envious and Natasha could not help joining in. "No, but don’t you think it’s nice?" she kept repeating. "Nice! And so you no longer wish to marry Boris?" Natasha flared up. "I don’t want to marry anyone. And I’ll tell him so when I see him!" "Dear me!" said Rostov. "But that’s all rubbish," Natasha chattered on. "And is Denisov nice?" she asked. "Yes, indeed!" "Oh, well then, good-by: go and dress. Is he very terrible, Denisov?" "Why terrible?" asked Nicholas. "No, Vaska is a splendid fellow." "You call him Vaska? That’s funny! And is he very nice?" "Very." "Well then, be quick. We’ll all have breakfast together." And Natasha rose and went out of the room on tiptoe, like a ballet dancer, but smiling as only happy girls of fifteen can smile. When Rostov met Sonya in the drawing room, he reddened. He did not know how to behave with her. The evening before, in the first happy moment of meeting, they had kissed each other, but today they felt it could not be done; he felt that everybody, including his mother and sisters, was looking inquiringly at him and watching to see how he would behave with her. He kissed her hand and addressed her not as thou but as you - Sonya. But their eyes met and said thou, and exchanged tender kisses. Her looks asked him to forgive her for having dared, by Natasha’s intermediacy, to remind him of his promise, and then thanked him for his love. His looks thanked her for offering him his freedom and told her that one way or another he would never cease to love her, for that would be impossible. "How strange it is," said Vera, selecting a moment when all were silent, "that Sonya and Nicholas now say you to one another and meet like strangers." Vera’s remark was correct, as her remarks always were, but, like most of her observations, it made everyone feel uncomfortable, not only Sonya, Nicholas, and Natasha, but even the old countess, who - dreading this love affair which might hinder Nicholas from making a brilliant match - blushed like a girl. Denisov, to Rostov’s surprise, appeared in the drawing room with pomaded hair, perfumed, and in a new uniform, looking just as smart as he made himself when going into battle, and he was more amiable to the ladies and gentlemen than Rostov had ever expected to see him. CHAPTER II On his return to Moscow from the army, Nicholas Rostov was welcomed by his home circle as the best of sons, a hero, and their darling Nikolenka; by his relations as a charming, attractive, and polite young man; by his acquaintances as a handsome lieutenant of hussars, a good dancer, and one of the best matches in the city. The Rostovs knew everybody in Moscow. The old count had money enough that year, as all his estates had been remortgaged, and so Nicholas, acquiring a trotter of his own, very stylish riding breeches of the latest cut, such as no one else yet had in Moscow, and boots of the latest fashion, with extremely pointed toes and small silver spurs, passed his time very gaily. After a short period of adapting himself to the old conditions of life, Nicholas found it very pleasant to be at home again. He felt that he had grown up and matured very much. His despair at failing in a Scripture examination, his borrowing money from Gavril to pay a sleigh driver, his kissing Sonya on the sly - he now recalled all this as childishness he had left immeasurably behind. Now he was a lieutenant of hussars, in a jacket laced with silver, and wearing the Cross of St. George, awarded to soldiers for bravery in action, and in the company of well-known, elderly, and respected racing men was training a trotter of his own for a race. He knew a lady on one of the boulevards whom he visited of an evening. He led the mazurka at the Arkharovs’ ball, talked about the war with Field Marshal Kamenski, visited the English Club, and was on intimate terms with a colonel of forty to whom Denisov had introduced him. His passion for the Emperor had cooled somewhat in Moscow. But still, as he did not see him and had no opportunity of seeing him, he often spoke about him and about his love for him, letting it be understood that he had not told all and that there was something in his feelings for the Emperor not everyone could understand, and with his whole soul he shared the adoration then common in Moscow for the Emperor, who was spoken of as the "angel incarnate." During Rostov’s short stay in Moscow, before rejoining the army, he did not draw closer to Sonya, but rather drifted away from her. She was very pretty and sweet, and evidently deeply in love with him, but he was at the period of youth when there seems so much to do that there is no time for that sort of thing and a young man fears to bind himself and prizes his freedom which he needs for so many other things. When he thought of Sonya, during this stay in Moscow, he said to himself, "Ah, there will be, and there are, many more such girls somewhere whom I do not yet know. There will be time enough to think about love when I want to, but now I have no time." Besides, it seemed to him that the society of women was rather derogatory to his manhood. He went to balls and into ladies’ society with an affectation of doing so against his will. The races, the English Club, sprees with Denisov, and visits to a certain house - that was another matter and quite the thing for a dashing young hussar! At the beginning of March, old Count Ilya Rostov was very busy arranging a dinner in honor of Prince Bagration at the English Club. The count walked up and down the hall in his dressing gown, giving orders to the club steward and to the famous Feoktist, the club’s head cook, about asparagus, fresh cucumbers, strawberries, veal, and fish for this dinner. The count had been a member and on the committee of the club from the day it was founded. To him the club entrusted the arrangement of the festival in honor of Bagration, for few men knew so well how to arrange a feast on an open-handed, hospitable scale, and still fewer men would be so well able and willing to make up out of their own resources what might be needed for the success of the fete. The club cook and the steward listened to the count’s orders with pleased faces, for they knew that under no other management could they so easily extract a good profit for themselves from a dinner costing , " , . 1 2 " ! ! " 3 . " ! " ( 4 ) " 5 . , . - 6 - ! " 7 8 , 9 . 10 11 , , 12 13 , , 14 . 15 , 16 . 17 18 " ? " . " ? 19 ! " 20 . " , " 21 , " . 22 , 23 . " 24 25 26 27 , . 28 29 " ? ? ? 30 ? " 31 . 32 33 " ! ! ! " 34 , , 35 . 36 37 " ! " . 38 39 " - ! " 40 41 " ! " * . 42 43 * " ! " 44 45 46 , , , 47 , . 48 49 . 50 51 " ! ? " . " , 52 . . . . , 53 . , , 54 ! , ! " 55 56 . 57 58 , , 59 , . 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 . 69 , . 70 , 71 . 72 , 73 , , 74 . 75 76 . 77 78 " ? ? " 79 , . 80 81 . 82 83 " , ! ! " , 84 . 85 86 , 87 88 . 89 90 . 91 92 " ! " . " . " 93 94 " , " - 95 . " , 96 . . . . . 97 . 98 ! , ! 99 . 100 ! " 101 102 , 103 : 104 105 " ? " . " ? 106 - . " 107 108 " - ! " . 109 110 " ? ? " . 111 112 " , - , . . . 113 . , , 114 , " , , 115 . 116 117 118 . , . 119 . , 120 . ? 121 , ? 122 123 " , , ! " 124 . " ! " 125 126 " , ? " . " 127 ? . " 128 129 , 130 . 131 132 " . , 133 ? " . 134 . 135 , - 136 - . , 137 - , 138 . 139 , 140 - . 141 , - 142 , 143 . 144 145 , 146 , 147 . 148 149 150 . . " 151 , " , " 152 ? " 153 154 155 , 156 . 157 . 158 . 159 . 160 , , 161 162 - 163 , 164 . 165 , 166 , . 167 168 , , , 169 . 170 ; ( 171 ) , 172 , . 173 . 174 , , 175 , 176 . , 177 , 178 179 . 180 181 " , ! " 182 . 183 . 184 , , , 185 , . 186 187 . . 188 189 . 190 191 , , 192 , 193 - 194 , , 195 , 196 , 197 , , . 198 199 " ! 200 ! 201 ; , 202 , 203 ? " 204 . 205 , 206 , 207 208 , . 209 210 " 211 ? 212 , , 213 . 214 , " ; 215 , 216 , . 217 218 , 219 , 220 , , 221 . , 222 , . 223 224 , , 225 . 226 227 " ! " , 228 , 229 , . 230 231 232 . 233 234 . . . , . 235 236 . . . . " ? " . 237 , 238 . 239 . 240 , . 241 . 242 . , , 243 - . 244 245 " ! , ! " . 246 247 " ? " - . 248 249 " , ! ! " 250 251 " , ! " , . 252 , . 253 254 255 . 256 . 257 258 . 259 260 . 261 262 263 264 . 265 266 267 ( ) 268 , 269 . 270 271 , 272 . 273 . 274 275 , , , 276 , 277 278 - 279 - 280 , , 281 , 282 , , , 283 . 284 285 , 286 , 287 . 288 289 - - , , 290 , 291 . 292 , , 293 , 294 . 295 , . 296 , , , 297 , . 298 299 " , 300 , " . 301 302 303 , , 304 . 305 306 " ! " , 307 ; " ! " . " 308 ! . . . " 309 310 , 311 , 312 . 313 , . 314 315 . 316 . , 317 . 318 . 319 320 " , ! ! ! ? 321 ! " 322 , , , 323 . 324 325 326 . . 327 , 328 . . 329 , , 330 : " , ? 331 ! ! " . 332 333 . . , 334 , , 335 , , . 336 337 338 339 , , . 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 , 348 , 349 , , . 350 351 . 352 . 353 , . 354 355 " , , 356 ? " . " 357 , " . " , , 358 . ? " 359 360 , 361 . . 362 , 363 . 364 , , 365 . 366 367 - - . 368 369 370 . 371 372 " ! " , , 373 , , 374 . 375 376 " , 377 , " 378 . 379 380 " , " , 381 , 382 . ( 383 . ) 384 385 " ! " . 386 387 388 . . 389 . 390 , 391 . , , 392 , , . 393 - - 394 , 395 396 . 397 , ; 398 399 , 400 . , 401 . , 402 . 403 404 " ! , " . " 405 . " 406 407 , , , 408 , . 409 410 : 411 , 412 , . 413 , 414 . 415 416 . 417 418 419 , : " : 420 ; 421 . " 422 423 " , , 424 , " . 425 426 " ! 427 , " , 428 . 429 430 431 . , 432 . 433 434 , , . 435 436 " ? " , . 437 438 , . 439 440 " 441 ? " . 442 443 " , " . 444 445 " , " . 446 447 " , " 448 . 449 450 " , " . " 451 ? " 452 453 . 454 455 . 456 457 " . " 458 459 " , " 460 . 461 462 " ! " . " , ! " 463 464 , 465 , 466 . 467 , , " " 468 . 469 470 " , , , " . " , 471 ? " 472 473 , 474 , 475 , . . . . 476 , 477 , 478 , , 479 , . 480 481 482 , 483 , . 484 485 , , 486 , 487 . 488 489 490 : " 491 ; , , . , 492 ! " . 493 494 - . 495 496 497 , 498 , 499 . 500 501 , 502 503 . 504 505 " , " , 506 , " 507 508 . , 509 ! 510 : , ! . . . 511 ? , , 512 513 - - " , " 514 ! 515 , 516 , 517 - . " 518 519 . ; 520 . , 521 , , , 522 , , 523 , 524 . 525 526 527 . 528 529 , 530 , . 531 532 , 533 , . 534 535 " , , " , " 536 . " 537 538 , , 539 . 540 541 542 543 544 545 : 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 . 554 555 . 556 , 557 , 558 - , , 559 , 560 . 561 562 " ? ? , , 563 , , , ! " 564 , 565 . 566 567 " ! ! , " , 568 569 . 570 571 . 572 573 " , , , 574 , ! 575 ! 576 ? ! " 577 578 " ? " . 579 580 " , , , . ? 581 , " . " , ! 582 , ! ! " 583 584 , , . 585 586 " , " , " 587 , ? " 588 589 " , , . " 590 591 " ? ? , 592 , " , 593 . " , , " . " 594 , ! " , , 595 . " , ! 596 - ! " , 597 . 598 . , , 599 600 , , . 601 , . 602 , . 603 . " ! ? " 604 , , 605 606 . - , 607 , 608 . . 609 610 . , , 611 , 612 . 613 614 . 615 616 " ! ! " , 617 . " ? ! " , 618 , , 619 , , , 620 . 621 622 " ? " , . 623 624 " , ! ! . 625 , . " 626 627 " ? " 628 629 " , ! " 630 631 , , 632 , 633 . : 634 ; 635 , , 636 , 637 . 638 ; , , 639 , . 640 , , . , , 641 . , 642 . 643 644 " . . . . . . ! . . . " 645 646 " . . . . . . , * . . . 647 ! . . . ? . . . ! . . . " 648 649 * . 650 651 " , ! " 652 653 " . . . ! " 654 655 , , , , , 656 , , , 657 , - - . 658 659 , , , " ! " 660 661 , 662 , , 663 . 664 665 , 666 . 667 668 , , , , 669 , 670 . , 671 , . , 672 , . 673 , . 674 . , 675 . 676 677 , , 678 . , . 679 , , . , 680 . , 681 , 682 . 683 684 " , , " , 685 , . 686 687 " ! , , " , 688 . " . . . , , ! 689 ! " 690 691 , . 692 693 " ! " , , 694 , , . 695 . , 696 , , . 697 698 , 699 . 700 701 , 702 , : , , 703 , , , 704 . 705 , 706 , . 707 708 ; 709 710 , , . 711 712 , , 713 . 714 715 , 716 , , , . 717 . 718 , , 719 - . . 720 721 " , - ! " . 722 " , ! " 723 724 , , 725 . 726 727 " , ? " 728 729 " ! , " . 730 731 . 732 , , , 733 . , , , 734 . 735 736 " ! ! " . 737 738 " ! " 739 740 , , , 741 , 742 , 743 . 744 745 " ? " . 746 747 . , 748 . , 749 , . . 750 751 " ! ! " . 752 753 " ? " . " ? " , 754 - . 755 756 , , 757 . 758 . , , 759 . 760 , - , , , 761 . , , , 762 , . 763 764 . 765 , 766 , 767 . 768 769 " , , ! " . 770 771 , , 772 773 774 . 775 776 " , , " , " , 777 ? . " 778 . " . 779 ? ? " 780 781 " ? " . 782 783 " , ! ! 784 - ? " 785 786 " , " . 787 788 " , , ! 789 . , . . 790 . ! " 791 792 , 793 , , 794 . 795 796 " . 797 ! " 798 799 , 800 , 801 , - 802 , ; 803 804 , . 805 806 " , ? " . 807 808 " , ! 809 , . , , 810 , , . " 811 812 " , ? " 813 814 " , . " 815 816 . 817 818 " , ? . . . , 819 . . . . : , 820 . ! , ? ? " 821 , 822 , . 823 824 . 825 826 " , " . " , 827 . " 828 829 " , ! " , " . 830 . , , 831 - - 832 . 833 , . " 834 835 . 836 . , 837 , . 838 , ( 839 ) . , 840 , , 841 ! " , , " 842 , " . " 843 844 " , , " . " 845 . , ! " 846 847 " , ? " . 848 849 " , ! " , . " 850 , . " 851 852 " ! ? " 853 854 " ? " , . " 855 ? " 856 857 " . " 858 859 " - ? , 860 . . " 861 862 , , 863 , , , 864 , . 865 866 " , ! ! " , 867 . " ! 868 , . . " 869 870 , , 871 . 872 873 " , ? " . 874 875 " ! ? " 876 877 . " . 878 ! " 879 880 " ! " . 881 882 " , " . " 883 ? " . 884 885 " , ! " 886 887 " , , - : . , 888 ? " 889 890 " ? " . " , 891 . " 892 893 " ? ! ? " 894 895 " . " 896 897 " , . . " 898 899 , 900 , . 901 , . 902 . , 903 , , 904 ; , , 905 906 . 907 - . , 908 . , 909 , , 910 . 911 912 , . 913 914 " , " , 915 , " 916 . " 917 918 , , , 919 , , 920 , , , , 921 - 922 - . 923 924 , , 925 , , , 926 , 927 . 928 929 930 931 932 933 934 935 , 936 , , 937 ; , , 938 ; , 939 , . 940 941 . 942 , , , 943 , 944 , , 945 , , 946 . 947 , 948 . . 949 , 950 , - 951 . 952 , , 953 . , 954 , - , , 955 . 956 . 957 , 958 , , 959 . 960 961 . , 962 , 963 , 964 965 , 966 , 967 " . " 968 969 , , 970 , . 971 , , 972 973 974 . 975 , , , 976 " , , , 977 . 978 , . " , 979 . 980 981 . , , , 982 - 983 ! 984 985 , 986 . 987 988 , 989 , 990 , , , , , 991 . 992 . 993 , 994 - , , 995 996 . 997 998 , 999 1000