"What do you mean? For God’s sake... If you tell, you are my enemy!" declared Natasha. "You want me to be miserable, you want us to be separated...." When she saw Natasha’s fright, Sonya shed tears of shame and pity for her friend. "But what has happened between you?" she asked. "What has he said to you? Why doesn’t he come to the house?" Natasha did not answer her questions. "For God’s sake, Sonya, don’t tell anyone, don’t torture me," Natasha entreated. "Remember no one ought to interfere in such matters! I have confided in you...." "But why this secrecy? Why doesn’t he come to the house?" asked Sonya. "Why doesn’t he openly ask for your hand? You know Prince Andrew gave you complete freedom - if it is really so; but I don’t believe it! Natasha, have you considered what these secret reasons can be?" Natasha looked at Sonya with astonishment. Evidently this question presented itself to her mind for the first time and she did not know how to answer it. "I don’t know what the reasons are. But there must be reasons!" Sonya sighed and shook her head incredulously. "If there were reasons..." she began. But Natasha, guessing her doubts, interrupted her in alarm. "Sonya, one can’t doubt him! One can’t, one can’t! Don’t you understand?" she cried. "Does he love you?" "Does he love me?" Natasha repeated with a smile of pity at her friend’s lack of comprehension. "Why, you have read his letter and you have seen him." "But if he is dishonorable?" "He! dishonorable? If you only knew!" exclaimed Natasha. "If he is an honorable man he should either declare his intentions or cease seeing you; and if you won’t do this, I will. I will write to him, and I will tell Papa!" said Sonya resolutely. "But I can’t live without him!" cried Natasha. "Natasha, I don’t understand you. And what are you saying! Think of your father and of Nicholas." "I don’t want anyone, I don’t love anyone but him. How dare you say he is dishonorable? Don’t you know that I love him?" screamed Natasha. "Go away, Sonya! I don’t want to quarrel with you, but go, for God’s sake go! You see how I am suffering!" Natasha cried angrily, in a voice of despair and repressed irritation. Sonya burst into sobs and ran from the room. Natasha went to the table and without a moment’s reflection wrote that answer to Princess Mary which she had been unable to write all the morning. In this letter she said briefly that all their misunderstandings were at an end; that availing herself of the magnanimity of Prince Andrew who when he went abroad had given her her freedom, she begged Princess Mary to forget everything and forgive her if she had been to blame toward her, but that she could not be his wife. At that moment this all seemed quite easy, simple, and clear to Natasha. On Friday the Rostovs were to return to the country, but on Wednesday the count went with the prospective purchaser to his estate near Moscow. On the day the count left, Sonya and Natasha were invited to a big dinner party at the Karagins’, and Marya Dmitrievna took them there. At that party Natasha again met Anatole, and Sonya noticed that she spoke to him, trying not to be overheard, and that all through dinner she was more agitated than ever. When they got home Natasha was the first to begin the explanation Sonya expected. "There, Sonya, you were talking all sorts of nonsense about him," Natasha began in a mild voice such as children use when they wish to be praised. "We have had an explanation today." "Well, what happened? What did he say? Natasha, how glad I am you’re not angry with me! Tell me everything - the whole truth. What did he say?" Natasha became thoughtful. "Oh, Sonya, if you knew him as I do! He said... He asked me what I had promised Bolkonski. He was glad I was free to refuse him." Sonya sighed sorrowfully. "But you haven’t refused Bolkonski?" said she. "Perhaps I have. Perhaps all is over between me and Bolkonski. Why do you think so badly of me?" "I don’t think anything, only I don’t understand this..." "Wait a bit, Sonya, you’ll understand everything. You’ll see what a man he is! Now don’t think badly of me or of him. I don’t think badly of anyone: I love and pity everybody. But what am I to do?" Sonya did not succumb to the tender tone Natasha used toward her. The more emotional and ingratiating the expression of Natasha’s face became, the more serious and stern grew Sonya’s. "Natasha," said she, "you asked me not to speak to you, and I haven’t spoken, but now you yourself have begun. I don’t trust him, Natasha. Why this secrecy?" "Again, again!" interrupted Natasha. "Natasha, I am afraid for you!" "Afraid of what?" "I am afraid you’re going to your ruin," said Sonya resolutely, and was herself horrified at what she had said. Anger again showed in Natasha’s face. "And I’ll go to my ruin, I will, as soon as possible! It’s not your business! It won’t be you, but I, who’ll suffer. Leave me alone, leave me alone! I hate you!" "Natasha!" moaned Sonya, aghast. "I hate you, I hate you! You’re my enemy forever!" And Natasha ran out of the room. Natasha did not speak to Sonya again and avoided her. With the same expression of agitated surprise and guilt she went about the house, taking up now one occupation, now another, and at once abandoning them. Hard as it was for Sonya, she watched her friend and did not let her out of her sight. The day before the count was to return, Sonya noticed that Natasha sat by the drawing room window all the morning as if expecting something and that she made a sign to an officer who drove past, whom Sonya took to be Anatole. Sonya began watching her friend still more attentively and noticed that at dinner and all that evening Natasha was in a strange and unnatural state. She answered questions at random, began sentences she did not finish, and laughed at everything. After tea Sonya noticed a housemaid at Natasha’s door timidly waiting to let her pass. She let the girl go in, and then listening at the door learned that another letter had been delivered. Then suddenly it became clear to Sonya that Natasha had some dreadful plan for that evening. Sonya knocked at her door. Natasha did not let her in. "She will run away with him!" thought Sonya. "She is capable of anything. There was something particularly pathetic and resolute in her face today. She cried as she said good-by to Uncle," Sonya remembered. "Yes, that’s it, she means to elope with him, but what am I to do?" thought she, recalling all the signs that clearly indicated that Natasha had some terrible intention. "The count is away. What am I to do? Write to Kuragin demanding an explanation? But what is there to oblige him to reply? Write to Pierre, as Prince Andrew asked me to in case of some misfortune?... But perhaps she really has already refused Bolkonski - she sent a letter to Princess Mary yesterday. And Uncle is away...." To tell Marya Dmitrievna who had such faith in Natasha seemed to Sonya terrible. "Well, anyway," thought Sonya as she stood in the dark passage, "now or never I must prove that I remember the family’s goodness to me and that I love Nicholas. Yes! If I don’t sleep for three nights I’ll not leave this passage and will hold her back by force and will and not let the family be disgraced," thought she. CHAPTER XVI Anatole had lately moved to Dolokhov’s. The plan for Natalie Rostova’s abduction had been arranged and the preparations made by Dolokhov a few days before, and on the day that Sonya, after listening at Natasha’s door, resolved to safeguard her, it was to have been put into execution. Natasha had promised to come out to Kuragin at the back porch at ten that evening. Kuragin was to put her into a troyka he would have ready and to drive her forty miles to the village of Kamenka, where an unfrocked priest was in readiness to perform a marriage ceremony over them. At Kamenka a relay of horses was to wait which would take them to the Warsaw highroad, and from there they would hasten abroad with post horses. Anatole had a passport, an order for post horses, ten thousand rubles he had taken from his sister and another ten thousand borrowed with Dolokhov’s help. Two witnesses for the mock marriage - Khvostikov, a retired petty official whom Dolokhov made use of in his gambling transactions, and Makarin, a retired hussar, a kindly, weak fellow who had an unbounded affection for Kuragin - were sitting at tea in Dolokhov’s front room. In his large study, the walls of which were hung to the ceiling with Persian rugs, bearskins, and weapons, sat Dolokhov in a traveling cloak and high boots, at an open desk on which lay an abacus and some bundles of paper money. Anatole, with uniform unbuttoned, walked to and fro from the room where the witnesses were sitting, through the study to the room behind, where his French valet and others were packing the last of his things. Dolokhov was counting the money and noting something down. "Well," he said, "Khvostikov must have two thousand." "Give it to him, then," said Anatole. "Makarka" (their name for Makarin) "will go through fire and water for you for nothing. So here are our accounts all settled," said Dolokhov, showing him the memorandum. "Is that right?" "Yes, of course," returned Anatole, evidently not listening to Dolokhov and looking straight before him with a smile that did not leave his face. Dolokhov banged down the lid of his desk and turned to Anatole with an ironic smile: "Do you know? You’d really better drop it all. There’s still time!" "Fool," retorted Anatole. "Don’t talk nonsense! If you only knew... it’s the devil knows what!" "No, really, give it up!" said Dolokhov. "I am speaking seriously. It’s no joke, this plot you’ve hatched." "What, teasing again? Go to the devil! Eh?" said Anatole, making a grimace. "Really it’s no time for your stupid jokes," and he left the room. Dolokhov smiled contemptuously and condescendingly when Anatole had gone out. "You wait a bit," he called after him. "I’m not joking, I’m talking sense. Come here, come here!" Anatole returned and looked at Dolokhov, trying to give him his attention and evidently submitting to him involuntarily. "Now listen to me. I’m telling you this for the last time. Why should I joke about it? Did I hinder you? Who arranged everything for you? Who found the priest and got the passport? Who raised the money? I did it all." "Well, thank you for it. Do you think I am not grateful?" And Anatole sighed and embraced Dolokhov. "I helped you, but all the same I must tell you the truth; it is a dangerous business, and if you think about it - a stupid business. Well, you’ll carry her off - all right! Will they let it stop at that? It will come out that you’re already married. Why, they’ll have you in the criminal court...." "Oh, nonsense, nonsense!" Anatole ejaculated and again made a grimace. "Didn’t I explain to you? What?" And Anatole, with the partiality dull-witted people have for any conclusion they have reached by their own reasoning, repeated the argument he had already put to Dolokhov a hundred times. "Didn’t I explain to you that I have come to this conclusion: if this marriage is invalid," he went on, crooking one finger, "then I have nothing to answer for; but if it is valid, no matter! Abroad no one will know anything about it. Isn’t that so? And don’t talk to me, don’t, don’t." "Seriously, you’d better drop it! You’ll only get yourself into a mess!" "Go to the devil!" cried Anatole and, clutching his hair, left the room, but returned at once and dropped into an armchair in front of Dolokhov with his feet turned under him. "It’s the very devil! What? Feel how it beats!" He took Dolokhov’s hand and put it on his heart. "What a foot, my dear fellow! What a glance! A goddess!" he added in French. "What?" Dolokhov with a cold smile and a gleam in his handsome insolent eyes looked at him - evidently wishing to get some more amusement out of him. "Well and when the money’s gone, what then?" "What then? Eh?" repeated Anatole, sincerely perplexed by a thought of the future. "What then?... Then, I don’t know.... But why talk nonsense!" He glanced at his watch. "It’s time!" Anatole went into the back room. "Now then! Nearly ready? You’re dawdling!" he shouted to the servants. Dolokhov put away the money, called a footman whom he ordered to bring something for them to eat and drink before the journey, and went into the room where Khvostikov and Makarin were sitting. Anatole lay on the sofa in the study leaning on his elbow and smiling pensively, while his handsome lips muttered tenderly to himself. "Come and eat something. Have a drink!" Dolokhov shouted to him from the other room. "I don’t want to," answered Anatole continuing to smile. "Come! Balaga is here." Anatole rose and went into the dining room. Balaga was a famous troyka driver who had known Dolokhov and Anatole some six years and had given them good service with his troykas. More than once when Anatole’s regiment was stationed at Tver he had taken him from Tver in the evening, brought him to Moscow by daybreak, and driven him back again the next night. More than once he had enabled Dolokhov to escape when pursued. More than once he had driven them through the town with gypsies and "ladykins" as he called the cocottes. More than once in their service he had run over pedestrians and upset vehicles in the streets of Moscow and had always been protected from the consequences by "my gentlemen" as he called them. He had ruined more than one horse in their service. More than once they had beaten him, and more than once they had made him drunk on champagne and Madeira, which he loved; and he knew more than one thing about each of them which would long ago have sent an ordinary man to Siberia. They often called Balaga into their orgies and made him drink and dance at the gypsies’, and more than one thousand rubles of their money had passed through his hands. In their service he risked his skin and his life twenty times a year, and in their service had lost more horses than the money he had from them would buy. But he liked them; liked that mad driving at twelve miles an hour, liked upsetting a driver or running down a pedestrian, and flying at full gallop through the Moscow streets. He liked to hear those wild, tipsy shouts behind him: "Get on! Get on!" when it was impossible to go any faster. He liked giving a painful lash on the neck to some peasant who, more dead than alive, was already hurrying out of his way. "Real gentlemen!" he considered them. Anatole and Dolokhov liked Balaga too for his masterly driving and because he liked the things they liked. With others Balaga bargained, charging twenty-five rubles for a two hours’ drive, and rarely drove himself, generally letting his young men do so. But with "his gentlemen" he always drove himself and never demanded anything for his work. Only a couple of times a year - when he knew from their valets that they had money in hand - he would turn up of a morning quite sober and with a deep bow would ask them to help him. The gentlemen always made him sit down. "Do help me out, Theodore Ivanych, sir," or "your excellency," he would say. "I am quite out of horses. Let me have what you can to go to the fair." And Anatole and Dolokhov, when they had money, would give him a thousand or a couple of thousand rubles. Balaga was a fair-haired, short, and snub-nosed peasant of about twenty-seven; red-faced, with a particularly red thick neck, glittering little eyes, and a small beard. He wore a fine, dark-blue, silk-lined cloth coat over a sheepskin. On entering the room now he crossed himself, turning toward the front corner of the room, and went up to Dolokhov, holding out a small, black hand. "Theodore Ivanych!" he said, bowing. "How d’you do, friend? Well, here he is!" "Good day, your excellency!" he said, again holding out his hand to Anatole who had just come in. "I say, Balaga," said Anatole, putting his hands on the man’s shoulders, "do you care for me or not? Eh? Now, do me a service.... What horses have you come with? Eh?" "As your messenger ordered, your special beasts," replied Balaga. "Well, listen, Balaga! Drive all three to death but get me there in three hours. Eh?" "When they are dead, what shall I drive?" said Balaga with a wink. "Mind, I’ll smash your face in! Don’t make jokes!" cried Anatole, suddenly rolling his eyes. "Why joke?" said the driver, laughing. "As if I’d grudge my gentlemen anything! As fast as ever the horses can gallop, so fast we’ll go!" "Ah!" said Anatole. "Well, sit down." "Yes, sit down!" said Dolokhov. "I’ll stand, Theodore Ivanych." "Sit down; nonsense! Have a drink!" said Anatole, and filled a large glass of Madeira for him. The driver’s eyes sparkled at the sight of the wine. After refusing it for manners’ sake, he drank it and wiped his mouth with a red silk handkerchief he took out of his cap. "And when are we to start, your excellency?" "Well..." Anatole looked at his watch. "We’ll start at once. Mind, Balaga! You’ll get there in time? Eh?" "That depends on our luck in starting, else why shouldn’t we be there in time?" replied Balaga. "Didn’t we get you to Tver in seven hours? I think you remember that, your excellency?" "Do you know, one Christmas I drove from Tver," said Anatole, smilingly at the recollection and turning to Makarin who gazed rapturously at him with wide-open eyes. "Will you believe it, Makarka, it took one’s breath away, the rate we flew. We came across a train of loaded sleighs and drove right over two of them. Eh?" "Those were horses!" Balaga continued the tale. "That time I’d harnessed two young side horses with the bay in the shafts," he went on, turning to Dolokhov. "Will you believe it, Theodore Ivanych, those animals flew forty miles? I couldn’t hold them in, my hands grew numb in the sharp frost so that I threw down the reins - ‘Catch hold yourself, your excellency!’ says I, and I just tumbled on the bottom of the sleigh and sprawled there. It wasn’t a case of urging them on, there was no holding them in till we reached the place. The devils took us there in three hours! Only the near one died of it." CHAPTER XVII Anatole went out of the room and returned a few minutes later wearing a fur coat girt with a silver belt, and a sable cap jauntily set on one side and very becoming to his handsome face. Having looked in a mirror, and standing before Dolokhov in the same pose he had assumed before it, he lifted a glass of wine. "Well, good-by, Theodore. Thank you for everything and farewell!" said Anatole. "Well, comrades and friends..." he considered for a moment "... of my youth, farewell!" he said, turning to Makarin and the others. Though they were all going with him, Anatole evidently wished to make something touching and solemn out of this address to his comrades. He spoke slowly in a loud voice and throwing out his chest slightly swayed one leg. "All take glasses; you too, Balaga. Well, comrades and friends of my youth, we’ve had our fling and lived and reveled. Eh? And now, when shall we meet again? I am going abroad. We have had a good time - now farewell, lads! To our health! Hurrah!..." he cried, and emptying his glass flung it on the floor. "To your health!" said Balaga who also emptied his glass, and wiped his mouth with his handkerchief. Makarin embraced Anatole with tears in his eyes. "Ah, Prince, how sorry I am to part from you! "Let’s go. Let’s go!" cried Anatole. Balaga was about to leave the room. "No, stop!" said Anatole. "Shut the door; we have first to sit down. That’s the way." They shut the door and all sat down. "Now, quick march, lads!" said Anatole, rising. Joseph, his valet, handed him his sabretache and saber, and they all went out into the vestibule. "And where’s the fur cloak?" asked Dolokhov. "Hey, Ignatka! Go to Matrena Matrevna and ask her for the sable cloak. I have heard what elopements are like," continued Dolokhov with a wink. "Why, she’ll rush out more dead than alive just in the things she is wearing; if you delay at all there’ll be tears and ‘Papa’ and ‘Mamma,’ and she’s frozen in a minute and must go back - but you wrap the fur cloak round her first thing and carry her to the sleigh." The valet brought a woman’s fox-lined cloak. "Fool, I told you the sable one! Hey, Matrena, the sable!" he shouted so that his voice rang far through the rooms. A handsome, slim, and pale-faced gypsy girl with glittering black eyes and curly blue-black hair, wearing a red shawl, ran out with a sable mantle on her arm. "Here, I don’t grudge it - take it!" she said, evidently afraid of her master and yet regretful of her cloak. Dolokhov, without answering, took the cloak, threw it over Matrena, and wrapped her up in it. "That’s the way," said Dolokhov, "and then so!" and he turned the collar up round her head, leaving only a little of the face uncovered. "And then so, do you see?" and he pushed Anatole’s head forward to meet the gap left by the collar, through which Matrena’s brilliant smile was seen. "Well, good-by, Matrena," said Anatole, kissing her. "Ah, my revels here are over. Remember me to Steshka. There, good-by! Good-by, Matrena, wish me luck!" "Well, Prince, may God give you great luck!" said Matrena in her gypsy accent. Two troykas were standing before the porch and two young drivers were holding the horses. Balaga took his seat in the front one and holding his elbows high arranged the reins deliberately. Anatole and Dolokhov got in with him. Makarin, Khvostikov, and a valet seated themselves in the other sleigh. "Well, are you ready?" asked Balaga. "Go!" he cried, twisting the reins round his hands, and the troyka tore down the Nikitski Boulevard. "Tproo! Get out of the way! Hi!... Tproo!..." The shouting of Balaga and of the sturdy young fellow seated on the box was all that could be heard. On the Arbat Square the troyka caught against a carriage; something cracked, shouts were heard, and the troyka flew along the Arbat Street. After taking a turn along the Podnovinski Boulevard, Balaga began to rein in, and turning back drew up at the crossing of the old Konyusheny Street. The young fellow on the box jumped down to hold the horses and Anatole and Dolokhov went along the pavement. When they reached the gate Dolokhov whistled. The whistle was answered, and a maidservant ran out. "Come into the courtyard or you’ll be seen; she’ll come out directly," said she. Dolokhov stayed by the gate. Anatole followed the maid into the courtyard, turned the corner, and ran up into the porch. He was met by Gabriel, Marya Dmitrievna’s gigantic footman. "Come to the mistress, please," said the footman in his deep bass, intercepting any retreat. "To what Mistress? Who are you?" asked Anatole in a breathless whisper. "Kindly step in, my orders are to bring you in." "Kuragin! Come back!" shouted Dolokhov. "Betrayed! Back!" Dolokhov, after Anatole entered, had remained at the wicket gate and was struggling with the yard porter who was trying to lock it. With a last desperate effort Dolokhov pushed the porter aside, and when Anatole ran back seized him by the arm, pulled him through the wicket, and ran back with him to the troyka. CHAPTER XVIII Marya Dmitrievna, having found Sonya weeping in the corridor, made her confess everything, and intercepting the note to Natasha she read it and went into Natasha’s room with it in her hand. "You shameless good-for-nothing!" said she. "I won’t hear a word." Pushing back Natasha who looked at her with astonished but tearless eyes, she locked her in; and having given orders to the yard porter to admit the persons who would be coming that evening, but not to let them out again, and having told the footman to bring them up to her, she seated herself in the drawing room to await the abductors. When Gabriel came to inform her that the men who had come had run away again, she rose frowning, and clasping her hands behind her paced through the rooms a long time considering what she should do. Toward midnight she went to Natasha’s room fingering the key in her pocket. Sonya was sitting sobbing in the corridor. "Marya Dmitrievna, for God’s sake let me in to her!" she pleaded, but Marya Dmitrievna unlocked the door and went in without giving her an answer.... "Disgusting, abominable... In my house... horrid girl, hussy! I’m only sorry for her father!" thought she, trying to restrain her wrath. "Hard as it may be, I’ll tell them all to hold their tongues and will hide it from the count." She entered the room with resolute steps. Natasha lying on the sofa, her head hidden in her hands, and she did not stir. She was in just the same position in which Marya Dmitrievna had left her. "A nice girl! Very nice!" said Marya Dmitrievna. "Arranging meetings with lovers in my house! It’s no use pretending: you listen when I speak to you!" And Marya Dmitrievna touched her arm. "Listen when I speak! You’ve disgraced yourself like the lowest of hussies. I’d treat you differently, but I’m sorry for your father, so I will conceal it." Natasha did not change her position, but her whole body heaved with noiseless, convulsive sobs which choked her. Marya Dmitrievna glanced round at Sonya and seated herself on the sofa beside Natasha. "It’s lucky for him that he escaped me; but I’ll find him!" she said in her rough voice. "Do you hear what I am saying or not?" she added. She put her large hand under Natasha’s face and turned it toward her. Both Marya Dmitrievna and Sonya were amazed when they saw how Natasha looked. Her eyes were dry and glistening, her lips compressed, her cheeks sunken. "Let me be!... What is it to me?... I shall die!" she muttered, wrenching herself from Marya Dmitrievna’s hands with a vicious effort and sinking down again into her former position. "Natalie!" said Marya Dmitrievna. "I wish for your good. Lie still, stay like that then, I won’t touch you. But listen. I won’t tell you how guilty you are. You know that yourself. But when your father comes back tomorrow what am I to tell him? Eh?" Again Natasha’s body shook with sobs. "Suppose he finds out, and your brother, and your betrothed?" "I have no betrothed: I have refused him!" cried Natasha. "That’s all the same," continued Marya Dmitrievna. "If they hear of this, will they let it pass? He, your father, I know him... if he challenges him to a duel will that be all right? Eh?" "Oh, let me be! Why have you interfered at all? Why? Why? Who asked you to?" shouted Natasha, raising herself on the sofa and looking malignantly at Marya Dmitrievna. "But what did you want?" cried Marya Dmitrievna, growing angry again. "Were you kept under lock and key? Who hindered his coming to the house? Why carry you off as if you were some gypsy singing girl?... Well, if he had carried you off... do you think they wouldn’t have found him? Your father, or brother, or your betrothed? And he’s a scoundrel, a wretch - that’s a fact!" "He is better than any of you!" exclaimed Natasha getting up. "If you hadn’t interfered... Oh, my God! What is it all? What is it? Sonya, why?... Go away!" And she burst into sobs with the despairing vehemence with which people bewail disasters they feel they have themselves occasioned. Marya Dmitrievna was to speak again but Natasha cried out: "Go away! Go away! You all hate and despise me!" and she threw herself back on the sofa. Marya Dmitrievna went on admonishing her for some time, enjoining on her that it must all be kept from her father and assuring her that nobody would know anything about it if only Natasha herself would undertake to forget it all and not let anyone see that something had happened. Natasha did not reply, nor did she sob any longer, but she grew cold and had a shivering fit. Marya Dmitrievna put a pillow under her head, covered her with two quilts, and herself brought her some lime-flower water, but Natasha did not respond to her. "Well, let her sleep," said Marya Dmitrievna as she went out of the room supposing Natasha to be asleep. But Natasha was not asleep; with pale face and fixed wide-open eyes she looked straight before her. All that night she did not sleep or weep and did not speak to Sonya who got up and went to her several times. Next day Count Rostov returned from his estate near Moscow in time for lunch as he had promised. He was in very good spirits; the affair with the purchaser was going on satisfactorily, and there was nothing to keep him any longer in Moscow, away from the countess whom he missed. Marya Dmitrievna met him and told him that Natasha had been very unwell the day before and that they had sent for the doctor, but that she was better now. Natasha had not left her room that morning. With compressed and parched lips and dry fixed eyes, she sat at the window, uneasily watching the people who drove past and hurriedly glancing round at anyone who entered the room. She was evidently expecting news of him and that he would come or would write to her. When the count came to see her she turned anxiously round at the sound of a man’s footstep, and then her face resumed its cold and malevolent expression. She did not even get up to greet him. "What is the matter with you, my angel? Are you ill?" asked the count. After a moment’s silence Natasha answered: "Yes, ill." In reply to the count’s anxious inquiries as to why she was so dejected and whether anything had happened to her betrothed, she assured him that nothing had happened and asked him not to worry. Marya Dmitrievna confirmed Natasha’s assurances that nothing had happened. From the pretense of illness, from his daughter’s distress, and by the embarrassed faces of Sonya and Marya Dmitrievna, the count saw clearly that something had gone wrong during his absence, but it was so terrible for him to think that anything disgraceful had happened to his beloved daughter, and he so prized his own cheerful tranquillity, that he avoided inquiries and tried to assure himself that nothing particularly had happened; and he was only dissatisfied that her indisposition delayed their return to the country. CHAPTER XIX From the day his wife arrived in Moscow Pierre had been intending to go away somewhere, so as not to be near her. Soon after the Rostovs came to Moscow the effect Natasha had on him made him hasten to carry out his intention. He went to Tver to see Joseph Alexeevich’s widow, who had long since promised to hand over to him some papers of her deceased husband’s. When he returned to Moscow Pierre was handed a letter from Marya Dmitrievna asking him to come and see her on a matter of great importance relating to Andrew Bolkonski and his betrothed. Pierre had been avoiding Natasha because it seemed to him that his feeling for her was stronger than a married man’s should be for his friend’s fiancee. Yet some fate constantly threw them together. "What can have happened? And what can they want with me?" thought he as he dressed to go to Marya Dmitrievna’s. "If only Prince Andrew would hurry up and come and marry her!" thought he on his way to the house. On the Tverskoy Boulevard a familiar voice called to him. "Pierre! Been back long?" someone shouted. Pierre raised his head. In a sleigh drawn by two gray trotting-horses that were bespattering the dashboard with snow, Anatole and his constant companion Makarin dashed past. Anatole was sitting upright in the classic pose of military dandies, the lower part of his face hidden by his beaver collar and his head slightly bent. His face was fresh and rosy, his white-plumed hat, tilted to one side, disclosed his curled and pomaded hair besprinkled with powdery snow. "Yes, indeed, that’s a true sage," thought Pierre. "He sees nothing beyond the pleasure of the moment, nothing troubles him and so he is always cheerful, satisfied, and serene. What wouldn’t I give to be like him!" he thought enviously. In Marya Dmitrievna’s anteroom the footman who helped him off with his fur coat said that the mistress asked him to come to her bedroom. When he opened the ballroom door Pierre saw Natasha sitting at the window, with a thin, pale, and spiteful face. She glanced round at him, frowned, and left the room with an expression of cold dignity. "What has happened?" asked Pierre, entering Marya Dmitrievna’s room. "Fine doings!" answered Dmitrievna. "For fifty-eight years have I lived in this world and never known anything so disgraceful!" And having put him on his honor not to repeat anything she told him, Marya Dmitrievna informed him that Natasha had refused Prince Andrew without her parents’ knowledge and that the cause of this was Anatole Kuragin into whose society Pierre’s wife had thrown her and with whom Natasha had tried to elope during her father’s absence, in order to be married secretly. Pierre raised his shoulders and listened open-mouthed to what was told him, scarcely able to believe his own ears. That Prince Andrew’s deeply loved affianced wife - the same Natasha Rostova who used to be so charming - should give up Bolkonski for that fool Anatole who was already secretly married (as Pierre knew), and should be so in love with him as to agree to run away with him, was something Pierre could not conceive and could not imagine. He could not reconcile the charming impression he had of Natasha, whom he had known from a child, with this new conception of her baseness, folly, and cruelty. He thought of his wife. "They are all alike!" he said to himself, reflecting that he was not the only man unfortunate enough to be tied to a bad woman. But still he pitied Prince Andrew to the point of tears and sympathized with his wounded pride, and the more he pitied his friend the more did he think with contempt and even with disgust of that Natasha who had just passed him in the ballroom with such a look of cold dignity. He did not know that Natasha’s soul was overflowing with despair, shame, and humiliation, and that it was not her fault that her face happened to assume an expression of calm dignity and severity. "But how get married?" said Pierre, in answer to Marya Dmitrievna. "He could not marry - he is married!" "Things get worse from hour to hour!" ejaculated Marya Dmitrievna. "A nice youth! What a scoundrel! And she’s expecting him - expecting him since yesterday. She must be told! Then at least she won’t go on expecting him." After hearing the details of Anatole’s marriage from Pierre, and giving vent to her anger against Anatole in words of abuse, Marya Dmitrievna told Pierre why she had sent for him. She was afraid that the count or Bolkonski, who might arrive at any moment, if they knew of this affair (which she hoped to hide from them) might challenge Anatole to a duel, and she therefore asked Pierre to tell his brother-in-law in her name to leave Moscow and not dare to let her set eyes on him again. Pierre - only now realizing the danger to the old count, Nicholas, and Prince Andrew - promised to do as she wished. Having briefly and exactly explained her wishes to him, she let him go to the drawing room. "Mind, the count knows nothing. Behave as if you know nothing either," she said. "And I will go and tell her it is no use expecting him! And stay to dinner if you care to!" she called after Pierre. Pierre met the old count, who seemed nervous and upset. That morning Natasha had told him that she had rejected Bolkonski. "Troubles, troubles, my dear fellow!" he said to Pierre. "What troubles one has with these girls without their mother! I do so regret having come here.... I will be frank with you. Have you heard she has broken off her engagement without consulting anybody? It’s true this engagement never was much to my liking. Of course he is an excellent man, but still, with his father’s disapproval they wouldn’t have been happy, and Natasha won’t lack suitors. Still, it has been going on so long, and to take such a step without father’s or mother’s consent! And now she’s ill, and God knows what! It’s hard, Count, hard to manage daughters in their mother’s absence...." Pierre saw that the count was much upset and tried to change the subject, but the count returned to his troubles. Sonya entered the room with an agitated face. "Natasha is not quite well; she’s in her room and would like to see you. Marya Dmitrievna is with her and she too asks you to come." "Yes, you are a great friend of Bolkonski’s, no doubt she wants to send him a message," said the count. "Oh dear! Oh dear! How happy it all was!" And clutching the spare gray locks on his temples the count left the room. When Marya Dmitrievna told Natasha that Anatole was married, Natasha did not wish to believe it and insisted on having it confirmed by Pierre himself. Sonya told Pierre this as she led him along the corridor to Natasha’s room. Natasha, pale and stern, was sitting beside Marya Dmitrievna, and her eyes, glittering feverishly, met Pierre with a questioning look the moment he entered. She did not smile or nod, but only gazed fixedly at him, and her look asked only one thing: was he a friend, or like the others an enemy in regard to Anatole? As for Pierre, he evidently did not exist for her. "He knows all about it," said Marya Dmitrievna pointing to Pierre and addressing Natasha. "Let him tell you whether I have told the truth." Natasha looked from one to the other as a hunted and wounded animal looks at the approaching dogs and sportsmen. "Natalya Ilynichna," Pierre began, dropping his eyes with a feeling of pity for her and loathing for the thing he had to do, "whether it is true or not should make no difference to you, because..." "Then it is not true that he’s married!" "Yes, it is true." "Has he been married long?" she asked. "On your honor?..." Pierre gave his word of honor. "Is he still here?" she asked, quickly. "Yes, I have just seen him." She was evidently unable to speak and made a sign with her hands that they should leave her alone. CHAPTER XX Pierre did not stay for dinner, but left the room and went away at once. He drove through the town seeking Anatole Kuragin, at the thought of whom now the blood rushed to his heart and he felt a difficulty in breathing. He was not at the ice hills, nor at the gypsies’, nor at Komoneno’s. Pierre drove to the Club. In the Club all was going on as usual. The members who were assembling for dinner were sitting about in groups; they greeted Pierre and spoke of the town news. The footman having greeted him, knowing his habits and his acquaintances, told him there was a place left for him in the small dining room and that Prince Michael Zakharych was in the library, but Paul Timofeevich had not yet arrived. One of Pierre’s acquaintances, while they were talking about the weather, asked if he had heard of Kuragin’s abduction of Rostova which was talked of in the town, and was it true? Pierre laughed and said it was nonsense for he had just come from the Rostovs’. He asked everyone about Anatole. One man told him he had not come yet, and another that he was coming to dinner. Pierre felt it strange to see this calm, indifferent crowd of people unaware of what was going on in his soul. He paced through the ballroom, waited till everyone had come, and as Anatole had not turned up did not stay for dinner but drove home. Anatole, for whom Pierre was looking, dined that day with Dolokhov, consulting him as to how to remedy this unfortunate affair. It seemed to him essential to see Natasha. In the evening he drove to his sister’s to discuss with her how to arrange a meeting. When Pierre returned home after vainly hunting all over Moscow, his valet informed him that Prince Anatole was with the countess. The countess’ drawing room was full of guests. Pierre without greeting his wife whom he had not seen since his return - at that moment she was more repulsive to him than ever - entered the drawing room and seeing Anatole went up to him. "Ah, Pierre," said the countess going up to her husband. "You don’t know what a plight our Anatole..." She stopped, seeing in the forward thrust of her husband’s head, in his glowing eyes and his resolute gait, the terrible indications of that rage and strength which she knew and had herself experienced after his duel with Dolokhov. "Where you are, there is vice and evil!" said Pierre to his wife. "Anatole, come with me! I must speak to you," he added in French. Anatole glanced round at his sister and rose submissively, ready to follow Pierre. Pierre, taking him by the arm, pulled him toward himself and was leading him from the room. "If you allow yourself in my drawing room..." whispered Helene, but Pierre did not reply and went out of the room. Anatole followed him with his usual jaunty step but his face betrayed anxiety. Having entered his study Pierre closed the door and addressed Anatole without looking at him. "You promised Countess Rostova to marry her and were about to elope with her, is that so?" "Mon cher," answered Anatole (their whole conversation was in French), "I don’t consider myself bound to answer questions put to me in that tone." Pierre’s face, already pale, became distorted by fury. He seized Anatole by the collar of his uniform with his big hand and shook him from side to side till Anatole’s face showed a sufficient degree of terror. "When I tell you that I must talk to you!..." repeated Pierre. "Come now, this is stupid. What?" said Anatole, fingering a button of his collar that had been wrenched loose with a bit of the cloth. "You’re a scoundrel and a blackguard, and I don’t know what deprives me from the pleasure of smashing your head with this!" said Pierre, expressing himself so artificially because he was talking French. He took a heavy paperweight and lifted it threateningly, but at once put it back in its place. "Did you promise to marry her?" "I... I didn’t think of it. I never promised, because..." Pierre interrupted him. "Have you any letters of hers? Any letters?" he said, moving toward Anatole. Anatole glanced at him and immediately thrust his hand into his pocket and drew out his pocketbook. Pierre took the letter Anatole handed him and, pushing aside a table that stood in his way, threw himself on the sofa. "I shan’t be violent, don’t be afraid!" said Pierre in answer to a frightened gesture of Anatole’s. "First, the letters," said he, as if repeating a lesson to himself. "Secondly," he continued after a short pause, again rising and again pacing the room, "tomorrow you must get out of Moscow." "But how can I?..." "Thirdly," Pierre continued without listening to him, "you must never breathe a word of what has passed between you and Countess Rostova. I know I can’t prevent your doing so, but if you have a spark of conscience..." Pierre paced the room several times in silence. Anatole sat at a table frowning and biting his lips. "After all, you must understand that besides your pleasure there is such a thing as other people’s happiness and peace, and that you are ruining a whole life for the sake of amusing yourself! Amuse yourself with women like my wife - with them you are within your rights, for they know what you want of them. They are armed against you by the same experience of debauchery; but to promise a maid to marry her... to deceive, to kidnap.... Don’t you understand that it is as mean as beating an old man or a child?..." Pierre paused and looked at Anatole no longer with an angry but with a questioning look. 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