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By Root 3354 0

“But no, why did this thought not occur to me before?” And again he said to himself that it was impossible, that there would be something vile, unnatural, as it seemed to him, and dishonest in this marriage. He recalled her former words and looks, and the words and looks of those who had seen them together. He recalled the words and looks of Anna Pavlovna when she spoke to him about his house, recalled hundreds of similar hints from Prince Vassily and others, and terror came over him at the thought that he might already have bound himself in some way to go through with something which was obviously not good and which he ought not to do. But while he expressed this realization to himself, on the other side of his soul her image floated up in all its feminine beauty.

II

In November of 1805 Prince Vassily was to go to inspect four provinces. He arranged this assignment for himself so as to visit his disordered estates at the same time and, having picked up his son Anatole (where his regiment was stationed), to go with him to see Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky, in order to marry his son to the daughter of this rich old man. But before his departure and these new affairs, Prince Vassily had to decide things with Pierre, who of late had indeed been spending whole days at home, that is, at Prince Vassily’s, where he lived, and who was ridiculous, agitated, and stupid (as a man in love ought to be) in Hélène’s presence, but had still not made a proposal.

“Tout ça est bel et bon, mais il faut que ça finisse,”*233 Prince Vassily said to himself one morning with a sad sigh, conscious that Pierre, who owed so much to him (well, Christ be with him!), was not quite acting properly in this matter. “Youth…frivolity…well, God be with him,” thought Prince Vassily, pleasantly aware of his kindness, “mais il faut que ça finisse. The day after tomorrow is Lelya’s name day. I’ll invite people, and if he doesn’t understand what he ought to do, then it will be my business. Yes, my business. I’m a father!”

In the month and a half since Anna Pavlovna’s soirée, followed by the sleepless, agitated night in which he decided that marriage to Hélène would be a misfortune and that he must avoid her and go away, Pierre, after this decision, did not move out of Prince Vassily’s house, and felt with horror that in people’s eyes he was becoming more and more bound to her every day, that he simply could not go back to his former view of her, nor could he tear himself away from her, that it would be terrible, but that he would have to bind his fate to hers. He might perhaps have refrained, but not a day passed without Prince Vassily (who rarely held receptions) having a soirée at which Pierre had to be present, if he did not want to spoil the general pleasure and disappoint everyone’s expectations. Prince Vassily, in those rare moments when he was at home, would pass by Pierre, pull his hand downwards, distractedly offer him his clean-shaven, wrinkled cheek to kiss, and say either “See you tomorrow,” or “At dinner, otherwise I won’t see you,” or “I’m staying for your sake,” and so on. But despite the fact that, when Prince Vassily stayed for Pierre’s sake (as he put it), he did not say two words to him, Pierre did not feel himself capable of disappointing his expectations. Every day he said one and the same thing to himself: “I must finally understand her, and find out for myself who she is. Was I mistaken before, or am I mistaken now? No, she’s not stupid; no, she’s a wonderful girl!” he sometimes said to himself. “She’s never mistaken in anything, she never says anything stupid. She speaks little, but what she says is always simple and clear. So she’s not stupid. She’s never been embarrassed and is not embarrassed now. So she’s not a bad woman!” It often happened when he was with her that he would begin to argue, to think aloud, and she responded to that each time either by a brief but appropriate remark, showing that it did not interest her, or by a silent smile and glance, which showed Pierre her superiority most palpably. She was right in considering