War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy [147]
He went over to Prince Vassily.
“Well, greetings, greetings; glad to see you.”
“For a dear friend, no detour’s too long,” Prince Vassily began, as usual, quickly, self-confidently, and familiarly. “Here is my second one, I recommend him to your loving kindness.”
Prince Nikolai Andreevich looked Anatole over.
“A fine boy, a fine boy!” he said. “Well, come and kiss me.” And he offered him his cheek.
Anatole kissed the old man, then looked at him curiously and with perfect calm, expecting him to come out with something eccentric, as his father had promised.
Prince Nikolai Andreevich sat in his usual place at the end of the sofa, moved a chair for Prince Vassily towards him, pointed to it, and began asking questions about political matters and the latest news. He listened as if with attention to Prince Vassily’s account, but kept glancing at Princess Marya.
“So they’re already writing from Potsdam?” he repeated Prince Vassily’s last words, suddenly stood up, and went over to his daughter.
“So you’ve spruced yourself up like that for the guests, eh?” he said. “Fine, very fine. You do your hair up in some new way for the guests, but I say to you in front of the guests that in future you dare not change anything without my permission.”
“Mon père, it’s my fault,” the little princess intervened, blushing.
“That’s entirely as you will, ma’am,” said Prince Nikolai Andreevich, bowing and scraping before his daughter-in-law, “but she needn’t make herself ugly—she’s plain enough as it is.”
And he sat down in his place again, paying no further attention to the daughter he had driven to tears.
“On the contrary, this hairstyle is very becoming to the princess,” said Prince Vassily.
“Well, my good fellow, young prince what’s your name?” said Prince Nikolai Andreevich, turning to Anatole, “come here, let’s talk, let’s get acquainted.”
“Now the fun begins,” thought Anatole and, smiling, he took a seat nearer to the old prince.
“Well, now, they say, my dear, that you were educated abroad. Not like your father and me, who were taught to read by the beadle. Tell me, my dear, you’re now serving in the horse guards?” the old man asked, studying Anatole closely and intently.
“No, I’ve been transferred to the infantry,” replied Anatole, barely able to keep from laughing.
“Ah! a good thing. So, my dear, you want to serve your tsar and country? It’s wartime. Such a fine fellow must serve, must serve. So, off to the front?”
“No, Prince. Our regiment is already on the march. But I’m enlisted—what am I enlisted in, papa?” Anatole turned with a laugh to his father.
“Nice service, very nice. What am I enlisted in! Ha, ha, ha!” Prince Nikolai Andreevich laughed.
And Anatole laughed still louder. Suddenly Prince Nikolai Andreevich frowned.
“Well, go,” he said to Anatole.
Anatole, with a smile, went back to the ladies.
“So you did educate them abroad, Prince Vassily? Eh?” The old prince turned to Prince Vassily.
“I did what I could; and I’ll tell you, the education there is much better than ours.”
“Yes, everything’s different nowadays, everything’s the new way. A fine lad, though! A fine lad! Well, come with me.”
He took Prince Vassily under the arm and led him to his study.
Prince Vassily, finding himself alone with the prince, at once declared to him his wishes and hopes.
“And what do you think,” the old prince said gruffly, “that I’m holding on to her, that I can’t part with her? People imagine things!” he pronounced gruffly. “She can marry tomorrow! Only I’ll tell you, I’d like to know my son-in-law better. You know my rules: everything’s in the open! I’ll ask her tomorrow in your presence: if she wants, let him stay a while. Let him stay, and I’ll see.” The prince snorted. “Let her marry him, it’s all the same to me,” he shrieked in the same shrill voice in which he had shouted on taking leave of his son.
“I’ll tell you straight out,” said Prince Vassily, in the tone of a cunning man convinced that it is unnecessary to use cunning in view of his interlocutor’s perceptiveness. “You see through people. Anatole is no genius,