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By Root 3737 0

day after his reception into the lodge, Pierre was sitting at home, reading a book and trying to make out the meaning of a square, one side of which represented God, another the moral, the third the physical, and the fourth their mixture. From time to time he tore himself away from the book and the square, and in his imagination put together a new plan of life for himself. The day before, he had been told in the lodge that the rumor of his duel had reached the sovereign, and that it would be sensible for Pierre to leave Petersburg. Pierre planned to go to his southern estates and occupy himself with his peasants. He was joyfully contemplating this new life when Prince Vassily unexpectedly came into the room.

“My friend, what have you done in Moscow? Why did you quarrel with Lelya, mon cher? You are mistaken,” said Prince Vassily as he came in. “I’ve found out everything and can tell you for certain that Hélène is as innocent before you as Christ before the Jews.”

Pierre was about to reply, but he interrupted him.

“And why didn’t you turn to me directly and simply as a friend? I know it all, I understand it all,” he said. “You behaved as befits a man who cherishes his honor; perhaps too hastily, but we won’t discuss that. Only understand in what position you have placed her and myself in the eyes of the whole of society and even of the court,” he added, lowering his voice. “She’s living in Moscow, you here. Come, my dear,” he pulled his hand downwards, “this is nothing but a misunderstanding; I think you feel that yourself. Let’s write her a letter right now, and she’ll come here, everything will be explained, and all this talk will end, or else, I tell you, you may very well suffer for it, my dear.”

Prince Vassily looked imposingly at Pierre.

“I have it from good sources that the dowager empress is taking a lively interest in this whole affair. You know, she’s very favorable to Hélène.”

Pierre was on the point of speaking several times, but, on the one hand, Prince Vassily would not let him, hastily cutting off all conversation, and on the other hand, Pierre himself was afraid he might not begin speaking in the tone of resolute refusal and disagreement in which he was firmly resolved to answer his father-in-law. Besides, the words of the Masonic rule—“Be gentle and affable”—came to his mind. He winced, blushed, rose up, sank back, working on himself in what was for him the most difficult thing in life—to say something unpleasant to a person’s face, to say something that the person, whoever he might be, was not expecting. He was so used to obeying Prince Vassily’s tone of casual self-assurance that this time, too, he felt he would be unable to oppose it; yet he felt that his whole future destiny would depend on what he said right now: whether he would follow the old former way, or the new one which had been shown to him so attractively by the Masons, and on which he firmly believed he would find rebirth into a new life.

“Well, my dear,” Prince Vassily said jokingly, “say ‘yes’ to me, and I’ll write to her myself, and we can kill the fatted calf.”7 But Prince Vassily had no time to finish his joke, because Pierre, with a fury in his face that was reminiscent of his father, without looking his interlocutor in the eye, said in a quiet whisper:

“Prince, I did not invite you here—go, please, go!” He jumped up and opened the door for him. “Go now,” he repeated, not believing himself and glad of the expression of embarrassment and fear that appeared on Prince Vassily’s face.

“What’s the matter with you? Are you ill?”

“Go!” the menacing voice said once more. And Prince Vassily was forced to leave without receiving any explanation.

A week later, having said good-bye to his new Mason friends and having left them large sums for alms, Pierre went off to his estates. His new brothers gave him letters to the Masons of Kiev and Odessa and promised to write to him and guide him in his new activity.

VI

The affair between Pierre and Dolokhov was hushed up, and, despite the sovereign’s severity concerning duels, neither the two