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By Root 3415 0

at her son, she sent for her husband; and when he came, the countess was going to tell him, briefly and coldly, in Nikolai’s presence, what the matter was, but she could not stand it: she wept tears of vexation and left the room. The old count began hesitantly to admonish Nikolai and beg him to renounce his intention. Nikolai replied that he could not go back on his word, and his father sighed and, obviously embarrassed, very quickly broke off their talk and went to the countess. In all his confrontations with his son, the count had always been aware of his guilt before him for the disorder of his affairs, and therefore he could not be angry with his son for his refusal to marry a rich bride and his choice of the dowerless Sonya—he only remembered more vividly that, if their affairs had not been in disorder, they could not have hoped for a better wife for Nikolai than Sonya; and that he alone, with his Mitenka and his insuperable habits, was to blame for the disorder of their affairs.

The father and mother spoke no further with their son about this matter; but several days later the countess summoned Sonya to her and, with a cruelty neither of them expected, reproached her niece for luring her son away and for ingratitude. Sonya listened to the countess’s cruel words silently, with lowered eyes, and did not understand what was being demanded of her. She was ready to sacrifice everything for her benefactors. The thought of self-sacrifice was her favorite thought; but in this case she could not understand to whom and what she must sacrifice. She could not help loving the countess and the whole Rostov family, but neither could she help loving Nikolai and knowing that his happiness depended on that love. She was silent and sad and made no reply. Nikolai, as it seemed to him, could not bear this situation any longer and went to talk with his mother. Nikolai first begged his mother to forgive him and Sonya and agree to their marriage, then threatened his mother that, if Sonya was persecuted, he would secretly marry her at once.

The countess, with a coldness such as her son had never seen, replied to him that he was of age, that Prince Andrei was going to marry without his father’s consent, and that he could do the same, but that she would never recognize this intriguer as her daughter.

At the word intriguer, Nikolai exploded, raised his voice, and said to his mother that he had never thought she would make him sell his feelings, and that if it was so, he was saying for the last time…But he had no time to say the decisive word, which, judging by the expression on her face, his mother anticipated with horror, and which might have remained a bitter memory between them forever. He had no time to finish, because Natasha, with a pale and serious face, came into the room from the door behind which she had been eavesdropping.

“Nikolenka, you’re talking nonsense—keep quiet, keep quiet! Keep quiet, I tell you!” she almost shouted, in order to drown out his voice.

“Mama, darling, it’s not at all because of…my poor, dear heart,” she was saying to her mother, who, feeling herself on the verge of a breakup, looked at her son with horror, but, being stubborn and carried away by the struggle, would not and could not give in.

“Nikolenka, I’ll explain, you just go…Listen, mama darling,” she said to her mother.

Her words were meaningless, but they achieved the result she was striving for.

The countess, sobbing heavily, hid her face on her daughter’s breast, and Nikolai got up, clutched his head, and left the room.

Natasha took up the cause of reconciliation and brought it to a point where Nikolai obtained his mother’s promise that Sonya would not be oppressed, and promised himself that he would not undertake anything in secret from his parents.

With the firm intention of settling his affairs in the regiment, resigning from the service, coming home and marrying Sonya, Nikolai, sad and serious, in discord with his family, but, as it seemed to him, passionately in love, left for his regiment at the beginning of January.

After Nikolai’s departure,