War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy [409]
Before going to the army, which in May was encamped on the Drissa, Prince Andrei stopped at Bald Hills, which was directly on his way, being two miles from the Smolensk high road. In the last three years of Prince Andrei’s life there had been so many upheavals, he had thought, felt, and seen so much (having traveled both in the west and in the east), that on entering Bald Hills, he was strangely and unexpectedly struck that everything was exactly the same, to the smallest details—there was exactly the same course of life. He rode down the avenue and through the stone gates of the Bald Hills house as if into an enchanted, sleeping castle. The same staidness, the same cleanliness, the same silence were in this house, the same furniture, the same walls, the same sounds, the same smell, and the same timid faces, only grown slightly older. Princess Marya was the same timid, plain, aging maiden, uselessly and joylessly living through the best years of her life in fear and eternal moral suffering. Mlle Bourienne was the same coquettish girl, pleased with herself, joyfully making use of every moment of her life, and filled with the most joyful hopes for herself. She had only become surer of herself, as it seemed to Prince Andrei. The tutor Dessales, whom he had brought from Switzerland, was dressed in a frock coat of Russian cut, spoke distorted Russian with the servants, but was the same narrowly intelligent, well-educated, virtuous, and pedantic tutor. The old prince had changed physically only in that a missing tooth could be noticed on one side of his mouth; morally he was the same as before, only with more animosity and mistrust towards the reality of what was happening in the world. Nikolushka alone had grown, changed, become red-cheeked, with a head of dark curly hair and, unknowingly, when he was laughing and gay, he raised the upper lip of his pretty little mouth exactly as the deceased little princess used to do. He alone did not obey the law of changelessness in this enchanted, sleeping castle. But, though externally everything remained as before, the inner relations of all these persons had changed since Prince Andrei last saw them. The members of the family were divided into two camps, alien and hostile to each other, which came together now only because of him, changing their usual way of life for his sake. To one belonged the old prince, Mlle Bourienne, and the architect, to the other Princess Marya, Dessales, Nikolushka, and all the nurses and nannies.
During his stay at Bald Hills, all the household dined together, but everyone felt awkward, and Prince Andrei sensed that he was a guest for whom an exception was being made, that he inconvenienced everyone by his presence. During dinner on the first day, Prince Andrei, involuntarily sensing that, was silent, and the old prince, noticing the unnaturalness of his state, also fell sullenly silent and went to his room directly after dinner. When Prince Andrei came to him in the evening and, trying to stir him up, began telling him about the campaign of the young Count Kamensky, the old prince unexpectedly began telling him about Princess Marya, condemning her for her superstitiousness and for her dislike of Mlle Bourienne, who, according to him, was the only one truly devoted to him.
The old prince said that if he was ill, it was only because of Princess Marya; that she deliberately tormented and irritated him; that she spoiled little Prince Nikolai with pampering and stupid talk. The old prince knew very well that he tormented his daughter, that her life was very wretched, but he also knew that he could not help tormenting her and that she deserved it. “Why does Prince Andrei, who sees it, say nothing to me about his sister?” the old man wondered. “What, does he think I’m a villain or an old fool, distancing myself from my daughter for no reason and becoming close with the Frenchwoman? He doesn’t understand it, and therefore I must explain it to him, he must hear me out,” thought the old prince. And he began to explain the reasons why he