War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy [858]
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*510My head, be it good or bad, can only help itself.
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*511Well, gentlemen! I see it’s I who will have to pay for the broken crockery.
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*512Je suis né Tartare. / Je voulus être Romain. / Les Français m’appelèrent barbare. / Les Russes—Georges Dandin. That is, “I was born a Tartar. / I wanted to be Roman. / The French will call me barbarian. / The Russians—Georges Dandin.”5 (Tolstoy’s note.)
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*513There you have the egoism and cruelty of men! I expected nothing else. A woman sacrifices herself for you, she suffers, and there is her reward. What right do you have, My Lord, to ask me to account for my friendships, for my affections? He is a man who has been more than a father to me.
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†514Well, yes…perhaps he has other feelings for me than those of a father, but that is no reason for me to close my door to him. I’m not a man, that I should be ungrateful. Know, My Lord, that for all that concerns my intimate feelings, I give an accounting only to God and my conscience.
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‡515But listen to me, in God’s name. / Marry me, and I will be your slave. / But that’s impossible. / You don’t want to lower yourself to me, you…
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§516A short-frocked Jesuit.
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*517A long-frocked abbot.
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*518A venial sin or a mortal sin?
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†519Let us understand each other, Countess.
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*520Hélène, I have a word for you…I’ve got wind of certain plans concerning…You know. Well, my dear child, you know that my father’s heart rejoices to know that you…You’ve suffered so…But, dear child…consult only your own heart. That’s all I have to say to you.
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†521Small group.
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‡522Listen, Bilibin…Tell me as you would a sister, what must I do? Which of the two?
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§523You’re not catching me unawares, you know…As a true friend I have thought and rethought about your affair. Look. If you marry the prince…you lose forever the chance to marry the other one and then, too, you displease the Court. (As you know, there’s some sort of relation.) But if you marry the old count, you make for the happiness of his last days, and then as the dignitary’s widow…the prince will no longer be marrying beneath him by marrying you.
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#524There’s a true friend!…But the thing is that I love them both, I wouldn’t want to grieve them. I’d give my life for the happiness of them both.
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**525A masterful woman! That’s what is known as putting the question squarely. She’d like to marry all three of them at once.
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*526Ah! He loves me so!…He’ll do anything for me.
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†527Even divorce.
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‡528Ah, mama, don’t say stupid things. You don’t understand anything. In my position I have duties.
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§529Ah, mama, how is it you don’t understand that the Holy Father, who has the right to grant dispensations…
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#530No, tell him that I don’t want to see him, that I’m furious with him, because he didn’t keep his word to me.
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**531Countess, for every sin there is mercy.
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*532Upon which I pray God, my friend, to keep you under His holy and powerful protection. Your friend Hélène.
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*533Exploits.
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†534My dear, between us.
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‡535My dear, I am well informed.
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*536There we are.
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†537We’re on the eve of a public disaster, and I don’t have time to say nice things to all those