Chapter 2 Chapter two

Anna Scheler's living room was full of guests.The people who came were all celebrities from Petersburg. They were of different ages and personalities, but they all came from the upper class.The great beauty Helen, the daughter of Duke Vasili, also came.She had come to pick her father up to attend the minister's reception.She was wearing a ball gown with a monogram medal.The most charming woman in Petersburg, the young Princess Andrey, was also there.She got married last winter, and is now absent from major social events because of her pregnancy, but she still attends small evenings.Prince Vasily's son Hippolyte came with Mortema whom he had introduced.Father Morio and many other guests were also present at the evening party.

"You haven't seen it yet?" Or "You don't know my aunt yet, have you?" Anna Scheele said to the visitors, leading them solemnly before the little old woman with the tall knot on her head (she came quietly from the next room when the guests started to arrive), announced the name of the visitor, and at the same time moved her eyes slowly from the visitor to my aunt, and walked away. Out of politeness, all the guests greeted this aunt who knew no one, was interested in no one, and needed no one.Anna Scheler watched their greeting with melancholy seriousness, silently approving.The aunt asked about the health of each guest in the same way, and talked about her own health, and also about the health of Her Majesty the Queen Mother, and said, thank God, Her Majesty is better now.Those who came to the old woman took their time, out of politeness, but left her with a sense of relief, as if they had fulfilled a heavy duty, and did not see her again that night.

Princess Andrei brought a velvet handbag embroidered with gold for needlework.There is a faint black hair on her lips. The small upper lip cannot cover the teeth. It looks beautiful when the lips are slightly parted, and it is very cute when the upper and lower lips are pressed together.Like so many attractive women, her flaws—the slightly raised upper lip, the slightly parted mouth—became distinctive beauty.The healthy, rosy-cheeked young mother-to-be was a joy to all who saw her, going through her pregnancy with ease.Whether old men or depressed young men, just being with her and talking casually with her would make them as happy as she was.Anyone who has talked to her, who has seen her wide smile and continuous display of white teeth with every word she utters, finds himself especially pleasing today.Every man feels this way.

The petite Duchess, with her sewing bag slung over her arm, walked round the table waddling in quick little steps, arranging her clothes cheerfully, and sat down on the sofa by the silver samovar; Everything, to herself and those around her, was a pleasure. "I've brought my sewing," she said to them all, opening her handbag. "You see, Anna, what a trick you are," she said to her hostess. "You wrote that it was only a small party tonight. You see what I am dressed for." As she spoke, she spread her arms to show her elegant gray dress with billowing lace and a wide satin ribbon just below the bust.

"Don't worry, Lisa, you are always prettier than anyone else," replied Anna Scheler. "You know, my husband is going to abandon me," she said to a general in the same tone, "he's going to die. Tell me why you're fighting this damned battle." She told Prince Vasili said, but without waiting for an answer, he turned and spoke to his daughter Helen the Beauty. "What a lovely little princess!" Prince Vasili whispered to Anna Scheele. Shortly after the arrival of the petite Duchess, a portly young man with cropped hair and spectacles arrived, dressed in light-coloured smart trousers, a brown tailcoat, and a shirt with a high collar.This fat young man was the illegitimate son of Count Bezukhov, a famous minister in the time of Empress Catherine, who was dying in Moscow at the moment.He was educated abroad and has recently returned to China. He has never held a job anywhere, and today is the first time he has stepped into a social arena.Anna Scheele nodded to him, which was her courtesy to the lowest guest in the drawing room.In spite of the lowest courtesy, Anna Scheler, when she saw Pierre enter, showed a look of alarm and disquiet, as if she saw a huge creature who should not be here.It was true that Pierre was taller than the other men in the living room, but Anna Scheele was alarmed to see him because he had a different eye, intelligent and shy, keen and simple.

"You are a good man, Monsieur Pierre, to visit a poor invalid," Anna Scheler said to him, and she led him to her aunt, who gave her a frightened wink.Pierre was muttering something, and his eyes kept looking around.He smiled happily, nodded to the petite Duchess as an old friend, and went up to his aunt.Anna Scheler's concern was not unreasonable, because Pierre walked away without listening to his aunt's report on Her Majesty's health.Anna Scheler hurriedly stopped him with a word. "Don't you know Father Morio? He's a very interesting man..." she said.

"Yes, I've heard about his plans for a permanent peace. It's interesting, but not necessarily feasible..." "Do you think so?..." Anna Scheler had nothing to say, and then went to entertain other guests.But Pierre was rude again. He had just left without listening to his aunt, and now he was entangled with the mistress who was about to go away.He lowered his head, spread his thick legs, and explained to Anna Scheler why the priest's plan was a castle in the air. "Let's talk about this issue later." Anna Scheler smiled at him. She got rid of the fledgling youth, and went back to her duties as master, listening and observing, always ready to help the rest of the conversation.After the boss in the spinning mill assigns the workers a good job, he patrols the workshop and finds that the spindle does not turn or the sound is abnormal, so he quickly brakes and adjusts it to restore it to normal operation; the same is true of Anna Scheele , She walked up and down the living room, went to a group of people who were silent or too noisy, interjected a sentence or moved the seats of the guests, so that the talking machine was neither too fast nor too slow, and it started to work normally.But in this busyness, she could see that she was still very worried about Pierre.Whether Pierre went to listen to the conversation around Mortema, or left to listen to the priest, she was always looking at him worriedly.For Pierre who returned from studying abroad, Anna Scheler's party tonight was the first party he attended in Russia.He knew that all the intelligentsia of Petersburg gathered here, and he was dazzled like a child entering a toy store.He is always afraid of missing any brilliant remarks.He looked at the pretentious and personable figures here, always hoping to hear brilliant remarks.At last he came up to Father Morio.He thought the talk was interesting, so he stopped, and, as young people like to do, he waited for an opportunity to express his opinion.