Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen

Mrs. Shaws, who had come to see her daughter, increased the Countess' fears by describing what she had seen in the tavern on Miasnitz Street.On the way home, she couldn't make it through the drunken crowd after the tavern riot.She took a cab and drove round by side lanes; the coachman told her that the crowd had broken open the casks in the tavern, saying it had been ordered. After lunch, the Rostov family excitedly packed their belongings and prepared for the departure.The old earl suddenly got into trouble. After lunch, he kept walking from the yard to the house and back to the yard again, scolding the busy family for no reason and urging them to hurry up.Petya directed from the yard.Sonia didn't know what to do under the inconsistent assignment of the count, and was completely at a loss.People were running about the rooms and yards, shouting and shouting.Natasha, with her own meddling zeal, was suddenly at work too.At first, her intervention in unpacking went unappreciated.Everyone waited to see her make jokes, but they didn't listen to her.But she persisted in asking people to obey her with undiminished enthusiasm, and she was so angry that she almost cried because she was not listened to, and finally won people's trust.Her first feat of prestige, with great effort, was the furnishing of rugs.The count had some gobelins and Persian rugs in his house.When Natasha started working, there were two large wooden boxes open in the hall: one was almost full of china, the other was filled with rugs.There are still many porcelains on the table waiting to be installed, and they are constantly being moved out of the warehouse.Another box needs to be loaded, a third box, so people go to carry the wooden box.

-------- ① Gobelin carpet. "Sonya, dress well, we can all pretend." Natasha said. "No, madam, we tried," said the waiter. "No, wait a minute, please." Natasha began to take out the paper-wrapped dishes and plates from the box. "The dishes should go here, in the rug," she said. "There are some rugs, too, that will fit three suitcases, God bless," said the footman. "But, please wait a moment." Natasha quickly and deftly re-selected. "Don't put this," she said of the Kyiv dish, "this, put this in the rug." She said of the Saxon dish.

"Put it down, Natasha; well, that's enough, let's pretend," Sonya said reproachfully. "Oh, miss!" said the butler.But Natasha didn't budge; she unpacked everything and quickly started repacking, deciding that the old home rugs and extra crockery were unnecessary.After all these unnecessary things are taken out, put the necessary things in order again.Sure enough, most of the items that were taken out were cheap goods, items that were not worth taking away, and all valuable items were packed into two large boxes.Only the wooden box containing the carpet could not be closed.I can take out a few more pieces, but Natasha wants to stick to her point of view.She put it back and forth, tightened it, and let the footman and Petya, who was attracted by her to clean it up, tighten the lid together, and she herself made a last effort.

"Well, Natasha," Sonya said to her, "I know you're right, just take one off the face." "I don't," Natasha yelled, smoothing the hair from her sweaty face with one hand and stretching the rug tightly with the other. "Press, Petka, press hard! Vasilich, press!" she cried again.The carpet was pressed down, and the lid of the box was closed.Natasha clapped her hands and squealed with joy, and at the same time tears welled up in her eyes, but only for a second.She immediately went to another task, and now that she had gained confidence, even the count was not offended when he heard that Natasha Ilyinishna had changed his order, and the servants also went to ask Shina for their affairs. Tasha: Do you want to load the car, or if there is no car to load, will you load enough to that car?Thanks to Natasha's direction, things went well; unnecessary things were kept, and the most valuable things were packed tightly and put away securely.

However, no matter how busy the whole family was, they hadn't cleaned up everything until late at night.The countess fell asleep, and the count, postponing his journey till morning, went to bed too. Sonia and Natasha fell asleep in the living room without undressing. That night, another wounded man was being carted across Povar Street, and Mavra Kuzminishna, who was standing at the gate, let the wounded man into Rostov's house.This wounded man, according to Mavra Kuzminishna, was a very respectable person.He was driven in a buggy, the box closed and the top down.Sitting in the front seat with the driver was a venerable old servant.A cart followed, in which a doctor and two soldiers rode.

"Please come to our house, please. The master and wife are leaving, the whole house is empty." The old woman said to the old servant. "That's the way it is," sighed the old servant, "we can't go back! Our own home is also in Moscow, far away, and no one lives there." "Please do us a favor and live here, our lord and wife have everything for miles, please." Mavra Kuzminishna said, "Why, are you uncomfortable?" she asked again. The old servant waved his hand. "We don't expect to take him home! We should ask the doctor." The old servant got down from the front seat and went to the cart.

"Okay," said the doctor. The old servant returned to the carriage, looked in, shook his head, and ordered the driver to turn the carriage into the yard, and he stopped beside Mavra Kuzminishna. "Lord Jesus Christ!" she murmured. Mavna Kuzminishna suggested that the wounded be carried into the house. "Master and Madam won't object..." she said.Stairs, however, should be avoided, so the wounded was carried into the wing, and placed in the former room of Mrs. Shaws.The wounded was Prince Andrei Bolkonsky.