Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen

All at once everything became chaotic, the crowd was clamorous, and began to move forward, then sideways to make way, and the king came in between the two lines of the crowd, amidst the sound of music.The master and hostess followed behind him.The king walked quickly, nodding from time to time to the people on the left and right, as if trying to avoid this initial moment of meeting as quickly as possible.The musicians played Polonaise, which was famous for its lyrics at that time.The beginning line of the lyrics is: "Alexander, Elizabeth, you amaze us." The king walked into the living room, and a group of people rushed to the door.The crowd flung back again from the drawing-room door, where the king, speaking to his mistress, appeared.A young man appeared to be in a state of confusion, and threatened the ladies to get out of the way.Some of the ladies looked as if they had completely forgotten the rules of high society, they were destroying their clothes, jostling and rushing forward.The men started walking up to the ladies, and the two stood in line for the polonaise.

Everyone stepped aside to make way, and the king smiled, took the hand of the hostess, and stepped out of the living room without keeping to the beat of the music.The host and Marya Antonovna Naryshkina followed him, followed by envoys, ministers, and generals of various arms, whose names Peronskaya kept saying .More than half of the ladies have a partner, come out one by one, or are ready to dance Polonaise.Natasha felt that she, her mother, and Sonya were being pushed against the wall, still among the small group of ladies who had not been invited to dance the polonaise.She stood there, with her slender hands lowered, her slightly protruding chest rising and falling evenly, she almost held her breath, and a pair of startled sparkling eyes stared ahead, her expression meant that she There is mental preparation for the greatest joy or the greatest sorrow.Neither the king nor all the dignitaries that Peronskaya showed her interested her, and she had only one thing on her mind: won't anyone come to me, can't I? Dancing among the first partners, don't all these men notice me, as if they don't see me now, and if they do look at me, they look as if to say, "Ah! It's not her, no need Go and see her. No, it can't be!" thought she; "they should all know that I want to dance, that I am the best dancer, and that they will be delighted to dance with me."

The polonaise that had been played for a long time sounded melancholy, echoed in Natasha's ears, and all it left was a memory.She wanted to cry out loud.Peronskaya walked away from them.The count was at the other end of the hall, and the countess, Sonia, and she stood alone among the strange crowd, as if in a forest, and no one was interested in them, no one wanted them.Prince Andrew passed them with some lady, apparently without recognizing them.The handsome Anatole, smiling, was talking to his partner next to him, and he glanced at Natasha's face as if someone were looking at a wall.Boris passed them twice in succession, each time turning his face away, ignoring them, and Berg, who was not dancing, came up to them with his wife.

Natasha found it humiliating that the family should be together at this ball, as if there were no other place for the family to talk but at the ball.Vera told her for some reason about the green dress she was wearing, but Natasha did not listen to her and did not wish her. At last the king stopped beside his last partner (with whom he danced with three), and the music ceased, and a worried adjutant ran into the Rostovs, although they were standing At the foot of the wall, but the adjutant asked them to move a little further, while the choir broke into a rhythmic waltz, clear, calm and compelling.The king smiled slightly and looked around the hall.After a minute, no one came out yet.The adjutant who presided over the ball went up to Countess Bezukhova and asked her to dance.She raised a hand with a smile, and before looking at the adjutant, she put a hand on his shoulder.The adjutant who presided over the ball was an expert, he hugged his partner tightly, and led his partner confidently, unhurriedly, and rhythmically to slide along the edge of the round dance floor, and then at the corner of the hall, he held up The partner's left hand turned a corner, and the rhythm of the music accelerated.Through this melody one could hear the adjutant's quick, nimble feet hitting the spurs now and then with a rhythmic jingle; turning every three beats, the partner's velvet dress seemed to pop out The flame kept fluttering.Natasha looked at them eagerly, and was on the verge of crying because she could not do this round of the waltz.

Prince Andrei, in a white (cavalry) colonel's uniform, stockings, and low leather shoes, cheerful and cheerful, was standing in the front row on the dance-floor not far from the Rostovs.Baron Fellhoff spoke to him about the first meeting of the State Council scheduled for tomorrow.Prince Andrei's close relations with Speransky and his participation in the work of the Legislative Council can provide reliable information for the meeting to be held tomorrow, about which there are already various rumors.But he would not listen to what Verhoff had to say to him, and he looked now at the king and now at the male dancers who were about to dance but did not dare to enter the round dance floor.

Prince Andrei observed these dancers, who were timid in the presence of the king, and were stunned at the thought of being invited. Pierre went up to Prince Andrew and took his hand. "You dance often. Here is my guardian, Rostova, who is still very young. Go and invite her," he said. "Where?" asked Bolkonski. "Excuse me," he said, turning his face to the baron. "We will end this conversation elsewhere, but now we will dance." He said to Pierre. Go forward in the direction you showed him.Natasha's desperate, palpitating face had already attracted Prince Andrew's attention.He recognized her, read her thoughts, understood that she was a novice, remembered her conversation on the windowsill, and with a cheerful expression went up to Countess Rostova.

"Please allow me to introduce you to my daughter," said the Countess with a flushed face. "Since the Countess still remembers me, I am honored to introduce your daughter to me," said Prince Andrey, approaching Natasha respectfully and bowing deeply, a bow that is in keeping with Peronskaya's remarks about his rough behavior were quite different, and when he hadn't finished asking her to dance, he put his arm around her waist and asked her to dance a round of the waltz.Natasha's throbbing face, prepared for either despair or joy, changed, and a happy, grateful, childish smile brightened her face.

"I have been waiting for you for a long time," the terrified, lucky girl seemed to say, with her smile on the verge of tears, as she raised her hand to Prince Andrew's shoulder.They were the second couple to walk onto the circular dance floor.Prince Andrew is one of the best dancers of our time.Natasha also danced very well.Her little feet, in their satin pumps, moved swiftly and lightly, unrestrainedly, and her face glowed with happy admiration.Her bare neck and arms were thin and ugly.Compared with Helen's shoulders, her shoulders were too thin, her breasts hadn't bulged obviously, and her arms were too slender, but thousands of eyes glided past Helen's body, her skin seemed to be painted with a layer of paint, and Natasha seemed to be a girl showing her breasts and arms for the first time, and would have been ashamed if she had not been convinced that it was necessary.

Prince Andrew liked to dance, and he was often approached by people to discuss political and profound matters. He wanted to get out of these conversations as soon as possible, and he wanted to get out of the awkward situation caused by the king's visit, so he went to the dance. , chose Natasha, because Pierre pointed her out to him, and because she was the first beauty that caught his eye, but as soon as he picked up this slender, flexible figure, she was at his side. When she turned around, she smiled beside him, and her charming drinking power rushed to his head; when he took a breath, let her go, and stopped to watch people dance, he felt energetic and changed. Gotta be young.