Chapter 18 Chapter Eighteen

The next day Prince Andrei thought of yesterday's ball, but his thoughts did not linger long on it. "Yes, a splendid ball. And... yes, Rostova is lovely. There is something new, peculiar, un-Petersburg about her, which makes her unique." It was all he had thought of at the ball yesterday, and he sat down to work after a good morning tea. But because of fatigue or insomnia, the day was not suitable for work, and Prince Andrei could do nothing, and he himself always criticized the shortcomings of his work, as he had often done in the past; but when he heard It's nice to see someone visit.

The visitor was Bitsky, who served on various committees, was a frequent presence in Petersburg society, ardently admired Speransky and new ideas, and was one of the most laborious newsmen in Petersburg, Yet another man who chooses a genre as if it were a fashion, and thus seems to be the most ardent of its first advocates.As soon as he took off his broad-brimmed hat, he ran anxiously to Prince Andrey, and immediately began talking.He had just learned the details of the King's Council of State this morning, and related it with great joy.The king's speech was unusual.It was a speech only a constitutional monarch would make.

"The king said bluntly that both the State Council and the Senate are national organizations. He said that the governance of state affairs should not be arbitrary, but should be based on solid principles. The king said some fragments. The finances must be reformed and the final accounts It must be made public," Bitsky said, emphasizing the well-known words and opening his eyes meaningfully. "Yes, the present events inaugurate an epoch, one of the greatest in our history," he said in closing. Prince Andrei listened to the opening of the State Council, which he had been looking forward to with great eagerness and which he considered to be of great importance, but to his surprise, when this event had now taken place, he had not I was moved and felt that it was a pointless thing to do.He listened to Bitsky's triumphant account with a slight sneer.The simplest thought was in his mind: what did it matter to me and Bitsky whether the King wanted to speak at the Council of State?What is it with us?Does all this make me happier and better?

This simple insight suddenly spoiled Prince Andrew's original interest in the reforms achieved.Prince Andrey said this when his host invited him to a luncheon at the "enpetitcemite" of the Speranskis on that day.The fact that the luncheon was held in a friendly circle in the family of the person he admired would have interested him before, and he had not seen Speranski in family life until now, but he Now he doesn't want to go at all. -------- ①French: in friendly circles. However, at the appointed time for the luncheon, Prince Andrew had already entered a small private residence of Speransky, which stood beside the Daurida Gardens.A small house was unusually clean (like a monk's quarters), and Prince Andrew, arriving a little late, found some of Speranski's close friends in a parquet-floored dining room, who ( Everyone in this friendly circle) was present at five o'clock, and there was no other woman here except Speranski's young daughter (with a long face like her father's) and her governess.Among the guests were Gervais, Magnitsky, and Stolypin.While Prince Andrew was still in the reception room, he heard loud voices, clear and loud laughter, like laughter on a stage.Someone was laughing ha... ha... ha... in that Speransky-like voice.Prince Andrew had never heard Speransky laugh, and the loud and subtle laugh of the state man struck him as odd.

Prince Andrey walked into the dining room.All stood at a table of cold cuts between two windows.Speranski, in a gray tuxedo with medals, the same white waistcoat he had evidently worn at the famous State Council, and this high white tie, stood at the table with a cheerful countenance. beside.The guests stood around him.Magnitsky turned to Mikhail Mikhailovich, and was relating an anecdote.Speransky listened, mocking in advance what Magnitsky was about to say.When Prince Andrew entered the room Magnitsky's words were again drowned in laughter.Stolypin laughed in a low voice, chewing a piece of bread with cheese; Gervais chuckled softly, and Speransky laughed clearly and subtly.

Speransky, still laughing, held out his white and tender hand to Prince Andrew. "Prince, I am glad to see you," he said. "Wait a minute..." he interrupted, turning to Magnitsky, "to-day we have agreed that we will hold a Happy lunch, and don't talk about the affairs of state." Then he turned his face to the storyteller again, and started laughing again. Prince Andrei listened to his laughter with astonishment, melancholy from disappointment, and watched him (Speransky) laughing.It seemed to Prince Andrew that he was not Speransky, but someone else.Prince Andrew, who had previously regarded Speransky as mysterious and charming, suddenly saw through all this and ceased to attract attention.

The conversation at the table was never interrupted, and it seemed to consist in collecting jokes.Before Magnitsky had finished telling his own story, someone else offered to tell an even more ridiculous one.Most of the jokes involve the scope of the job, otherwise it is bound to involve the staff.The group seemed to conclude that these civil servants were insignificant, and that the only attitude towards them was good-natured sneering.Speranski mentioned that at the State Council held this morning, he asked a deaf minister what his opinion was, and he replied that he also had the same opinion.Gervais told a story about the inspection, which was notable because the behavior of the person involved was so absurd.Stolypin interjected stammeringly, and began to speak irritably of the natural frauds of the past, threatening his interlocutor to give the conversation a serious character.Magnitsky began to make fun of Stolypin's impatience.Gervais broke in with a joke, and the conversation resumed its former cheerfulness.

Although Speranski liked to take a break from work and to have fun in his circle of friends, all his guests understood his intentions and tried to please him as well as themselves.But it seemed to Prince Andrew that this entertainment was heavy and unpleasant.Speransky's high-pitched voice struck him as strange, and his persistent, false laughter somehow offended Prince Andrew emotionally.Prince Andrei did not smile, he was afraid that he would make this group feel heavy in their minds.But no one noticed that he was in conflict with everyone's emotions.Everyone felt very happy. A few times he tried to join the conversation, but each time his words splashed out like a cork out of water, he couldn't join them in the banter.

There was nothing vulgar or inappropriate about what they said, it was calculated and comical, but not only was there no joy in it, but they did not know there was such a joy. Speranski's daughter and her governess rose after lunch.Speranski stroked his daughter with his white hand and kissed her. Prince Andrew seemed to find this movement unnatural. The men still sat at the table in the English manner, with port wine beside them.In the middle of the conversation, the topic was about Napoleon's actions in Spain, which were unanimously praised by everyone, but Prince Andrew contradicted them.Speranski smiled, evidently trying to divert the conversation, and told an off-topic anecdote.Everyone was silent for a while.

Speranski sat at the table for a while, then corked a bottle of leftover wine and said: "Good wine is expensive these days, and it's hard to get." He handed the bottle to the servant, stood up, Everyone stood up, still chatting and chirping, and walked into the living room amidst the noise.Speranski was handed two letters from a courier.He picked up the two letters and went into the study.No sooner had he gone than the entertainment ceased, and the guests began to exchange a few words among themselves in deliberate low voices. "Hey, now for poetry!" said Speranski as he came out of his study. "Extraordinary genius!" he said, turning his face to Prince Andrew.Immediately Magnitsky assumed a posture and began to read, interrupted several times by applause, from French comic poems he had composed to ridicule several well-known Petersburg personalities.After the poem had been read, Prince Andrew went up to Speransky and took his leave.

"Where do you want to go this early?" Speranski said. "I promise to attend the... party." They were silent for a moment.Prince Andrei, watching from a short distance those unapproachable eyes, clear as a mirror, found it ridiculous how he could have expected anything from Speransky, from his own activities which were closely related to him. , How can he pay attention to the cause that Speranski has done.This measured, melancholy laughter rang in Prince Andrew's ears for a long time after he left Speranski. When Prince Andrei returned home, he began to recall his four months in Petersburg as if his memory were fresh and vivid.He recalled his running around, his flattery, his drafting of the military doctrine, which was already on file, but which was avoided by everyone, only because another very bad draft had also been drawn up. and sent it back; he recalled the meetings of the committee of which Berg was a member; at which various questions concerning the form and procedure of committee meetings were discussed at length, Everything that touches on the substance of the matter is discussed briefly and handled carelessly.He was ashamed of himself, recalling the legislative affairs in which he had been involved, and the troubles he had taken in translating into Russian the provisions of the Roman and French codes.Later he vividly imagined the village of Bogucharovo, his work in the countryside, his trip to Ryazan, and recalled some farmers.Delong, mayor of the village; and applies to them the provisions of human rights divided into chapters.He marveled that he could be so long engaged in such useless work.