Chapter 22 Chapter Twenty Two

The next day Count Ilya Andreitch invited Prince Andrew, and he drove to the Rostovs' for lunch, and spent the whole day with them. The whole family could see why Prince Andrew had come, he made no secret of it, and spent the whole day trying to find ways to stay with Natasha.Natasha was bewildered, but she felt happiness and joy, and a sense of dread arose not only in her, but in the whole family, that something great was about to happen.While Prince Andrew was talking to Natasha, the countess looked at him with sad and stern eyes, and when he suddenly turned back to her, she timidly and falsely began to talk about trivial matters.Sonya was afraid of leaving Natasha, and when she was with Prince Andrey she was afraid of being a hindrance to them.When Natasha was alone with him for a moment, she grew pale with fear of what she expected to happen.Prince Andrew's shyness surprised her.

She felt he was going to say something to her, but he couldn't make up his mind. After Prince Andrew had left in the evening, the countess went up to Natasha and said in a low voice: "What's the matter?" "Mother, for God's sake, don't ask me anything now. I can't tell you about that," said Natasha. Nevertheless, that night Natasha was sometimes agitated, sometimes frightened, and lay for a long time on her mother's bed with frozen eyes.She told her how he had complimented her, that he was going abroad, that he had asked where they had spent the summer, and that he had asked about Boris.

"But, I have never encountered such, such a thing!!" She said. "It's just that I'm scared in front of him. I'm always scared in front of him. What does that mean? It means, it's real fear, isn't it? Mother, you're asleep?" "No, my darling, I am frightened myself," answered mother, "go to bed." "I don't want to go to sleep anyway. What a stupid thing to do to sleep! Mother, mother, it never happened to me!" she said with wonder and horror, before realizing her own feelings. , "We wouldn't think of it!

..." Natasha felt that she had fallen in love with Prince Andrew at Otradnoe the first time she saw him.It was as if this strange and unexpected happiness frightened her that the very man she had chosen (and of which she was firmly convinced) had met her again, and it seemed that he was not indifferent to her. "At the moment we are in Petersburg, and of course he came here on purpose. We met at this ball, of course. . . . Seeing him made me feel a little different." "What did he say to you? What poem was that? Read it to me..." said the mother thoughtfully, asking about the verses that Prince Andrew had written in Natasha's memory book.

"Mom, he's a bachelor, isn't he ashamed?" "That's enough, Natasha. Where did the talk go? Pray to God, Lesmariagesse font dans lescieux." -------- ①French: Marriage is ordained by God. "My darling, mother, how I love you and how well I am!" cried Natasha, weeping tears of happiness and emotion, embracing her mother. At this moment Prince Andrei, sitting beside Pierre, spoke to him of his love for Natasha and of his decision to marry her. Countess Helene Vasilyevna gave a grand reception on this day, attended by the French minister, the Prince (who had not long ago become a regular visitor to the Countess's house), and many distinguished ladies and gentlemen.Pierre lived downstairs, and as he passed through the halls he surprised all the guests by his brooding, absent-minded, gloomy expression.

Since the last ball, Pierre felt that his hypochondriac was about to attack, and he tried his best to fight against the disease.Ever since the close connection between the prince and Pierre's wife, Pierre was suddenly made a valet of the court, and since then he has always felt a heavy heart and a shame in the public, and the dark thoughts of the emptiness of the world have often been in the past. It came to his mind.At this moment he perceived an affection growing between Natasha, his guardian, and Prince Andrey, and this gloominess was intensified by a comparison of his position with that of his friend.He likewise tried to avoid thinking about his own wife, Natasha, and Prince Andrew.Again he felt all this insignificant compared with eternity, and once again the question came to him: "For what?" He then forced himself day and night to devote himself to the study of Masonic writings, hoping that Drive out the approaching devil.At eleven o'clock Pierre emerged from the countess's chamber, and sat down at a table in a low, smoking room above his own, dressed in a shabby suit. Gown, who was copying the official records of the Scottish Masonry when someone came into his room.The man who entered was Prince Andrew.

"Oh, it's you," said Pierre, with an air of indifference and dissatisfaction. "Look, I'm at work," he said, pointing to an exercise book, with the air of unfortunate people. The look of saving souls from the suffering of life seems to be watching the work you do. Prince Andrei stood before Pierre radiant, self-satisfied, and renewed, and, not paying attention to his miserable face, smiled at him with self-interested happiness. "Ah, my darling," said he, "that is what I meant to tell you yesterday, and that is what I have come to you today. I have never experienced anything like it. My friend, I have a love." .”

Pierre sighed suddenly and heavily, and his heavy body fell on the sofa beside Prince Andrew. "You are in love with Rostova Natasha, are you?" he said. "Yes, yes, who else can I love? I never believed that I could fall in love, but this feeling overwhelms me. I was tortured yesterday, and it was very uncomfortable, but I will never shirk this pain to Anyone in the world. I never really lived before, I'm just living now, but I can't live without her...But will she love me?...I'm too old for her Yes. Why don't you speak?..." "Me? Me? What did I tell you?" said Pierre suddenly, getting up and beginning to walk up and down the room. "I've always thought so... This girl is such a precious treasure, such a precious... This is a rare girl... Dear friend, I beg you, don't be smart, don't hesitate, marry, marry Come on, let's get married... I believe that there will be no one happier than you."

"But what about her?" "She loves you." "Please don't talk nonsense," said Prince Andrew, smiling, looking Pierre in the eye. "She loves you, I know it," cried Pierre angrily. "No, listen to me," said Prince Andrei, taking him by the hand and telling him to stop, "do you know what I'm in? I've got to tell all this to someone." "Well, well, tell me, I'm glad," said Pierre, his face really changed, a wrinkle relaxed, and he listened with pleasure to what Prince Andrey had to say.Prince Andrei seemed to be a very different new character.Where was his sorrow, his contempt for life, his despair?Pierre was the only one to whom he dared to confide his feelings, so he uttered to him what was on his mind.He made long-range plans now and then lightly and boldly, saying that he must not sacrifice his own happiness to satisfy his father's whims, and that he would force his father to agree to the marriage and to love her, or, without his Marriage, too, was permitted; he expressed surprise at times, at this strange, unfamiliar feeling, independent of his will, and at the feeling that ruled him.

"If someone told me that I would be so passionately in love with her, I would not believe him," said Prince Andrei. "It is not at all what I used to be. For me, the whole world has been divided into two." One half: one half with her alone, full of happiness, hope and light; the other half without her, full of depression and darkness..." "Darkness and gloom," repeated Pierre, "yes, yes, I understand that." "I cannot help loving the light, and I am not at fault for that. I am very happy. Do you know what I mean?I know, you are happy for me. "

"Yes, yes," admitted Pierre, looking at his friend with deeply moved and melancholy eyes.It seemed to him that Prince Andrew's fate was getting brighter, while his own was looking darker.