Chapter 26 Chapter Twenty Six

In midsummer Princess Marya received an unexpected letter from Switzerland from Prince Andrew, in which he informed her of terrible and unexpected news.Prince Andrew announced that he and Rostova were engaged.The whole letter reveals his joy of love for his fiancée and his warmth and trust for his sister.He wrote that he had never been so in love as he was now, that he knew life now, that he really knew life, and that he begged his sister's forgiveness for not telling his sister about his decision to be engaged when he arrived at Bald Mountain, although he had spoken of it to his father. But he didn't tell her about it, because she would ask her father to agree to the marriage, and if she failed to achieve her goal, it would make her father angry, and her father would definitely vent his dissatisfaction on her, and she would have to be severely punished. blame.However, he wrote that the matter was not yet finalized at the time, which is different now. "At that time, my father gave me a one-year time limit. After six months, half of the stipulated time limit has expired. Now I am more determined than ever. If the doctors don't keep me here and use mineral water for treatment, I will I went to Russia myself, but now I have to postpone my return for another three months. You know me, and you know my relationship with my father. I don’t need anything from him. I was, I am, and I will always be He is not attached to anyone, and we may not spend too long with him, but doing something against his will at this time and making him lose his temper will definitely damage half of my happiness. I will give him Write a letter of the same content, and beg you to choose a good opportunity to forward it to him, and tell me his opinion on the matter, to see if there is any hope, and ask him to agree to shorten the period by three months."

After long hesitations, doubts, and prayers, Princess Marya handed the letter to her father.The next day the old prince said calmly to her: "Write a letter to my brother, before I die, ask him to wait... It won't be too long, I will give him freedom of movement soon..." The princess wanted to refute something in her heart, but her father would not let her speak, and his voice was raised higher and higher. "Marry, marry, darling . A letter, even if I marry tomorrow. She will be Nikolushka's stepmother, and I will marry Brian!... Ha, ha, ha, he can't live without a stepmother! Just be careful For one thing, we don't need any more women in our house, let him marry and live on his own. Maybe you'll move to him too, won't you?" He turned to Princess Marya, and said: "God bless you, Be cold, be cold... be cold! . . . "

After this outburst, the duke never mentioned the matter again.But because of the weakness of the son's will, a kind of veiled remorse manifests itself in the father-daughter relationship.A new subject had been added to the previous jests--the subject of the stepmother's courtship to Mademoiselle Bourienne. "Why don't I marry her?" he said to his daughter, "and there will be a fine Duchess!" To the bewilderment and surprise of Princess Marya of late, she began to discover that her father was indeed becoming more and more Closer to the French woman.Princess Marya wrote to Prince Andrew about what her father thought of his letter, but she comforted her brother with the hope that her father would be tolerant.

Nikolushka and his education, Andrei and religion, were Princess Mary's consolation and joy; In the depths of her soul also lurks the illusions and hopes which are the chief solaces of her life.The priests—crazy friars and wanderers—had visited her without the Duke's knowledge, and gave her consoling fantasies and hopes.The more Princess Mary lived and learned, the more amazed she was at the short-sightedness of those who seek pleasure and happiness in their lands; , Suffering, fighting each other, harming each other. "Prince Andrei loved his wife, she was dead. What's more, he wanted to connect his happiness with other women. The father had no intention of this, because he hoped for a better life from Andrey. Live for the better, richer married couple. They fight, suffer, and torture each other for fleeting bliss, to the detriment of their own souls—the eternal souls. And we ourselves know it, Christ—the Son of God He has come down to earth, and he tells us that life is short, a trial. But we all grasp it and try to find happiness in it. How is it that no one understands?" thought Princess Maria. road. "No one can understand this except these despised priests, who come to me through the back door with their bags on their shoulders, because they are afraid of being seen by the Duke, not because they are afraid of suffering from him, but because they are afraid of being seen by the Duke. To keep him from doing evil. They abandon their families, their native lands, and all cares for human welfare, and wear sackcloth, and change their names, and roam freely from one place to another, harming no one, and Pray for others, pray for those who drive them, and pray for those who shelter them, there is no life higher than this truth and the truth of life!"

There was a wandering woman named Fedosyushka, fifty years old, short, quiet, with a pockmarked face. She had been wandering barefoot and in chains for more than thirty years.Princess Maria was particularly fond of her.One day, when Fedosyushka was telling the history of her own life in the dim room with a long burning lamp, it occurred to Princess Marya that the only one who had found it was Fedosyushka. The right way of life, she also decided to roam around in person.While Fedosyushka was going to bed, Princess Marya thought about it for a long time, however strange the matter might seem, and at last made up her mind that she was going to roam about.She told her intentions only to one confessor, the friar, the Abbe Akinfi, who approved of her intentions.On the pretext of donating gifts from the Wandering Priestesses, Princess Maria stocked herself with a complete set of priestess costumes, shirts, sandals, tunics, and black turbans.Princess Marya used to go up to the chest of drawers with her treasures and stand there, hesitating, wondering if the time had come for her wish to be done.

She often listened to the stories of the Wandering Sect women, and their ordinary words, which seemed dull to them, but full of profound meaning to her, made her so excited that she wanted to throw everything away a few times. , fled from home.In her own imagination she saw herself and Fedosyushka walking along dusty roads in sackcloth, with sticks and bags on their backs; The loves and desires of the world, passing from servants of some masters to servants of other masters, come at last to a place where there is neither sorrow nor rest, but eternal joy and supreme happiness. "I came to a place, I prayed for a while, and before I got used to it, I didn't love it, I walked on. I walked until my legs were weak, and I lay down and died somewhere, At last we have come to a place of eternal enjoyment, where there is neither sorrow nor rest! . . . ” thought Princess Marya.

But later, when she saw her father, especially Xiao Keke, her will was gradually dispelled, and she cried quietly, feeling that she was a sinner, and she loved her father and nephew more than God.