Chapter 4 Chapter Four

Princess Marya sat in the drawing-room, listening to the gossip of the old man, understanding nothing of what she heard; all she could think of was whether the guests were noticing her father's hostile attitude towards her.She did not even notice Drubetskoy's special attention and courtesies to her during the luncheon, his third visit to their house. Princess Marya turned to Pierre with a careless, questioning look in her eyes, and after the prince had left, Pierre, the last visitor, came up to her with a hat in his hand and a slight smile on his face. Before, they remained alone in the living room.

"May I sit a little longer?" he said, as he stretched his fat body in the easy chair beside Princess Marya. "Ah, yes," she said. "Don't you notice anything?" her eyes seemed to say. Pierre was in a good mood after lunch.He looked ahead and smiled quietly. "Princess, have you known this young man for a long time?" he said. "Which young man?" "Drubetskoy?" "No, not so long ago..." "Well, do you like him?" "Yes, he is a charming young man... why do you ask me that?" said Princess Marya, still thinking about her conversation with her father this morning.

"Because I have observed that this young man always travels by car from Petersburg to Moscow for vacations, with the sole purpose of marrying a wealthy maiden." "Have you observed such a thing?" said Princess Marya. "Yes," continued Pierre, smiling, "this is what this young man does at present: he goes where there are rich maidens. I see him perfectly. He is now Hesitating, who will he attack: against you, or against Mademoiselle Julie Karagina? Ilestresassiduaupress'elle." "Does he go to them often?" "Yes, he used to go there. Do you know of a new way of courting women?"

Pierre said with a gaiety smile that he evidently had the good-natured, ironic pleasure in which he reproached himself so often in his diary. "I don't know," said Princess Marya. "To win the hearts of the young girls of Moscow, ilfaute tremelancoli-que. Etilest tresmelancoliqueaupresdm-lle Karagina," said Pierre. -------- ①French: He cares about her very much. ②French: You should be depressed.He looked very depressed and unhappy in her presence. "Vraiment?" said Princess Marya, gazing at Pierre's kind face, constantly thinking of her pain, "if I make up my mind to tell someone what I feel, I will I'll be more at ease. I'd just like to tell Pierre all this. He's so kind and noble. I want to be more at ease. Give me a good idea!"

-------- ①French: Is it true? "Will you marry him?" asked Pierre. "Oh, my God, Count! Sometimes I would marry anyone," said Princess Marya, suddenly and unexpectedly, in a sobbing voice, "oh, to love someone close and feel... ( She continued in a trembling voice) You can't do anything for him except pain, how it hurts you when you know you can't change the situation. The only way then is to leave him, but I can Where are you going?" "Princess, what's the matter, what happened to you?" But the princess did not finish her sentence, and burst into tears.

"I don't know what I did today. Don't listen to me, and forget what I told you." Pierre's joy was gone.He questioned the princess anxiously, begging her to speak out what was on her mind, to confide her troubles to him, but she only asked him to forget what she had said, he could not remember what she had said.She had no troubles except the one he knew was the danger of a quarrel between father and son due to Prince Andrew's marriage. "Have you heard about the Rostovs?" she asked, trying to change the subject. "I've been told they'll be here soon. I'm also waiting for Andre every day. I hope they meet here."

"What does he think of such things now?" asked Pierre, referring to the old prince by "he".Princess Maria shook her head. "But what to do? There are only a few months left until the end of the year. This kind of thing is not going to happen. I just want to help my brother out of the embarrassment that just happened when we met. I hope they come back soon. I hope and She hits it off. You've known them for a long time," said Princess Marya, "and tell me the whole truth about what she is and what you think of her? But you have to tell the whole truth, you know, because Ann Andre took a great risk, he acted against his father's will, I want to know..."

A vague instinct told Pierre that these additions, together with repeated requests to tell the whole truth, indicated that the princess harbored ill will towards her future sister-in-law, and she wanted Pierre's disapproval. Prince Andrew's choice, but Pierre said what he thought, rather what he felt in his heart. "I don't know how to answer your question," he said, blushing even for some reason. "I don't know at all what kind of girl she is, and I can't analyze her. She is very charming. Why don't I know, that's all I can say about her." Princess Marya sighed, Her facial expression seemed to say, "Yeah, that's what I expected, and I'm scared."

"Is she very clever?" asked Princess Marya.Pierre pondered. "I didn't think she was smart," he said, "but she's smart, and she doesn't let people see that she's a smart person... No, she's charming, nothing else." Princess Marya Shaking his head disapprovingly. "Oh, how I should love her! If you see her first, tell her what I say." "I hear they are coming in the next few days," said Pierre. Princess Marya told Pierre of her own plan, and as soon as the Rostovs arrived she would approach her future sister-in-law and try to make the old prince acquainted with her.