Chapter 7 Chapter VII

The terrible news of the Battle of Borodino and our casualties, and still more terrible news of the fall of Moscow, was received on Vorovozh in mid-September.Princess Marya had only heard from the official newspaper that her brother was wounded, and had not received any other news about him, and Nicholas had heard (he had not seen her himself) that she was going to look for Prince Andrew. After receiving news of the Battle of Borodino and the abandonment of Moscow, Rostov was not feeling hopeless and hostile or vengeful, but had a feeling of sudden loneliness and melancholy similar to that in Voronezh, and somehow everything made him feel ashamed All the conversation he heard seemed to him insincere and pretentious, and he didn't know how to judge it all, so he felt that everything would be clear only by going back to the regiment.He was in such a hurry to finish his horse purchases that he frequently lost his temper with the servants and the steward.

A few days before Rostov's departure, the cathedral was scheduled to hold prayers celebrating the victory of the Russian army, and Nicholas also attended the service.Standing a little behind the governor, he finished the service with a solemn expression of worship, while thinking about various problems one after another.When the prayers were over, the governor's wife called him to her side. "Do you see the princess?" said the Governor's wife, pointing her head to the lady in black at the back of the choir. Nicholas recognized Princess Marya immediately, and he recognized her not so much by the profile of her face peeking out from under her hat, as by the feeling of caution, fear, and pity, which immediately overwhelmed him. .Princess Maria was obviously very preoccupied, and she was making the last sign of the cross before leaving the church.

Nikolay looked into her face in amazement.It was still the same face he had seen before, with the same general expression of subtle inner mental activity; but it was now lit with an entirely different light.There was a heartbreaking look of sadness, pleading and hope on his face.As Nicholas had before her before, without waiting for the governor's wife to signal, without asking himself if it would be good, if it was polite to talk to her in this church, he went straight to her and said, Hearing of her unfortunate circumstances, his whole heart sympathized with her brother.As soon as she heard his voice, a bright light suddenly appeared on her face, and a light of sadness and joy flashed at the same time.

"I thought of telling you one thing, princess," said Rostov, "that if Prince Andrei Nikolayevich were no longer alive, as a colonel, the official newspaper would immediately The obituary." The princess looked at him, and though she did not understand what he said, she was comforted by the sympathetic and distressed expression on his face. "I also know of many cases in which wounds by shrapnel (the official papers say: by grenades) were either instantly fatal or, on the contrary, very minor wounds," Nikolai said. "You should think on the bright side, and at the same time I believe that..."

The princess interrupted him. "Oh, this is simply dreadful..." she began, but she was too excited to finish, and (as she usually did in his presence) gracefully bowed her head, gave him a grateful look, and followed her aunt. That night, Nicholas did not go anywhere as a guest, but stayed in the house to settle some accounts with the horse dealer.When he finished his work, it was very late, it was too late to go anywhere, but it was still early for bed, and Nicholas would walk up and down alone in the room for a long time, thinking about his future life, which was rare for him. .

Princess Marya made a pleasant impression on him on the outskirts of Smolensk.The exceptional circumstances in which he had met her, and the fact that she had been pointed out to him by his mother for a time as the rich spouse, made him pay special attention to her.In Voronezh, at the time of his visit, the impression was not only pleasant but strong.This time he was amazed by the peculiar spiritual beauty which Nicholas saw in her.But he was going to go, and he had no regrets in his mind about losing the opportunity to see the princess when he left Voronezh.But today's meeting with Princess Marya in the church, (so Nicholas felt), stuck in his heart more deeply than he had expected, stronger than the desire to maintain peace of mind.The pale, delicate, sad face, the bright eyes, the quiet and graceful manner, and above all—the deep tenderness and sadness in her face disturbed him and prevented him from being indifferent.In men, Rostov disliked this expression of the sublime spiritual life among men (he disliked Prince Andrei for that reason), which he called philosophy, utopia with contempt; but in Princess Marya, It was in this anguish expressed by a spiritual world that Nikolai had thought strange that he felt an irresistible pull.

"What a wonderful girl! An angel!" he said to himself. "Why am I not free? Why am I eager to profess my love to Sonia?" He unconsciously compared the two in his mind: the one was poor in spiritual endowment, and the other was rich, and he valued spiritual endowment all the more because of his poverty.He pictured in his mind what would have happened had he not been restrained.He would propose to her, and she would be his wife?No, he couldn't conceive.He was terrified, and he couldn't think of anything clear.He had already painted a picture of the future for Sonia, and everything was simple and clear.The reason for this was that it was all planned, and he knew everything about Sonia; but he could not conceive of a future life for Princess Marya, because he did not know her, but only loved her.

There was an element of jovial play in the reveries of Sonia.And when I think of Princess Marya, I always feel uncomfortable and a little frightened. "How she was praying!" he recalled. "It was evident that her whole heart was in prayer. Yes, it was a prayer that moved mountains, and I believe her prayers were granted. Why didn't I How about praying for what I need?" He remembered. "What do I want? Freedom, and an end with Sonia. She's right (he recalled what the governor's wife had said), and I'll marry her for nothing but misfortune. An inextricable knot, a mess." , Mammy's misery...the family business...a mess, a terrible mess! Yes, I didn't love her either. Yes, I didn't love her well. God! Guide me out of this terrible situation with no way out Come on!" He suddenly began to pray, "Yes, prayers can move mountains, but have faith, don't be like Natasha when I was a child and prayed that the snow would turn into sugar, and we ran out in the yard to taste it and see the snow Has it turned into a grain of sugar. No, I don't pray about those little things now." After saying this, he put his pipe on the corner of the room and stood before the icon with folded hands.Then Nicholas, who had become amorous with the thought of Princess Marya, began to pray, which he had not prayed for a long time.Tears welled up in his eyes and choked in his throat when Lavrushka came in with some papers.

"Bastard! What are you doing in here, and you weren't called!" Nicholas said, changing his posture quickly. "The governor," said Lavrushka in a sleepy voice, "has a messenger for you." "Hey, okay, thank you, go away!" Nikolay brought two letters.One was from the mother, the other from Sonia.He recognized the handwriting immediately, and opened Sonia's letter first.Before he had finished reading a few lines, his face turned pale, and his eyes opened wide with terror and joy. "No, that's impossible!" he said aloud.He couldn't sit still anymore, and walked up and down the room while holding the letter and reading it.He skimmed it, then read it over, and over again, shoulders hunched, arms outstretched, standing in the middle of the room, mouth parted, eyes still.What he had just prayed for with the confidence that God could grant his prayers was fulfilled; but he marveled at it, as if it were something extraordinary, as if he had never expected it, The fact that things had succeeded so quickly seemed to prove that it was not the promise of God he begged, but ordinary chance.

The seemingly intractable knot (which bound Rostov's freedom) was untied by this unexpected (so Nikolai thought) letter from Sonia, who came unsolicited.Sonia wrote that the unfortunate circumstances of late had resulted in the almost complete loss of the Rostov family property in Moscow, the repeated wishes of the countess for Nicholas to marry Princess Bolkonskaya, and his recent silence And indifference - all of which contributed to her decision to abandon his commitment and give him full freedom. "It pains me to think that I should be the cause of pain or discord in the family that favored me," she wrote, "and that my love has but one purpose, that of the happiness of those I love; therefore, I I implore you, Nicolas, consider yourself free now, and know that no one can love you more than your Sonia anyway."

Both letters were sent from Troitz.The other was from the countess.In this letter there is an account of the days before leaving Moscow, the departure, the fire and the destruction of all property.The countess added in her letter that Prince Andrew was walking with them among the wounded.His injuries are dangerous, but doctors are now saying there is hope.Sonia and Natasha looked after her like nurses. Nicholas went to Princess Marya with this letter the next day.Neither Nicholas nor Princess Marya said anything about the possible meaning of "Natasha took care of him"; but thanks to this letter, Nicholas and Princess Mary were at once as close as kinship. A day later, Nikolay set off for Yaroslavl with Princess Marya, and a few days later he himself returned to the regiment.