Chapter 15 Chapter fifteen

At the end of January Pierre came to Moscow, where he took up residence in a wing which had not been destroyed by the fire.He called on Count Rastoptchin and some acquaintances who had returned to Moscow, and he intended to leave for Petersburg on the third day.Everyone celebrated the victory; everyone welcomed Pierre, everyone wanted to see him, everyone wanted to ask him all the details of what he had seen and heard.Pierre felt that he had a special affection for everyone he met; however, he could not help being wary of everyone now, lest he should be involved.He responds to all the questions that are asked of him—important and nonsensical—such as: Where does he want to live?Is he going to build a house?When is he going to Petersburg?Can you help me with a suitcase? —he replied: "Yes, maybe, I think, and so on."

He had heard that the Rostovs were in Kostroma, but he seldom thought of Natasha.If he had thought of her, it was only a pleasant remembrance of a distant event.He felt himself liberated not only from the trivialities of the world, but also from that mood which seemed to him to be self-indulgent. On the third day after his arrival in Moscow, he learned at the Drubetskoy's that Princess Marya was in Moscow.Pierre had often thought of Prince Andrei's death, his sufferings, and his dying days, and at this moment they were vividly recurring in his mind.At lunch he learned that Princess Marya lived in Moscow in one of her unburned houses in Vozdvirenka Street, and he called on her that evening.

On the way to visit Princess Maria, Pierre couldn't stop thinking about Prince Andrew, his friendship with the prince and their meetings on various occasions, especially the last meeting in Borodino. see the scene. Did he die in the very distressed state of mind he was in?Didn't he reveal the true meaning of life before he died?thought Pierre.He thought of Karataev, thought of his death, and couldn't help comparing these two people who were so different, so similar, because of his admiration for both, the two Both lived in this world, and both died. Pierre drove to the old prince's house with the utmost seriousness.The house was in relatively good condition, but it still showed signs of damage, and outwardly it looked the same.An old stern-faced waiter came out to meet Pierre, as if to impress the guests that the family rules had not changed despite the death of the old prince, and said that the princess had gone to her room and received guests only on Sundays.

"Please let me know that there may be an audience," said Pierre. "Yes, you are old," replied the waiter, "please wait in the portrait room." -------- ①Portrait room is a room where noble families hang portraits of ancestors. A few minutes later the waiter and Dessalle came out, and Desalt conveyed to Pierre the princess's invitation, that she was very pleased to see him, and that if he would pardon her insolence, he would be invited upstairs to her room. go. In a modest room lit by a single candle, the princess sat with a woman in black Bragi.Pierre remembered that Princess Marya was often accompanied by female companions, but Pierre did not know and could not remember who these female companions were. "This is a female companion." He glanced at the woman in black Bragi and thought to himself.

The princess immediately got up to greet her and held out her hand. "Yes," she said, studying Pierre's changed face, after he had kissed her hand, "we meet again. In the days before his death, he often talked about To you." As she said these words, she turned her gaze from Pierre to the shy face of her companion, whose shyness surprised Pierre. "I am very glad to know that you are safe and well. This is the only good news we have received for a long time." Princess Marya looked at her companion anxiously again, and wanted to say something, but Pierre called cut her off.

"I don't know anything about him, as you can imagine," he said. "I thought he was killed. All I know is from other people, from third parties." Yes. I know he met the Rostovs... What a coincidence!" Pierre spoke quickly and excitedly.He glanced at the face of the female companion, and he saw that she was looking at him with a very concerned and unusual look, which is often seen in conversations, and he didn't know why he felt that this man in black His companion was a lovely, kind, and wonderful person, and she would not prevent him from having a heart-to-heart conversation with the princess.

However, when his last words referred to the Rostovs, Princess Marya's face showed even more bewilderment.Turning her eyes again from Pierre to the face of the lady in black, she said: "Don't you really not recognize her?" Pierre looked again at the pale, thin face of his companion, with its dark eyes and peculiar lips.There was something genial, long-forgotten, and lovable in the intense concern in her eyes. "No, no, that's impossible," he thought. "Isn't that a serious, thin, pale, older face? It can't be her. It's just a resemblance." But then Princess Marya said: "Natasha." And the face The face with extremely concerned eyes smiled with difficulty and difficulty, as if a rusty door had been opened, and from the open door suddenly emanated a fragrance that intoxicated Pierre. It is the happiness that he has long forgotten, especially at this moment, which is completely unexpected.The fragrance is overflowing, the fragrance is overwhelming, Pierre's whole body and mind are surrounded by this fragrance and completely swallowed.When she smiled, there was no longer any doubt.This was Natasha, and he loved her.

In the very first moment Pierre could not help telling her, Princess Marya, and above all to himself, a secret that he did not know himself.He flushed with joy and with an unearthly pain.He tried to hide his excitement.But the more he tried to conceal it, the more obvious—to himself, to her, more clearly than in the clearest words—that Princess Marya had told her that he loved her. "No, this is too unexpected," Pierre thought.However, just when he was about to continue talking to Princess Marya about the topic he had just begun, he glanced at Natasha again, his face flushed even more, his mood was extremely excited and partly An inexplicable fear.What he said was already incoherent, and he couldn't continue before he finished speaking.

Pierre did not notice Natasha at first, because it would never have occurred to him that he would see her here, but he did not recognize her afterwards because it had been since the last time he had seen her. After her, she really changed a lot.She had grown thinner and paler, but this did not fully explain why he did not recognize her: he did not recognize her when he first entered the room because, earlier, from this face of hers, There was always a smile in her eyes that revealed a hidden joy in life, but now, when he first saw her when he first entered the room, there was not even a trace of this smile; Kind and sad looking eyes.

Natasha was not troubled by Pierre's embarrassment; there was only a hint of imperceptible pleasure on her face.