Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen

"She is here as a guest," said Princess Maria. "The count and countess will be here in the next few days. The countess is in very bad health. Natasha herself also needs medical treatment. They Forced her to come with me." "Yes, is there any family that is immune to misfortune?" Pierre said, turning to Natasha. "You know, this happened on the day we were saved, and I saw him, what a lovely boy!" Natasha looked at him, opening her eyes wider and brighter in answer. "What consolation can be said and conceived of?" said Pierre. "Nothing. Why do you have to let such a cute and vigorous child die?"

"Yes, in our time it is difficult to live without faith..." said Princess Marya. "Yes, yes. It is the true truth," said Pierre hastily. "Why?" asked Natasha, staring intently at Pierre. "How—why?" said Princess Marya. "Just think of what awaits us..." Natasha did not wait to hear what Princess Mary had to say, but cast another probing look at Pierre. "That's because," continued Pierre, "you can bear losses like hers... yours only if you believe in a God who is sovereign over us," said Pierre. Natasha just opened her mouth to speak, but suddenly stopped.Pierre turned hastily and asked Princess Marya again about his friend during the last days of his life.Pierre's embarrassment and embarrassment had now almost completely disappeared; but at the same time he felt that his previous feeling of complete freedom had also disappeared.He felt that there was now a judge overseeing his every word and deed, whose verdict was more precious to him than any verdict in the world.As soon as he spoke now, he immediately thought about the impression his words would make on her.He did not say things to please her;

But whatever he said, he judged himself from her point of view. The situation was as usual, and Princess Marya was reluctant to describe how she had seen Prince Andrew.But the questions posed by Pierre, his unusually disturbed eyes and his face trembling with excitement, gradually compelled her to speak of details that were too much for her to think of herself. "Yes, yes, so, so..." Pierre said, leaning over Princess Marya and listening to her story with all his attention. "Yes, yes, then, has he calmed down? Has he softened? That's how he is always looking for one thing with all his heart: to be a perfect person, a person who is not afraid of death. The shortcomings in him, if If he has faults, it is not of his own fault, so has he softened?" said Pierre. "How happy he is to see you!" he said to Natasha, turning suddenly to her with tears in his eyes.

Natasha's face twitched.She frowned, lowered her eyelids, and couldn't make up her mind: whether to say it or not. "Yes, it's happiness," she said in a low chest voice, "to me, it's probably happiness," she paused, "and he... he... he said, he was Looking forward to this, when I first saw him through the door, he said..." Natasha's voice broke off suddenly.She clasped her hands tightly on her knees, her face was flushed, and suddenly, obviously trying to restrain herself, she raised her head and said hastily: "When we came out of Moscow, we didn't know anything. I didn't dare to ask about him. Sonia said to me suddenly that he was going with us. I didn't think about anything, I couldn't imagine the situation he was in. , I just want to see him, to be with him," she gasped, her voice trembling.Then, without letting anyone interrupt her, she told what she had never told anyone: everything about their life during the trip and the three weeks in Yaroslavl.

Pierre listened to her with his mouth open, and looked at her with tearful eyes.As he listened to her, he was not thinking of Prince Andrew, nor of death, nor of what she was telling.As he listened to her, he had nothing but sympathy for the anguish with which she spoke of these circumstances in the present. The princess frowned, suppressing the tears that welled up in her eyes, and sitting close to Natasha, she heard for the first time the story of his brother's love for Natasha in the last moments of his life. This bittersweet story, though for Natasha it was all she needed. She wove together some of the most detailed plots and deepest secrets in telling this story, as if it were a story that could never be told.Many times she repeated what had been said.

Desalle's voice came from outside the door, and he asked if Nikolushka could come in to say good night. "That's all, that's all..." said Natasha.When Nikolushka came in, she got up quickly and almost ran to the door, her head touched the curtained door, and groaning, she didn't know whether it was pain or sorrow, she ran out of the room . Pierre looked at the door through which she ran, wondering why he was suddenly alone in the world. Princess Marya roused him from his stupor and showed him his nephew who had entered. Nikolushka's face resembled his father's, and Pierre's heart softened and was deeply moved. He kissed Nikolushka, got up hastily, took out his handkerchief, and went to the window.He wanted to say goodbye to Princess Marya, but she kept him.

"No, Natasha and I sometimes stay up until three o'clock in the morning; sit down a little longer, and I'll get supper ready. Come downstairs, please; I'll come." Before Pierre left the room, the princess said to him: "This is the first time she's talking about him."