Chapter 9 Chapter nine

It was December 5, 1820, the eve of the winter festival of St. Nicholas.In the early autumn of this year Natasha lived with her husband and children at her brother's house.Pierre had gone to Petersburg on business. He had said he would go for three weeks, but he had been there for more than six weeks now.He said he could come back anytime. On December 5, in addition to the Pierre family, Nikolay's old friend, the retired general Vasily Fyodorovich Denisov, was also a guest at the Rostovs'. The sixth is St. Nicholas' Day, and there are many guests coming.Nicholas knew that he had to take off his short padded jacket for a frock coat and pointed leather boots, and drive to the newly built church.Then he went home to congratulate the guests with dessert and talk about the election of the nobles and the year, but he thought he could pass the eve of the festival as usual.Before the New Year's dinner, Nicholas checked the accounts of the housekeeper's nephew's Ryazan estate, wrote two business letters, and inspected the barn, cowshed and stables.He took precautions against the possibility of everyone getting drunk over the holidays tomorrow, and went to lunch.He had no chance of speaking privately with his wife, so he sat down at the long table.There are twenty sets of tableware on the table, and the whole family sits around the table.There were his mother, old woman Belova with her, wife, three children, governess, nephew and his governess, Sonya, Denisov, Natasha and three children, and the children's parents. The governess, and old Mikhail Ivanitch, architect of the late old prince, who retired to Bald Mountain.

-------- ①At that time, the nobles in each province formed a group, held regular elections, rallies, and participated in local administration. Countess Maria sat at the other end of the table.As soon as her husband was seated, he picked up his napkin and pushed the glass and wine glass away from him.Countess Marya saw from this gesture that her husband was not in a good mood.He does that sometimes, especially when he comes straight from the farm to eat, before the soup.Countess Maria knew his temper very well, and when she was in a good mood, she would wait patiently until he had finished drinking the soup, and then she would talk to him and let him admit that there was no reason for his anger.But today she completely forgot to observe in this way.She was sad because he had lost his temper with her for no reason, and she felt very unhappy, and she asked where he was.He answered her.She asked him again if it was normal on the farm.He could hear her unnatural tone, frowned unhappily, and answered casually. "I'm not wrong," thought Countess Marya, "why is he angry with me?" From the tone of his answer, Countess Marya heard that he was displeased with her and did not want to continue the conversation with her.She also felt that her words were a bit unnatural, but she still couldn't help asking a few more questions.

Thanks to the presence of Denisov at the table, there was soon lively conversation, and Countess Marya said nothing to her husband.When they left the table to thank the old countess, Countess Marya held out her hand, kissed her husband, and asked him why he was angry with her. "You're always cranky, and it never occurred to me to be angry," he said. But Countess Maria felt that he always said two words: Yes, I am angry, but I don't want to explain it. Nicholas lived in harmony with his wife, and even Sonya and the old countess, out of jealousy, wished for discord between them, but it was perfect.But there are times when they don't get along.Sometimes, after they've had a really good time, there's a sudden sense of alienation and antagonism between them.This feeling often occurred when Countess Maria was pregnant, and she was pregnant now.

"Oh, ladies and gentlemen," Nicholas said aloud in French, with an air of delight (Countess Marya thought he was trying to annoy her) "I haven't rested since six o'clock. I'll have to suffer tomorrow, and I'm going to rest now." Without another word to Countess Marya, he went into the small living room and lay down on the sofa. "He always does," thought Countess Marya. "Talk to everyone, but not to me. I can see that he hates me. Especially when I'm pregnant." She looked at her swollen belly, and saw her sallow, pale thin face in the mirror, Her eyes appeared larger than usual.

Denisov's shouts and laughter, Natasha's voice, and above all Sonya's hasty look at her, all this made her feel unhappy. Sonia was always the punching bag when Countess Maria was angry. Countess Marya sat for a while with the visitor, who did not listen to what he said, and then went quietly to the nursery. The children arranged chairs in a train and played "To Moscow" and asked her to join in.She sat down to play with the children for a while, but she couldn't keep track of her husband's mood at the moment, and it made her sad to think that he was angry for no reason.

She got up and walked with difficulty on tiptoe to the small sitting room. "Maybe, he's not asleep yet, I'm going to explain it to him," she said to herself.Her eldest Andryusha followed her example and followed her on tiptoe, but Countess Marya did not notice it. "My dear Maria, he seems to have fallen asleep, he is very tired," Sonia said in French in the large drawing room (Countess Maria felt that she would meet her wherever she went). "Andryusha, don't wake him up." Countess Marya turned her head and saw Andryusha following behind. It seemed that Sonia was right, but because of this, her face flushed, and she managed to restrain herself from uttering harsh words.She said nothing, but in order to show that she would not listen to Sonia's words, she only made a sign to tell Andryusha to be silent, and let him follow behind, and went to the door, while Sonia went out by another door. The sound of even breathing came from the room where Nikolai slept, a sound so familiar to wives.She listened to his breathing and gazed at his smooth and handsome forehead, his moustache, and his whole face, which she gazed at for a long time in the dead of night when Nikolay was fast asleep.Nikolai made a sudden movement and coughed dryly.Just then Andryusha shouted from the door:

"Dad, Mom is here." Countess Maria turned pale with fright, and hurriedly gestured to her son.He stopped talking.There was a silence for a while, and Countess Maria felt terrified.She knew that Nikolay disliked being woken up.Suddenly there was a dry cough and the sound of turning over on the bed again.Nikolay said unhappily: "No one's quiet for a minute. Is that you, Mary? How did you bring him here?" "I just came to see, I didn't pay attention... sorry..." Nicholas coughed a few times and stopped talking.Countess Maria left the door and led her son back to the nursery.Five minutes later, three-year-old little black-eyed Natasha, Papa's precious daughter, heard from her brother that Papa was sleeping in the little living room, and she quietly walked up to her father, carrying her mother behind her back.The dark-eyed little girl boldly opened the door with a creak, walked to the side of the sofa with her strong legs, walked to the side of the sofa, looked at the sleeping position of her father with her back to her, and tiptoed to kiss his pillow Hands under the head, Nikolay turned around with a loving smile on his face.

"Natasha, Natasha!" Countess Maria shouted in panic from outside the door, "Daddy is going to bed." "No, mother, he doesn't want to go to bed," answered little Natasha confidently; "see, he's still smiling." Nikolay dropped his legs, stood up, and picked up his daughter. "Come in, Martha," he said to his wife.Countess Marya entered the room and sat down beside her husband. -------- ①The original text is Mapu, Maria's pet name. ②The original text is Mama, Maria's pet name. "I didn't see Andryusha coming after me," she said timidly. "I just……"

Nicholas embraced his daughter with one arm, looked at his wife, and seeing the regretful expression on her face, put his other arm around her and kissed her hair. "May I kiss mother?" he asked Natasha. Natasha smiled shyly. "Kiss again," she said commandingly, pointing to the place where Nicholas had just kissed. "I don't understand why you think I'm in a bad mood." Nicholas said, guessing what his wife was thinking. "You can't imagine how sad and lonely I feel when you are like this. I always feel..." "Come on, Mary, you're a fool. You're not ashamed," he said cheerfully.

"I always feel that you won't love me. I'm so ugly now... I've always been... and now... I'm like this again..." "Hey, you are ridiculous! A person is not cute because he is beautiful, but he is beautiful because he is cute. Only women like Malvinas are charming by beauty. If you ask me if I love my wife?! I said Don’t you love me? Oh, I don’t know how to tell you clearly?! When you’re not around, or there’s something unpleasant between us, I’ll be distracted and I can’t do anything. Tell me, I love you Your own fingers? If you say I don't love you, try cutting off my fingers..."

"No, I wouldn't do that, but I know it. You're not mad at me, then?" "Damn mad," he said, laughing, getting up and brushing his hair, and began pacing the room. "You know, Mary, what am I thinking?" They reconciled, and he immediately told his wife his plans and thoughts.He didn't ask her if she liked to listen or not, it didn't matter to him or not.If he had a new idea, it would naturally be her idea.He told her that he wanted to persuade Pierre to stay with them until spring. After listening to her husband, Countess Maria gave her opinion and then her plan.She was thinking about the children. "She's a grown-up now," she said in French, pointing to Natasha. "You always blame us women for being illogical. She's our logician here. I said Daddy was going to sleep, but she said : 'No, he's laughing!' She was right, anyway," said Countess Mariale, smiling cheerfully. "Yes, yes!" Nicholas picked up his daughter in his strong arms, lifted her high, let her sit on his shoulders, grabbed her two calves, and carried her around the room.Both father and daughter had expressions of infinite happiness on their faces. "You know, you may be a little unfair. You dote on her too much," Countess Maria whispered in French. "Yes, but what can I do? . . . I've tried my best not to show it. . . . " At this moment, there was a door pulley and footsteps in the porch and vestibule, as if someone was coming. "someone is coming." "That must be Pierre. I'll go and see," Countess Marya said, and went out of the room. While she was out, Nicholas picked up his daughter and quickly circled the house.Panting for breath, he immediately put down his overjoyed daughter and hugged her tightly in his arms.His bouncing and bouncing reminded him of dancing.He looked at his daughter's round, happy face and thought that when he became an old man himself, he would take his daughter to a ball and dance the mazurka, just as his late father took his daughter to the Danny La Coupole dance, what will his daughter look like by then? ! "It's him, it's him, Nicholas," said Countess Marya, returning a few minutes later. "Our Natasha is happy now. You must see how happy she is, and how much Pierre has been scolded for being late. Come, hurry, hurry! You must part, too." It's gone." She said with a smile, looking at her little daughter who was snuggling up against her father.Nikolay took his daughter by the hand and went out. Countess Marya was in the drawing-room. "I never believed that I would be so happy." She whispered to herself.A smile appeared on her face, but then she sighed, and there was a touch of sadness in her deep eyes.It seemed that in addition to the happiness she was experiencing at this moment, she could not help thinking of another kind of happiness that was impossible to obtain in this life.