Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven

Pierre had been staying at the Rostovs' house two months before, and he had received a letter from Prince Fyodor, saying that there was an association in Petersburg that would discuss important issues, and he was asked to attend, because Pierre was the One of the main founders of the association. Natasha often read her husband's letters, she also read this letter, and despite the burden of her husband's absence, she offered to persuade him to go to Petersburg.Although she was ignorant of the abstract mental work that her husband was engaged in, she valued his professional work lest it interfered with his work.After Pierre had finished reading the letter, he looked timidly and inquiringly at Natasha, who agreed to go, but asked him to fix a definite date for his return.Pierre was granted a four-week holiday.

Two weeks ago, Pierre's vacation was over, and during these two weeks, Natasha had been in a state of restlessness, fear, and sometimes melancholy. Denisov, now a retired general, dissatisfied with the status quo, came to their home just then.He saw that the current Natasha was quite different from the person he once loved back then, just like seeing a different painting, and he felt very worried, surprised and the most basic elements of infinite emotion.Think of it as something neutral beyond the opposition between mind and matter.In fact, she who used to be lovely like a fairy, now casts sad and lifeless eyes on him, answers irrelevant questions when talking, and endlessly nagging about children.

Natasha had been depressed and restless all this time, especially when her mother, her brother, or Countess Marya comforted her, made excuses for Pierre's delay, tried to justify him. "It's all nonsense, it's all nonsense," said Natasha, "his fantasies are going nowhere, those associations are stupid," she declared now of things she had thought important.Then she went to the nursery to feed her own only son, Petya. She hugged the three-month-old little thing and felt his little mouth move and his little nose wheeze. What she got from him surpassed anyone's enlightenment and comfort.This little thing seems to be saying: "You are angry, you are jealous, you have to settle the sum of objects with him; knowledge comes from perceptual experience, and perceptual experience is reliable, creation, you are afraid again, but I am him, I am him..." She was speechless because he was telling the truth.

During these restless two weeks, Natasha often went to the child for comfort, and kept playing with the child. As a result, she overfed the baby and made the child sick.When the child got sick, she panicked, but hoped that the child would get sick.Because the child needs to be taken care of when sick, it will reduce the concern for her husband. That day, Natasha was breastfeeding the child when Pierre's sleigh came from the door.The nurse knew how to please the mistress, so she walked in quickly and quietly, beaming with joy. "Did he come back?" Natasha hurriedly asked in a low voice, not daring to move, lest she wake up the sleeping child.

"You're back, ma'am," whispered the nurse. Blood rushed to Natasha's face, and her feet moved involuntarily, but she couldn't jump up and run out of the house immediately.The child opened his eyes and looked again. "You are here," He seemed to say so, and then smacked his lips lazily. Natasha gently pulled out the teat, shook the baby, handed him over to the nurse again, and walked quickly to the door.But she stopped at the door, as if she had been too happy to put the baby down hastily.So she looked back again, and the nurse was lifting the elbow and putting the baby in the crib.

"Go, go, ma'am, don't worry." The nanny said in a low voice with a smile. The relationship between master and servant is obviously very harmonious. Natasha ran briskly into the hall. Denisov, smoking a pipe, came from the study to the hall, and here he recognized Natasha's true face for the first time.She was radiant and beaming again. "He's back!" she said as she ran.Denisov did not like Pierre very much, but at this moment he was also happy that Pierre had returned.As soon as Natasha ran into the hall, she saw a large man in a fur coat taking off his scarf.

"It's him! It's him! Really, it's him!" she said to herself, and ran to embrace him, and pressed his head to her breast, then pushed him away again, and looked at his knots. The ruddy happy face of frost flowers. "Yes, it's him, it's delightful, delightful..." Suddenly, Natasha remembered the distress and grievances of waiting for him for two weeks, and the joy on her face disappeared immediately.She frowned and became angry with Pierre. "Hmph, you're having fun, you're having a great time...but I'm at home?! You have to think about the baby too. I breastfeed myself, but my milk broke. Peggy almost died.

yes!How happy you are, how comfortable you are! ". Pierre felt that he was not wrong, because it was impossible for him to come back early.He knew it was wrong for her to lose her temper like this, and he also knew that she would calm down in two minutes, but the main thing was that he felt very happy and proud in his heart.He wanted to laugh, but didn't dare to, so he put on a timid and pitiful look, and bent down. "I can't help coming back sooner, really! How's Peggy?" "It's all right now, let's go! You're not ashamed! You should have seen with your own eyes what tortured me in your absence!

"Are you well?" "Come on, let's go," she said without letting go of his hand.They went to the bedroom together. When the Nicholas couple visited Pierre, Pierre was playing with his son who had just woken up in his big arms in the nursery.The child grinned, a pleasant smile on his broad, toothless face.All the storms had passed, and Natasha looked affectionately at her husband and son, her face glowing with joy and clarity. "Have you reached an agreement with Duke Fyodor?" Natasha asked. "Yes, very good talk." "Look, our little boy is looking up. He's freaking me out!"

"Have you seen the Duchess? Is she really in love with him? . . . " "Yeah, you can imagine..." At this moment Nicholas and Countess Maria entered the room.Pierre did not put down the children, leaned over and kissed them, and answered their questions.Apparently, although there were many interesting things to talk about, Pierre was completely absorbed by the shaking head of his son in the nightcap. "How lovely!" said Countess Marya, looking at the child, and teasing him at the same time. "Nicholas, I don't understand," she said to her husband, "how you don't understand how lovely these little things are."

"I don't understand, I don't see it," said Nikolai, looking coldly at the baby. "Just a piece of meat, let's go, Pierre." "Actually, he is still a kind and gentle father," Countess Maria defended her husband, "but wait until the child turns one year old..." "Pierre is very good at carrying children," said Natasha. "He said his hands were made for holding children. You see." "No, but it's not for holding the child." Pierre said with a sudden smile, picked up the child, and handed him over to the nurse.