Chapter 14 Chapter Fourteen

Not long after, the children came to say good night.The children kissed everyone good-by, the governesses and governesses saluted, and went out.Only Dessalle and his pupil Nicholas Jr. remained.Dessalle told little Nicholas in a low voice to go downstairs. "No, Monsieur Desalle, I ask my aunt to let me stay here." Little Nicholas replied in the same low voice. -------- ①The black dot under the word here indicates that the original text is directly in French, and it is translated into Chinese here. "Auntie, let me stay here," said little Nicholas, going up to his aunt.He was excited and excited, with a pleading look on his face.Countess Marya glanced at him, and said to Pierre:

"As long as you're here, he won't go away..." "Mr. Dessalle, I will send him to you in a moment, good night." ①Pierre stretched out his hand to the Swiss teacher, then turned to little Nicholas with a smile and said, "We haven't met before." Maria, he really looks like..." He turned to Countess Maria. "Is it like Papa?" The child blushed, and looked at Pierre from top to bottom with bright, admiring eyes.Pierre nodded to him, and resumed the conversation which the child had interrupted.Countess Marya was embroidering on the cross, and Natasha was looking intently at her husband.Nikolai and Denisov got up to ask for a pipe for a smoke, and he took the tea from Sonia, who had been listlessly guarding the samovar, and asked Pierre what he had learned during this trip. Little Nicholas, the long A frail child with curly hair, sitting in an unnoticed corner, with gleaming eyes and a thin neck protruding from his collar, his curly head turned towards Pierre, in the occasional experience of something new. He would involuntarily shiver when he felt a strong emotion.

The conversation then turned to some gossip about the highest authorities at the time, which contained domestic political matters that were usually of greatest interest to the majority.Denisov, who was displeased with the government because of his disappointment in military circles and was now delighted to hear of the scandal in Petersburg, made a sharp comment on Pierre's account. "I used to have to be German, now I have to dance around with Tatalinova and Frau Krydner, and read Ergarthausen and Co. Well, if you put that precious Bonaparte Just come out, and he will sweep away all the stupid thoughts, and hand over the Semyonov regiment to the command of a soldier like Schwartz, what's the point?" he shouted.

-------- ①French is used here. "Mr. Desalle... good night." ② Mrs. Julian Krudner (1766~1824), female writer, born in Riga, a mystic, Alexander I was once influenced by her. Although Nicholas is not as specific as Denisov, he still thinks that talking about the government is a big thing, and A is a minister, B is the governor, what the emperor says, and what the minister says is very important thing.He believed that the affairs of state were the responsibility of every man, so he also asked Pierre various questions.It's just that what the two of them asked was nothing more than some anecdotes about high-level government departments.

Natasha knew her husband's mind and temper very well, and she saw that Pierre had long wanted to change the subject, that he had long wanted to express some of his deepest thoughts.He was going to Petersburg this time to discuss the matter with his new friend, Prince Fyodor.Then she asked Pierre what was going on with Fyodor. -------- ① Refers to the revolutionary activities of the Decembrists. "What is it?" asked Nicholas. "That's what happened," said Pierre, looking around. "Everyone sees that the situation has gotten so bad that it is the duty of all honest people to do what they can to save it."

"Then what should honest people do?" said Nicholas, frowning slightly. "What can they do?" "What should be done is..." "Let's go to the study," said Nikolay. Natasha had long thought it was time to feed the baby, and had gone to the nursery when she heard the nurse calling her.Countess Maria followed her.The men went into the study, and little Nicholas slipped in after his uncle was not looking, and hid in the dark corner of the desk by the window. "What do you say?" said Denisov. "It's all fantasy," said Nicholas.

"The thing is," began Pierre without sitting down.He paced up and down the room, stopping now and then to babble and gesticulate quickly. "This is what is happening in Petersburg at the moment. The emperor does not care about any state affairs. He has completely fallen into mysticism (and Pierre cannot tolerate anyone who believes in mysticism). He only wants to be quiet. And only Those people who are devoid of conscience and shameless, such as Magnitsky and Arakcheyev, do all kinds of evil things, hack and kill indiscriminately, and bring disaster to the country and the people, so that he can be quiet... If you don't come and arrest him yourself If you only want peace in the economy, then the more powerful your steward is, the easier it will be for you to achieve your goals, do you agree?" He asked Nicholas.

"What do you mean by that?" said Nicholas. "Well, the whole country is going to collapse. There's a lot of burglary in the courts, there's nothing but flogging in the army, farming, farming, the people are suffering, education is being stifled. What's new, what's orthodox is being crushed and suppressed. Everyone You see, it can't go on like this any longer. If the strings are stretched too tight, they will snap," said Pierre (as people have said when observing the behavior of governments since the beginning of the government). "I only told them a little in Petersburg."

"To whom?" asked Denisov. "You know that," said Pierre, frowning and looking at him meaningfully. "It's just for Duke Fyodor and his group. Rewarding education and enthusiastically supporting charitable causes are very good, but they are only good intentions. Judging from the current situation, we need something else. " Only then did Nicholas notice his nephew's presence, and he walked towards him with a sullen face. "What are you doing here?" "What? Let him stay here!" Pierre continued, taking Nikolay by the arm. It is too tight and may be broken at any time. When everyone is waiting for the inevitable change, more people are needed to strengthen unity, work closely together, and work together to resist the coming disaster. People in their prime of life It has been pulled over, degenerated, corrupted and depraved. Some are obsessed with women, some are obsessed with fame, and some pursue money and power, and they all go to that camp. Independent personalities like you and me People who have their own opinions can’t be found at all. I said, we must expand our social circle. Our slogan is: we can’t just stay on morality in words, but we should be independent and act.”

Nicholas walked away from his nephew, moved a chair resentfully, sat down, and listened to Pierre, coughing disapprovingly, and frowning more and more. "Then what is the purpose of these operations?" he cried. "And what is your attitude toward the government?" "Have such an attitude! An attitude of assistance. If the government allows our organization, there is no need to keep it secret. Our organization is not only against the government, but also a true royalist. This is an out-and-out gentleman's organization. Our purpose is Don't let Pugachev kill your children and my grandchildren, don't let Arakcheyev send me to the settlements. We join hands and fight for a common goal in the public interest, for the safety of the public .”

"Yes, but secret organizations are always hostile, harmful and can only produce evil results," said Nikolai. "Why? Is there any harm in a moral alliance to save Europe (Russia was not yet able to imagine that Europe could be saved)? A moral alliance is an alliance of virtues, that is love, that is mutual aid, that is what Jesus Christ did on the cross. something to promote." Natasha came in in the middle of the conversation, looking at her husband with pleasure.It wasn't her husband's talk itself that pleased her.She was not interested in what her husband said, what he said she already knew (and she knew that what Pierre said was what was in his heart), but when she saw his cheerful and bright She looked very happy in her heart. Here was another child, forgotten by all, with his thin neck sticking out of his lapel, who was looking at Pierre with the same joy and excitement.But every word of Pierre's was imprinted on his heart, and his fingers moved restlessly, so that without knowing it, he broke the wax and quill on his uncle's table. "It's not at all what you think. This is the so-called moral union of Germany, and that's what I'm proposing." "Oh, brother, the moral union is only good for the sausage-eaters (Germans), but I don't understand it and can't explain it," Denisov asserted loudly. "There is corruption everywhere, it's terrible, I admit this fact, but I don't know and don't like moral alliances. What riots, what alliances! It's nothing more than asking me to completely follow your orders."③ -------- ①The League of Morals was a secret political group established in Prussia in 1808. Its purpose was to oppose Napoleon's France. It was disbanded by the French government in 1810. ②The original text is that the Russian word DyEF (riot) has the same pronunciation as the German bund (alliance). ③Use French in the original text: Literally translated, I will be yours when the time comes. Pierre smiled, Natasha laughed, and Nicholas frowned even more, and he began to try to explain to Pierre that nothing would change, that the danger he was talking about was of his own imagination. of.Pierre, on the contrary, argues that Nicholas is in a difficult position by virtue of his stronger and quicker mind.This annoyed him all the more, because he believed himself to be perfectly right not by reason, but by an instinct stronger than reason. "I want to make it clear to you," he said, standing up, nervously moving the pipe to the corner of his mouth, and throwing it away altogether. "I can't prove it to you. You say that everything about us is corrupt and that there must be a reform, which I don't think is necessary. You say that the oath is conditional, and I want to make it clear to you on this matter that you are my last Good friends, you know this too, but if you organize a secret group against the government, no matter what kind of government it is, my duty is to maintain the government, if Arakcheyev orders now, I will lead a cavalry company to crusade You, I will act immediately without hesitation. As for what you like to say, you can say what you want." After he finished speaking, there was an awkward silence.Natasha finally broke the silence and spoke first.Of course, her speech was in defense of her husband, but it was an attack on her brother.Her defense was clumsy and feeble, but she got her way.And so the conversation resumed, but without the hostility of the verbal war that had just finished Nikolai's speech. When they all rose to go to supper, little Nikolai Bolkonsky came up to Pierre, pale but with bright eyes. "Uncle Pierre . . . you . . . no . . . if papa lived, would he agree with you?" he asked. Pierre suddenly understood that, while he was talking, there must have been going on in the boy's head a peculiar, intense wave of emotions and complex, independent thinking.He thought back on what he had said, and regretted letting the child hear it.But no matter what, he had to answer him. "I think he will agree." He replied reluctantly, and walked out of the study. The child lowered his head, as if he suddenly realized that he had broken something on the table.He blushed and went up to Nikolay. "Uncle, forgive me, I didn't mean it." He pointed to the broken wax and quill. Nikolay shuddered with anger. "Never mind, never mind." He threw the broken wax and quill under the table.Obviously, he was suppressing himself not to lose his temper, and turned his face away. "You shouldn't be here at all," he added.