» Chapter 1
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» Chapter 3
» Chapter 4
» Chapter 5
» Chapter 6
» Chapter 7
» Chapter 8
» Chapter 9
» Chapter 10
» Chapter 1
» Chapter 12
» Chapter 13
» Chapter 14
» Chapter 15
» Chapter 16
» Chapter 17
» Chapter 18
» Chapter 19
» Chapter 20
» Chapter 21
» Chapter 22
» Chapter 23
» Chapter 24
» Chapter 25
» Chapter 26
» Chapter 27
» Chapter 28
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» Chapter 30
» Chapter 31
» Chapter 32
» Chapter 33
» Chapter 34
» Chapter 35
» Chapter 36
» Chapter 37
» Chaper 38
» Chapter 39
» Chapter 40
» Chapter 41
» Chapter 42
» Chapter 43
» Chapter 44
» Chapter 45
» Chapter 46
» Chapter 47
» Chapter 48
» Chapter 49
» Chapter 50
» Chapter 51
» Chapter 52
» Chapter 53
» Chapter 54
» Chapter 55
» Chapter 56
» Chapter 57
» Chapter 58
» Chapter 59
» Chapter 60
» Chapter 61
» Chapter 62
» Chapter 63
» Chapter 64
» Chapter 65
» Chapter 66
» Chapter 67
» Chapter 68
» Chaper 69
» Chapter 70
» Chapter 71
» Chapter 72
» Chapter 73
» Chapter 74
» Chapter 75
» Chapter 76
» Chapter 77
» Chapter 78
» Chapter 79
» Chaper 80
» Chapter 81
» Chapter 82
» Chapter 83
» Chapter 84
» Chapter 85
» Chapter 86
» Chapter 87
» Chapter 88
» Chapter 89
» Chapter 90
» Chapter 91
» Chapter 92
» Chapter 93
» Chapter 94
» Chaper 95
» Chapter 96
» Chapter 97
» Chapter 98
» Chapter 99
» Chapter 100
» Chapter 101
» Chapter 102
» Chapter 103
» Chapter 104
» Chapter 105
» Chapter 106
» Chapter 107
» Chapter 108
» Chapter 109
» Chater 110
» Chapter 111
» Chapter 112
» Chapter 113
» Chapter 114
» Chapter 115
» Chapter 116
» Chapter 117
» Chapter 118
» Chapter 119
» Chapter 120
» Chapter 121
» Chapter 122
» Chapter 123
» Chapter 124
» Chapter 125
» Chapter 126
» Chapter 127
» Chapter 128
» Chapter 129
» Chapter 130
» Chapter 131
» Chapter 132
» Chapter 133
» Chapter 134
» Chapter 135
» Chatper 136
» Chatper 137
» Chatper 138
» Chapter 139
» Chatper 140
» Chapter 141
» Chapter 142
» Chapter 143
» Chapter 144
» Chapter 145
» Chapter 146
» Chapter 147
» Chapter 148
» Chatper 149
» Chapter 150
» Chapter 151
» Chapter 152
» Chapter 153
» Chapter 154
» Cha6pter 15
» Chapter 157
» Chapter 158
» Chapter 159
» Chapter 160
» Chapter 161
» Chapter 162
» Chapter 163
» Chaper 164
» Chapter 165
» Chapter 166
» Chapter 167
» Chapter 168
» Chaper 169
» Chapter 170
» Chapter 171
» Chapter 172
» Chapter 173
» Chapter 174
» Chapter 175
» Chapter 176
» Chapter 177
» Chapter 178
» Chapter 179
» Chapter 180
» Chapter 181
» Chapter 182
» Chapter 183
» Chapter 184
» Chapter 185
» Chapter 186
» Chapter 187
» Chapter 188
» Chapter 189
» Chapter 190
» Chapter 191
» Chapter 192
» Chapter 193
» Chapter 194
» Chapter 195
» Chapter 196
» Chapter 197
» Chapter 197
» Chapter 198
» Chapter 199
» Chapter 200
» Chapter 201
» Chapter 202
» Chapter 203
» Chapter 204
» Chapter 205
» Chapter 206
» Chapter 207
» Chapter 208
» Chapter 209
» Chapter 210
» Chapter 211
» Chapter 212
» Chapter 213
» Chapter 214
» Chapter 215
» Chapter 216
» Chapter 217
» Chapter 218
» Chapter 219
» Chapter 220
» Chapter 221
» Chapter 222
» Chapter 223
» Chapter 224
» Chapter 225
» Chapter 226
» Chapter 227
» Chapter 228
» Chapter 229
» Chapter 230
» Chapter 231
» Chapter 232
» Chapter 233
» Chapter 234
» Chapter 235
» Chapter 236
» Chapter 237
» Chapter 238
» Chapter 239
» Chapter 240
» Chapter 240
» Chapter 241
» Chapter 242
» Chapter 243
» Chapter 244
» Chapter 245
» Chapter 246
» Chapter 247
» Chaper 248
» Chapter 249
» Chapter 250
» Chapter 251
» Chapter 252
» Chapter 253
» Chapter 254
» Chapter 324
» Chapter 325
» Chapter 326
» Chapter 327
» Chapter 328
» Chapter 329
» Chapter 330
» Chapter 331
» Chapter 332
» Chapter 333
» Chapter 334
» Chapter 356
» Chapter 323
» Chapte 322
» Chaper 310
» Chaper 311
» Chapter 312
» Chapter 313
» Chapter 314
» Chapter 315
» Chapter 316
» Chapter 317
» Chapter 318
» Chapter 319
» Chapter 320
» Chaper 321
» Chapter 337
» Chapter 338
» Chapter 339
» Chapter 354
» Chapter 355
» Chapter 356
» Chapter 357
» Chapter 358
» Chapter 359
» Chapter 360
» Chapter 361
» Chapter 362
» Chapter 363
» Chapter 364
» Chapter 353
» Chapter 352
» Chapter 351
» Chapter 340
» Chapter 341
» Chapter 342
» Chapter 343
» Chapter 344
» Chapter 345
» Chapter 346
» Chapter 347
» Chapter 348
» Chapter 349
» Chapter 350
» Chapter 365
» Chapter 255
» Chapter 270
» Chapter 271
» Chapter 272
» Chapter 273
» Chapter 274
» Chapter 275
» Chapter 276
» Chapter 277
» Chapter 278
» Chapter 279
» Chapter 280
» Chapter 269
» Chapter 268
» Chapter 267
» Chapter256
» Chapter 257
» Chapter 258
» Chapter 259
» Chapter 260
» Chapter 261
» Chapter 262
» Chapter 263
» Chapter 264
» Chapter 265
» Chapter 266
» Chapter 281
» Chapter 282
» Chapter 283
» Chapter 298
» Chapter 299
» Chapter 300
» Chapter 301
» Chapter 302
» Chapter 303
» Chapter 304
» Chapter 305
» Chapter 306
» Chapter 307
» Chapter 308
» Chapter 297
» Chapter 296
» Chapter 295
» Chapter 284
» Chapter 285
» Chapter 286
» Chapter 287
» Chapter 288
» Chapter 289
» Chapter 290
» Chapter 291
» Chapter 292
» Chapter 293
» Chapter 294
» Chapter 309
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Book One: 1805. Chapter I
"Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Buonapartes. But I warn you, if you don't tell me that this means war, if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist- I really believe he is Antichrist- I will have nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend, no longer my 'faithful slave,' as you call yourself! But how do you do? I see I have frightened you- sit down and tell me all the news."
It was in July, 1805, and the speaker was the well-known Anna Pavlovna Scherer, maid of honor and favorite of the Empress Marya Fedorovna. With these words she greeted Prince Vasili Kuragin, a man of high rank and importance, who was the first to arrive at her reception. Anna Pavlovna had had a cough for some days. She was, as she said, suffering from la grippe; grippe being then a new word in St. Petersburg, used only by the elite.
All her invitations without exception, written in French, and delivered by a scarlet-liveried footman that morning, ran as follows:
"If you have nothing better to do, Count [or Prince], and if the prospect of spending an evening with a poor invalid is not too terrible, I shall be very charmed to see you tonight between 7 and 10- Annette Scherer."
"Heavens! what a virulent attack!" replied the prince, not in the least disconcerted by this reception. He had just entered, wearing an embroidered court uniform, knee breeches, and shoes, and had stars on his breast and a serene expression on his flat face. He spoke in that refined French in which our grandfathers not only spoke but thought, and with the gentle, patronizing intonation natural to a man of importance who had grown old in society and at court. He went up to Anna Pavlovna, kissed her hand, presenting to her his bald, scented, and shining head, and complacently seated himself on the sofa.
"First of all, dear friend, tell me how you are. Set your friend's mind at rest," said he without altering his tone, beneath the politeness and affected sympathy of which indifference and even irony could be discerned.
"Can one be well while suffering morally? Can one be calm in times like these if one has any feeling?" said Anna Pavlovna. "You are staying the whole evening, I hope?"
"And the fete at the English ambassador's? Today is Wednesday. I must put in an appearance there," said the prince. "My daughter is coming for me to take me there."
"I thought today's fete had been canceled. I confess all these festivities and fireworks are becoming wearisome."
"If they had known that you wished it, the entertainment would have been put off," said the prince, who, like a wound-up clock, by force of habit said things he did not even wish to be believed.
"Don't tease! Well, and what has been decided about Novosiltsev's dispatch? You know everything."
"What can one say about it?" replied the prince in a cold, listless tone. "What has been decided? They have decided that Buonaparte has burnt his boats, and I believe that we are ready to burn ours."
Prince Vasili always spoke languidly, like an actor repeating a stale part. Anna Pavlovna Scherer on the contrary, despite her forty years, overflowed with animation and impulsiveness. To be an enthusiast had become her social vocation and, sometimes even when she did not feel like it, she became enthusiastic in order not to disappoint the expectations of those who knew her. The subdued smile which, though it did not suit her faded features, always played round her lips expressed, as in a spoiled child, a continual consciousness of her charming defect, which she neither wished, nor could, nor considered it necessary, to correct.
In the midst of a conversation on political matters Anna Pavlovna burst out:
"Oh, don't speak to me of Austria. Perhaps I don't understand things, but Austria never has wished, and does not wish, for war. She is betraying us! Russia alone must save Europe. Our gracious sovereign recognizes his high vocation and will be true to it. That is the one thing I have faith in! Our good and wonderful sovereign has to perform the noblest role on earth, and he is so virtuous and noble that God will not forsake him. He will fulfill his vocation and crush the hydra of revolution, which has become more terrible than ever in the person of this murderer and villain! We alone must avenge the blood of the just one.... Whom, I ask you, can we rely on?... England with her commercial spirit will not and cannot understand the Emperor Alexander's loftiness of soul. She has refused to evacuate Malta. She wanted to find, and still seeks, some secret motive in our actions. What answer did Novosiltsev get? None. The English have not understood and cannot understand the self-abnegation of our Emperor who wants nothing for himself, but only desires the good of mankind. And what have they promised? Nothing! And what little they have promised they will not perform! Prussia has always declared that Buonaparte is invincible, and that all Europe is powerless before him.... And I don't believe a word that Hardenburg says, or Haugwitz either. This famous Prussian neutrality is just a trap. I have faith only in God and the lofty destiny of our adored monarch. He will save Europe!"
She suddenly paused, smiling at her own impetuosity.
"I think," said the prince with a smile, "that if you had been sent instead of our dear Wintzingerode you would have captured the King of Prussia's consent by assault. You are so eloquent. Will you give me a cup of tea?"
"In a moment. A propos," she added, becoming calm again, "I am expecting two very interesting men tonight, le Vicomte de Mortemart, who is connected with the Montmorencys through the Rohans, one of the best French families. He is one of the genuine emigres, the good ones. And also the Abbe Morio. Do you know that profound thinker? He has been received by the Emperor. Had you heard?"
"I shall be delighted to meet them," said the prince. "But tell me," he added with studied carelessness as if it had only just occurred to him, though the question he was about to ask was the chief motive of his visit, "is it true that the Dowager Empress wants Baron Funke to be appointed first secretary at Vienna? The baron by all accounts is a poor creature."
Prince Vasili wished to obtain this post for his son, but others were trying through the Dowager Empress Marya Fedorovna to secure it for the baron.
Anna Pavlovna almost closed her eyes to indicate that neither she nor anyone else had a right to criticize what the Empress desired or was pleased with.
"Baron Funke has been recommended to the Dowager Empress by her sister," was all she said, in a dry and mournful tone.
As she named the Empress, Anna Pavlovna's face suddenly assumed an expression of profound and sincere devotion and respect mingled with sadness, and this occurred every time she mentioned her illustrious patroness. She added that Her Majesty had deigned to show Baron Funke beaucoup d'estime, and again her face clouded over with sadness.
The prince was silent and looked indifferent. But, with the womanly and courtierlike quickness and tact habitual to her, Anna Pavlovna wished both to rebuke him (for daring to speak he had done of a man recommended to the Empress) and at the same time to console him, so she said:
"Now about your family. Do you know that since your daughter came out everyone has been enraptured by her? They say she is amazingly beautiful."
The prince bowed to signify his respect and gratitude.
"I often think," she continued after a short pause, drawing nearer to the prince and smiling amiably at him as if to show that political and social topics were ended and the time had come for intimate conversation- "I often think how unfairly sometimes the joys of life are distributed. Why has fate given you two such splendid children? I don't speak of Anatole, your youngest. I don't like him," she added in a tone admitting of no rejoinder and raising her eyebrows. "Two such charming children. And really you appreciate them less than anyone, and so you don't deserve to have them."
And she smiled her ecstatic smile.
"I can't help it," said the prince. "Lavater would have said I lack the bump of paternity."
"Don't joke; I mean to have a serious talk with you. Do you know I am dissatisfied with your younger son? Between ourselves" (and her face assumed its melancholy expression), "he was mentioned at Her Majesty's and you were pitied...."
The prince answered nothing, but she looked at him significantly, awaiting a reply. He frowned.
"What would you have me do?" he said at last. "You know I did all a father could for their education, and they have both turned out fools. Hippolyte is at least a quiet fool, but Anatole is an active one. That is the only difference between them." He said this smiling in a way more natural and animated than usual, so that the wrinkles round his mouth very clearly revealed something unexpectedly coarse and unpleasant.
"And why are children born to such men as you? If you were not a father there would be nothing I could reproach you with," said Anna Pavlovna, looking up pensively.
"I am your faithful slave and to you alone I can confess that my children are the bane of my life. It is the cross I have to bear. That is how I explain it to myself. It can't be helped!"
He said no more, but expressed his resignation to cruel fate by a gesture. Anna Pavlovna meditated.
"Have you never thought of marrying your prodigal son Anatole?" she asked. "They say old maids have a mania for matchmaking, and though I don't feel that weakness in myself as yet,I know a little person who is very unhappy with her father. She is a relation of yours, Princess Mary Bolkonskaya."
Prince Vasili did not reply, though, with the quickness of memory and perception befitting a man of the world, he indicated by a movement of the head that he was considering this information.
"Do you know," he said at last, evidently unable to check the sad current of his thoughts, "that Anatole is costing me forty thousand rubles a year? And," he went on after a pause, "what will it be in five years, if he goes on like this?" Presently he added: "That's what we fathers have to put up with.... Is this princess of yours rich?"
"Her father is very rich and stingy. He lives in the country. He is the well-known Prince Bolkonski who had to retire from the army under the late Emperor, and was nicknamed 'the King of Prussia.' He is very clever but eccentric, and a bore. The poor girl is very unhappy. She has a brother; I think you know him, he married Lise Meinen lately. He is an aide-de-camp of Kutuzov's and will be here tonight."
"Listen, dear Annette," said the prince, suddenly taking Anna Pavlovna's hand and for some reason drawing it downwards. "Arrange that affair for me and I shall always be your most devoted slave- slafe wigh an f, as a village elder of mine writes in his reports. She is rich and of good family and that's all I want."
And with the familiarity and easy grace peculiar to him, he raised the maid of honor's hand to his lips, kissed it, and swung it to and fro as he lay back in his armchair, looking in another direction.
"Attendez," said Anna Pavlovna, reflecting, "I'll speak to Lise, young Bolkonski's wife, this very evening, and perhaps the thing can be arranged. It shall be on your family's behalf that I'll start my apprenticeship as old maid."
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