THE LITTLE PRINCESS was lying on the pillows in her white nightcap (the agony had only a moment left her). Her black hair lay in curls about her swollen and perspiring cheeks; her rosy, charming little mouth, with the downy lip, was open, and she was smiling joyfully. Prince Andrey went into the room, and stood facing her at the foot of the bed on which she lay. The glittering eyes, staring in childish terror and excitement, rested on him with no change in their expression. “I love you all, I have done no one any harm; why am I suffering? help me,” her face seemed to say. She saw her husband, but she did not take in the meaning of his appearance now before her. Prince Andrey went round the bed and kissed her on the forehead.

“My precious,” he said, a word he had never used speaking to her before. “God is merciful.…” She stared at him with a face of inquiry, of childish reproach.

“I hoped for help from you, and nothing, nothing, you too!” her eyes said. She was not surprised at his having come; she did not understand that he had come. His coming had nothing to do with her agony and its alleviation. The pains began again, and Marya Bogdanovna advised Prince Andrey to go out of the room.

The doctor went into the room. Prince Andrey came out, and, meeting Princess Marya, went to her again. They talked in whispers, but every moment their talk was hushed. They were waiting and listening.

“Go, mon ami,” said Princess Marya. Prince Andrey went again to his wife and sat down in the adjoining room, waiting. A woman ran out of the bedroom with a frightened face, and was disconcerted on seeing Prince Andrey. He hid his face in his hands and sat so for some minutes. Piteous, helpless, animal groans came from the next room. Prince Andrey got up, went to the door, and would have opened it. Some one was holding the door.

“Can't come in, can't!” a frightened voice said from within. He began walking about the room. The screams ceased; several seconds passed. Suddenly a fearful scream—not her scream, could she scream like that?—came from the room. Prince Andrey ran to the door; the scream ceased; he heard the cry of a baby.

“What have they taken a baby in there for?” Prince Andrey wondered for the first second. “A baby? What baby? … Why a baby there? Or is the baby born?”

When he suddenly realised all the joyful significance of that cry, tears choked him, and leaning both elbows on the window-sill he cried, sobbing as children cry. The door opened. The doctor with his shirt sleeves tucked up, and no coat on, came out of the room, pale, and his lower jaw twitching. Prince Andrey addressed him, but the doctor, looking at him in a distracted way, passed by without uttering a word. A woman ran out, and, seeing Prince Andrey, stopped hesitating in the door. He went into his wife's room. She was lying dead in the same position in which he had seen her five minutes before, and in spite of the fixed gaze and white cheeks, there was the same expression still on the charming childish face with the little lip covered with fine dark hair. “I love you all, and have done no harm to any one, and what have you done to me?” said her charming, piteous, dead face. In a corner of the room was something red and tiny, squealing and grunting in the trembling white hands of Marya Bogdanovna.

Two hours later Prince Andrey went with soft steps into his father's room. The old man knew everything already. He was standing near the door, and, as soon as it opened, his rough old arms closed like a vice round his son's neck, and without a word he burst into sobs like a child.

Three days afterwards the little princess was buried; and Prince Andrey went to the steps of the tomb to take his last farewell of her. Even in the coffin the face was the same, though the eyes were closed. “Ah, what have you done to me?” it still seemed to say; and Prince Andrey felt that something was being torn out of his soul, that he was guilty of a crime that he could never set right nor forget. He could not weep. The old man, too, went in and kissed the little waxen hand that lay so peacefully crossed over the other, and to him, too, her face said: “Ah, what have you done to me, and why?” And the old man turned angrily away, when he caught sight of the face.

In another five days there followed the christening of the young prince, Nikolay Andreitch. The nurse held the swaddling clothes up to her chin, while the priest with a goose feather anointed the baby's red, wrinkled hands and feet.

His grandfather, who was his godfather, trembling and afraid of dropping the baby, carried him round the battered tin font, and handed him over to the godmother, Princess Marya. Faint with terror that they would let the baby drown in the font, Prince Andrey sat in an adjoining room, waiting for the conclusion of the ceremony. He looked joyfully at the baby when the nurse brought him out, and nodded approvingly when the nurse told him that a bit of wax with the baby's hairs in it, thrown into the font, had not sunk in the water but floated on the surface.

矮小的公爵夫人戴着白色的寝帽靠在枕头上（她的阵痛刚刚减轻了）。她那发烧的冒汗的面颊两边露出一绺绺卷曲的黑发，她张开一张好看的绯红的小嘴，上唇长满了黑色的茸毛，她脸上含着愉快的微笑。安德烈公爵走进房里来，在她面前停步了，在靠近她睡的沙发末端站着。她的一双亮晶晶的眼睛，没有改变表情，露出孩子似的惶恐不安的样子望着他。“我爱你们大家，我未曾危害任何人，为什么我要受苦？助我一臂之力吧。”她的表情在说话。她看见丈夫，但是她弄不清他此时在她面前出现有什么意义。安德烈公爵从沙发一旁绕过去，吻了吻她的额角。

“我的心肝，”他说，他从来没有对她说过这句话。“上帝是大慈大悲的……”她把那疑惑的、儿童般责备的目光朝他瞥一眼。

“我曾经期待你的救援，我没有得到什么，没有得到什么，你也是这样啊！”她的眼神这样说。他来了，她不感到惊讶，她不明白，他已经回家了。他的到来对她的痛苦与减轻痛苦无任何关系。难忍的阵痛又发作了，玛丽亚·波格丹诺夫娜于是劝说安德烈公爵从房里出去。

产科医生走进房里来了。安德烈公爵从房里出来，遇见了公爵小姐玛丽亚，他又走到她跟前来了。他们开始低声地讲话，但是谈话常常中断。他们等待着，他们倾听着。

“Allez，mon　ami．①”公爵小姐玛丽亚说道。安德烈公爵又往妻子那儿去了，他在隔壁房里坐下来，等待着。有一个女人看见安德烈公爵后，面带惶恐的神情，困惑不安地从她房里走出来。她用手把脸捂住，就这样坐了几分钟。从门后可以听见悲惨的孤立无援的动物的呻吟。安德烈公爵站起来，走到了门前，想把门打开。不知道是谁抓着门把手。

①法语：我的朋友，你去吧。

“不准进去，不准进去！”从那里传来惊恐的话语声。他开始在房里踱来踱去。喊声停住了，又过了几秒钟。忽然间隔壁房里传来一声可怕的叫喊，这不是她的喊声，她是不会这样叫喊的。安德烈公爵向门前跑去，叫喊声停息了，可以听见婴孩的啼声。

“干嘛把小孩带到那里去呢？”安德烈公爵起初这样思忖了一会。“小孩子？什么样的小孩子？……为什么这里会有小孩呢？也许是生了一个小孩吧？”

当他忽然间明白这一啼声含有喜悦的意义时，眼泪就把他憋得喘不过气来，他将两只胳膊肘支撑在窗台上，有如儿童般地抽抽嗒嗒地啼哭起来。房门开了。医生没有穿常礼服，卷起衬衫的袖口，脸色苍白，下颌颤栗着，他从房里走出来。安德烈公爵向他转过脸来。可是医生惘然若失地朝他望了一眼，没有开口说出一句话来，就从他身旁走过去了。有个妇女跑出来，她看见安德烈公爵，就在门槛上踌躇不前。他走进他妻子的房里。她躺着不动，已经死去了，仍旧像五分钟以前他看见她时那个样了，虽然她的眼睛滞然不动，两颊惨白，但是她那美丽的孩子般的脸蛋上，长满黑色茸毛的嘴唇上依然流露出同样的表情。

“我爱你们所有的人，没有危害过任何人，而你们怎样对待我呢？”她那美丽迷人的、可怜的死者的面孔在说话。在房间的角落里，玛丽亚·波格丹诺夫娜的一双颤栗的白净的手中抱过一样红彤彤的小东西，他哼了哼，哇地一声哭起来。

隔了两小时之后，安德烈公爵悄悄地走进父亲的书斋。老头子已经知道全部情形。他紧靠门站着，房门一打开，老头子就默不作声地伸出一双像虎钳般粗硬的老人的手搂住儿子的脖子，如同孩子似的痛哭起来。

隔了三天他们给矮小的公爵夫人举行安魂祈祷，安德烈公爵和她的遗体告别时，走上了灵柩的阶梯。在灵柩中她虽已闭上眼睛，但是她的脸孔还是原来那个样子。“唉，你们怎么这样对待我呢？”她的面孔仿佛仍旧在说话，安德烈公爵于是感觉到，他的心灵中有一样东西猝然脱落了，他犯了无可挽救的也无法忘记的罪过。他哭不出来。老头子也走进来，吻了吻她那只平静地高高地摆在另一只手上的蜡黄的小手，她的面孔也仿佛对他说：“你们为什么这样对待我呢？”老头子看见了这副面孔，气忿地转过身去。

又过了五日，他们给小公爵尼古拉·安德烈伊奇举行洗礼仪式。当神父用一根鹅毛给男孩的布满皱纹的红红的小手掌和小脚掌涂上圣油时，保姆用下巴压着包布。

充当教父的祖父颤栗地抱着婴儿，害怕把他掉下去，他绕着尽是瘪印的洋铁洗礼盒走过去，把婴儿交给教母公爵小姐玛丽亚。安德烈公爵担心孩子会被淹死，吓得几乎要屏住呼吸，他于是坐在另一间房里，等洗礼完毕。当保姆抱出婴儿时，他高兴地望望他。当保姆告诉他：一块粘有婴儿头发的蜂蜡扔进了洗礼盒，没有沉没，浮了起来。他听了点点头，表示赞许。