ONE MORNING Colonel Adolphe Berg, whom Pierre knew just as he knew every one in Moscow and Petersburg, called upon him. He was wearing a brand-new uniform, and had his powdered locks standing up over his forehead, as worn by the Tsar Alexander Pavlovitch.

“I have just been calling on the countess, your spouse, and to my misfortune, my request could not be granted. I hope I shall be more fortunate with you, count,” he said, smiling.

“What is it you desire, colonel? I am at your disposal.”

“I am by now, quite settled in my new quarters,” Berg informed him with perfect conviction that to hear this fact could not but be agreeable; “and so I was desirous of giving a little soirée for my friends and my spouse.” (He smiled still more blandly.) “I meant to ask the countess and you to do me the honour to come to us for a cup of tea, and … to supper.”

Only the Countess Elena Vassilyevna, who considered it beneath her to associate with nobodies like the Bergs, could have had the cruelty to refuse such an invitation. Berg explained so clearly why he wanted to gather together a small and select company at his new rooms; and why it would be agreeable to him to do so; and why he would grudge spending money on cards, or anything else harmful; but was ready for the sake of good society to incur expense, that Pierre could not refuse, and promised to come.

“Only not late, count, if I may venture to beg. Ten minutes to eight, I venture to beg. We will make up a party for boston. Our general is coming; he is very kind to me. We will have a little supper, count, so I shall esteem it an honour.”

Contrary to his usual habit (he was almost always late) Pierre arrived at the Bergs' not at ten minutes to eight, but at a quarter to eight.

The Bergs had made all necessary preparations for their little party, and were quite ready to receive their guests.

Berg and his wife were sitting in a new, clean, light study, furnished with little busts and pictures and new furniture. Berg, with his new uniform closely buttoned up, sat beside his wife, and was explaining to her that one always could and ought to cultivate the acquaintance of people above one—for only then is there anything agreeable in acquaintances. “You pick up something, you can put in a word for something. Look at me now, how I used to manage in the lower grades (Berg reckoned his life not by years but by promotions). “My comrades are nothing still, while I'm a lieutenant-colonel. I have the happiness of being your husband” (he got up and kissed Vera's hand, but on the way turned back the corner of the rug, which was rucked-up). “And how did I obtain all this? Chiefly by knowing how to select my acquaintances. It goes without saying, of course, that one has to be conscientious and punctual in the discharge of one's duties.”

Berg smiled with a sense of his own superiority over a mere weak woman, and paused, reflecting that this charming wife of his was, after all, a weak woman, who could never attain all that constituted a man's dignity,—ein Mann zu sein. Vera smiled, too, at the same time with a sense of her superiority over her conscientious, excellent husband, who yet, like all men, according to Vera's ideas of them, took such a mistaken view of life. Berg, judging from his wife, considered all women weak and foolish. Vera, judging from her husband only, and generalising from her observation of him, supposed that all men ascribed common-sense to none but themselves, and at the same time had no understanding for anything, and were conceited and egoistic.

Berg got up, and cautiously embracing his wife so as not to crush the lace bertha, for which he had paid a round sum, he kissed her just on her lips.

“There's only one thing: we mustn't have children too soon,” he said, by a connection of ideas of which he was himself unconscious.

“Yes,” answered Vera, “I don't at all desire that. We must live for society.”

“Princess Yusupov was wearing one just like that,” said Berg, pointing with a happy and good-humoured smile to the bertha.

At that moment they were informed that Count Bezuhov had arrived. Both the young couple exchanged glances of self-satisfaction, each mentally claiming the credit of this visit.

“See what comes of knowing how to make acquaintances,” thought Berg. “See what comes of behaving properly!”

“But, please, when I am entertaining guests,” said Vera, “don't you interrupt me, because I know with what to entertain each of them, and what to say in the company of different people.”

Berg, too, smiled.

“Oh, but sometimes men must have their masculine conversation,” he said.

Pierre was shown into the little drawing-room, in which it was impossible to sit down without disturbing the symmetry, tidiness, and order; and consequently it was quite comprehensible, and not strange, that Berg should magnanimously offer to disturb the symmetry of the armchair or of the sofa for an honoured guest, and apparently finding himself in miserable indecision in the matter, should leave his guest to solve the question of selection. Pierre destroyed the symmetry, moved out a chair for himself, and Berg and Vera promptly began their soirée, interrupting each other in their efforts to entertain their guest.

Vera, deciding in her own mind that Pierre ought to be entertained with conversation about the French Embassy, promptly embarked upon that subject. Berg, deciding that masculine conversation was what was required, interrupted his wife's remarks by reference to the question of war with Austria, and made an unconscious jump from that general subject to personal considerations upon the proposal made him to take part in the Austrain campaign, and the reasons which had led him to decline it. Although the conversation was extremely disconnected, and Vera resented the intervention of the masculine element, both the young people felt with satisfaction that although only one guest was present, the soirée had begun very well, and that their soirée was as like every other soirée as two drops of water,—with the same conversation and tea and lighted candles.

The next to arrive was Boris, an old comrade of Berg's. There was a certain shade of patronage and condescension in his manner to Berg and Vera. After Boris came the colonel and his lady, then the general himself, then the Rostovs, and the soirée now began to be exactly, incontestably, like all other soirées. Berg and Vera could hardly repress their smiles of glee at the sight of all this movement in their drawing-room, at the sound of the disconnected chatter, and the rustle of skirts and of curtsies. Everything was precisely as everybody always has it; especially so was the general, who admired their rooms, clapped Berg on the shoulder, and with paternal authority insisted on arranging the table for boston. The general sat by Count Ilya Andreivitch, as the guest next in precedence to himself. The elderly guests were together, the younger people together, the hostess at the tea-table, on which there were cakes in the silver cake-basket exactly like the cakes at the Panins' soirées. Everything was precisely like what everybody else had.

一日早晨，上校阿道夫·贝格穿着一身干干净净的、簇新的制服，用发蜡把鬓角抹平，打扮得像亚历山大·巴甫洛维奇皇帝那样，前来拜看皮埃尔，皮埃尔认识莫斯科和彼得堡的一切人士，因此他也认识他。

“我刚才到过您太太——伯爵夫人那儿，我真倒霉，我的请求未能如愿以偿，伯爵，我希望在您那儿过得更幸运。”他微笑着说。

“上校，您有何事？我愿意为您效劳。”

“伯爵，目前我在新住宅里完全安顿好了，”贝格说，显然他知道，听到这句话不能不令人愉快，“因此我想为我的朋友和我夫人的朋友举行一次小型的晚会。（他愈益欢快地微微一笑。）我想请伯爵夫人和您光临我舍饮茶……并用晚餐。”

只有伯爵夫人海伦·瓦西里耶夫娜认为贝格之流有损她的尊严，才不顾情面地拒绝这样的邀请。贝格说得很明白，为什么他想邀请少数几位好友到住所里聚会，为什么他会感到高兴，为什么他舍不得花钱去赌博和偏爱什么不良的娱乐，但是他愿意为好友聚会而耗费金钱，既然如此，皮埃尔不能谢绝，便答应到他家里去。

“伯爵，只不过请您莫迟到，我冒昧请求。差十分钟就到11点了，我冒昧请求。凑一局，我们的将军就要光临了。他待我非常和善。伯爵，我们用晚饭。请您赏光吧。”

皮埃尔违反他一向迟到的习惯，这天不是八点差十分，而是八点差一刻就到了贝格家里。

贝格夫妇储存了晚会必需的物品，已经在准备接待客人了。

贝格和妻子坐在一间新近建成的清洁而又明亮的、装饰着小型半身雕像、绘画作品和新家具的书斋里。贝格穿着一件簇新的、扣紧钮扣的制服，坐在妻子身旁，一面向她说明，一个人总有可能，而且应当结交一些比他自己地位更高的人，只有在这种情况下才能体会到广于交游的乐趣。

“这样你就能模仿着学点什么，也可以向人求教，获得一点裨益，你看我是怎样从最低的官阶一级一级地升上来的（贝格这辈子不是用岁月来计算的，而是用他获得最高奖赏的次数来计算的）。目前我的同学们都还是无用之物，而我就要接任团长的空缺了，我有幸当了您的丈夫（他站立起来，吻吻薇拉的手，在向她走去的时候，他把地毯的折角弄平了）。他凭藉什么获得这一切呢？主要是，善于择交。不言而喻，必须具备有高尚的品德，认真地履行职责……”

贝格意识到他比软弱的妇女优越，他于是微微一笑，不开腔了，他想了想，他这个可爱的妻子仍然是个软弱的妇女，她没有办法理解男人ein　Mann　zu　sein①的各种长处。薇拉同时意识到他比道德高尚的好丈夫优越，因此，她也微微一笑，在她看来，丈夫像所有的男人一样。对生活仍然理解得很不正确。贝格在评论妻子时，竟认为所有的女人都是软弱而且愚蠢的。而薇拉在评论丈夫时，却把她的观点加以推广，以为所有的男人都认为自己明智，但他们一窍不通，都是夜郎自大，而且自私自利。

①德语：作为一个男子汉。

贝格站起来，小心翼翼地拥抱自己的妻子，为的是要不揉皱他花高价买来的花边短披肩，他对准她的嘴唇的正中间吻了一下。

“只希望我们别早生孩子。”他不自觉地顺着思路的延续发展，说道。

“是的，”薇拉回答，“我根本不想很快就生孩子。应当为社会而生活嘛。”

“公爵夫人尤苏波娃身上穿的那件短披肩也是这样的。”

贝格脸上流露着幸福的和善的微笑，他指着披肩说道。

这时候有人报告，说别祖霍夫伯爵到了，夫妇二人互使眼色，洋洋自得地微笑，每人都把有人来访的荣幸归属于自己。

“善于结交多么重要，”贝格想了想，“善于待人接物多么重要！”

“不过，当我接待宾客的时候，要记住，”薇拉说道，“你别打断我的话，因为我知道，要怎样接待每个宾客，在什么交际场合要说什么话。”

贝格也微微一笑。

“那不行，有时和男人打交道，就要谈谈男人的事情。”他说。

在一间新客厅里他们接待了皮埃尔，在这个地方如果不破坏对称和整齐清洁，哪儿也没法坐下来，为了要招待客人，贝格十分慷慨地愿意破坏安乐椅或者沙发的对称，这样做倒是完全可以理解的，不足为怪的，显然，他本人在这方面近乎病态的犹豫不决，只得听任宾客来处理这个问题。皮埃尔把椅子拖到自己跟前，对称被他破坏了，贝格和薇拉马上争先恐后地去应酬宾客，晚会就这样开始了。

薇拉心里琢磨了一会，果断地认为，应当谈论有关法国大使馆的事情，藉以引起皮埃尔的兴趣，拿定主意后，她立即谈起来了。贝格肯定地认为，还必须谈论男人的事情，于是他打断妻子的发言，提及对奥作战的问题，同时他又情不自禁地从一般的谈论忽然飞跃到个人的意向问题，即指有人建议他出征奥国以及他不接受建议的各种原因。虽然他们的谈话前后不相连贯，而且，薇拉对谈话时男人插嘴一事十分恼怒，但是他们夫妇二人都很满意，尽管晚会上只有一位客人，彼等依旧认为晚会开得成功，这次晚会与其他任何晚会一模一样，别无二致！晚会上既有谈话，也有甜茶，还有点燃的蜡烛。

此后不久，贝格的老同事鲍里斯到了。他在对待贝格和薇拉的态度上，显示着几分优越感和激励他们的意味。一名女士和上校、继而是将军本人、然后是罗斯托夫一家人都在鲍里斯之后走来，晚会已无可置疑地同所有的晚会完全一样。贝格和薇拉在看见客厅中的动作，听见不连贯的话语。连衣裙的窸窣声和寒暄时，他们忍不住流露出愉快的微笑。与所有晚会相同，各色俱全，尤其是将军像个指挥官，他称赞住宅，拍拍贝格的肩膀，摆出父辈独断独行的样子，发号施令，安排波士顿牌桌的坐次。将军坐在论名位仅次于自己的贵客伊利亚·安德烈伊奇伯爵旁边。小老头和小老头坐在一起，年轻人和年轻人坐在一起，女主人也坐在茶桌旁，就像帕宁家举办的晚会一样，茶桌上摆着银篮装的烘烤的食品，一切均与别人家所举办的晚会无异。