THE STAGE consisted of a boarded floor in the middle, with painted cardboard representing trees at the sides, and linen stretched over the boards at the back. In the middle of the stage there were sitting maidens in red bodices and white skirts. An excessively stout woman in a white silk dress was sitting apart on a low bench with green cardboard fixed on the back of it. They were all singing something. When they had finished their song, the woman in white moved towards the prompter's box, and a man, with his stout legs encased in silk tights, with a plume and a dagger, went up to her and began singing and waving his arms.

The man in the tights sang alone, then she sang alone. The both paused, while the music played, and the man fumbled with the hand of the woman in white, obviously waiting for the bar at which he was to begin singing with her. They sang a duet, and every one in the theatre began clapping and shouting, while the man and woman on the stage, supposed to represent lovers, began bowing with smiles and gesticulations.

After the country, and in her serious mood, Natasha felt it all grotesque and extraordinary. She could not follow the opera; she could not even listen to the music: she saw nothing but painted cardboard and strangely dressed-up men and women, talking, singing, and moving strangely about in the bright light. She knew what it all was meant to represent; but it was all so grotesquely false and unnatural that she felt alternately ashamed and amused at the actors. She looked about her at the faces of the spectators, seeking in them signs of the same irony and bewilderment that she was feeling herself. But all the faces were watching what was passing on the stage, and expressed nothing but an affected—so Natasha thought—rapture. “I suppose it is meant to be like this!” thought Natasha. She looked alternately at the rows of pomaded masculine heads in the stalls, and at the naked women in the boxes, especially at her next neighbour Ellen, who, quite undressed, sat gazing intently, with a quiet and serene smile. at the stage, and basking in the bright light that flooded the theatre, and the warm air, heated by the crowd. Natasha began gradually to pass into a state of intoxication she had not experienced for a long while. She lost all sense of what she was and where she was and what was going on before her eyes. She gazed and dreamed, and the strangest ideas flashed unexpectedly and disconnectedly into her mind. At one moment the idea occurred to her to leap over the footlights and sing that air the actress was singing; then she felt inclined to hook her fan into an old gentleman sitting near her, or to bend over to Ellen and tickle her.

At a moment when there was a lull on the stage before the beginning of a song, the door opening to the stalls creaked on the side nearest the Rostovs' box, and there was the sound of a man's footsteps. “Here he is, Kuragin!” whispered Shinshin. Countess Bezuhov turned smiling to the new-comer. Natasha looked in the direction of the Countess Bezuhov's eyes, and saw an exceedingly handsome adjutant coming towards their box with a confident, but yet courteous, bearing. It was Anatole Kuragin, whom she had seen long before, and noticed at the Petersburg ball. He was now wearing an adjutant's uniform, with one epaulette and a shoulder knot. He walked with a jaunty strut, which would have been ridiculous if he had not been so handsome, and if his good-looking face had not expressed such simple-hearted satisfaction and good spirits. Although the performance was going on he walked lightly, without haste, along the carpeted corridor, holding his scented, handsome head high, and accompanied by a slight clank of spurs and sword. Glancing at Natasha, he went up to his sister, laid his hand in a close-fitting glove on the edge of her box, nodded his head at her, and, bending down, asked her a question, with a motion towards Natasha.

“Very, very charming!” he said, obviously speaking of Natasha. She did not exactly hear the words, but divined them from the movement of his lips. Then he went on to the front row and sat down beside Dolohov, giving a friendly and careless nudge with his elbow to the man whom other people treated with such punctilio. With a merry wink, he smiled at him, and leaned with his foot against the footlights.

“How like the brother is to his sister!” said the count. “And how handsome they both are!”

Shinshin began telling the count in an undertone some story of an intrigue of Kuragin's in Moscow, to which Natasha listened, simply because he had said of her “very charming.”

The first act was over; every one stood up in the stalls, changed places, and began going out and coming in.

Boris came to the Rostovs' box, received their congratulations very simply, and lifting his eyebrows with an absent-minded smile, gave Natasha and Sonya his fiancée's message, begging them to come to her wedding, and went away. Natasha, with a gay and coquettish smile, talked to him and congratulated him on his approaching marriage—the very Boris she had once been in love with. In the condition of emotional intoxication in which she found herself everything seemed simple and natural.

Ellen sat in her nakedness close by her, and smiled on all alike, and just such a smile Natasha bestowed on Boris.

Ellen's box was filled and surrounded on the side of the stalls by the most distinguished and intellectual men, who seemed vying with one another in their desire to show every one that they knew her.

All throughout that entr'acte Kuragin stood with Dolohov in front of the footlights staring at the Rostovs' box. Natasha knew he was talking about her, and that afforded her satisfaction. She even turned so that he could see her profile from what she believed to be the most becoming angle. Before the beginning of the second act she observed in the stalls the figure of Pierre, whom the Rostovs had not seen since their arrival. His face looked sad, and he had grown stouter since Natasha had seen him last. He walked up to the front rows, not noticing any one. Anatole went up to him, and began saying something to him, with a look and a gesture towards the Rostovs' box. Pierre looked pleased at seeing Natasha, and walked hurriedly along the rows of stalls towards their box. Leaning on his elbow, he talked smiling to Natasha for a long while. While she was talking to Pierre, Natasha heard a man's voice speaking in Countess Bezuhov's box, and something told her it was Kuragin. She looked round and met his eyes. He looked her straight in the eyes, almost smiling, with a look of such warmth and admiration that it seemed strange to be so near him, to look at him like that, to be so certain that he admired her, and not to be acquainted with him.

In the second act there was scenery representing monuments, and a hold in the drop at the back that represented the moon, and shades were put over the footlights, and trumpets and bassoons began playing, and a number of people came in on the right and on the left wearing black cloaks. These people began waving their arms, and in their hands they had something of the nature of a dagger. Then some more people ran in and began dragging away the woman who had been in white but who was now in a blue dress. They did not drag her away at once; they spent a long while singing with her; but finally they did drag her away, and behind the scenes they struck something metallic three times, and then all knelt down and began singing a prayer. All these performances were interrupted several times by the enthusiastic shouts of the spectators.

During that act, every time Natasha glanced towards the stalls, she saw Anatole Kuragin, with one arm flung across the back of his chair, staring at her. It pleased her to see that he was so captivated by her, and it never entered her head that there could be anything amiss in it.

When the second act was over, Countess Bezuhov got up, turned towards the Rostovs' box (the whole of her bosom was completely exposed), with her gloved little finger beckoned the old count to her, and taking no notice of the men who were thronging about her box, began with an amiable smile talking to him.

“Oh, do make me acquainted with your charming daughters,” she said. “All the town is singing their praises, and I don't know them.”

Natasha got up and curtseyed to the magnificent countess. Natasha was so delighted at the praise from this brilliant beauty that she blushed with pleasure.

“I quite want to become a Moscow resident myself,” said Ellen. “What a shame of you to bury such pearls in the country!”

Countess Bezuhov had some right to her reputation of being a fascinating woman. She could say what she did not think, especially what was flattering, with perfect simplicity and naturalness.

“No, dear count, you must let me help to entertain your daughters, though I'm not here now for very long, nor you either. But I'll do my best to amuse them. I have heard a great deal about you in Petersburg, and wanted to know you,” she said to Natasha, with her unvarying beautiful smile. “I have heard of you, too, from my page, Drubetskoy—you have heard he is to be married—and from my husband's friend, Bolkonsky, Prince Andrey Bolkonsky,” she said, with peculiar emphasis, by which she meant to signify that she knew in what relation he stood to Natasha. She asked that one of the young ladies might be allowed to sit through the rest of the performance in her box that they might become better acquainted, and Natasha moved into it.

In the third act the scene was a palace in which a great many candles were burning, and pictures were hanging on the walls, representing knights with beards. In the middle stood a man and a woman; probably meant for a king and a queen. The king waved his right hand, and, obviously nervous, sang something very badly, and sat down on a crimson throne. The actress, who had been in white at first and then in blue, was now in nothing but a smock, and had let her hair down. She was standing near the throne, singing something very mournful, addressed to the queen. But the king waved his hand sternly, and from the sides there came in men and women with bare legs who began dancing all together. Then the violins played very shrilly and merrily: one of the actresses, with thick, bare legs and thin arms, leaving the rest, went to the side to set straight her bodice, then walked into the middle of the stage and began skipping into the air and kicking one leg very rapidly with the other. Every one in the stalls clapped their hands and roared “bravo!” Then one man stood alone at one corner of the stage. The cymbals and trumpets struck up more loudly in the orchestra, and this man began leaping very high in the air and rapidly waving his legs. (This was Duport, who earned sixty thousand a year by this accomplishment.) Every one in the boxes and in the stalls began clapping and shouting with all their might, and the man stood still and began smiling and bowing in all directions. Then other men and women with bare legs danced; then again the king shouted something to music, and they all began singing. But suddenly a storm came on, chromatic scales and chords with the diminishing sevenths could be heard in the orchestra, and they all ran off, dragging one of the performers again behind the scenes, and the curtain dropped. Again a fearful uproar of applause arose among the spectators, and all began screaming with rapturous faces:

“Duport! Duport! Duport!”

Natasha did not now feel this strange. She looked about her with pleasure, smiling joyfully.

“Isn't Duport admirable?” said Ellen, turning to her.

“Oh yes,” answered Natasha.

平平的木板摆在戏台正中间，两侧是绘有树木的彩色硬纸板，后面是绷直搭在木板上的画布。一些系着红色硬腰带、穿着白裙子的少女坐在戏台正中间，一个非常肥胖的身穿白绸连衣裙的少女独自一人坐在矮板凳上，一块绿色的硬纸板贴在矮板凳后面。她们在唱着一支什么歌。当她们唱完这支歌以后，那个身穿白连衣裙的少女走到提词人小室前面，那个粗壮的腿上裹着一条紧身绸裤的男士，手里拿着一顶饰有一根白羽的帽子和一柄匕首，走到她跟前，两手一摊，唱起歌来。

那个穿着紧身绸裤的男士曼声地独唱，然后她和唱。这之后两个人停止唱歌，开始奏乐了，那个男士开始抚摸白衣女郎的手，显然又在等待与她合唱时合着拍子独唱的部分。他们两个人合唱了这首歌，戏院中的全体观众都鼓掌喝彩，饰演恋人的一男一女，笑嘻嘻地伸开两手，鞠躬行礼，以示谢忱。

从乡下回来以后，娜塔莎的心情还很沉重，她觉得戏台上的一切都很粗犷而且奇怪。她无法继续注视歌剧剧情的进展，她甚至不能再听音乐了，她只看见彩色的硬纸板、打扮得稀奇古怪的男男女女，在耀眼的灯光映照下做出奇怪的动作，一会儿说话，一会儿唱歌，她知道这一切必然是戏台上的表演，但是这一切如此矫揉造作、虚假而不自然，她不禁时而替演员害臊，时而觉得他们滑稽可笑。她环顾四周，注视观众的面容，在他们脸上寻找她心中固有的那种讥笑和困惑不安的感觉；但是所有的人都全神贯注地观看戏台上的表演。娜塔莎仿佛觉得，他们个个都表示虚假的赞赏。“想必应该如此！”娜塔莎想道。她时而逐个地打量池座里一排排抹了发蜡的脑袋，时而打量包厢里裸露肩头和臂膀的妇女，尤其是打量邻座的海伦，她完全袒胸露体，流露出宁静的微笑，目不转睛地望着戏台，觉察到明亮的灯光洋溢于整个大厅，一大群人使冷空气变得温暖了。娜塔莎渐渐进入她久未体验的陶醉状态中。她忘乎所以，不记得她是谁，她在什么地方，她面前在发生什么事。她一面望，一面想，那些古怪的不连贯的思想出乎意料地在她头脑中闪现。她时而想跳到厢座的边缘，唱那个女伶唱过的咏叹调，她时而想用折扇绊住那个坐在她附近的小老头子，时而想向海伦弯下身去胳肢她。

在戏台上一片寂静、等待她开始演唱咏叹调的时刻，一扇通往罗斯托夫家的包厢那边的池座入口的门吱哑一声打开了，可以听见一个迟到的男人的步履声。“他就是库拉金！”申申用耳语说。伯爵夫人别祖霍娃含着笑容把脸转向走进来的男人。娜塔莎顺着伯爵夫人别祖霍娃的目光投射的方向看了看，看见一个异常清秀的副官，他带着自信而且毕恭毕敬的样子，走到他们的包厢前面。他就是她在彼得堡的舞会上老早就见过面而且记在心上的阿纳托利·库拉金。现在他穿着一套带肩章和穗带的副官制服，迈着稳重的雄赳赳的步伐向前走，假如他长得不清秀，假如他那好看的脸上不流露着和善的洋洋自得和愉快的神态，他的步伐就会令人发笑了。尽管他们正在表演，他还是从容不迫地、轻轻地碰着马刺和马刀，发出叮当的响声，他高高地抬起他那洒上香水的好看的头，从走廊的地毯上走过去。他看了看娜塔莎，走到他妹妹跟前，把那只手套套得紧紧的手放在包厢边缘上，向她晃了晃脑袋，指着娜塔莎，弯下腰来问了一句什么话。

“Mais　charmante！”①他说，显然是说娜塔莎，与其说她听见，毋宁说是从他的嘴唇的掀动她领悟了他的意思。然后他走到第一排，坐在多洛霍夫身旁，友善而随便地用臂肘推了一下别人阿谀奉承的多洛霍夫。他愉快地向他丢个眼色，微微一笑，他把一只脚搭在戏台前沿的栏杆上。

①法语：很，很可爱！

“兄妹多么相像啊！”伯爵说，“两个人都长得清秀。”

申申对伯爵小声地讲述库拉金在莫斯科的不正常的男女关系，娜塔莎所以细听，正是因为他讲到她charmante。

第一幕已经演完了，池座里的观众都站起来，乱成一团了，有的人走来走去，有的人走出观众厅。

鲍里斯走到罗斯托夫家的包厢，很平常地接受了祝贺，他微微地扬起眉毛，漫不经心地露出微笑，向娜塔莎和索尼娅转告他的未婚妻拟请她们出席婚礼之事，说罢便走出去。娜塔莎脸上流露着欢喜的娇媚的笑意和他谈话，并且恭贺她从前热恋过的那个鲍里斯的新婚之喜。在她所处的那种陶醉状态中，一切似乎都很平常而且自然。

袒胸露体的海伦坐在她身旁，同样地也对大家微露笑容，娜塔莎同样地也对鲍里斯嫣然一笑。

海伦的包厢挤满了人，她被池座那边的最显贵的、聪明的男人们包围住了，他们好像争先恐后地想向大伙儿表示，他们都是她的熟人。

幕间休息时，库拉金和多洛霍夫始终站在前面的戏台边沿上的栏杆旁边，不时地望着罗斯托夫家的包厢。娜塔莎知道他正在谈论她，这就使她感到高兴。她甚至转过身来，好让他看见她的侧面，根据她的看法，她的侧面能够给人以良好印象，第二幕开始之前，皮埃尔的身影在池座里出现了，自从抵达莫斯科后，罗斯托夫家里的人尚未会见他。他满面愁容，自从娜塔莎上次和他见面以来，他变得更肥胖了。他不注意任何人，一个劲儿走到前排。皮埃尔看见娜塔莎，愉快起来了，急忙穿过一排排厢座，向他们的包厢走去。他走到他们跟前，用臂肘支撑在包厢边沿上，微笑着跟娜塔莎谈了很久的话。娜塔莎和皮埃尔谈论的时候，她听见伯爵夫人别祖霍娃的包厢里传来男人的语声，不知怎的她听出这是库拉金的语声。她回头一望，她和他的目光相遇了。他几乎是满面春风，用那温和的令人喜悦的目光直勾勾地望着她的眼睛，——她隔他这样近，这样谛视他，而且这样自信，认为他会喜欢她，但却和不熟识，这就仿佛令人感到诧异了。

第二幕的布景是水彩画上的纪念碑，画布上的圆窟窿用以表示月亮，拉起了脚灯灯罩，他们开始吹低音小号，拉低音提琴，许多穿黑袍的人从左右两边走出来。人们开始挥动手臂，他们手中拿着类似匕首的兵器，后来还有一些人跑来，开始拖走那个原先穿白色连衣裙、现在穿蓝色连衣裙的少女。他们并没有一下子把她拖走，而是和她在一起唱了很久，然后才把她拖走的，有人在后台敲了三下金属乐器，于是大家都跪下来，唱祈祷词。这几幕的表演都被观众的欢呼声打断了几次。

在这一幕表演的时候，娜塔莎每次观看池座，总看见阿纳托利·库拉金把一只手搭在安乐椅背上，端详她。她看见他已经被她迷住，觉得很高兴，并没有想到这有什么异乎寻常的地方。

第二幕表演宣告结束时，伯爵夫人别祖霍娃站起来，把脸转向罗斯托夫家的包厢（她的胸脯完全袒露），用她那戴着手套的手指把老伯爵招呼过来，她没有理睬那几个走进她的包厢的人，脸上流露出善意的微笑，并开始和他谈话。

“请把您的几个可爱的女儿介绍给我认识吧，”她说，“全城都在宣扬她们，可是我竟然不认识她们。”

娜塔莎站起来，向这个华丽的伯爵夫人行屈膝礼，这个出色的美女的夸奖使娜塔莎心里感到愉快，她高兴得脸红起来。

“我现在也想变成一个莫斯科人，”海伦说，“您竟把珍珠埋在农村，真够害羞的！”

伯爵夫人别祖霍娃论理应当享有迷人的女人的声誉。她可以非常轻易地、非常自然地说出心里没有想说的话，尤其是善于谄媚他人。

“不，可爱的伯爵，请您允许我照顾一下您的几个女儿。但是我不会长期地待在这里。您也是如此。我尽力设法使您的女儿们快活一阵子。我早在彼得堡就听到许多有关您的情形，我很想认识您，”她对娜塔莎说，脸上流露着她常有的动人的笑意。“我从我的少年侍从——德鲁别茨科伊那里听到有关您的情况，您听说他要结婚了，——我也从我丈夫的朋友——博尔孔斯基，即是安德烈·博尔孔斯基公爵那里听到有关您的情况，”她特别强调地说，用这句话来暗示她知道他跟娜塔莎的关系。为了更充分地互相认识，她请求他让其中一个小姐在歌剧演出的其余部分到她包厢去坐一阵子，于是娜塔莎往她那边去了。

戏台上第三幕的布景是皇宫，皇宫中点燃着许多蜡烛，悬挂着一张张描绘那些留着髯须的骑士的图画。沙皇和皇后大概站在正中间。沙皇挥了挥右手，显然他胆怯，拙劣地唱了什么，然后在绛红色的宝座上坐下来。那个开初穿着白色连衣裙、继而穿着蓝色连衣裙、现在只穿一件衬衫的少女，披头散发，站在宝座旁边。她向皇后转过脸来，悲哀地唱着什么，但是沙皇严肃地挥了挥手，就有几个裸露着两腿的男人和裸露着两腿的女人从两旁走出，他们便一同跳起舞来。然后小提琴用那尖细的高音奏起欢乐的曲调，那些裸露着有几把粗大的两腿和消瘦的胳膊的少女之中的一人，离开了其余的人，走进后台，她把裙上的硬腰带弄平，从后台出来，走到戏台正中间，跳起舞来，她飞快地用一只脚拍打着另一只脚。池座里的观众都拍手叫好，然后有一个男人站在角落里。管弦乐队更响亮地弹起扬琴，吹起小号，只有这个裸露着两腿的男人独自跳起舞来，跳得很高，而且迅速地跺脚。（这个男人叫做迪波尔，他凭这种技艺每年挣得六万卢布。）楼下池座、包厢与顶层楼座的观众都拼命地鼓掌喝彩，这个男人于是就停了下来，面露笑容，向四面的观众鞠躬行礼。然后还有另外一些光着两腿的男人和女人跳舞，然后又有一位沙皇在音乐伴奏下呐喊着什么，于是大家又唱起歌来。但是忽然刮起了一阵暴风，管弦乐队中响起了半音音阶和降低的七度音和弦，大家都奔跑起来，又把在场的一人拖到了后台，幕落了，观众之间又出现了可怕的喧嚣声和噼啪声，大家的脸上都带着洋洋得意的神情，开始呼喊起来。

“迪波尔！迪波尔！迪波尔！”

娜塔莎已经不认为这是什么古怪的事了。她心里感到非常高兴，愉快地微笑着环顾四周。

“N'est—ce　pas　qu'il　est　admirable—Duport？”①海伦把脸转向她，说道。

“Oh，oui．”②娜塔莎回答。

①法语：迪波尔惹人喜欢，不是吗？

②法语：啊，正是这样。