THE DAY after his son's departure, Prince Nikolay Andreitch sent for Princess Marya.
“Well, now are you satisfied?” he said to her. “You have made me quarrel with my son! Are you satisfied? That was all you wanted! Satisfied? … It's a grief to me, a grief. I'm old and weak, and it was your wish. Well, now, rejoice over it. …” And after that, Princess Marya did not see her father again for a week. He was ill and did not leave his study.
Princess Marya noticed to her surprise that during this illness the old prince excluded Mademoiselle Bourienne too from his room. Tihon was the only person who looked after him.
A week later the prince reappeared, and began to lead the same life as before, showing marked energy in the laying out of farm buildings and gardens, and completely breaking off all relations with Mademoiselle Bourienne. His frigid tone and air with Princess Marya seemed to say: “You see, you plotted against me, told lies to Prince Andrey of my relations with that Frenchwoman, and made me quarrel with him, but you see I can do without you, and without the Frenchwoman too.”
One half of the day Princess Marya spent with Nikolushka, giving him his Russian lessons, following his other lessons, and talking to Dessalle. The rest of the day she spent in reading, or with her old nurse and “God's folk,” who came by the back stairs sometimes to visit her. The war Princess Marya looked on as women do look on war. She was apprehensive for her brother who was at the front, and was horrified, without understanding it, at the cruelty of men, that led them to kill one another. But she had no notion of the significance of this war, which seemed to her exactly like all the preceding wars. She had no notion of the meaning of this war, although Dessalle, who was her constant companion, was passionately interested in the course of the war, and tried to explain his views on the subject to her, and although “God's folk” all, with terror, told her in their own way of the rumours among the peasantry of the coming of Antichrist, and although Julie, now Princess Drubetskoy, who had renewed her correspondence with her, was continually writing her patriotic letters from Moscow.
“I write to you in Russian, my sweet friend,” Julie wrote, “because I feel a hatred for all the French and for their language too; I can't bear to hear it spoken. … In Moscow we are all wild with enthusiasm for our adored Emperor.
“My poor husband is enduring hardships and hunger in wretched Jewish taverns, but the news I get from him only increases my ardour.
“You have doubtless heard of the heroic action of Raevsky, who embraced his two sons and said, ‘We will die together, but we will not flinch!' And though the enemy were twice as strong, we did not in fact flinch. We kill time here as best we can; but in war, as in war. Princess Alina and Sophie spend whole days with me, and we, unhappy windows of living husbands, have delightful talks over scraping lint. We only want you, my darling, to make us complete,” etc., etc.
The principal reason why Princess Marya failed to grasp the significance of the war was that the old prince never spoke of it, refused to recognize its existence, and laughed at Dessalle when he mentioned the war at dinner-time. The prince's tone was so calm and confident that Princess Marya put implicit faith in him.
During the whole of July the old prince was excessively active and even lively. He laid out another new garden and a new wing for the servants. The only thing that made Princess Marya anxious about him was that he slept badly, and gave up his old habit of sleeping in his study, and had a bed made up for him in a new place every day. One night he would have his travelling bedstead set up in the gallery, the next night he would spend dozing dressed on the sofa or in the lounge-chair in the drawing-room, while the lad Petrushka, who had replaced Mademoiselle Bourienne in attendance on him, read aloud to him; then he would try spending a night in the dining-room.
On the first of August a second letter came from Prince Andrey. In his first letter, which had been received shortly after he left home, Prince Andrey had humbly asked his father's forgiveness for what he had permitted himself to say to him, and had begged to be restored to his favour. To this letter, the old prince had sent an affectionate answer, and from that time he had kept the Frenchwoman at a distance. Prince Andrey's second letter was written under Vitebsk, after the French had taken it. It consisted of a brief account of the whole campaign, with a plan sketched to illustrate it, and of reflections on the probable course it would take in the future. In this letter Prince Andrey pointed out to his father the inconvenience of his position close to the theatre of war, and in the direct line of the enemy's advance, and advised him to move to Moscow.
At dinner that day, on Dessalle's observing that he had heard that the French had already entered Vitebsk, the old prince recollected Prince Andrey's letter.
“I have heard from Prince Andrey to-day,” he said to Princess Marya; “have you read the letter?”
“No, mon pére,” the Princess answered timidly. She could not possibly have read the letter, of which indeed she had not heard till that instant.
“He writes about this war,” said the prince, with the contemptuous smile that had become habitual with him in speaking of the present war.
“It must be very interesting,” said Dessalle. “Prince Andrey is in a position to know. …”
“Ah, very interesting!” said Mademoiselle Bourienne.
“Go and get it for me,” said the old prince to Mademoiselle Bourienne. “You know, on the little table under the paper-weight.”
Mademoiselle Bourienne jumped up eagerly.
“Ah, no,” he shouted, frowning. “You run, Mihail Ivanitch!” Mihail Ivanitch got up and went to the study. But he had hardly left the room when the old prince, looking about him nervously, threw down his dinner napkin and went himself.
“They never can do anything, always make a muddle.”
As he went out, Princess Marya, Dessalle, Mademoiselle Bourienne, and even little Nikolushka, looked at one another without speaking. The old prince accompanied by Mihail Ivanitch came back with a hurried step, bringing the letter and a plan, which he laid beside him, and did not give to any one to read during dinner.
When they went into the drawing-room, he handed the letter to Princess Marya, and spreading out before him the plan of his new buildings, he fixed his eyes upon it, and told her to read the letter aloud.
After reading the letter, Princess Marya looked inquiringly at her father. He was gazing at the plan, evidently engrossed in his own ideas.
“What do you think about it, prince?” Dessalle ventured to inquire.
“I? eh? …” said the old prince, seeming to rouse himself with a painful effort, and not taking his eyes from the plan of the building.
“It is very possible that the field of operations may be brought so close to us …”
“Ha-ha-ha! The field of operations indeed!” said the old prince. “I have always said, and I say still, that the field of operations is bound to be Poland, and the enemy will never advance beyond the Niemen.” Dessalle looked in amazement at the prince, who was talking of the Niemen, when the enemy was already at the Dnieper. But Princess Marya, forgetting the geographical position of the Niemen, supposed that what her father said was true.
“When the snows thaw they'll drown in the marshes of Poland. It's only that they can't see it,” said the old prince, obviously thinking of the campaign of 1807, which seemed to him so recent. “Bennigsen ought to have entered Prussia earlier, and things would have taken quite another turn. …”
“But, prince!” said Dessalle timidly, “the letter speaks of Vitebsk. …”
“Ah, the letter? Yes, …” said the prince, with displeasure. “Yes … yes …” His face suddenly assumed a gloomy expression. He paused. “Yes, he writes, the French have been beaten. On what river was it?”
Dessalle dropped his eyes. “The prince says nothing about that,” he said gently.
“What, doesn't he? Why, you don't suppose I imagined it.”
Every one was for a long time silent.
“Yes … yes … Well, Mihail Ivanitch,” he said suddenly, raising his head and pointing to the plan of the building, “tell me how you propose to make that alteration. …”
Mihail Ivanitch went up to the plan, and the old prince, talking to him about it, went off to his own room, casting a wrathful glance at Princess Marya and Dessalle.
Princess Marya saw Dessalle's embarrassed and amazed expression as he looked at her father. She noticed his silence and was struck by the fact that her father had left his son's letter forgotten on the drawing-room table. But she was afraid to speak of it, to ask Dessalle the reason of his embarrassed silence, afraid even to think about it.
In the evening Mihail Ivanitch was sent by the prince to Princess Marya to ask for the letter that had been forgotten on the table. Princess Marya gave him the letter, and much as she disliked doing so, she ventured to ask what her father was doing
“Still very busy,” said Mihail Ivanitch, in a tone of deferential irony, that made her turn pale. “Worrying very much over the new wing. Been reading a little: but now” — Mihail Ivanitch dropped his voice — “he's at his bureau looking after his will, I expect.” One of the old prince's favourite occupations of late had been going over the papers which he meant to leave at his death, and called his “will.”
“And is Alpatitch being sent to Smolensk?” asked Princess Marya.
“To be sure; he's been waiting a long while for his orders.”
儿子离家的第二天，尼古拉·安德烈伊奇公爵把玛丽亚公爵小姐叫到他自己跟前。
“怎么样，你现在满意了吧？”他对她说，“你使我同儿子吵了一架！满意了吧？你就需要这样！满意了吧？……真叫我痛心又痛心啊！我老了，不行了，这也是你所希望的。那么你就高兴了吧，得意了吧……”此后，玛丽亚公爵小姐有一个星期没有见到父亲。因为他生病了，没有离开过他的书房。
玛丽亚公爵小姐感到惊奇的是，她注意到，老公爵在生病期间也不让布里安小姐到他跟前去。只有吉洪一个人侍候他。
过了一周，公爵出来了，又开始了以前的生活。他特别积极地从事建筑和园艺方面的活动，而且断绝了他和布里安小姐过去的一切关系。他的神态和对玛丽亚公爵小姐冷淡的口气，好像是对她说：“你要知道，你对我胡乱猜想，向安德烈公爵胡说我和法国女人的关系，使得我同他吵架，而你知道了吧，我既不需要你，也不需要法国女人。”
玛丽亚公爵小姐每天一半时间和尼古卢什卡度过，照管他做功课，亲自教他俄语和音乐，并同德萨尔进行交谈，另外半天时间，她则看书，同老保姆在一起，有时又同从后门进来看她的神亲们一起消磨时间。
玛丽亚公爵小姐对战争的看法和一般妇女对战争的看法一样。她为参战的哥哥而担心，她为迫使人们互相屠杀的人世间的残忍既感到恐怖，却又不理解这次战争的意义，认为这跟过去的一切战争都是一样的。尽管非常关心战况的德萨尔经常和她交谈，极力向她说明他自己的想法，尽管前来看她的神亲们总是按照他们自己的看法，胆战心寒地讲述了有关基督的敌人入侵的民间传闻，尽管现在是德鲁别茨卡娅公爵夫人——朱莉又恢复了与她的信函往来，从莫斯科给她写来了许多爱国的信件，但是她仍然不理解这次战争的意义。
“我的好朋友！我现在用俄文给您写信，”——朱莉写道——“因为我恨所有的法国人，同样地恨他们的语言，我也听不得人家讲那种语言……，由于对我们所崇拜的皇帝的热情，我们在莫斯科都感到非常振奋。”
“我那可怜的丈夫现在住在犹太人的旅店里受苦挨饿，但是我所得到的种种信息更加使我鼓舞。”
“想必您听到了拉耶夫斯基的英雄事迹了，他曾抱着两个儿子说：我要和他们同归于尽，但我们决不动摇！的确，敌人的力量虽然比我们强一倍，可是我们却岿然不动。我们尽可能地消磨时间。但战时就像战时嘛？阿琳娜公爵小姐和索菲同我整天坐在一起，我们是不幸的守活寡的妇人，在作棉线团时①大家聊得兴致勃勃；只少您在这儿，我的朋友……”等等。玛丽亚公爵小姐之所以不理解这次战争的全部意义，主要是因为老公爵从来不谈战争，也不承认有战争，而且在吃饭时嘲笑谈论这次战争的德萨尔。老公爵的口气是如此之平静而又自信，以致玛丽亚公爵小姐毫无异议地相信他的话。
①旧时把破棉布撕下来代替药棉裹伤用的。
整个七月，老公爵都非常积极，甚至生气勃勃。他奠定了又一座新的花园和为仆人建造一座新的楼房的基础。唯一使玛丽亚公爵小姐感到不安的是，他睡眠很少了，并改变了他在书房里的习惯，而且每天都要更动自己过夜的地方。有时，他命令人在走廊里打开他的行军床；有时，他不脱衣服躺在客厅里的沙发上或者坐在伏尔泰椅上；有时，他不让布里安小姐，而是叫家童彼得鲁沙给他朗读；有时，他也就在食堂里过夜。
八月一日，收到安德烈公爵的第二封信。在他走后不久收到的第一封信里，安德烈公爵恭顺地请求父亲对他所说的话加以宽恕，并请求父亲恢复对他的宠爱。老公爵给他亲切地回了一封信，之后他就与法国女人疏远了。安德烈公爵的第二封信是在法军占领了维捷布斯克附近写的，信中简要地描写了战役的整个过程和战役示意图，以及对今后战局的看法。同时安德烈公爵在这封中还对他父亲说，他住的地方接近战场，正处在军事交通线路上，是很不利的，并且劝他父亲到莫斯科去。
在这天吃饭的时候，德萨尔说，他听到说法军已经入侵维捷布斯克，老公爵顿时想起了安德烈公爵的来信。
“今天收到了安德烈公爵的来信，”他对玛丽亚公爵小姐说，“你看过了吧？”
“没有过，mon père．①。”公爵小姐吃惊地回答说。她未曾看过信，甚至关于收到信的事也没有听到过。
①法语：爸爸。
“他在信里又谈到这次战争，”公爵带着那已成为他习已为常，一提起目前的战争就露出轻蔑的微笑说。
“想必是很有趣的！”德萨尔说。“公爵会知道的……”
“啊，是非常有趣的？”布里安小姐说。
“您去给我把信拿来！”老公爵对布里安小姐说。“您是知道的，信就在小桌子上的压板下面。”
布里安小姐高兴地跳了起来。
“啊，不用去啦，”他愁眉不展，大声说道：“你去吧，米哈伊尔·伊万内奇！”
米哈伊尔·伊万内奇起身到书房去。他刚一出去，老公爵就神色不安地东张西望，扔下餐巾，亲自去取信。
他们什么都不会干，总是弄得乱七八糟。
在他走后，玛丽亚公爵小姐、德萨尔、布里安小姐，甚至于尼古卢什卡都沉默地交换着目光。老公爵由米哈伊尔·伊万内奇陪着，迈开急促的步伐回来了。他带着信和建房的计划、在吃饭的时候，把它们信放在身边，没让任何人看。
老公爵转回客厅后，他把信递给玛丽亚公爵小姐，然后把新的建房计划摊开，一面注视着建房计划，一面命令她大声读信，玛丽亚公爵小姐读完了信之后，疑问地看了看他的父亲。他在看建房计划，显然陷入了沉思。
“您对这个问题以为如何？公爵？”德萨尔以为可以提问。
“我？我？……”公爵说，好像不愉快地苏醒过来似的，但目光仍盯着建房的计划。
“很可能，战场就离我们不远了……”
“哈，哈，哈！战场！”公爵说，“我说过，现在还要说，战场在波兰，敌人永远不会越过涅曼河的。”
当敌人已经到了德聂伯河，德萨尔却惊讶地看了看还在说涅曼河的公爵；但是玛丽亚公爵小姐忘记了涅曼河的地理位置，以为她父亲说的话是对的。
“在冰雪融化的时候，他们就要陷入在波兰的沼泽地里。只不过他们未能看到这一点罢了。”老公爵说，显然是他想起了发生在一八○七年的战争，认为这是那么近。“贝尼格森本应早一点进入普鲁士，那情况就不同了……”
“但，公爵，”德萨尔胆怯地说，“信里提到的是维捷布斯克……”
“啊，信里提到了吗？是的……”公爵不满意地说，“是的……是的……”他的面容突然显出来阴沉的表情。他沉默了一会儿。“是的，他在信中写道，法军在哪条河上被击溃的呀？”
德萨尔垂下眼睛。
“公爵在信里并没有提到这件事。”他低声说。
“真的没有提到吗？哼，我才不会瞎编的。”
大家长时间地沉默不语。
“是的……是的……喂，米哈伊尔·伊万内奇，”他突然抬起头来，指着建房的计划说，“你说说，你想怎么改……”
米哈伊尔·伊万内奇走到那计划前面，公爵和他读了读新建房的计划，然后生气地看了看玛丽亚公爵小姐和德萨尔一眼，便到自己的房里去了。
玛丽亚公爵小姐看见，德萨尔把难为情的，吃惊的视线集中到她的父亲身上，同时也注意到了他沉默不语，并因为她父亲把儿子的信遗忘在客厅的桌子上而吃惊，但是她不但怕说到，怕问到德萨尔关于他的难为情和沉默不语的原因，而且她也怕想到这件事。
傍晚，米哈伊尔·伊万内奇被公爵派到玛丽亚公爵小姐那儿去取忘在客厅里的安德烈公爵的信。玛丽亚公爵小姐把信给了他。虽然对她这是不愉快的事，但是她还是敢于向米哈伊尔·伊万内奇询问她父亲现在在干什么。
“总是忙！”米哈伊尔·伊万内奇面带恭敬而又讥讽的笑容说，这就使得玛丽亚公爵小姐的面色发白了。“他对那幢新房很不放心，看了一会儿书，而现在。”米哈伊尔·伊万内奇压低了嗓音说，准是伏案写遗嘱吧！（近来公爵喜爱的工作之一是整理一些死后留传后世的文件，他称之为遗嘱。）”
“要派阿尔帕特奇到斯摩棱斯克去吗？”玛丽亚公爵小姐问。
“可不是，他已经等了好久。”
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