ON THE 17TH of August Rostov and Ilyin, accompanied by Lavrushka, who had just come back from being taken prisoner by the French, and an hussar on orderly duty, rode out from Yankovo, fifteen versts from Bogutcharovo. They meant to try a new horse that Ilyin had bought, and to find out whether there was hay to be had in the village.
Bogutcharovo had been for the last three days between the two hostile armies, so that the Russian rearguard could reach the village as easily as the French vanguard; and therefore Rostov, like a careful officer, was anxious to anticipate the French in securing any provisions that might be left there.
Rostov and Ilyin were in the liveliest spirits. On the way to Bogutcharovo, which they knew to be an estate belonging to a prince, with a manor-house, where they hoped to find a large household, and, perhaps, pretty servant-girls, they questioned Lavrushka about Napoleon, and laughed at his stories; then raced their horses to test Ilyin's new purchase. Rostov had no notion that the village to which he was going was the property of the very Prince Bolkonsky who had been betrothed to his sister.
Rostov and Ilyin had just let their horses race till they were weary for the last time before Bogutcharovo, and Rostov, outstripping Ilyin was the first to gallop into the village street.
“You started in front,” said Ilyin, flushed.
“Yes, always in front, in the meadow and here too,” answered Rostov, patting his foaming Don horse.
“And on my Frenchy, your excellency,” said Lavrushka from behind, meaning the wretched cart-horse he was riding, “I could have overtaken you, only I didn't want to put you to shame.”
They rode at a walking pace towards the granary, where there was a great crowd of peasants standing. Several of the peasants took off their caps, others stared at them without taking off their caps. Two old peasants, with wrinkled faces and scanty beards, came out of the tavern, reeling and singing a tuneless song, and advanced with smiles towards the officers. “They're fine fellows!” said Rostov, laughing. “Well, have you any hay?”
“And so alike, somehow …” said Ilyin.
“Ma … a … aking mer … ry in my sum … sum … mer …” chanted the peasant, with a blissful smile.
A peasant came out of the crowd and went up to Rostov.
“Which part will you be from?” asked the peasant.
“We're French,” answered Ilyin, laughing. “And this is Napoleon himself,” he said, pointing to Lavrushka.
“I suppose you are Russians then?” the peasant inquired.
“And have you many troops here?” asked another short peasant, approaching.
“A great many,” answered Rostov. “But why are you all assembled here?” he added. “Is it a holiday or what?”
“The old men are met about the village business,” answered the peasant, moving away from him.
At that moment there came into sight two women and a man in a white hat running from the prince's house towards the officers.
“The one in pink's mine; hands off, beware!” said Ilyin, noticing Dunyasha running resolutely towards them.
“She'll be the girl for us!” said Lavrushka, winking to Ilyin.
“What is it you want, my pretty?” said Ilyin, smiling.
“The princess sent me to ask of what regiment are you, and what is your name?”
“This is Count Rostov, the commander of the squadron, and I am your humble servant.”
“Mer … mer … mer … arbour!” chanted the drunken peasant, smiling blissfully, and gazing at Ilyin as he talked to the girl. Alpatitch followed Dunyasha, taking off his hat to Rostov as he approached.
“I make bold to trouble your honour,” he said, putting one hand in his bosom, and speaking with a respectfulness in which there was a shade of contempt for the officer's youth. “My mistress, the daughter of general-in-chief Prince Nikolay Andreitch Bolkonsky, who died on the 15th of this month, being in difficulties owing to the coarse ignorance of those people”—he pointed to the peasants—“begs you to come … Would you not be pleased,” said Alpatitch, with a melancholy smile, “to move a little away, as it is not so convenient before …” Alpatitch indicated two peasants, who were hovering about him, like gadflies about a horse.
“Ay! … Alpatitch! … Ay! Yakov Alpatitch! first-rate job! Eh? … for Christ's sake, forgive us. First-rate! ay?” cried the peasants, smiling gleefully at him.
Rostov looked at the drunken peasants, and smiled.
“Or possibly this entertains your excellency?” said Yakov Alpatitch, with a sober air, pointing with his other hand to the old peasants.
“No, there's nothing very entertaining in that,” said Rostov, and he moved away. “What is the matter?” he inquired.
“I make bold to submit to your excellency that the rude peasants here will not let their lady leave the estate, and threaten to take the horses out of her carriage, so that everything has been packed since morning, yet her excellency cannot get away.”
“Impossible!” cried Rostov.
“I have the honour of submitting to you the simple truth,” said Alpatitch.
Rostov got off his horse, and giving it to the orderly, walked with Alpatitch to the house, questioning him further about the state of affairs.
The princess's offer of corn, and her interview with Dron and with the peasants, had, in fact, made the position so much worse that Dron had finally given up the keys of office, joined the peasants and refused to appear when Alpatitch sent for him. In the morning when the princess ordered the horses to be put in for her to set off, the peasants had come out in a great crowd to the granary, and had sent to say that they would not let the princess go out of the village; that there was an edict that people were not to leave their houses, and that they would unharness the horses. Alpatitch went out to lecture them; in reply they told him (a certain Karp was the principal speaker, Dron kept in the background in the crowd) that the princess could not be allowed to go, that there was an edict forbidding it, but that only let her stay, and they would serve her and obey her in everything as before.
At the moment when Rostov and Ilyin were galloping along the village street, regardless of the efforts of Alpatitch, the old nurse, and the maid to dissuade her, Princess Marya had just ordered the horses to be put in, and was intending to start. But seeing the horsemen galloping up, the coachmen took them for the French, and ran away, and a great lamentation arose among the women of the household.
“Kind sir! protector! God has sent thee,” cried voices, with much feeling, as Rostov crossed the vestibule. Princess Marya was sitting helpless and distraught in the hall, when Rostov was shown in to see her. She did not know who he was, or what brought him there, or what was happening to her. Seeing his Russian face, and recognising him at his first words and gait for a man of her own rank, she looked at him, with her deep, luminous gaze, and began speaking in a voice, broken and trembling with emotion. Rostov at once conceived a romance in this meeting. “A defenceless girl, crushed by sorrow, alone, abandoned to the mercy of coarse, rebellious peasants! And what strange destiny has brought me here!” thought Rostov, as he listened to her and looked at her. “And what mildness, what nobility in her features and expression!” he thought, as he listened to her timid story.
When she began to tell him that all this had happened the day after her father's funeral, her voice trembled. She turned away, and as though afraid Rostov might ascribe her words to a desire to work on his feelings, she glanced at him with a look of apprehensive inquiry. There were tears in Rostov's eyes. Princess Marya noticed it, and looked at him with the luminous eyes that made one forget the plainness of her face.
“I cannot express how glad I am, princess, that I happened to come this way, and am able to serve you in anything,” said Rostov, rising. “I trust you will start at once, and I answer for it on my honour, no person shall dare to cause you annoyance, if you will only permit me to escort you,” and making a deep bow, such as are made to ladies of the royal family, he turned to the door.
By the respectfulness of his tone, Rostov tried to show that though he would consider it a happiness to be acquainted with her, he did not wish to take advantage of her misfortune to force an acquaintanceship upon her.
Princess Marya felt and appreciated this tone.
“I am very, very grateful to you,” she said to him in French; “but I hope it was all only a misunderstanding, and that no one is to blame.” She began all at once to cry.
“Excuse me,” she said.
Rostov, knitting his brows, bowed low once more, and went out of the room.
八月十七日，罗斯托夫和伊林带着刚从俘虏营放回来的拉夫鲁什卡和一名骠骑军传命兵，骑着马从离博古恰罗沃十五俄里的驻扎地扬科沃出发——试骑一下伊林刚买的马并打听这一带村子里有无干草。
最近三天，博古恰罗沃处在对峙的两军之间，俄军的后卫和法军的先锋都很容易到那儿去。罗斯托夫是一个有心计的骑兵连长，他想抢在法国人前头，取用留在博古恰罗沃的军需食品。
罗斯托夫和伊林心情十分愉快。他们在路上有时向拉夫鲁什卡询问拿破仑的故事，以此取乐；有时互相赛跑，试试伊林的马。他们就这样驰向博古恰罗沃一位公爵的庄园，希望在那儿能找到大批家奴和漂亮的女郎。
罗斯托夫不知道也没有想到，他要去的那个村子就是和他妹妹定过婚的博尔孔斯基的庄园。
快要驶入博古恰罗沃时，罗斯托夫和伊林撒开他们的马，沿着有慢坡的高地作最后一次赛跑。罗斯托夫赶过伊林，首先跑到了博古恰罗沃村的街上。
“你跑到前面去了。”涨红了脸的伊林说。
“是啊，一路上都在前面，无论在草地还是在这儿。”罗斯托夫用手抚摸着汗淋淋的顿河马，答道。
“我骑我的那匹法国马，伯爵大人，”拉夫鲁什卡在后面说。他把他那匹拉车的驽马叫做法国马。“谁能跑赢，不过，我不愿使别人丢面子。”
他们骑着马慢慢地向站着一大群农民的谷仓走去。
农民们看见来了几个骑马的人，有些脱帽，有些没有脱。这时，从酒馆里出来两个摇摇晃晃的高个老头，长着满脸的皱纹和稀疏的胡髭。他俩笑着，唱着不成调的歌曲向军官们走来。
“好样的！”罗斯托夫笑着说，“这儿有干草吗？”
“全是一个样……”伊林说。
“快……快……活……活，我的心肝呀……宝贝儿……”
那两个醉汉唱着，露出幸福的微笑。
人群里走出一个农民，来到罗斯托夫跟前。
“你们是什么人？”他问。
“法国人，”伊林戏谑着，“这就是拿破仑本人。”他指着拉夫鲁什卡回答说。
“这么说来，你们都是俄国人吧？”那个农民又问。
“你们这儿的军队很多吗？”另一小个子农民走近前来，问道。
“很多，很多。”罗斯托夫回答说。“你们都聚在这儿干什么？”他问道，又加了一句：“是过节吗？”
“老头们聚在一块，商量公社的事。”那个农民回答道，说有就走开了。
就在这时，通往庄主宅院的路上出现了两个女人和一个戴白帽子的人，他们向军官面前走来。
“那个穿粉红色衣服的女人归我，注意不要乱抢。”伊林看见那显然是向他走来的杜尼亚莎，说。
“是咱们大家的！”拉夫鲁什卡向伊林挤挤眼说。
“您需要什么，我的美人儿？”伊林笑着问。
“公爵小姐有吩咐，她要知道你们是哪个团队的和你们的尊姓大名。”
“这是罗斯托夫伯爵，骠骑兵连长，我是您忠顺的仆人。”
“我的心肝呀……宝贝儿……”那醉汉一边唱，一边用眼睛瞅着和姑娘谈话的伊林，露出幸福的微笑。跟在杜尼亚莎后面的阿尔帕特奇向罗斯托夫走来，老远就摘下帽子。
“大人，我斗胆打扰您，”他把一只手揣到怀里，毕恭毕敬地说，但又因这个军官很年轻而多少几分轻视的意味，“我们家小姐，本月十五日去世的上将尼古拉·安德烈耶维奇·博尔孔斯基公爵的女儿，由于这些人的愚昧无知而陷入困境。”他指着那些农民说，“她欢迎您光临……不知可否，”阿尔帕特奇苦笑着说，“请您走动几步，不然当着……不怎么方便。”阿尔帕特奇指着两个像马蝇缠马似的在他旁边来回晃悠的农民。
“啊！……阿尔帕特奇……啊？雅科夫·阿尔帕特奇！……很好！看在耶稣的面上，饶了我们吧！啊？……”那两个农民笑嘻嘻地对他说。罗斯托夫看了看喝醉酒的两个老头，笑了。
“或许这使大人，您，很开心吧？”雅科夫·阿尔帕特奇用那只没有揣在怀里的手指着那两个老头，带着庄重的神态说。
“不，这没有什么可开心的，”罗斯托夫一边说，一边骑马往前走。“这是怎么回事？”他问。
“我斗胆向大人禀告，此地的粗野乡民不让小姐离开庄园，他们气势汹汹地要把马卸下来，所以一早就装好了车，公爵小姐就是走不了。”
“不可能！”罗斯托夫喊了一声。
“我谨向您禀告的是真实情况。”阿尔帕特奇说道。
罗斯托夫下了坐骑，把马交给传令兵，就和阿尔帕特奇一同向住宅走去，边走边询问详情。确实，昨天公爵小姐提议给农民发放粮食，她向德龙和集会的人说明自己的态度，把事情弄得那么糟，以致德龙最终交出钥匙，和农民站到一边，不再听从阿尔帕特奇的使唤了。早晨公爵小姐吩咐套车，准备动身，但大批的农民聚在谷仓前，派出人来声称，不让公爵小姐离开村子，说是有命令不准运走东西，他们要把马从车上卸下来。阿尔帕特奇出来劝他们，但他得到的回答仍是：公爵小姐不能走，这是有命令的（说话的主要是卡尔普，德龙没有在人群里露面），他们说，请公爵小姐留下来，他们照旧服侍她，事事都顺从她。
当罗斯托夫和伊林在路上驰骋的时候，玛丽亚公爵小姐不听阿尔帕特奇、保姆和女仆的劝阻，吩咐套车准备动身，但是看见驰来几个骑兵，以为来的是法国人，车夫逃散了，家里响起妇女们的一片哭声。
“我的老天爷呀，救命恩人！上帝派你来了。”罗斯托夫走过前城时，听到一片感激声。
当人们把罗斯托夫引见给玛丽亚公爵小姐的时候，她正张皇失措，浑身无力地坐在大厅里。她不明白他是什么人，是来干什么的，对她会怎么样。她看见他那俄罗斯人的脸型和他走进来的步态以及他一开口说的那些话，就认出他是她那个阶层的人。她用她那深沉、明亮的目光看了他一眼，说起话来激动得断断续续、抖抖嗦嗦。罗斯托夫立刻觉得这次相遇具有罗曼谛克情调。“一个孤立无援、悲伤万分的姑娘，独自一人落入粗鲁狂暴的农民手里，听任他们摆布！多么离奇的命运把我引到这儿！”罗斯托夫听着，凝视着她，想道。
“她的面貌和神情多么温顺、高尚！”他听着她怯生生地讲述，想道。
当她开始讲到这一切是发生在父亲下葬的第二天时，她的声音颤抖了。她转过脸去，然而，她怕罗斯托夫以为她是有意引起他的怜悯，她疑惑地、惊慌地看了看他。罗斯托夫的眼里噙满泪水。玛丽亚公爵小姐注意到这一点，感激地看了看罗斯托夫，那目光是那么明亮，让人忽视了她那并不怎么美的面貌。
“公爵小姐，我偶然走到这里，能够为您效劳，真是说不出的荣幸，”罗斯托夫站起身来说，“您动身吧，我以自己的名誉向您担保，只要您允许我护送您，决不会有人胆敢找您的麻烦。”他好像向一位皇族妇女敬礼一样，恭恭敬敬地鞠了一躬，向门口走去。
罗斯托夫谦恭有礼的态度似乎表明，虽然与她相识是一件幸事，但他却不愿趁她不幸时来接近她。
玛丽亚公爵小姐懂得并十分珍惜这种态度。
“我非常，非常感激您！”公爵小姐用法语对他说，“但是我希望这只是一场误会，谁也没有过错呀！”公爵小姐突然哭起来。“原谅我。”她说。
罗斯托夫皱起眉头，又深深鞠了一躬，走出屋去。
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