WAR AND PEACE
"And where is Lise?" he asked, answering
her question only by a smile.
"She was so tired that she has fallen asleep
on the sofa in my room. Oh, Andrew What a
treasure of a wife you have," said she, sitting
down on the sofa, facing her brother. "She is
quite a child: such a dear, merry child. I have
I

grown so fond of her."
Prince Andrew was silent, but the princess
noticed the ironical and contemptuous look
that showed itself on his face.
"One must be indulgent to littleweaknesses;
who is free from them, Andrew? Don't forget
that she has grown up and been educated in
society, and so her position now is not a rosy
one.

We should enter into everyone's situation.

you, ^doesn't it?" Prince Andrew asked suddenly.
Princess Mary was first surprised and then

aghast at this question.

"For me? For me?

,

.

.

Trying for mel

.

.

."

said she.

"He always was rather harsh; and now I
should think he's getting very trying," said
Prince Andrew, apparently speaking lightly
of their father in order to puzzle or test his
sister.

"You are good in every way, Andrew, but
you have a kind of intellectual pride," said the
princess, following the train of her own thoughts

rather than the trend of the conversation
that's a great sin.

"and

How can one judge Father?

Toutcomprendre,c'est tout pardonner. Think

But even if one might, what feeling except

what it must be for her, poor thing, after what
she has been used to, to be parted from her
husband and be left alone in the country, in

veneration could such a man as my father
evoke? And I am so contented and happy with
him. I only wish you were all as happy as

her condition! It's very hard."
Prince Andrew smiled as he looked at his
sister, as we smile at those we think we thoroughly understand.
"You live in the country and don't think the

I am."

1

life terrible," he replied.

that's different. Why speak of me? I
"I
don't want any other life, and can't, for I know
no other. But think, Andrew: for a young society woman to be buried in the country during
the best years of her life, all alone for Papa is
.

.

.

always busy, and I ... well, you know what
poor resources I have for entertaining a woman used to the best society. There is only Made"
moiselle Bourienne
"I don't like your Mademoiselle Bourienne
at all," said Prince Andrew.
"No? She is very nice and kind and, above
all, she's much to be pitied. She has no one, no
one. To tell the truth, I don't need her, and

Her brother shook his head incredulously.
"The only thing that is hard for me ... I
will tell you the truth, Andrew ... is Father's
way of treating religious subjects. I don't understand how a man of his immense intellect
can fail to see what is as clear as day, and can

go so far astray. That is the only thing that
makes me unhappy. But even in this I can see
lately a shade of improvement. His satire has
been less bitter of late, and there was a monk
he received and had a long talk with."
"Ah! my dear, I am afraid you and your

monk are wasting your powder," said Prince
Andrew banteringly yet tenderly.
"Ah! mon ami, I only pray, and hope that
God will hear me. Andrew ." she said timid.

ly after a

.

moment's silence, "I have a great

favor to ask of you."
"What is it, dear?"

my way. You know I always was

"No promise that you will not refuse! It

a savage, and now am even more so. I like be-

will give you no trouble and is nothing unworthy of you, but it will comfort me. Promise,

she's even in

Father likes her very much. She
ing alone.
and Michael Ivdnovich are the two people to
whom he is always gentle and kind, because he
has been a benefactor to them both. As Sterne
says: 'We don't love people so much for the
good they have done us, as for the good we
have done them.' Father took her when she was
.

.

.

homeless after losing her own father. She is
very good-natured, and my father likes her way
of reading. She reads to him in the evenings
and reads splendidly."

"To be quite frank, Mary, I expect Father's
character sometimes makes things trying for
1

To understand all is to forgive all.

." said she,
putting her hand in
her reticule but not yet taking out what she
was holding inside it, as if what she held were
the subject of her request and must not be
shown before the request was granted.
She looked timidly at her brother.
."
"Even if it were a great deal of trouble
answered Prince Andrew, as if guessing what it
was about.

Andrusha!

.

.

.

.

"Think what you please! I know you are just
but do this

like Father. Think as you please,

for my sakel Please do! Father's father, our

grandfather, wore it in all his wars." (She still



BOOK ONE
did not take out what she was holding |n her
reticule.) "So you promise?"

57

"Know this, Mdsha: I can't reproach, have
not reproached, and never shall reproach
my

"Of course. What is it?"
"Andrew, I bless you with this icon and you
must promise me you will never take it off. Do
you promise?"
"If it does not weigh a hundredweight and

wife with anything, and I cannot reproach my-

To please you ..."
said Prince Andrew. But immediately, notic-

happy? No! Is she happy? No! But why this is

ing the pained expression his joke had brought
to his sister's face, he repented and added: "I

As he said this he rose, went to his sister, and,

won't break my neck

.

.

.

am glad; really, dear, I am very glad."
"Against your will He will save and have

self with anything in

regard to her; and that
always will be so in whatever circumstances
I
may be placed. But if you want to know the
truth ... if you want to know whether I am

so I don't know

.

.

."

stooping, kissed her forehead. His fine eyes lit
up with a thoughtful, kindly, and unaccus-

tomed brightness, but he was looking not at

mercy on you and bring you to Himself, for in
Him alone is truth and peace," said she in a

his sister but over her head toward the dark-

voice trembling with emotion, solemnly hold-

ing up in both hands before her brother a
small, oval, antique, dark-faced icon of the
Saviour in a gold setting, on a finely wrought

"Let us go to her, I must say good-by. Or
go and wake her, and I'll come in a moment.
Petrushka!" he called to his valet: "Come here,
take these away. Put this on the seat and this

silver chain.

to the right."

ness of the open doorway.

and

Princess Mary rose and moved to the door,

handed it to Andrew.
."
"Please, Andrew, for my sake!
Rays of gentle light shone from her large,
timid eyes. Those eyes lit up the whole of her
thin, sickly face and made it beautiful. Her
brother would have taken the icon, but she

then stopped and said: "Andrew, if you had
faith you would have turned to God and
asked Him to give you the love you do not
feel, and your prayer would have been answered."

She crossed

herself,

kissed the icon,

.

.

stopped him. Andrew understood, crossed himself and kissed the icon. There was a look of
tenderness, for he was touched, but also a gleam
of irony on his face.

"Thank you, my dear." She kissed him on
the forehead and sat down again on the sofa.
They were silent for a while.
"As I was saying to you, Andrew, be kind
and generous as you always used to be. Don't
judge Lise harshly," she began. "She is so sweet,
so good-natured, and her position now is a very

hard one."
"I do not think I have complained of my
wife to you, Masha, or blamed her. Why do

you say all this to me?"
Red patches appeared on Princess Mary's
face and she was silent as if she felt guilty.
"I have said nothing to you, but you have
already been talked to. And I am sorry for
that," he went on.

"Well, may be!" said Prince Andrew. "Go,
Masha; I'll come immediately."
On the way to his sister's room, in the passage which connected one wing with the other,
Prince Andrew met Mademoiselle Bourienne
smiling sweetly. It was the third time that day
that, with an ecstatic and artless smile, she had

met him in secluded passages.
"Oh! I thought you were in your room," she
said, for some reason blushing and dropping
her eyes.
Prince Andrew looked sternly at her and an
expression of anger suddenly came over his
face. He said nothing to her but looked at her
forehead and hair, without looking at her eyes,
with such contempt that the Frenchwoman
blushed and went away without a word. When
he reached his sister's room his wife was already awake and her merry voice, hurrying

one word after another, came through the open
door. She was speaking as usual in French, and

The patches grew deeper on her forehead,
neck, and cheeks. She tried to say something

as if after long self-restraint she wished to make

but could not. Her brother had guessed right:
the little princess had been crying after dinner
and had spoken of her forebodings about her
confinement, and how she dreaded it, and had
complained of her fate, her father-in-law, and
her husband. After cry ing she had fallen asleep.
Prince Andrew felt sorry for his sister.

"No, but imagine the old Countess Zubova,
with false curls and her mouth full of false
teeth, as if she were trying to cheat old age.
... Ha, ha, ha! Mary!"
This very sentence about Countess Ziibova
1
The word zub means tooth, and a pun on this

up for lost time.
1

is

intended.

TR.