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Chapter 4 - Pierre's conversation with Princess Marya
Princess Marya as she sat listening to the old men’s talk and faultfinding, understood nothing of what she heard; she only wondered whether the guests had all observed her father’s hostile attitude toward her. She did not even notice the special attentions and amiabilities shown her during dinner by Boris Drubetskoy, who was visiting them for the third time already.
Princess Marya turned with absent-minded questioning look to Pierre, who hat in hand and with a smile on his face was the last of the guests to approach her after the old prince had gone out and they were left alone in the drawing room.
“Oh yes,” she answered. “You noticed nothing?” her look asked.
Pierre was in an agreeable after-dinner mood. He looked straight before him and smiled quietly.
“Have you known that young man long, Princess?” he asked.
“Who?”
“Drubetskoy.”
“No, not long . . . ”
“Do you like him?”
“Yes, he is an agreeable young man. . . . Why do you ask me that?” said Princess Marya, still thinking of that morning’s conversation with her father.
“Because I have noticed that when a young man comes on leave from Petersburg to Moscow it is usually with the object of marrying an heiress.”
“You have observed that?” said Princess Marya.
“Yes,” returned Pierre with a smile, “and this young man now manages matters so that where there is a wealthy heiress there he is too. I can read him like a book. At present he is hesitating whom to lay siege to — you or Mademoiselle Julie Karagina. He is very attentive2 to her.”
“He visits them?”
“Yes, very often. And do you know the new way of courting?” said Pierre with an amused smile, evidently in that cheerful mood of good humored raillery for which he so often reproached himself in his diary.
“No,” replied Princess Marya.
“To please Moscow girls nowadays one has to be melancholy3. He is very melancholy with Mademoiselle Karagina,” said Pierre.
“Really?” asked Princess Marya, looking into Pierre’s kindly4 face and still thinking of her own sorrow. “It would be a relief,” thought she, “if I ventured to confide5 what I am feeling to someone. I should like to tell everything to Pierre. He is kind and generous. It would be a relief. He would give me advice.”
“Would you marry him?”
“Oh, my God, Count, there are moments when I would marry anybody!” she cried suddenly to her own surprise and with tears in her voice. “Ah, how bitter it is to love someone near to you and to feel that . . . ” she went on in a trembling voice, “that you can do nothing for him but grieve him, and to know that you cannot alter this. Then there is only one thing left — to go away, but where could I go?”
“What is wrong? What is it, Princess?”
But without finishing what she was saying, Princess Marya burst into tears.
“I don’t know what is the matter with me today. Don’t take any notice — forget what I have said!”
Pierre’s gaiety vanished completely. He anxiously questioned the princess, asked her to speak out fully6 and confide her grief to him; but she only repeated that she begged him to forget what she had said, that she did not remember what she had said, and that she had no trouble except the one he knew of — that Prince Andrey’s marriage threatened to cause a rupture7 between father and son.
“Have you any news of the Rostovs?” she asked, to change the subject. “I was told they are coming soon. I am also expecting Andrey any day. I should like them to meet here.”
“And how does he now regard the matter?” asked Pierre, referring to the old prince.
Princess Marya shook her head.
“What is to be done? In a few months the year will be up. The thing is impossible. I only wish I could spare my brother the first moments. I wish they would come sooner. I hope to be friends with her. You have known them a long time,” said Princess Marya. “Tell me honestly the whole truth: what sort of girl is she, and what do you think of her? — The real truth, because you know Andrey is risking so much doing this against his father’s will that I should like to know . . . ”
An undefined instinct told Pierre that these explanations, and repeated requests to be told the whole truth, expressed ill-will on the princess’ part toward her future sister-in-law and a wish that he should disapprove8 of Andrey’s choice; but in reply he said what he felt rather than what he thought.
“I don’t know how to answer your question,” he said, blushing without knowing why. “I really don’t know what sort of girl she is; I can’t analyze9 her at all. She is enchanting10, but what makes her so I don’t know. That is all one can say about her.”
Princess Marya sighed, and the expression on her face said: “Yes, that’s what I expected and feared.”
“Is she clever?” she asked.
Pierre considered.
“I think not,” he said, “and yet — yes. She does not deign11 to be clever. . . . Oh no, she is simply enchanting, and that is all.”
Princess Marya again shook her head disapprovingly12.
“Ah, I so long to like her! Tell her so if you see her before I do.”
“I hear they are expected very soon,” said Pierre.
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1
stout
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| adj.强壮的，粗大的，结实的，勇猛的，矮胖的 | |
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2
attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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3
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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4
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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5
confide
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| v.向某人吐露秘密 | |
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6
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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7
rupture
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| n.破裂；(关系的)决裂；v.(使)破裂 | |
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8
disapprove
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| v.不赞成，不同意，不批准 | |
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9
analyze
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| vt.分析，解析 (=analyse) | |
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10
enchanting
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| a.讨人喜欢的 | |
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11
deign
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| v. 屈尊, 惠允 ( 做某事) | |
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12
disapprovingly
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| adv.不以为然地，不赞成地，非难地 | |
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13
accustom
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| vt.使适应，使习惯 | |
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