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Chapter 14
After receiving her visitors, the countess was so tired that she gave orders to admit no more, but the porter was told to be sure to invite to dinner all who came “to congratulate.” The countess wished to have a tete-a-tete talk with the friend of her childhood, Princess Anna Mikhaylovna, whom she had not seen properly since she returned from Petersburg. Anna Mikhaylovna, with her tear-worn but pleasant face, drew her chair nearer to that of the countess.
“With you I will be quite frank,” said Anna Mikhaylovna. “There are not many left of us old friends! That’s why I so value your friendship.”
Anna Mikhaylovna looked at Vera and paused. The countess pressed her friend’s hand.
“Vera,” she said to her eldest1 daughter who was evidently not a favorite, “how is it you have so little tact2? Don’t you see you are not wanted here? Go to the other girls, or . . . ”
The handsome Vera smiled contemptuously but did not seem at all hurt.
“If you had told me sooner, Mamma, I would have gone,” she replied as she rose to go to her own room.
But as she passed the sitting room she noticed two couples sitting, one pair at each window. She stopped and smiled scornfully. Sonya was sitting close to Nikolai who was copying out some verses for her, the first he had ever written. Boris and Natasha were at the other window and ceased talking when Vera entered. Sonya and Natasha looked at Vera with guilty, happy faces.
It was pleasant and touching3 to see these little girls in love; but apparently4 the sight of them roused no pleasant feeling in Vera.
“How often have I asked you not to take my things?” she said. “You have a room of your own,” and she took the inkstand from Nikolai.
“In a minute, in a minute,” he said, dipping his pen.
“You always manage to do things at the wrong time,” continued Vera. “You came rushing into the drawing room so that everyone felt ashamed of you.”
Though what she said was quite just, perhaps for that very reason no one replied, and the four simply looked at one another. She lingered in the room with the inkstand in her hand.
“And at your age what secrets can there be between Natasha and Boris, or between you two? It’s all nonsense!”
She seemed that day to be more than ever kind and affectionate to everyone.
“Very silly,” said Vera. “I am ashamed of you. Secrets indeed!”
“All have secrets of their own,” answered Natasha, getting warmer. “We don’t interfere6 with you and Berg.”
“I should think not,” said Vera, “because there can never be anything wrong in my behavior. But I’ll just tell Mamma how you are behaving with Boris.”
“Natalya Ilynichna behaves very well to me,” remarked Boris. “I have nothing to complain of.”
“Don’t, Boris! You are such a diplomat7 that it is really tiresome,” said Natasha in a mortified8 voice that trembled slightly. (She used the word “diplomat,” which was just then much in vogue9 among the children, in the special sense they attached to it.) “Why does she bother me?” And she added, turning to Vera, “You’ll never understand it, because you’ve never loved anyone. You have no heart! You are a Madame de Genlis and nothing more” (this nickname, bestowed10 on Vera by Nikolai, was considered very stinging), “and your greatest pleasure is to be unpleasant to people! Go and flirt11 with Berg as much as you please,” she finished quickly.
“I shall at any rate not run after a young man before visitors . . . ”
“Well, now you’ve done what you wanted,” put in Nikolai — “said unpleasant things to everyone and upset them. Let’s go to the nursery.”
All four, like a flock of scared birds, got up and left the room.
“The unpleasant things were said to me,” remarked Vera, “I said none to anyone.”
“Madame de Genlis! Madame de Genlis!” shouted laughing voices through the door.
The handsome Vera, who produced such an irritating and unpleasant effect on everyone, smiled and, evidently unmoved by what had been said to her, went to the looking glass and arranged her hair and scarf. Looking at her own handsome face she seemed to become still colder and calmer.
In the drawing room the conversation was still going on.
“Ah, my dear,” said the countess, “my life is not all roses either. Don’t I know that at the rate we are living our means won’t last long? It’s all the Club and his easygoing nature. Even in the country do we get any rest? Theatricals12, hunting, and heaven knows what besides! But don’t let’s talk about me; tell me how you managed everything. I often wonder at you, Annette — how at your age you can rush off alone in a carriage to Moscow, to Petersburg, to those ministers and great people, and know how to deal with them all! It’s quite astonishing. How did you get things settled? I couldn’t possibly do it.”
“Ah, my love,” answered Anna Mikhaylovna, “God grant you never know what it is to be left a widow without means and with a son you love to distraction14! One learns many things then,” she added with a certain pride. “That lawsuit15 taught me much. When I want to see one of those big people I write a note: ‘Princess So-and-So desires an interview with So and-So,’ and then I take a cab and go myself two, three, or four times — till I get what I want. I don’t mind what they think of me.”
“Well, and to whom did you apply about Bory?” asked the countess. “You see yours is already an officer in the Guards, while my Nikolai is going as a cadet. There’s no one to interest himself for him. To whom did you apply?”
“To Prince Vasili. He was so kind. He at once agreed to everything, and put the matter before the Emperor,” said Princess Anna Mikhaylovna enthusiastically, quite forgetting all the humiliation16 she had endured to gain her end.
“Has Prince Vasili aged13 much?” asked the countess. “I have not seen him since we acted together at the Rumyantsovs’ theatricals. I expect he has forgotten me. He paid me attentions in those days,” said the countess, with a smile.
“He is just the same as ever,” replied Anna Mikhaylovna, “overflowing with amiability17. His position has not turned his head at all. He said to me, ‘I am sorry I can do so little for you, dear Princess. I am at your command.’ Yes, he is a fine fellow and a very kind relation. But, Nataly, you know my love for my son: I would do anything for his happiness! And my affairs are in such a bad way that my position is now a terrible one,” continued Anna Mikhaylovna, sadly, dropping her voice. “My wretched lawsuit takes all I have and makes no progress. Would you believe it, I have literally18 not a penny and don’t know how to equip Boris.” She took out her handkerchief and began to cry. “I need five hundred rubles, and have only one twenty-five-ruble note. I am in such a state. . . . My only hope now is in Count Cyril Vladimirovich Bezukhov. If he will not assist his godson — you know he is Bory’s godfather — and allow him something for his maintenance, all my trouble will have been thrown away. . . . I shall not be able to equip him.”
The countess’ eyes filled with tears and she pondered in silence.
“I often think, though, perhaps it’s a sin,” said the princess, “that here lives Count Cyril Vladimirovich Bezukhov so rich, all alone . . . that tremendous fortune . . . and what is his life worth? It’s a burden to him, and Bory’s life is only just beginning. . . . ”
“Surely he will leave something to Boris,” said the countess.
“Heaven only knows, my dear! These rich grandees19 are so selfish. Still, I will take Boris and go to see him at once, and I shall speak to him straight out. Let people think what they will of me, it’s really all the same to me when my son’s fate is at stake.” The princess rose. “It’s now two o’clock and you dine at four. There will just be time.”
And like a practical Petersburg lady who knows how to make the most of time, Anna Mikhaylovna sent someone to call her son, and went into the anteroom with him.
“Good-by, my dear,” said she to the countess who saw her to the door, and added in a whisper so that her son should not hear, “Wish me good luck.”
“Are you going to Count Cyril Vladimirovich, my dear?” said the count coming out from the dining hall into the anteroom, and he added: “If he is better, ask Pierre to dine with us. He has been to the house, you know, and danced with the children. Be sure to invite him, my dear. We will see how Taras distinguishes himself today. He says Count Orlov never gave such a dinner as ours will be!”
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1
eldest
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| adj.最年长的，最年老的 | |
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2
tact
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| n.机敏，圆滑，得体 | |
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3
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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4
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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5
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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6
interfere
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| v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰 | |
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7
diplomat
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| n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人 | |
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8
mortified
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| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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9
Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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10
bestowed
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| 赠给，授予( bestow的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11
flirt
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| v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者 | |
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12
theatricals
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| n.（业余性的）戏剧演出，舞台表演艺术；职业演员；戏剧的( theatrical的名词复数 )；剧场的；炫耀的；戏剧性的 | |
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13
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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14
distraction
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| n.精神涣散，精神不集中，消遣，娱乐 | |
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15
lawsuit
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| n.诉讼，控诉 | |
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16
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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17
amiability
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| n.和蔼可亲的，亲切的，友善的 | |
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18
literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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19
grandees
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| n.贵族，大公，显贵者( grandee的名词复数 ) | |
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