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Chapter 16
Suddenly everybody stirred, began talking, and pressed forward and then back, and between the two rows, which separated, the Emperor entered to the sounds of music that had immediately struck up. Behind him walked his host and hostess. He walked in rapidly, bowing to right and left as if anxious to get the first moments of the reception over. The band played the polonaise in vogue1 at that time on account of the words that had been set to it, beginning: “Alexander, Elisaveta, all our hearts you ravish quite . . . ” The Emperor passed on to the drawing room, the crowd made a rush for the doors, and several persons with excited faces hurried there and back again. Then the crowd hastily retired2 from the drawing-room door, at which the Emperor reappeared talking to the hostess. A young man, looking distraught, pounced3 down on the ladies, asking them to move aside. Some ladies, with faces betraying complete forgetfulness of all the rules of decorum, pushed forward to the detriment4 of their toilets. The men began to choose partners and take their places for the polonaise.
Everyone moved back, and the Emperor came smiling out of the drawing room leading his hostess by the hand but not keeping time to the music. The host followed with Marya Antonovna Naryshkina; then came ambassadors, ministers, and various generals, whom Peronskaya diligently5 named. More than half the ladies already had partners and were taking up, or preparing to take up, their positions for the polonaise. Natasha felt that she would be left with her mother and Sonya among a minority of women who crowded near the wall, not having been invited to dance. She stood with her slender arms hanging down, her scarcely defined bosom6 rising and falling regularly, and with bated breath and glittering, frightened eyes gazed straight before her, evidently prepared for the height of joy or misery7. She was not concerned about the Emperor or any of those great people whom Peronskaya was pointing out — she had but one thought: “Is it possible no one will ask me, that I shall not be among the first to dance? Is it possible that not one of all these men will notice me? They do not even seem to see me, or if they do they look as if they were saying, ‘Ah, she’s not the one I’m after, so it’s not worth looking at her!’ No, it’s impossible,” she thought. “They must know how I long to dance, how splendidly I dance, and how they would enjoy dancing with me.”
The strains of the polonaise, which had continued for a considerable time, had begun to sound like a sad reminiscence to Natasha’s ears. She wanted to cry. Peronskaya had left them. The count was at the other end of the room. She and the countess and Sonya were standing8 by themselves as in the depths of a forest amid that crowd of strangers, with no one interested in them and not wanted by anyone. Prince Andrey with a lady passed by, evidently not recognizing them. The handsome Anatole was smilingly talking to a partner on his arm and looked at Natasha as one looks at a wall. Boris passed them twice and each time turned away. Berg and his wife, who were not dancing, came up to them.
This family gathering9 seemed humiliating to Natasha — as if there were nowhere else for the family to talk but here at the ball. She did not listen to or look at Vera, who was telling her something about her own green dress.
At last the Emperor stopped beside his last partner (he had danced with three) and the music ceased. A worried aide-de-camp ran up to the Rostovs requesting them to stand farther back, though as it was they were already close to the wall, and from the gallery resounded10 the distinct, precise, enticingly11 rhythmical12 strains of a waltz. The Emperor looked smilingly down the room. A minute passed but no one had yet begun dancing. An aide-de-camp, the Master of Ceremonies, went up to Countess Bezukhova and asked her to dance. She smilingly raised her hand and laid it on his shoulder without looking at him. The aide-de-camp, an adept14 in his art, grasping his partner firmly round her waist, with confident deliberation started smoothly15, gliding16 first round the edge of the circle, then at the corner of the room he caught Helene’s left hand and turned her, the only sound audible, apart from the ever-quickening music, being the rhythmic13 click of the spurs on his rapid, agile17 feet, while at every third beat his partner’s velvet18 dress spread out and seemed to flash as she whirled round. Natasha gazed at them and was ready to cry because it was not she who was dancing that first turn of the waltz.
Prince Andrey, in the white uniform of a cavalry19 colonel, wearing stockings and dancing shoes, stood looking animated20 and bright in the front row of the circle not far from the Rostovs. Baron21 Firhoff was talking to him about the first sitting of the Council of State to be held next day. Prince Andrey, as one closely connected with Speranski and participating in the work of the legislative22 commission, could give reliable information about that sitting, concerning which various rumors23 were current. But not listening to what Firhoff was saying, he was gazing now at the sovereign and now at the men intending to dance who had not yet gathered courage to enter the circle.
Prince Andrey was watching these men abashed24 by the Emperor’s presence, and the women who were breathlessly longing25 to be asked to dance.
Pierre came up to him and caught him by the arm.
“You always dance. I have a protegee, the young Rostova, here. Ask her,” he said.
“Where is she?” asked Bolkonsky. “Excuse me!” he added, turning to the baron, “we will finish this conversation elsewhere — at a ball one must dance.” He stepped forward in the direction Pierre indicated. The despairing, dejected expression of Natasha’s face caught his eye. He recognized her, guessed her feelings, saw that it was her debut26, remembered her conversation at the window, and with an expression of pleasure on his face approached Countess Rostova.
“Allow me to introduce you to my daughter,” said the countess, with heightened color.
“I have the pleasure of being already acquainted, if the countess remembers me,” said Prince Andrey with a low and courteous27 bow quite belying28 Peronskaya’s remarks about his rudeness, and approaching Natasha he held out his arm to grasp her waist before he had completed his invitation. He asked her to waltz. That tremulous expression on Natasha’s face, prepared either for despair or rapture29, suddenly brightened into a happy, grateful, childlike smile.
“I have long been waiting for you,” that frightened happy little girl seemed to say by the smile that replaced the threatened tears, as she raised her hand to Prince Andrey’s shoulder. They were the second couple to enter the circle. Prince Andrey was one of the best dancers of his day and Natasha danced exquisitely30. Her little feet in their white satin dancing shoes did their work swiftly, lightly, and independently of herself, while her face beamed with ecstatic happiness. Her slender bare arms and neck were not beautiful — compared to Helene’s her shoulders looked thin and her bosom undeveloped. But Helene seemed, as it were, hardened by a varnish31 left by the thousands of looks that had scanned her person, while Natasha was like a girl exposed for the first time, who would have felt very much ashamed had she not been assured that this was absolutely necessary.
Prince Andrey liked dancing, and wishing to escape as quickly as possible from the political and clever talk which everyone addressed to him, wishing also to break up the circle of restraint he disliked, caused by the Emperor’s presence, he danced, and had chosen Natasha because Pierre pointed32 her out to him and because she was the first pretty girl who caught his eye; but scarcely had he embraced that slender supple33 figure and felt her stirring so close to him and smiling so near him than the wine of her charm rose to his head, and he felt himself revived and rejuvenated34 when after leaving her he stood breathing deeply and watching the other dancers.
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1
Vogue
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| n.时髦，时尚；adj.流行的 | |
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2
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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3
pounced
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| v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击） | |
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4
detriment
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| n.损害；损害物，造成损害的根源 | |
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5
diligently
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| ad.industriously;carefully | |
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6
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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7
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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8
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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9
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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10
resounded
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| v.（指声音等）回荡于某处( resound的过去式和过去分词 )；产生回响；（指某处）回荡着声音 | |
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11
enticingly
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12
rhythmical
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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13
rhythmic
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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14
adept
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| adj.老练的，精通的 | |
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smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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16
gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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17
agile
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| adj.敏捷的，灵活的 | |
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18
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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19
cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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20
animated
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| adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的 | |
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baron
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| n.男爵；(商业界等)巨头，大王 | |
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22
legislative
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| n.立法机构，立法权；adj.立法的，有立法权的 | |
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23
rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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24
abashed
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| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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26
debut
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| n.首次演出，初次露面 | |
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27
courteous
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| adj.彬彬有礼的，客气的 | |
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28
belying
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| v.掩饰，与…不符，使…失望；掩饰( belie的现在分词 )；证明（或显示）…为虚假；辜负；就…扯谎 | |
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29
rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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30
exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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31
varnish
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| n.清漆；v.上清漆；粉饰 | |
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32
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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33
supple
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| adj.柔软的，易弯的，逢迎的，顺从的，灵活的；vt.使柔软，使柔顺，使顺从；vi.变柔软，变柔顺 | |
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34
rejuvenated
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| 更生的 | |
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