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Pierre was the ideal husband for such a brilliant society woman. He was just an absent-minded eccentric, a grand seigneur of a husband who kept out of the way and, far from lowering the high tone of her drawing-room, acted a useful foil to her by being his wife’s exact opposite in elegance and savoir-faire. In his wife’s circle, which he found utterly boring, Pierre’s constant obsession with otherworldly considerations over the last two years, along with his genuine contempt for everything else, gave him a special attitude of casual indifference and all-round benevolence, the sort that cannot be acquired artificially and therefore commands instant respect. He would walk into his wife’s drawing-room as if it was a theatre, he knew everybody there and he treated them all with equal courtesy and equal indifference. From time to time he would get into a conversation that sounded interesting and then, without bothering to check whether or not there were any embassy gentlemen present, he would bumble on, voicing opinions which were sometimes quite embarrassing for that particular company. But the general opinion of this eccentric man, married to ‘the most distinguished woman in Petersburg’, was now so well established that no one took his pronouncements at all seriously.

After Hélène’s return from Erfurt, Boris Drubetskoy, now a great success in the service, stood out among the many young men visiting Hélène’s house on a daily basis as the closest friend of the Bezukhov household. Hélène called him her page and treated him like a child. She smiled at him the way she smiled at everyone else, but sometimes that smile grated on Pierre. Boris’s attitude to Pierre was one of exaggerated dignity and lugubrious respect. This particular tone of respect also worried Pierre. He had suffered so much humiliation three years ago because of his wife, that now he was shielding himself against any possibility of further humiliation, first by being a husband in name only and then by not allowing himself to become suspicious.

‘No, she’s a blue-stocking now. She’s renounced those old affairs for good,’ he said to himself. ‘There’s never been a case of a blue-stocking having any passions of the heart,’ he kept telling himself – a general principle he had picked up somewhere and certainly believed in. But curiously enough the presence of Boris in his wife’s drawing-room – and he was nearly always there – had a physical effect on Pierre. It tied him up in knots and destroyed all his instinctive freedom to move.

‘Such a strange aversion,’ thought Pierre, ‘and at one time I used to be very fond of him.’

In society’s eyes Pierre was a fine gentleman, something of a laughing stock, the purblind husband of a distinguished wife, a clever eccentric who never did anything but was quite harmless, a nice fellow with his heart in the right place. Meanwhile Pierre’s spirit was undergoing a complex and difficult process of inner development that would be a revelation to him and lead to a host of spiritual doubts and delights.

CHAPTER 10

Pierre went on with his diary and this is what he wrote in it at that time:

24 November

Got up at eight, read the Scriptures, then went to my duties. (Following the advice of his benefactor Pierre was serving on a government committee.)

Came back for lunch and dined alone (countess had lots of guests I don’t like), ate and drank with moderation, and spent the afternoon copying out passages for the brothers. In the evening I went down to the countess. Told a joke about B, and only realized I shouldn’t have done when they all roared with laughter.

I go to my bed in a calm and happy frame of mind. Help me, O Lord, to walk in Thy ways: (1) to defeat anger through gentleness and deliberation; (2) to conquer lust through self-restraint and a sense of revulsion; (3) to withdraw from all worldly vanities without abandoning (a) government work, (b) family duties, (c) relations with friends, (d) care over finances.

27 November

Got up late after a long lie-in, complete idleness. O God, help me and strengthen me that I may walk in Thy ways. Read the Scriptures, but without any true feeling. Brother Urusov called – conversation about worldly vanity. Told me about the Tsar’s new projects. I was on the point of coming out against them, but then remembered my principles and the words of my benefactor: a true mason should work hard for his country when his contribution is needed but watch quietly when not called upon.