It was late evening when Prince Andrey left the Rostovs’. He went to bed as habit dictated, but soon saw he wasn’t going to get to sleep. He lit a candle and sat up in bed; he got out and in again, not at all worried about his insomnia. His soul was filled with a new feeling of bliss, as if he had emerged from a stuffy room into God’s glorious daylight. It never occurred to him that he might be in love with the little Rostov girl. He wasn’t even thinking about her. He was aware of her only as an image, but this opened up the whole of his life before him in a new light. ‘Why do I go on struggling? Why do I keep on toiling at this narrow, cramped drudgery, when life lies open before me, the whole of life, with all its joys?’ he kept asking himself. And now, for the first time in ages, he began to make happy plans for the future. He made a personal decision to sort out his son’s education, find him a tutor and hand him into that man’s care. Then he ought to retire from the army, go abroad and see something of England, Switzerland, Italy. ‘I must take full advantage of my freedom while I’m still feeling young and strong,’ he told himself. ‘Pierre was right: if you want to be happy, you have to believe in the possibility of happiness, and I do believe in it now. Let the dead bury the dead, but while ever there is life, you must live and be happy.’ These were his thoughts.
CHAPTER 20
One morning Colonel Adolf Berg called on Pierre, who knew him as he knew everybody else in Moscow and Petersburg. He was immaculately turned out in a brand-new uniform, with his pomaded locks combed out at the temples in the style made popular by Tsar Alexander.
‘I’ve just come from your good lady, the countess, and to my great misfortune, my request couldn’t be granted by her. I’m hoping I shall be more fortunate with you, Count,’ he said with a smile.
‘What can I do for you, Colonel? I’m all yours.’
‘Now that I’m nicely settled in my new quarters, Count,’ Berg announced, obviously assuming that news of this development must be a matter for great rejoicing, ‘I thought I might set something up, just a little soirée for a few people known to me and my wife. (He beamed with even greater benevolence.) I had in mind asking the countess and you to do me the honour of coming over for a cup of tea, and . . . a little supper.’
Only Countess Hélène, who considered it beneath her dignity to associate with nobodies like the Bergs, could have been cruel enough to turn down an invitation like this. Berg told him why he wanted to get together a small, select group of people at his new rooms, and why this would be a source of great pleasure for him, and although he would begrudge spending good money on cards or anything harmful, he didn’t mind forking out for the sake of good company, and he explained it all so clearly that Pierre couldn’t refuse, and he promised to come.
‘Only please don’t be late, Count, if I may make so bold. Ten minutes to eight, if I may make so bold. We’ll have a few rounds of cards. Our general’s going to be there. He’s very good to me. And we’ll have a bite to eat, Count. If you would be so kind.’
Contrary to his usual habit of always arriving late, Pierre got to the Bergs’ not at ten minutes to eight, but at a quarter to.
The Bergs had everything ready for their little party and were quite ready to receive the guests.
Berg and his wife were sitting together in a clean, bright study, newly done out with little busts and pictures and new furniture. Berg sat beside his wife, neatly buttoned up in his new uniform, busily explaining the possibility, indeed the necessity, of cultivating people in higher stations – these were the only relationships that gave any pleasure. ‘You pick things up, and you can ask the odd favour. Take me for instance – look where my life has gone since I started at the bottom. (Berg measured his life not in years but in awards and promotions.) My comrades have got nowhere, and I’ll soon have my own regiment. And I’m fortunate enough to be your husband.’ (He got to his feet and went over to kiss Vera’s hand, stopping on the way to fold back the corner of a rug that was ruckled up.) ‘And how did I get all this? Mainly by knowing how to cultivate the right people. Of course, you do have to behave properly and get things right as well.’
