War And Peace полностью

There were no betrothal celebrations, and no announcement was made of Natasha’s engagement to Bolkonsky; Prince Andrey insisted on that. He said that since he was responsible for postponing the wedding he ought to bear the whole burden of it. He said that although he was bound for ever by his word he did not want to bind Natasha, and he wanted her to feel completely free. If in six months’ time she felt she didn’t love him, she would have a perfect right to refuse him. Naturally enough, neither Natasha nor her parents would hear a word of this, but Prince Andrey was adamant. He came to their house every day, but he didn’t behave like a fiancé; he addressed her formally and kissed her only on the hand. Since the day of his proposal the relationship between Prince Andrey and Natasha had changed completely into a new kind of uncomplicated closeness. It was as if they had not known each other before. Both of them loved to recall how they had treated one another when there was nothing between them. Now they both felt like utterly different creatures, no longer awkward and affected, but simple and sincere. At first Prince Andrey had been the cause of some embarrassment within the family. He had seemed like a man from another world, and Natasha worked hard at bringing them all round to him, declaring with no little pride that his unusual manner was all show, he was just like everybody else deep down – she wasn’t scared of him and nobody else need be. It took only a few days for the rest of the family to get used to seeing him; any awkwardness soon disappeared and they went back to their old way of living, with him now accommodated to it. He could talk to the count about estate management, to the countess and Natasha about clothes, and to Sonya about albums and embroidery. There were times when the Rostovs, both privately and in front of Prince Andrey, expressed amazement at the way things had turned out, and how clear the omens had all been: Prince Andrey’s coming to Otradnoye and their coming to Petersburg; the resemblance between Natasha and Prince Andrey that the old nurse had spotted during his first visit; the encounter between Andrey and Nikolay in 1805; and many other auguries, noted by various family-members, foreshadowing what was to come.

The house now had a special poetic atmosphere, the unchanging stillness that always goes with the presence of an engaged couple. They often sat together in a group without anyone talking. And if some of them got up and walked away, leaving them alone together, sometimes the engaged couple still sat there in silence. It wasn’t often that they spoke of their future life together. Prince Andrey was too scared and embarrassed to talk about it. Natasha shared this feeling, as she shared all his feelings, being very good at guessing them. On one occasion Natasha began asking questions about his son.

Prince Andrey coloured up, as he often did at that time, which greatly endeared him to Natasha, and said that his son wasn’t going to live with them.

‘Why not?’ said Natasha, somewhat taken aback.

‘Oh, I can’t take him away from his grandfather, and anyway . . .’

‘Oh, I would have loved him so much!’ said Natasha, quickly catching on to his line of thought, ‘but I can see you don’t want either of us to be blamed for anything.’

The old count sometimes came to Prince Andrey, kissed him and asked his advice about Petya’s education or Nikolay’s career. The old countess sighed as she watched them. Sonya was afraid at every end and turn of being de trop, and was always trying to find excuses for leaving them alone, even when it wasn’t necessary. When Prince Andrey got going on a story – he was a splendid raconteur – Natasha listened to him with pride. When she was talking she noted with a mixture of joy and dread that he was watching her with close attention and a searching stare. She kept asking herself in some bewilderment, ‘What does he see in me? What does he want when he stares like that? What if I haven’t got what he’s looking for?’ Sometimes she slipped into one of her moods of happy abandon, and then she really loved to watch and hear Prince Andrey laughing at her. He seldom laughed, but when he did he did so with complete abandon, and she always felt closer to him when he had been laughing like that. Natasha’s happiness would have been complete but for the dreadful thought of their impending separation, which was looming ever closer.

On the eve of his departure from Petersburg Prince Andrey brought Pierre along too; he hadn’t been to the Rostovs’ since the day of the ball. Pierre seemed absent-minded and embarrassed. He spent much of the time talking to the countess. Natasha sat down at a little chess table with Sonya, and invited Prince Andrey to join them. He came over.

‘You’ve known Bezukhov quite some time, haven’t you?’ he asked. ‘Do you like him?’

‘Yes, he’s very nice, but very odd.’