War And Peace полностью

‘Did you see something? Come on, what was it?’ cried Natasha.

‘I told you she would,’ put in Dunyasha, keeping the mirror from falling.

Sonya hadn’t seen anything. She was just about to give in and start blinking and stand up when she had heard Natasha’s voice saying, ‘She’s bound to . . .’ She had no desire to hoodwink either Dunyasha or Natasha, but it was hard work sitting there. She couldn’t imagine how or why she had cried out like that as she covered her eyes.

‘Did you see him?’ asked Natasha, catching at her arm.

‘Yes. Wait a minute . . . I . . . yes I did.’ Sonya couldn’t stop herself saying it, though she wasn’t sure whether Natasha’s him had meant Nikolay or Andrey.

‘Why shouldn’t I say I saw something? Other people do. Anyway, who can tell whether I did or I didn’t?’ The thoughts flashed through Sonya’s mind.

‘Yes. I did see him,’ she said.

‘What was he doing? Standing up or lying down?’

‘No, what I saw was, er . . . Well, first there was nothing, then I saw him lying down.’

‘Andrey lying down? Is he ill?’ asked Natasha, her eyes transfixed with terror.

‘No, just the opposite, his face looked cheerful and he turned towards me.’ And as she spoke these words she began to think she really had seen what she was talking about.

‘Come on, Sonya, what happened next?’

‘Well, it wasn’t very clear. There was something blue and red . . .’

‘Oh, Sonya, when will he come back? When shall I see him? Oh God! I’m so worried about him, and me. This whole thing scares me . . .’ Natasha blurted out and without a word to Sonya, who was doing what she could to console her, she got into bed, and long after the candle had been put out she lay there motionless, watching the frosty moonlight with staring eyes as it poured in through the frozen window-panes.

CHAPTER 13

Not long after Christmas Nikolay told his mother about his love for Sonya and his absolute determination to marry her. The countess had long been aware of recent developments between Sonya and Nikolay, and she had been expecting this announcement. She listened to his words without comment, and then told her son he could marry anyone he wanted but neither she nor his father would give their blessing to any such marriage. For the first time in his life Nikolay felt that he had offended his mother, and despite all her love for him she was not going to give way. Coldly and without looking at her son she sent for her husband, and when he came in the countess set out there and then to give a brief and icy account of the situation, but she lost control, burst into tears of frustration and walked out of the room. The old count began by appealing to Nikolay, not very convincingly, and asked him to go back on his decision. Nikolay replied that his word was his bond, whereupon his father, sighing from obvious embarrassment, made no further comment and went off to see the countess. In every confrontation with his son the old count was plagued by a guilty conscience for having managed their affairs so badly, and he could hardly turn on his son for refusing to marry an heiress and choosing Sonya, the girl with no dowry. This served only to remind him all the more painfully that but for his mismanagement they could have wished for no better wife than Sonya for Nikolay, and that all the blame lay with him, Mitenka and his own uncontrollable bad habits.

Neither parent raised the subject again with their son, but a few days later the countess sent for Sonya, and with a viciousness that took them both by surprise accused her of inducement and ingratitude. Sonya looked down as she listened in silence to the countess’s hurtful words, with no clear idea of what she was supposed to do. She would readily make any kind of sacrifice for her benefactors. The concept of self-sacrifice was dear to her heart, but in this instance she couldn’t see who or what there was to sacrifice. She couldn’t help loving the countess and all the Rostovs, but neither could she help loving Nikolay or believing that his happiness depended on their love. Sadly at a loss for words, she made no response. Nikolay felt he couldn’t put up with this any longer and went in to have things out with his mother. First he asked his mother to forgive him and Sonya and consent to their marriage; then he warned her that if they kept on persecuting Sonya he would go straight out and marry her in secret. With an icy aloofness her son had never seen before the countess replied that he was now an adult, and Prince Andrey was marrying without his father’s consent, and he could do the same thing, but she would never acknowledge that scheming hussy as her daughter.