Mavra, the old housekeeper, had walked out from the crowd by the gate and gone over to one wagon that had a covering of fibre matting. She was now talking to a pallid young officer who was lying in it. Natasha tiptoed forward one or two steps, and stood there shyly, holding on to her handkerchief and listening to what the housekeeper was saying.
‘So. None of your people left in Moscow?’ Mavra was saying. ‘You’d be better off in somebody’s house . . . This one, for instance. The masters are all moving out.’
‘Don’t suppose they’d allow that,’ said the officer in a feeble voice. ‘There’s our senior officer . . . Ask him,’ and he pointed to a corpulent major who was walking back past the carts lined up along the street.
Natasha glanced fearfully at the wounded officer’s face, and went straight up to the major.
‘Would you please allow the wounded men to stay in our house?’ she asked.
The major smiled and raised one hand to his cap.
‘Which one do you want, mam’selle?’ he said, screwing his eyes into a smile.
Natasha calmly repeated her request, and her face and her whole manner, even though she was still hanging on to the corners of the handkerchief, seemed so serious that the major wiped the smile off his face and gave some thought to this new possibility before saying yes to it.
‘I don’t see why not,’ he said.
Natasha gave him a tiny nod, and skipped back to Mavra, who was standing over the young officer and talking to him with a great show of sympathy.
‘He said yes. He said they can!’ whispered Natasha.
The officer in the covered cart turned into the Rostovs’ courtyard, and dozens of carts carrying wounded men were soon accepting invitations from good citizens to drive up to the entries of other houses in Povarsky Street. Natasha was obviously delighted to be dealing with different people under totally new circumstances. She worked alongside Mavra, getting as many people as possible to drive into their yard.
‘We must ask your papa, though,’ said Mavra.
‘Don’t be silly. It makes no difference now! We can move into the drawing-room just for one day. They can have our part of the house, all of it.’
‘Oh, miss, what are you talking about? They can go into the out-buildings, the men’s room and old nurse’s room, but even then you’ll have to ask.’
‘All right, I will.’
She ran indoors. The sitting-room door was ajar; there was a strong smell of vinegar and Hoffmann’s drops. Natasha tiptoed in.
‘Are you asleep, Mamma?’
‘How can anybody sleep?’ said the countess, who had just been nodding off.
‘Mamma, darling!’ said Natasha, kneeling down and bringing her face close up to her mother’s. ‘I’m so sorry, please forgive me. I’ll never do it again. I’ve woken you up. Mavra sent me. They’ve brought some wounded soldiers, officers. You will let them in, won’t you? They’ve got nowhere to go. I know you will,’ she gabbled without pausing for breath.
‘Officers? Who’s been brought in? I don’t understand what you’re saying,’ said the countess.
Natasha laughed, and even the countess managed a thin smile.
‘I knew you would . . . Right, I’ll go and tell them.’ And Natasha gave her mother a kiss, got to her feet and went to the door.
Out in the hall she ran into her father, who had just got back, the bearer of bad news.
‘We’ve stayed on too long!’ said the count, unable to hide his resentment. ‘The club’s closed, and the police are leaving.’
‘Papa, I’ve invited some wounded soldiers into the house. You don’t mind, do you?’ said Natasha.
‘Of course not,’ said the count, his mind on other matters. ‘But that’s by the way. I’m asking you now to stop messing about. Please help with the packing. We ought to be on the road. We must be off tomorrow . . .’
And the count issued the same instructions to his butler and the servants.
Petya was back by dinner-time, and he also brought news. He said the people had been out today collecting weapons in the Kremlin, and although Rostopchin’s poster said he would give the call a day or two beforehand, there was a clear understanding that tomorrow everybody had to go with their weapons to the Three Hills, because a great battle was going to be fought there.
