War and Peace

Chapter 34

Duke Andrele listened and thought.During the military parade the next day, the emperor asked Duke Andrele where he wanted to work. Duke Andrele did not ask to stay with the emperor, but asked to work in the army. As a result, he lost his chance to serve in the court forever.

[twelve]
Before the war started, Rostaff received a letter from his parents, informing of Nates' illness and the cancellation of her engagement with her fiancé, Duke Andrele.After Malal received the letter, although he did not plan to retire, he wrote back to his parents saying that he would do his best to meet their wishes.He wrote another letter to Martha, in which he wrote: "Nothing but my honour, can prevent me from returning home. But at this moment, before the war, if I only care about my own happiness, regardless of my duty to the country I have done my duty, put aside my love for my country, and I admit that I am a hypocrite not only in the eyes of all my comrades, but also in my own. But this is the final separation. Believe me, once the war is over , if I am still alive and still loved by you, then I will give up everything, come back to you, and hold you in my fiery chest."

War had broken out, and the army was in the happy and excited mood that is peculiar to the beginning of war; Lowstaff, aware of his favorable position in the regiment, was all intoxicated by the joy and interest of military service, although he knew that he Sooner or later they will leave.

The army withdrew from Vilna for various mixed, national, political and strategic reasons.The hussars of Paul Roegler's regiment withdrew from Vilna to Svenziane, Drissa, and then back from Drissa, on the verge of retreating to the Russian frontier.

On July [-], Paulgrad's regiment fought its first major battle.On the night of the twelfth of July, the eve of the battle, there was a violent squall, rain and hail.Two companies of Paulograd cavalry camped out in fields of oats that had been trampled by horses and oxen.In a violent storm, Rostaff and the young officer Ilyn who was protected by him sat in a temporary tent.Zdrzhinski, another officer in the regiment, was describing how Raevsky led his two sons into battle, fighting side by side, under terrible gunfire.Rostav looked at him quietly, and although he did not like Zdrzhinsky and his explanations, he did not contradict him, and pretended to be quite convinced.

Ilyin found a small inn nearby, Rostaff and Ilyin braved the heavy rain and walked towards the inn through the mud.

[Thirteen]
The doctor's ambulance stopped at the door of the hotel, where there were already five officers.The doctor's wife, Molije Genlihovna, a fat, yellow-haired German woman in baggy clothes and a nightcap, was sitting on a broad stool in the front corner.Her doctor husband, sleeping beside her.Rostaff and Ilyn entered the room and were greeted warmly by the officers.

They changed their clothes, lit a fire in the broken fireplace, found a small teacup, a wine jug, and a half-bottle of rum, and they all sat around the "mistress" Molya Genlikhovna.Everyone took their teacups from Moliere's stubby, stubby hands with dirty nails in turn according to their age. Almost all the officers fell in love with Moliere Genrijo tonight. Funa.Molière kept smiling and seemed happy to see these handsome and respectable young men around her, although she tried to hide it, although she always felt uncomfortable every time she saw the movement of her husband who was sleeping next to her. Appear frightened.

Rostav suggested a game of cards with Moliye Genlihovna, and suggested that whoever won should kiss Moliye's little hand, and whoever lost should make a pot of tea for the doctor when he woke up.As soon as the card game started, the doctor looked up from behind Moliere.He had already woken up, with a sad and frustrated face, watching his wife, sitting beside her angrily, waiting for the game to be over.

The officers did not fall asleep for a long time that night. They talked with each other, talking about the doctor's unhappy mood and his wife's happy face, and often broke out into cheerful, hearty laughter for no reason.

[fourteen]
At one o'clock a cavalry sergeant gave orders to set off for the small town of Ostrovna.

In the morning, the rain stopped and the clouds cleared.The weather was humid and cool, and wearing wet clothes made me feel even colder.

Thirty minutes later, the cavalry company set off.Rostaff and Ilyn, who followed him, were walking down the avenue between the two rows of birches.

In battle, Rostaf rode Cossack horses, not warhorses.He thought of the horse, of the morning, of the doctor's wife, but not once did he think of the imminent danger.

Rostaff had been timid before to go to war, but now he had no timidity.He looked innocent and innocent, as if he was traveling on horseback.

The sun rose from behind the clouds into a clear sky, the wind stopped, as if the wind did not dare to spoil the beauty of this summer morning after the storm; the sun rose, appeared on the horizon for a while, and then hid a narrow strip In the dark clouds.After a while, the sun slowly rose above the dark clouds and kept tearing apart the clouds.Along with the appearance of the bright light, there was the faint sound of cannons coming from the front.

Hearing the sound he had not heard for a long time, it was as if he heard the most beautiful music. He straightened up and surveyed the battlefield that was unfolding before the hill. Between the ranks of the Lancers and behind him, he could see A large group of French dragoons on gray horses in blue uniforms.

[fifteen]
With his sharp hunter's eyes, Rostaff saw the French dragoons chasing the Russian Lancers.He thought that their hussars should immediately attack the French dragoons.

Rostaff rushed out ahead.Under the attack of the Russian hussars, it seemed that all the French dragoons were running back.Maral followed a French officer on a gray horse, and at the moment when he raised his knife to strike, all fighting spirit disappeared in him.The officer fell from his horse not so much from the cut (the saber touched his arm only lightly) as from the jolt and fright of the horse.He had a panicked look, pale face, dimpled chin, and blue eyes, which was not at all like the face of any enemy on the battlefield, but it was the face seen in the most ordinary domestic life.Because of the officer's capture, Lostaff has been feeling a vague, confused, inarticulate mood since then.

Lowstaff was awarded the George Cross for this exploit, but one thing he couldn't understand anyway, "It seems that they are more cowardly than us!" he thought. "Is that what bravery is all about? Did I do it for my country? That man with the dimples and blue eyes, is he guilty? What a panic he is! He thinks I'm going to kill him. Why should I What about killing him?"

Malal thought over and over again these agonizing and unanswered questions in his mind.After the battle of Ostrovna, he was promoted to commander of a battalion of hussars.

[sixteen]
Natesy's illness was dangerous, and the anxieties about her ailment, her behavior, and separation from her betrothed were of no importance.It was a good thing for herself and for her parents.She was so ill that it completely obliterated the idea of ​​how much she was wrong in all this, she would not eat or drink, sleepless nights, wasted away, and coughed a lot.From the doctor's conversation, everyone knew that she was seriously ill.

Physicians from all corners of the world came to see Natès, and sometimes consulted, speaking in endless languages, French, German, Latin, blaming each other, and prescribing every kind of disease they knew; but None of them could think of the simple reason that they did not know Natès' disease any more than they knew what disease a living person had: since every living person has his own peculiarities.Their usefulness, however, is unquestionable, not that they force the sick to eat things that are mostly harmful, but that they satisfy the spiritual needs of the sick and those who care for them.They fulfill that eternal, human need that a person has in suffering, the desire to relieve pain, to receive mercy and to act.The Rosestaffs did not return home in the summer of [-], as the doctors said the patient could not do without the help of medicines, so they kept her in the city.

In spite of the many pills, potions, and powders Nadès had taken, and the loss of the country life to which she was accustomed, yet the vigor of youth worked its way, and the daily routine made her gradually forget that which lay upon her heart like a painful disease. pain, and her body began to heal.

[seventeen]
Nates was quieter, but she was not happy.She shunned all kinds of outside entertainment, and every laugh was accompanied by tears.She even felt that laughing and singing were a kind of blasphemy against her sorrow.She often recalled sadly the old autumns, the hunts, her uncle, and the Christmases with Malal in Otradnoye.As long as she can turn back time one more day, she is willing to pay any price!
Life is no fun, but the day goes by.Nadssie hardly ever went out of the house, and of all the people who frequented their house she loved Bin-Air alone.No one had treated her more tenderly, more attentively, and at the same time more severely than Count Binzohof.Nates felt this thoughtfulness carelessly, and was willing to be with him.Yet she wasn't even grateful for his tenderness.It seemed to her that Bin-Air did nothing good without effort.Bin-Air seems to be naturally nice to everyone, and he doesn't mean to show off when he does good deeds.Nates sometimes observed that Bin-Air was nervous and awkward in her presence, especially when he feared that there might be something in the conversation which might bring back Nates's fond memories.She saw this, she thought it was because he was friendly and shy by nature, she thought he treated everyone the same, including her.Bin-Air had not expressed his affection to Natès since, in a moment of her great emotion, he had accidentally said that, if he had been free, he would kneel to propose and woo her; Come on, those words that are obviously comforting her are just casual words like adults comforting a crying child.

Just after St. Peter's fasting day, Natess accepted the advice of her neighbor, Agrafena Ivanovna Belova, and began to fast and pray.Despite her doctor's advice, she got up late at night to pray in a church in another parish.The prayer she engaged in with all her heart was the prayer of repentance.When she got home, the others were still asleep, and she experienced a new feeling, that she could be rid of all her sins, and live a new life of simplicity and happiness.

During the whole week she had lived like this, the mood increased day by day.When she came home from Communion, she felt for the first time that her mood was not oppressed by her present life.The doctor, who came to see Natès that day, only ordered her to take what was left of the powder, and he was obviously and honestly satisfied with his success.

[eighteen]
At the end of July, more and more frightening rumors about the situation of the war were circulating in Moscow: people spoke of the emperor's appeal to the people, that the emperor himself was leaving the army and returning to Moscow, that Napoleon had ten million troops, that only a miracle would bring him back to Moscow. able to save Russia.

On weekends, the Lostavs still went to mass at the Razumovskis' church.Hearing people talking about her, it seemed to Nates that the names of Kuragin and Balkonsky must have been mentioned.She knew she was very beautiful, but that didn't cheer her up as much as it used to, on the contrary, it made her feel worse lately.

She prayed for all the soldiers and relatives, as well as for the Duke d'André and the unfortunate Unladourie.Only when she was praying did she feel that she could think of the Duke Hendry and Unladourie as clearly and quietly as of ordinary people, and this was due to the fact that her feelings for God were so different from her feelings of fear and reverence for God. Their feelings are irrelevant.

During the prayer, the priest broke the routine and walked out, knelt down and recited the prayer just sent from the Institute of Religious Affairs, praying for Russia to be protected from the enemy.

Nates, whose soul is at present most susceptible to emotion, had a very strong effect on her.She prayed to God with all her heart, but she didn't quite know what she was asking God for.She prayed that God would forgive all sinners, as well as her, and grant her and them quiet happiness.

[nineteen]
When Bin-Air came out from the Rostaff's, recalling Natess' excited eyes, he felt that something new had appeared in his life.All his doubts vanished.She didn't answer the question in his mind, but when he thought of her, he immediately entered a dazzling spiritual world, where there was no right or wrong, only beauty and love.

Natisse's health was slowly recovering, but she no longer aroused in him the pity she had formerly had, but was haunted by an inexplicable disturbance.He felt that the situation he was in could not last long, and that a disaster that would change his whole life was about to happen, and he even began to look for signs of this disaster.A Kiwi friend told Bin-Air a prophecy from St. John's Apocalypse.Bin Ayr knew from the prophecy that Napoleon's authority lasted until [-], and if the words "Russian Binzokhov" were calculated according to the Hebrew value, the sum was exactly the same as that of "Emperor Napoleon". The values ​​sum to the same.The change in his life, and this mysterious connection, brought him out of the circle of Moscow life, and set him on the path of great deeds and great happiness.

On the day when the Prayer of Peace was recited, Bin-Air met the messenger who had just arrived from the army at the house of Earl Rushdupich.From the messenger, he saw Malal Rostav's letter to his father, and in the list of injured victims and recipients, he found that Malal Rostav was killed in the battle of Ostrovna He was awarded the Order of St. George, third class, for his bravery, and he also knew that Duke Andréj Bolkonski had been promoted to commander of the hussars.

Bin-Air has long wanted to be a soldier, but joining the Kiwanis prevents him from realizing his dream.Because Kiwanis advocates eternal peace and avoids war.Therefore, he considered his mission in the great cause preordained, and he could only wait for what must happen.

[twenty]
Every weekend, there are always a few close friends who come to Lostaff's house for dinner.On this day, Bin-Air came early, and the first thing he saw was Nadice at Rostaff's house.When he took off his coat in the living room and hadn't seen her, he heard her singing.She practiced her voice in the hall.He knew that she hadn't sung since her illness, so her voice surprised and pleased him at the same time.

When Natess suddenly turned around and saw Bin-Air at the door, she blushed and fawned on him as actively as before, Natess hadn't seen Bin-Air like this for a long time.They talked of Maral's award of the Order of St. George, and of André Bolkonski, and Nates was anxious to know whether Duke André would forgive her, and Bin-Air's answer stirred her. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she moved to Bin-Air and said: "If you were not there at that time, and I am not without you now, I don't know what I would be like..."

At this time, Biga ran out of the living room.Biga is currently a handsome, ruddy fifteen-year-old who looks a lot like Natess.He was going to go to university, but had lately decided privately with his friend Obolensky to enlist in the hussars.Biga came to Bin Air for help on this matter.

After the meal, the old count sat calmly in the armchair, and with a stern face ordered Martha, who was good at reciting, to read (an address to the people).

Nates sat upright, looking sometimes at her father and sometimes at Bin-Air with inquiring eyes.Bin-air felt her gaze, but tried not to look back.

(End of this chapter)