War and Peace

Chapter 37

Princess Molière was sitting at the window when she heard the voice of the old prince from the garden.Suddenly, several people ran from the boulevard in panic.When Princess Molière ran up to the old prince who was being carried, in the shade of the linden tree, in the little flickering light of the sun, she could not see the expression on his face.He opened his weak mouth to his daughter, but he couldn't understand what he was talking about, what he was thinking.Everyone carried the old prince into the study.

In the evening, a doctor was invited to treat him. He diagnosed the old prince's illness as apoplexy, and said that his lower body was paralyzed.

It was getting more and more dangerous to stay on Bald Mountain.The day after the stroke they sent the Duke to Berg Charlevoix, and the doctor went with him.

By the time they arrived at Berg Charlevoix, Desalle had gone to Moscow with little Maral.

The old prince was still ill in the new building that the Duke of Andrele had built at Berg Charlevoix.He was unconscious, like a lying corpse.He kept muttering, his eyebrows and lips quivering, unable to tell if he knew what was going on around him.Only one thing was certain, and that was that he was distressed and felt he should say something more.

He was obviously hurt physically and mentally.There was no hope of recovery, and it was impossible to send him away. "If he died, wouldn't it be better to be free?" Princess Molière sometimes thought so.She took care of him day and night, but she didn't expect his illness to get better. On the contrary, she even longed for the scene where his life was in crisis.

Naturally, the princess would not admit that she had such an idea, but this idea did exist in her heart.What was even more frightening for Princess Molière was that all the forgotten personal wishes and desires that had been dormant in her since her father's illness revived in her heart.One thought haunted her all the time, which she couldn't get rid of, and that thought was how she would arrange her own life after this was done.It was becoming dangerous to remain at Berg Charlevoix, and news of the approaching French came from everywhere.The princess is expected to get up on the fifteenth.The night before she had slept as usual in the old prince's adjoining room with her clothes on.She heard his chirping and cooing louder this night than before, she couldn't sleep, and wanted to go in many times, but she didn't dare.She knew that going in at such an unusual time of night would surely annoy him.

However, she had never been so sorry for him, so afraid of losing him.In the previous relationship with him, she felt all his love for her.In thinking about the past, despite the temptations of the devil, tempting her to arrange her future, she kept and firmly put these thoughts aside.In the morning, he calmed down and she fell asleep.

She woke up very late, and when she woke up, she heard his mumbling and everything that happened outside the door again.

After packing up, she walked to the steps, and several carriages in front of the steps were loading things.

The doctor came down the stairs and told the princess to go to the prince, saying that he wanted to see her.

Upon hearing this news, Princess Molière's heart beat violently.Now she felt that it was a troublesome and terrible thing to see him and talk to him at this time.

Princess Molière went into the prince's room and came to his bed.

He lay quietly, with his two bony hands outside the quilt, his face expressionless.He is thinner.When the princess came up to kiss his hand, he held her hand tightly, presumably, he was waiting for her.He took her hand, eyebrows and mouth trembling constantly.

She looked at him in horror, trying to figure out what he wanted her to do.He moved his lips and tongue, and was about to speak. He looked at her timidly and pleadingly, apparently afraid that she might not understand what he said.

"Do you feel bad in your heart?" Princess Molière wondered, and he beeped a few times firmly.Princess Molière leaned her head on his hand, trying to hide her tears.

He sometimes stroked her hair with his hand, and sometimes held her hand, saying intermittently: "Everything! I miss you, thank you... daughter, good boy... for everything, for everything, Thank you... for understanding me..." Tears streamed from his eyes. "Go and get André!" he said suddenly, and as soon as he made the request, his face showed childlike fear and disbelief.

"I have a letter from him," replied Princess Molière. "Where is he?" he asked with fear and surprise. "He's in the army, Papa, in Smolensk." He closed his eyes and was silent for a long time.Then, as if answering his own question, and confirming that he had remembered everything by now, he nodded affirmatively and opened his eyes.

His voice was clear and deep: "Russia has fallen! They have wiped out Russia!" After he finished speaking, he closed his eyes again, and tears flowed from the corners of his closed eyes.Seeing the tearful face, the princess couldn't help crying too.

"Put on your white dress, I like it," he said.When Princess Molière understood this, she cried even louder.After she had gone, the prince spoke of his son, of the war, of the emperor, raising his hoarse voice with furious eyebrows.He had another stroke, and it was the last one.

Princess Molière was standing on the balcony.She knew nothing, thought nothing but love for her father, and she felt that she had never loved her father so much before this moment.

"Ah... I want him to die, I long for peace... But what will happen in the future? If he is dead, how can I be quiet?" She walked quickly, touching her chest with her hands, her whole body trembling. burst into tears.

Princess Molière went out into the garden, came to the foot of the hill by the pool, and sat on the grass, where no one could see her.She doesn't know how long she was there.The sound of a woman running down the path woke her up, and she rose to see her maid, Dunyasha.

"Please ... princess ... duke ..." Dunyasha said in a breathless voice.

Before she could finish speaking, Princess Molière ran into the room.He was still lying there, but the serious expression on his quiet face made Princess Molière stop at the door.

"No, he's not dead; that's impossible!" said Princess Molière to herself, coming up to him.She suppressed the panic in her heart and pressed her lips to his cheek.Immediately afterwards, she left him again, and her love for him disappeared immediately.She was timid, and she felt that there was still something terrible and wonderful in the place where he had lived before.

When it was almost night, people put the packed corpses in the coffin, and there were burning candles around the coffin.On the floor, strewn with pine branches, a printed prayer was placed under the withered head of the dead man, and the deacon read it from the corner of the room.Many outsiders and their own family crowded around the coffin in the living room, staring in fear, crossing themselves, bowing constantly, and kissed the cold and hard hand of the old prince.

[Nine]

The peasants of Berg Charlevoix are so different from those of the Bald Mountains that they are called "steppe dwellers".The old prince often praised them for their hard work, but he didn't like their untamed roughness.

The large estates on the outskirts of Berg Charlevoix are all official or rent-collecting landowners.There were few literate serfs, and in them nowhere was the magical will of Russian life stronger and more evident. Twenty years ago, there was a migration operation here.Now, this magical will is at work again, and perhaps it will explode soon.

Alpatych, who had come to Berg Charlevoix shortly before the death of the old prince, noticed disturbances among the peasants.Unlike Bald Mountain, the peasants of Berg-Charlevoy had contact with the French, received their leaflets, and stayed there.What was more important, Alpatych knew that on the very morning he had ordered the mayor to gather carts to take the princess' luggage out of Berg Charova, there was a meeting in the village at which it was decided not to move but to wait. .

The village chief Danlong (the old duke called him "Little Danlong") has been managing Berg Charlevoix for 20 years. He is physically strong and energetic. He has a big beard just after he turned 40, and he remained unchanged until he was 70 or 60. Change, no gray hair, not a single tooth, 30 years old is still as straight as [-] years old, strong body.

On the day of the old duke's burial, Danron received orders to prepare ten horses and twelve chariots for the duchess.In Alpatych's opinion, it should be easy to get these horses and carts on such an estate with more than 200 wealthy peasant families.But Dan Long did not respond after receiving the order.Alpatych called out the names of many peasants and asked them to prepare vehicles.But Danron rejected Alpatitch one by one. According to him, not only could he not find a horse to pull the luggage cart, but it was also difficult to find a horse to pull the luggage cart.Alpatitch immediately understood that Danlong's approval did not represent his own thoughts, but the general mood of the whole village. He understood that Danlong, who had made money and was hated by the whole village, had succumbed to the village commune's wishes. requirements, and he must also swing between the two camps of landlords and serfs.

"Stop talking nonsense. Tell them the carriages are ready tomorrow morning, and we all go to Moscow. You don't have to go to the meeting either. Do you hear me?"

Dan Long replied: "Understand."

Alpatych didn't insist any longer.He had controlled the peasants for a long time, and he knew that the most important way to get the peasants to obey was to have a firm belief in their obedience.He was content with Danron's 'clear', though not only was he skeptical that there would be any cars, but he seemed convinced that there would be no cars without the help of the troops.

Sure enough, until the evening, the vehicle was not ready.Near the hotel in the countryside, a rally was held as usual.At the meeting it was decided that the horses should be driven into the woods, and that the horses and chariots should not be handed over.

[ten]

After her father's funeral, Princess Molière shut herself up in the house and prevented anyone from seeing her.When the maid asked about the departure, Princess Molière got up from the sofa on which she was lying, closed the door, and said that she was going nowhere else, and asked them not to disturb her.

The sun shone on the other side of the room, and the slanting light streamed into the corner of the house through the open window.She sat up aimlessly, brushed her hair and went to the window.The weather is clear and sunny, with a cool breeze blowing from time to time.

Someone called her in a kindly little voice from the garden, and kissed her on the head, and she looked up, and it was Miss Pollyeyre.She came slowly in mourning clothes, sighed, kissed her, and immediately began to cry again.Thinking of her previous antagonism and jealousy towards her, and thinking of the old prince's recent indifference to her, Princess Molière felt how unfair she was to blame her.

She vividly imagined the situation of Miss Pollyeyre, who had been estranged from her lately, but at the same time lived close to her, and lived in her home.She took pity on her, and stretched out her hand to her.Miss Pollylove cried and kissed her hand. She said that she hoped that the princess would promise her to share her misfortune now. The unhappiness in the past should disappear in the face of this great pain. He of the world rejoices.

Miss Pollylove was silent for a moment, and said: "Your situation is very terrible, dear princess, you can understand that our situation is very dangerous, we are surrounded by the French army, and it is too dangerous to go at present. If I go, I am afraid I will die." caught……"

With that said, Miss Polly Love took out a notice from her handbag, handed it to Princess Molière, and suggested that she seek help from the French General Rameau who issued the notice.

"I can't let the Duke of Andrele know that I'm in the hands of the French! The daughter of the Duke of Maral Bolkonski will not ask for the protection and favor of General Rameau!" She was excited by her own thoughts. , and proud.

Moliye felt that she should think about the problem with the thoughts of her father and brother.Her own safety was irrelevant; she represented not only herself, but her father and the Duke of Andrele.

In Duke Andrele's study, she had Danron summoned.When the princess mentioned to Danlon her decision to leave Berg Charlevoix, Danlon said that the horses were requisitioned by the army or starved to death, and some people could not even eat.

Princess Molier was very surprised. She vaguely heard that the landlord's family had food reserves, and she also knew that neither her brother nor her father would refuse to ask for relief from poor farmers.She was very happy at this time, because she could have a worrying thing as an excuse to make her forget her sorrow and not be blamed by her conscience, so she ordered Dan Long:
"Give all the stored grain to everyone! I order you on behalf of my brother, you tell everyone: we don't distinguish between you and me, for everyone, we will never be stingy."

Danron looked at Princess Molière as she spoke, and kept begging her to dismiss him when she had finished speaking.The princess never knew the reason for his request, she could only tell him that she did not doubt his loyalty, and she was willing to do anything for everyone.

[eleven]

An hour later the Duchess received word that Danron had returned.He said that, following the princess's orders, he had summoned the peasants of the village, who were waiting by the barn to speak to the mistress.

"However, I didn't ask them to come," said Princess Moliere. Regardless of the persuasion of Dunyasha and the nanny, she came to the steps, followed by Danlong, Dunyasha, and the nanny.

The crowd pressed forward and began to move forward, and quickly took off their hats.Seeing so many different faces and the eyes of men and women, so different from each other, Princess Molière felt that she should speak to everyone, but she did not know how to say it.But when she thought that she was the representative of her father and brother, she had courage, and she began to speak boldly:
"I'm glad you're here. The war broke your family. This is our common misfortune. I give up everything to help you... If someone says that I give you food to keep you here, it is wrong. On the contrary, I invite you to take all your belongings to our farm in the Moscow countryside... I do this on behalf of my dead father, who was a good master to you, and on behalf of my brother and his son. "

People's eyes looked at her together, and she didn't know the meaning of their eyes or the expression on their faces.On the faces with the same expressions, there are surprise and obedience, but also panic and anxiety.

No one answered, and the princess watched the crowd, all eyes avoiding her.

"Why do we agree? We don't need food." "Why do we give up everything? No, no... We sympathize with you, but we don't agree. You leave, leave here alone..." Voices from the crowd It was passed out.

On the faces of this group of people, there was the same expression again, but it was no longer an expression of surprise and excitement, but an expression of anger and determination.

Princess Molière wanted to explain, to explain, but her voice was silenced by the voices of the people.

"Look, how nice she said! Be a slave for her! Destroy your home, and be a slave. Isn't it? She said, I'll give you food!" These voices came from the crowd.

Princess Molier lowered her head, left the crowd, and walked into the room.

She asked Dan Long to prepare the horses and set off tomorrow, and then she went back to her room to think alone.

[twelve]
In the evening, Princess Molière sat by the bedroom window for a long time.Peasant voices kept coming from the village, but she was sure she would not understand them.She just thinks now that her misfortune has become history after this chaotic period of actual life.

(End of this chapter)