smoked, went to fetch more tea from Sonyawho sat wea
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ry but resolute at the samovarand questioned Pierre. The
curly-headed, delicate boy sat with shining eyes unnoticed
in a corner, starting every now and then and muttering
something to himself, and evidently experiencing a new
and powerful emotion as he turned his curly head, with his
thin neck exposed by his turn-down collar, toward the place
where Pierre sat.
The conversation turned on the contemporary gossip
about those in power, in which most people see the chief
interest of home politics. Denisov, dissatisfied with the government on account of his own disappointments in the
service, heard with pleasure of the things done in Petersburg which seemed to him stupid, and made forcible and
sharp comments on what Pierre told them.
‘One used to have to be a Germannow one must dance
with Tatawinova and Madame Kwudener, and wead
Ecka’tshausen and the bwethwen. Oh, they should let that
fine fellow Bonaparte losehe’d knock all this nonsense out
of them! Fancy giving the command of the Semenov wegiment to a fellow like that Schwa’tz!’ he cried.
Nicholas, though free from Denisov’s readiness to find
fault with everything, also thought that discussion of the
government was a very serious and weighty matter, and
the fact that A had been appointed Minister of This and B
Governor General of That, and that the Emperor had said
so-and-so and this minister so-and-so, seemed to him very
important. And so he thought it necessary to take an interest in these things and to question Pierre. The questions
put by these two kept the conversation from changing its
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ordinary character of gossip about the higher government
circles.
But Natasha, knowing all her husband’s ways and ideas,
saw that he had long been wishing but had been unable to
divert the conversation to another channel and express his
own deeply felt idea for the sake of which he had gone to
Petersburg to consult with his new friend Prince Theodore,
and she helped him by asking how his affairs with Prince
Theodore had gone.
‘What was it about?’ asked Nicholas.
‘Always the same thing,’ said Pierre, looking round at his
listeners. ‘Everybody sees that things are going so badly that
they cannot be allowed to go on so and that it is the duty of
all decent men to counteract it as far as they can.’
‘What can decent men do?’ Nicholas inquired, frowning
slightly. ‘What can be done?’
‘Why, this..’
‘Come into my study,’ said Nicholas.
Natasha, who had long expected to be fetched to nurse
her baby, now heard the nurse calling her and went to the
nursery. Countess Mary followed her. The men went into
the study and little Nicholas Bolkonski followed them unnoticed by his uncle and sat down at the writing table in a
shady corner by the window.
‘Well, what would you do?’ asked Denisov.
‘Always some fantastic schemes,’ said Nicholas.
‘Why this,’ began Pierre, not sitting down but pacing the
room, sometimes stopping short, gesticulating, and lisping: ‘the position in Petersburg is this: the Emperor does
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not look into anything. He has abandoned himself altogether to this mysticism’ (Pierre could not tolerate mysticism
in anyone now). ‘He seeks only for peace, and only these
people sans foi ni loi* can give it himpeople who recklessly
hack at and strangle everythingMagnitski, Arakcheev, and
tutti quanti…. You will agree that if you did not look after
your estates yourself but only wanted a quiet life, the harsher your steward was the more readily your object might be
attained,’ he said to Nicholas.
*Without faith or law.
‘Well, what does that lead up to?’ said Nicholas.
‘Well, everything is going to ruin! Robbery in the law
courts, in the army nothing but flogging, drilling, and Military Settlements; the people are tortured, enlightenment
is suppressed. All that is young and honest is crushed! Everyone sees that this cannot go on. Everything is strained
to such a degree that it will certainly break,’ said Pierre (as
those who examine the actions of any government have always said since governments began). ‘I told them just one
thing in Petersburg.’
‘Told whom?’
‘Well, you know whom,’ said Pierre, with a meaning
glance from under his brows. ‘Prince Theodore and all
those. To encourage culture and philanthropy is all very
well of course. The aim is excellent but in the present circumstances something else is needed.’
At that moment Nicholas noticed the presence of his
nephew. His face darkened and he went up to the boy.
‘Why are you here?’
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‘Why? Let him be,’ said Pierre, taking Nicholas by the
arm and continuing. ‘That is not enough, I told them.
Something else is needed. When you stand expecting the
overstrained string to snap at any moment, when everyone
is expecting the inevitable catastrophe, as many as possible
must join hands as closely as they can to withstand the general calamity. Everything that is young and strong is being
enticed away and depraved. One is lured by women, another
by honors, a third by ambition or money, and they go over
to that camp. No independent men, such as you or I, are
left. What I say is widen the scope of our society, let the mot
d’ordre be not virtue alone but independence and action as
well!’
Nicholas, who had left his nephew, irritably pushed up
an armchair, sat down in it, and listened to Pierre, coughing
discontentedly and frowning more and more.
‘But action with what aim?’ he cried. ‘And what position
will you adopt toward the government?’
‘Why, the position of assistants. The society need not be
secret if the government allows it. Not merely is it not hostile to government, but it is a society of true conservativesa
society of gentlemen in the full meaning of that word. It is
only to prevent some Pugachev or other from killing my
children and yours, and Arakcheev from sending me off to
some Military Settlement. We join hands only for the public
welfare and the general safety.’
‘Yes, but it’s a secret society and therefore a hostile and
harmful one which can only cause harm.’
‘Why? Did the Tugendbund which saved Europe’ (they
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did not then venture to suggest that Russia had saved Europe) ‘do any harm? The Tugendbund is an alliance of
virtue: it is love, mutual help… it is what Christ preached
on the Cross.’
Natasha, who had come in during the conversation,
looked joyfully at her husband. It was not what he was saying that pleased herthat did not even interest her, for it
seemed to her that was all extremely simple and that she
had known it a long time (it seemed so to her because she
knew that it sprang from Pierre’s whole soul), but it was his
animated and enthusiastic appearance that made her glad.
The boy with the thin neck stretching out from the turndown collarwhom everyone had forgottengazed at Pierre
with even greater and more rapturous joy. Every word of
Pierre’s burned into his heart, and with a nervous movement of his fingers he unconsciously broke the sealing wax
and quill pens his hands came upon on his uncle’s table.
‘It is not at all what you suppose; but that is what the German Tugendbund was, and what I am proposing.’
‘No, my fwiend! The Tugendbund is all vewy well for the
sausage eaters, but I don’t understand it and can’t even pwonounce it,’ interposed Denisov in a loud and resolute voice.
‘I agwee that evewything here is wotten and howwible, but
the Tugendbund I don’t understand. If we’re not satisfied,
let us have a bunt of our own. That’s all wight. Je suis vot’e
homme!’*
*”I’m your man.’
Pierre smiled, Natasha began to laugh, but Nicholas
knitted his brows still more and began proving to Pierre
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that there was no prospect of any great change and that
all the danger he spoke of existed only in his imagination.
Pierre maintained the contrary, and as his mental faculties
were greater and more resourceful, Nicholas felt himself
cornered. This made him still angrier, for he was fully convinced, not by reasoning but by something within him
stronger than reason, of the justice of his opinion.
‘I will tell you this,’ he said, rising and trying with nervously twitching fingers to prop up his pipe in a corner, but
finally abandoning the attempt. ‘I can’t prove it to you. You
say that everything here is rotten and that an overthrow is
coming: I don’t see it. But you also say that our oath of allegiance is a conditional matter, and to that I reply: ‘You are
my best friend, as you know, but if you formed a secret society and began working against the governmentbe it what
it mayI know it is my duty to obey the government. And if
Arakcheev ordered me to lead a squadron against you and
cut you down, I should not hesitate an instant, but should
do it.’ And you may argue about that as you like!’
An awkward silence followed these words. Natasha was
the first to speak, defending her husband and attacking her
brother. Her defense was weak and inapt but she attained
her object. The conversation was resumed, and no longer in
the unpleasantly hostile tone of Nicholas’ last remark.
When they all got up to go in to supper, little Nicholas
Bolkonski went up to Pierre, pale and with shining, radiant eyes.
‘Uncle Pierre, you… no… If Papa were alive… would he
agree with you?’ he asked.
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And Pierre suddenly realized what a special, independent, complex, and powerful process of thought and feeling
must have been going on in this boy during that conversation, and remembering all he had said he regretted that the
lad should have heard him. He had, however, to give him
an answer.
‘Yes, I think so,’ he said reluctantly, and left the study.
The lad looked down and seemed now for the first time
to notice what he had done to the things on the table. He
flushed and went up to Nicholas.
‘Uncle, forgive me, I did that… unintentionally,’ he said,
pointing to the broken sealing wax and pens.
Nicholas started angrily.
‘All right, all right,’ he said, throwing the bits under the
table.
And evidently suppressing his vexation with difficulty,
he turned away from the boy.
‘You ought not to have been here at all,’ he said.
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Chapter XV
The conversation at supper was not about politics or
societies, but turned
