War and Peace

Chapter 19

Martha interrupted him. "I've already declined," she said hastily. "If it's because of me, then I'm afraid I..." Martha interrupted him again, looking at him beseechingly and terrified.

"Malar, don't say any more," she said. "No, I'm going to say it. It may be my conceit, but it's better to say it. If it's because of me, then I should tell you the truth. I love you, and I think I love you more than anyone... ..."

"I'm quite satisfied," said Martha, flushing. "No, I have loved a thousand times, and I will love again, although I have not given any of these feelings to you, such as friendship, trust, and love. Besides, I am still young. Mother does not want me so early Let's talk about marriage. Well, let's get straight to the point, I can't make any commitments. So, I'd better ask you to reconsider Reukaut's proposal," he said, with great difficulty. Say the name of Rookout.

"Don't tell me these big things. I don't want anything. I love you like a brother, and I will love you like that. I don't want anything else."

"You are as beautiful as a fairy, I am not worthy of you, I am just afraid of hurting you." Malar kissed her hand again.

[twelve]
Yogel’s ball is the most famous ball in Moscow. On this day, Yogel, the dance teacher who bowed slightly to the guests as usual and fluttered around like a feather, borrowed the big living room of Binzokhov’s house to hold the ball .The Rostaff girls, Malal, and Jackoff all attended the ball.

Nates seemed to be very excited and active today. She didn't fall in love with one person alone, but fell in love with everyone. She fell in love with whoever she saw.

After a few dances, Latin dance music was played.Malar persuaded Natess to invite Jackoff to dance, and said that Jackoff's Latin dance was very beautiful.Nates timidly walked across the ballroom, walked up to Jackoff, and coquettishly asked him to dance.

"Little fairy, you can dance any way you want!" Jackoff took off his saber and walked over to the chair.He held the hand of his little dance partner, raised his head slightly, stretched out one foot, and waited for the dance music to start.Only when riding a horse and dancing Latin dances does Jackoff not appear short in stature.When the dance music started, he tapped lightly with one foot, and it bounced off the floor like a rubber ball, spinning around with his little dance partner as if flying.Nates could not help spinning with him.Sometimes he makes her spin, sometimes holds her left hand or right hand, sometimes puts her on one knee and makes her circle around him, then jumps up and moves forward very fast, trying to run across all the rooms in one breath, and sometimes stops suddenly. Next, jump out a novel and unique dance step.He led his partner nimbly to his seat, touched his spurs, and bowed politely to her.Natess even forgot to return the salute, and smiled into his eyes with a bewildered expression, as if she did not know him.

"What's the matter with him today?" she said.Although Jogel did not admit that this was a real Latin dance, all the people admired Jackoff's dancing skills and came to ask him to dance one after another.After the dance, Jackoff was sweating. He sat down next to Natess, wiped his sweat with a handkerchief, and never left Natess during the whole dance.

[Thirteen]
On the third day after the ball, Rostaff received a note from Reookout:
Since you know the details, it is inconvenient for me to go to your house. I will return to the army in a few days, so I invite my friends to the farewell banquet. Please come to the British Hotel tonight.

Just before ten o'clock, Rostaff was invited to the English Hotel.In one of the best rooms of the hotel, about twenty people gambled around a table, and Rucourt was the banker.Unable to withstand Rukot's temptation and stimulation, plus his sympathy for Rukot, Rostav made a bet and lost [-] rubles in a short while.

Another round of cards was played, Rostaf bet another [-] rubles under Rukot's persuasion, and then waited in fear for Rukot to show his cards.Winning or losing this game is of great importance to him.The old Count Lostav gave his son two thousand rubles last Sunday. The old count never talked about money, but this time he told his son that this is the last sum of money before May, so let him save a little. .Malal said that the money was enough, and promised that he would not ask his family for money again in the spring.Now there was only twelve hundred rubles left in his pocket.Therefore, winning or losing this game is not only a question of sixteen hundred rubles, but also a question of credibility.He looked nervously at Rookout's big, thick, hairy hands as they dealt cards.

"Ah-ha!" Lostaff almost cried, throwing up his hands above his head.He can't lose anymore.

"However, don't take too much risk." Rucourt glanced at Rostaff, and continued to deal the cards as he spoke.

[fourteen]
For nearly an hour, most gamblers no longer paid much attention to their cards. They all looked at Rostav with wide eyes. His debt was more than one thousand five hundred rubles, and it was increasing exponentially. Five thousand, but actually more than twenty thousand.Reuckout neither listened nor told stories, but watched every movement of Rosettaver, and sometimes glanced at the bills owed.He also wanted to raise the debt until Rostav owed forty-five thousand rubles.He asked for this amount because he and Martha happened to be forty-five years old together.Lostaff, with a swollen head, sat at a card table full of cards, numbers, and sprinkles.Those two hands with thick bones, rough ribs, and hairy hands, the two hands that he loves and hates, have lost control.He was flushed and sweating, although the room wasn't too hot.His face became very embarrassed, especially when he was desperately trying to appear calm.Suddenly, someone said: "It's time for us to eat!" Rose Tapher understood that everything was over.

"You owe me forty-three thousand rubles, Count," said Rucourt, getting up from the card table and stretching himself. "I'm very tired from sitting so long," he added.

"I'm very sleepy, too," said Lostaff.Rucourt interrupted him, as if to remind him that it is not suitable to joke at this time: "When can you give me the money?"

Lostav blushed, and he called Rookout aside. "I don't have cash right now. You can get a promissory note." "Look here, Rostaff," said Reukaut with a smile, looking into Rostaff's eyes, "you know there's a saying that goes: ' Good in love, bad in the casino. 'Your cousin is in love with you. I know it."

"Your cousin..." Rookault wanted to go on, but Rosettaver cut him off.

"Don't get your cousin involved with this, you don't have to mention her!" he cried frantically.

"Then when will you return the money to me?" Reukot asked. "Tomorrow," said Rostaff, and walked out of the room.

[fifteen]
It is very easy to maintain a decent tone when saying the word "tomorrow", but how to explain it to his family after returning home made him very embarrassed. He staggered back home with speculation and anxiety.

Everyone is still up.They were gathered in the drawing-room, listening to Natess sing.

"Why is she so excited?" thought Malal Rostaff, looking at his sister. "Why isn't she bored and ashamed?" Natess sang the first note, her head held high, He raised his voice and his eyes became serious.There was no one and nothing on her mind.

It was the first time that Natess sang seriously this winter, for Jackoff was particularly willing to hear her sing.She doesn't sing like she used to now, but she is getting better and better. Music experts who have heard her sing will say: "Lack of training, but the voice is very good and needs to be practiced." However, when people listen to her singing Very fascinated.And when he sang with a voice that had not been practiced systematically and did not even breathe properly, even those professional singers listened calmly and concentratedly, and he never tired of listening to it.Natès's voice was so sonorous, with a charm of which she was unaware, that raw softness, combined with unartificial simplicity, that it was felt that any change in the way she sang would destroy it.

"What's going on here?" Hearing Natesy's singing, Malal Rosestaff widened his eyes and thought.Ah, upon hearing the euphemism, it touched the best thing in Malal Lowstaff's soul, which had nothing to do with anything in the earth, which was higher than anything in the world.Losing money, Rucourt, and promises to pay it back, forget about it! ...it's all deception!Even if you have killed people and stolen things, you can still feel happy because of this singing... [[-]]

As soon as Nates finished singing, Malal Rostaff came back to reality.After a while, the old earl came back from the club, and Mallar Lowstaff went hard to his father's room.

"Dad, I'm in a hurry. I need some money." "Oh!" said the happy father, "I figured out that the money is not enough for you, how much do you need?" "A lot," Malal blushed, " I lost some money, that is to say, too much, a lot, forty-three thousand."

"What? Who did you bet with?..." the count asked eagerly, his neck suddenly flushed like an old man's stroke.Then he bowed his head and panicked. "It's not easy, I can't make it in a short time..." He said as he walked out the door.The son originally thought that he would be rejected, but he didn't expect that his father was not angry.

"Dad! Dad...Dad..." He chased after his father and shouted, with tears all over his face, "Forgive me!" He grabbed his father's hand, pressed it to his lips, and shed tears of regret.

While the father and son were talking, there was also an important conversation between the mother and daughter over there.The excited Natess ran to her mother.

"Mom!... Mom!... Jackoff proposed to me..." The countess could hardly believe her ears.Jackoff proposed to this daughter who was playing with dolls not so long ago? "Natiss, that's enough, don't talk nonsense." "It's true."

"If it's true," the Countess shrugged, "tell him he's a fool."

"No, he's not a fool," said Natess anxiously. "Otherwise you will marry him." Mother said angrily and funny. "No, mother, I don't have feelings for him. I don't think I like him." "Then, I'll go and talk to him." "No, don't go, you just stand outside the door and listen." Therefore, Natai Si quickly ran across the corridor to the hall. Jackoff was still sitting on the chair beside the piano, holding his head in his hands. When he heard Nates' footsteps, he jumped up from the chair.

"Natiss," he said eagerly, "everything about me is in your hands, and my fate is in your hands!"

"Vohile Dmitritch, don't talk like that! . . . No, you're a fine young man . . . but you don't have to . . . I'll love you forever."

Jackoff held out a hand to her and bent down, so she heard a deep, unintelligible voice.She kissed his tousled black head.At this moment, the countess also came to the living room.

"Vassile Dmitrich, thank you very much," the countess said in a slightly embarrassed voice, but it was very severe to Jackoff's ears, "but Nates is still young, I think you are my son My friend, you have something to tell me. Then you won't let me refuse your kindness."

"Countess..." Jackoff lowered his eyes and showed a shy expression. He wanted to speak, but he hesitated to speak.

Seeing his pitiful state made Nates feel very sad. "Countess, I'm sorry for you," Jackoff stammered, "but you know, I adore your daughter and your whole family very much, even if I sacrifice my life twice, I have no regrets..." He glanced at Seeing the serious expression on her face, the old lady said, "Goodbye, countess." He said, kissed the countess's hand, and without looking at Natess, he walked out quickly with firm steps .

The next day, Malal Rostaff went to see Jackoff, who didn't want to stay here any longer.In order to wait for the old earl to raise money, Maral lived at home for half a month without leaving the house.Martha took a special interest in him, and he thought himself unworthy of her.He didn't leave home until he paid off the [-] ruble gambling debt and asked for Rukot's IOU, and chased after the team already in Poland. He didn't say goodbye to his friends when he left.

Part Two

[One]

After parting from his wife, Bin-Air set out for Petersburg, where he stopped at Tornok Station to change horses.

Ever since that day, when he was at home after the duel, and had had his first dreary sleepless night, the same question had been haunting him, tormenting him.During the lonely journey, these troubles tormented him from time to time.

At this time, he thought: "I shot Rucourt because he insulted me. Louis XVI was executed because everyone regarded him as a criminal. Within a year, the person who killed him was killed by others." When you die, things happen for a reason. How do you do right? How do you do wrong? What should you love and what should you hate? How should you live? What am I? What is good and what is evil? What is the power that governs everything?” He thought pondering.He couldn't answer these questions, and he couldn't answer them. The only way to solve and escape the problem now is: "Death, everything will be over. If you die, all problems will disappear, or in other words, they will be solved." But , death itself is also terrible.

After a while, another passenger came to the station.The passenger looked dull and frowning. He was wearing an old yellow coarse leather jacket and a pair of felt boots on his bony legs. He sat on the sofa, leaned his disheveled head on the back of the sofa, and looked this way. glance.His stern, intelligent, penetrating gaze terrified Bin-Air.Bin-Air was about to chat with the traveler and ask him about the road, but the traveler closed his eyes and sat there motionless, with his rough and wrinkled hands together and a finger on one finger. Wearing an iron ring carved with a skull.Bin Air felt that the man was thinking about something seriously and quietly.The traveler's servant was a skinny little old man, also wrinkled, and the servant's bare face was beardless, but it was not shaved, but never grew.

[two]

The traveler recognized Count Binzohof, and began a lively conversation with him, saying that he understood Bin-Air's troubles.Bin-Air saw the skull on his ring and knew it was the symbol of the Kiwanis.

"Excuse me," said Bin-Air, "are you a Kiwaniser?" "Yes, I am a Kiwaniser," the traveler stared at him with doubtful, sad eyes, "I myself would like to extend my respects to you on behalf of the Kiwanisers." lend a helping hand."

"Maybe," Bin-Air said gently, "I don't have the same worldview as yours. Let me tell you the truth, I don't...don't believe in God." Bin-Air spoke the truth with great difficulty.

(End of this chapter)