Emma Watson Pussy
Books:
Anna Karenina
War And Peace
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got into bed, happy and agitated but free from hesitation or
indecision.
"Strange and impossible as such happiness seems, I must do
everything that she and I may be man and wife," he told himself.
A few days previously Pierre had decided to go to Petersburg on
the Friday. When he awoke on the Thursday, Savelich came to ask him
about packing for the journey.
"What, to Petersburg? What is Petersburg? Who is there in
Petersburg?" he asked involuntarily, though only to himself. "Oh, yes,
long ago before this happened I did for some reason mean to go to
Petersburg," he reflected. "Why? But perhaps I shall go. What a good
fellow he is and how attentive, and how he remembers everything," he
thought, looking at Savelichs old face, "and what a pleasant smile he
has!"
"Well, Savelich, do you still not wish to accept your freedom?"
Pierre asked him.
"Whats the good of freedom to me, your excellency? We lived under
the late count--the kingdom of heaven be his!--and we have lived under
you too, without ever being wronged."
"And your children?"
"The children will live just the same. With such masters one can
live."
"But what about my heirs?" said Pierre. "Supposing I suddenly
marry... it might happen," he added with an involuntary smile.
"If I may take the liberty, your excellency, it would be a good
thing."
"How easy he thinks it," thought Pierre. "He doesnt know how
terrible it is and how dangerous. Too soon or too late... it is
terrible!"
"So what are your orders? Are you starting tomorrow?" asked
Savelich.
"No, Ill put it off for a bit. Ill tell you later. You must
forgive the trouble I have put you to," said Pierre, and seeing
Savelich smile, he thought: "But how strange it is that he should
not know that now there is no Petersburg for me, and that that must be
settled first of all! But probably he knows it well enough and is only
pretending. Shall I have a talk with him and see what he thinks?"
Pierre reflected. "No, another time."
At breakfast Pierre told the princess, his cousin, that he had
been to see Princess Mary the day before and had there met--"Whom do
you think? Natasha Rostova!"
The princess seemed to see nothing more extraordinary in that than
if he had seen Anna Semenovna.
"Do you know her?" asked Pierre.
"I have seen the princess," she replied. "I heard that they were
arranging a match for her with young Rostov. It would be a very good
thing for the Rostovs, they are said to be utterly ruined."
"No; I mean do you know Natasha Rostova?"
"I heard about that affair of hers at the time. It was a great
pity."
"No, she either doesnt understand or is pretending," thought
Pierre. "Better not say anything to her either."
The princess too had prepared provisions for Pierres journey.
"How kind they all are," thought Pierre. "What is surprising is that
they should trouble about these things now when it can no longer be of
interest to them. And all for me!"
On the same day the Chief of Police came to Pierre, inviting him
to send a representative to the Faceted Palace to recover things
that were to be returned to their owners that day.
"And this man too," thought Pierre, looking into the face of the
Chief of Police. "What a fine, good-looking officer and how kind.
Fancy bothering about such trifles now! And they actually say he is
not honest and takes bribes. What nonsense! Besides, why shouldnt
he take bribes? Thats the way he was brought up, and everybody does
it. But what a kind, pleasant face and how he smiles as he looks at
me."
Pierre went to Princess Marys to dinner.
As he drove through the streets past the houses that had been burned
down, he was surprised by the beauty of those ruins. The
picturesqueness of the chimney stacks and tumble-down walls of the
burned-out quarters of the town, stretching out and concealing one
another, reminded him of the Rhine and the Colosseum. The cabmen he
met and their passengers, the carpenters cutting the timber for new
houses with axes, the women hawkers, and the shopkeepers, all looked
at him with cheerful beaming eyes that seemed to say: "Ah, there he
is! Lets see what will come of it!"
At the entrance to Princess Marys house Pierre felt doubtful
whether he had really been there the night before and really seen
Natasha and talked to her. "Perhaps I imagined it; perhaps I shall
go in and find no one there." But he had
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