Page 1087 - war-and-peace

ing! Think of your father and of Nicholas.’
‘I don’t want anyone, I don’t love anyone but him. How
dare you say he is dishonorable? Don’t you know that I love
him?’ screamed Natasha. ‘Go away, Sonya! I don’t want to
quarrel with you, but go, for God’s sake go! You see how I
am suffering!’ Natasha cried angrily, in a voice of despair
and repressed irritation. Sonya burst into sobs and ran from
the room.
Natasha went to the table and without a moment’s re-
flection wrote that answer to Princess Mary which she had
been unable to write all the morning. In this letter she said
briefly that all their misunderstandings were at an end; that
availing herself of the magnanimity of Prince Andrew who
when he went abroad had given her her she begged Princess
Mary to forget everything and forgive her if she had been
to blame toward her, but that she could not be his wife. At
that moment this all seemed quite easy, simple, and clear to
Natasha.
On Friday the Rostovs were to return to the country, but
on Wednesday the count went with the prospective pur-
chaser to his estate near Moscow.
On the day the count left, Sonya and Natasha were in-
vited to a big dinner party at the Karagins’, and Marya
Dmitrievna took them there. At that party Natasha again
met Anatole, and Sonya noticed that she spoke to him, try-
ing not to be overheard, and that all through dinner she was
more agitated than ever. When they got home Natasha was
the first to begin the explanation Sonya expected.
‘There, Sonya, you were talking all sorts of nonsense

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