Page 974 - war-and-peace

smile, ‘how once, long, long ago, when we were quite little,
Uncle called us into the studythat was in the old houseand
it was darkwe went in and suddenly there stood..’
‘A Negro,’ chimed in Nicholas with a smile of delight. ‘Of
course I remember. Even now I don’t know whether there
really was a Negro, or if we only dreamed it or were told
about him.’
‘He was gray, you remember, and had white teeth, and
stood and looked at us..’
‘Sonya, do you remember?’ asked Nicholas.
‘Yes, yes, I do remember something too,’ Sonya answered
timidly.
‘You know I have asked Papa and Mamma about that
Negro,’ said Natasha, ‘and they say there was no Negro at
all. But you see, you remember!’
‘Of course I do, I remember his teeth as if I had just seen
them.’
‘How strange it is! It’s as if it were a dream! I like that.’
‘And do you remember how we rolled hard-boiled eggs
in the ballroom, and suddenly two old women began spin-
ning round on the carpet? Was that real or not? Do you
remember what fun it was?’
‘Yes, and you remember how Papa in his blue overcoat
fired a gun in the porch?’
So they went through their memories, smiling with plea-
sure: not the sad memories of old age, but poetic, youthful
onesthose impressions of one’s most distant past in which
dreams and realities blendand they laughed with quiet en-
joyment.

974 War and Peace