First Epilogue: 1813-20 - Chapter XIV

by Leo Tolstoy

　　Soon after this the children came in to say good night. Theykissed everyone, the tutors and governesses made their bows, andthey went out. Only young Nicholas and his tutor remained. Dessalleswhispered to the boy to come downstairs.

　　"No, Monsieur Dessalles, I will ask my aunt to let me stay," repliedNicholas Bolkonski also in a whisper.

　　"Ma tante, please let me stay," said he, going up to his aunt.

　　His face expressed entreaty, agitation, and ecstasy. Countess Maryglanced at him and turned to Pierre.

　　"When you are here he can't tear himself away," she said.

　　"I will bring him to you directly, Monsieur Dessalles. Goodnight!" said Pierre, giving his hand to the Swiss tutor, and he turnedto young Nicholas with a smile. "You and I haven't seen anything ofone another yet... How like he is growing, Mary!" he added, addressingCountess Mary.

　　"Like my father?" asked the boy, flushing crimson and looking upat Pierre with bright, ecstatic eyes.

　　Pierre nodded, and went on with what he had been saying when thechildren had interrupted. Countess Mary sat down doing woolwork;Natasha did not take her eyes off her husband. Nicholas and Denisovrose, asked for their pipes, smoked, went to fetch more tea fromSonya- who sat weary but resolute at the samovar- and questionedPierre. The curly-headed, delicate boy sat with shining eyes unnoticedin a corner, starting every now and then and muttering something tohimself, and evidently experiencing a new and powerful emotion as heturned his curly head, with his thin neck exposed by his turn-downcollar, toward the place where Pierre sat.

　　The conversation turned on the contemporary gossip about those inpower, in which most people see the chief interest of home politics.Denisov, dissatisfied with the government on account of his owndisappointments in the service, heard with pleasure of the things donein Petersburg which seemed to him stupid, and made forcible andsharp comments on what Pierre told them.

　　"One used to have to be a German- now one must dance with Tatawinovaand Madame Kwudener, and wead Ecka'tshausen and the bwethwen. Oh, theyshould let that fine fellow Bonaparte lose- he'd knock all thisnonsense out of them! Fancy giving the command of the Semenov wegimentto a fellow like that Schwa'tz!" he cried.

　　Nicholas, though free from Denisov's readiness to find fault witheverything, also thought that discussion of the government was avery serious and weighty matter, and the fact that A had beenappointed Minister of This and B Governor General of That, and thatthe Emperor had said so-and-so and this minister so-and-so, seemedto him very important. And so he thought it necessary to take aninterest in these things and to question Pierre. The questions putby these two kept the conversation from changing its ordinarycharacter of gossip about the higher government circles.

　　But Natasha, knowing all her husband's ways and ideas, saw that hehad long been wishing but had been unable to divert the conversationto another channel and express his own deeply felt idea for the sakeof which he had gone to Petersburg to consult with his new friendPrince Theodore, and she helped him by asking how his affairs withPrince Theodore had gone.

　　"What was it about?" asked Nicholas.

　　"Always the same thing," said Pierre, looking round at hislisteners. "Everybody sees that things are going so badly that theycannot be allowed to go on so and that it is the duty of all decentmen 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 Maryfollowed her. The men went into the study and little NicholasBolkonski followed them unnoticed by his uncle and sat down at thewriting 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 inPetersburg is this: the Emperor does not look into anything. He hasabandoned himself altogether to this mysticism" (Pierre could nottolerate mysticism in anyone now). "He seeks only for peace, andonly these people sans foi ni loi* can give it him- people whorecklessly hack at and strangle everything- Magnitski, Arakcheev,and tutti quanti.... You will agree that if you did not look afteryour estates yourself but only wanted a quiet life, the harsher yoursteward was the more readily your object might be attained," he saidto 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, inthe army nothing but flogging, drilling, and Military Settlements; thepeople are tortured, enlightenment is suppressed. All that is youngand 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 havealways said since governments began). "I told them just one thing inPetersburg."

　　"Told whom?"

　　"Well, you know whom," said Pierre, with a meaning glance from underhis brows. "Prince Theodore and all those. To encourage culture andphilanthropy is all very well of course. The aim is excellent but inthe present circumstances something else is needed."

　　At that moment Nicholas noticed the presence of his nephew. His facedarkened and he went up to the boy.

　　"Why are you here?"

　　"Why? Let him be," said Pierre, taking Nicholas by the arm andcontinuing. "That is not enough, I told them. Something else isneeded. When you stand expecting the overstrained string to snap atany moment, when everyone is expecting the inevitable catastrophe,as many as possible must join hands as closely as they can towithstand the general calamity. Everything that is young and strong isbeing enticed away and depraved. One is lured by women, another byhonors, 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 widenthe scope of our society, let the mot d'ordre be not virtue alonebut independence and action as well!"

　　Nicholas, who had left his nephew, irritably pushed up anarmchair, sat down in it, and listened to Pierre, coughingdiscontentedly and frowning more and more.

　　"But action with what aim?" he cried. "And what position will youadopt toward the government?"

　　"Why, the position of assistants. The society need not be secretif the government allows it. Not merely is it not hostile togovernment, but it is a society of true conservatives- a society ofgentlemen in the full meaning of that word. It is only to prevent somePugachev or other from killing my children and yours, and Arakcheevfrom sending me off to some Military Settlement. We join hands onlyfor the public welfare and the general safety."

　　"Yes, but it's a secret society and therefore a hostile andharmful one which can only cause harm."

　　"Why? Did the Tugendbund which saved Europe" (they did not thenventure to suggest that Russia had saved Europe) "do any harm? TheTugendbund is an alliance of virtue: it is love, mutual help... itis what Christ preached on the Cross."

　　Natasha, who had come in during the conversation, looked joyfully ather husband. It was not what he was saying that pleased her- thatdid not even interest her, for it seemed to her that was all extremelysimple and that she had known it a long time (it seemed so to herbecause she knew that it sprang from Pierre's whole soul), but itwas his animated and enthusiastic appearance that made her glad.

　　The boy with the thin neck stretching out from the turn-down collar-whom everyone had forgotten- gazed at Pierre with even greater andmore rapturous joy. Every word of Pierre's burned into his heart,and with a nervous movement of his fingers he unconsciously brokethe sealing wax and quill pens his hands came upon on his uncle'stable.

　　"It is not at all what you suppose; but that is what the GermanTugendbund was, and what I am proposing."

　　"No, my fwiend! The Tugendbund is all vewy well for the sausageeaters, but I don't understand it and can't even pwonounce it,"interposed Denisov in a loud and resolute voice. "I agwee thatevewything here is wotten and howwible, but the Tugendbund I don'tunderstand. 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 hisbrows still more and began proving to Pierre that there was noprospect of any great change and that all the danger he spoke ofexisted only in his imagination. Pierre maintained the contrary, andas his mental faculties were greater and more resourceful, Nicholasfelt himself cornered. This made him still angrier, for he was fullyconvinced, not by reasoning but by something within him strongerthan reason, of the justice of his opinion.

　　"I will tell you this," he said, rising and trying with nervouslytwitching fingers to prop up his pipe in a corner, but finallyabandoning the attempt. "I can't prove it to you. You say thateverything here is rotten and that an overthrow is coming: I don't seeit. But you also say that our oath of allegiance is a conditionalmatter, and to that I reply: 'You are my best friend, as you know, butif you formed a secret society and began working against thegovernment- be it what it may- I know it is my duty to obey thegovernment. And if Arakcheev ordered me to lead a squadron against youand 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 tospeak, defending her husband and attacking her brother. Her defensewas weak and inapt but she attained her object. The conversation wasresumed, and no longer in the unpleasantly hostile tone of Nicholas'last remark.

　　When they all got up to go in to supper, little Nicholas Bolkonskiwent up to Pierre, pale and with shining, radiant eyes.

　　"Uncle Pierre, you... no... If Papa were alive... would he agreewith you?" he asked.

　　And Pierre suddenly realized what a special, independent, complex,and powerful process of thought and feeling must have been going on inthis boy during that conversation, and remembering all he had saidhe regretted that the lad should have heard him. He had, however, togive 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 whathe had done to the things on the table. He flushed and went up toNicholas.

　　"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 turnedaway from the boy.

　　"You ought not to have been here at all," he said.