Chapter Summaries: Dole: Nikolai comforts Sonya in the conservatory. Natasha's mischievous kiss. Her engagement to Boris. Viera shows her characters to her brothers and sisters.
Briggs (chapter 10): Nikolay's relationship with Sonya.
Translation:
Х.
When Natasha exited from the living room, she ran alone until she reached the floral. In this room she stopped, listened to the talk in the living room and expected the entrance of Boris. She had already become impatient and, stamping her leg, started to cry because he was not walking. When she heard the not quiet, not quick, but decent steps of a young man, Natasha quickly threw herself between a tub of flowers and hid.
Boris had stopped in the middle of the room, turning back, brushing off with his hand the specks from the sleeves of his uniform and came up to the mirror, looking at his beautiful face. Natasha, quieting down, peeked out from her ambush, anticipating what he would do. He stood for some time before the mirror, smiled, and went to the exit door. Natasha wanted to hail him, but then thought.
— Let him look, — she said to herself. Only when Boris left, from a different door entered the flushed Sonya, through tears viciously whispering something. Natasha kept from her first movement being to run out to her and leave her ambush, as from under an invisible hat looking out at the world. She tested her particular new enjoyment. Sonya whispered something and looked around at the door to the living room. From the door came Nikolay.
— Sonya! What is with you? Is it possible? — said Nikolay, running up to her.
— Nothing, nothing, leave me! — Sonya sobbed.
— No, I know what.
— Well you know, perfectly, so go to her.
— Sooonya! one word! Can you torment me and yourself with these fantasies? — spoke Nikolay, taking her hand.
Sonya did not tear her hand from him and stopped to cry.
Natasha, not stirring or breathing, watched with her brilliant eyes from her ambush. “What will he do?” she thought.
— Sonya! All the world I don’t need! You alone are everything for me, — spoke Nikolay. — I’ll prove it to you.
— I do not love when you speak like this.
— Well, I won’t, well sorry, Sonya! — he pulled her to himself and kissed her.
“Ah, how good!” thought Natasha, and when Sonya with Nikolay went out of the room, she went behind them and called for Boris.
— Boris, come here, — she said with a significant and cunning look. — I need to say to you one thing. Here, here, — she said and held him in the floral in that place between the tub where she was hidden. Boris, smiling, was walking towards her.
— What is this one thing? — he asked.
She, embarrassed, looked around herself and, seeing abandoned in the tub her doll, took it into her hand.
— Kiss the doll, — she said.
Boris attentively and affectionately looked at its brisk face and responded with nothing.
— Don’t want to? Well, come here, — she said and went deeper into the flowering plant and threw the doll. — Nearer, nearer! — she whispered. She caught the hands of the officer behind the cuffs, and in her reddened face was visible solemnity and fear.
— But you want to kiss me? — she whispered to barely be heard, sneakily looking at him, smiling and not crying a little bit from the unrest.
Boris was red.
— How funny you are! — he spoke, bending down to her, still blushing more, but undertaking and biding nothing.
She suddenly jumped up in the tub, so that she had become higher than him, hugged him with both hands, so that her subtle naked hands bent over above his neck and, throwing back the movement of her head and hair backwards, kissing him on the lips.
She slipped through between the pots on the other side of the flowers and, lowering her head, stopped.
— Natasha, — he said, — You know that I love you, but...
— You are in love with me? — interrupted Natasha.
— Yes, fallen in love, but, please, you will not understand that now... still four more years... then I will ask for your hand.
Natasha thought.
— Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen... — she said, considering by her thin fingers. — Okay! So it’s over? —
And the smile of joy and reassurance illuminated her brisk face.
— Over! — said Boris.
— Forever? — said the girl. — until death?
And, taking him by the hand, she with a happy face quietly went with him to the nearby sofa.
Time: Same as previous chapter.
Locations: The Rostovs', but leaving the drawing-room and going to the conservatory.
Mentioned: Four years from now.
Pevear and Volkhonsky Notes:
Briggs (chapter 10): Nikolay's relationship with Sonya.
Translation:
Х.
When Natasha exited from the living room, she ran alone until she reached the floral. In this room she stopped, listened to the talk in the living room and expected the entrance of Boris. She had already become impatient and, stamping her leg, started to cry because he was not walking. When she heard the not quiet, not quick, but decent steps of a young man, Natasha quickly threw herself between a tub of flowers and hid.
Boris had stopped in the middle of the room, turning back, brushing off with his hand the specks from the sleeves of his uniform and came up to the mirror, looking at his beautiful face. Natasha, quieting down, peeked out from her ambush, anticipating what he would do. He stood for some time before the mirror, smiled, and went to the exit door. Natasha wanted to hail him, but then thought.
— Let him look, — she said to herself. Only when Boris left, from a different door entered the flushed Sonya, through tears viciously whispering something. Natasha kept from her first movement being to run out to her and leave her ambush, as from under an invisible hat looking out at the world. She tested her particular new enjoyment. Sonya whispered something and looked around at the door to the living room. From the door came Nikolay.
— Sonya! What is with you? Is it possible? — said Nikolay, running up to her.
— Nothing, nothing, leave me! — Sonya sobbed.
— No, I know what.
— Well you know, perfectly, so go to her.
— Sooonya! one word! Can you torment me and yourself with these fantasies? — spoke Nikolay, taking her hand.
Sonya did not tear her hand from him and stopped to cry.
Natasha, not stirring or breathing, watched with her brilliant eyes from her ambush. “What will he do?” she thought.
— Sonya! All the world I don’t need! You alone are everything for me, — spoke Nikolay. — I’ll prove it to you.
— I do not love when you speak like this.
— Well, I won’t, well sorry, Sonya! — he pulled her to himself and kissed her.
“Ah, how good!” thought Natasha, and when Sonya with Nikolay went out of the room, she went behind them and called for Boris.
— Boris, come here, — she said with a significant and cunning look. — I need to say to you one thing. Here, here, — she said and held him in the floral in that place between the tub where she was hidden. Boris, smiling, was walking towards her.
— What is this one thing? — he asked.
She, embarrassed, looked around herself and, seeing abandoned in the tub her doll, took it into her hand.
— Kiss the doll, — she said.
Boris attentively and affectionately looked at its brisk face and responded with nothing.
— Don’t want to? Well, come here, — she said and went deeper into the flowering plant and threw the doll. — Nearer, nearer! — she whispered. She caught the hands of the officer behind the cuffs, and in her reddened face was visible solemnity and fear.
— But you want to kiss me? — she whispered to barely be heard, sneakily looking at him, smiling and not crying a little bit from the unrest.
Boris was red.
— How funny you are! — he spoke, bending down to her, still blushing more, but undertaking and biding nothing.
She suddenly jumped up in the tub, so that she had become higher than him, hugged him with both hands, so that her subtle naked hands bent over above his neck and, throwing back the movement of her head and hair backwards, kissing him on the lips.
She slipped through between the pots on the other side of the flowers and, lowering her head, stopped.
— Natasha, — he said, — You know that I love you, but...
— You are in love with me? — interrupted Natasha.
— Yes, fallen in love, but, please, you will not understand that now... still four more years... then I will ask for your hand.
Natasha thought.
— Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen... — she said, considering by her thin fingers. — Okay! So it’s over? —
And the smile of joy and reassurance illuminated her brisk face.
— Over! — said Boris.
— Forever? — said the girl. — until death?
And, taking him by the hand, she with a happy face quietly went with him to the nearby sofa.
Time: Same as previous chapter.
Locations: The Rostovs', but leaving the drawing-room and going to the conservatory.
Mentioned: Four years from now.
Pevear and Volkhonsky Notes:
Boris: a proper walk, stares at his face in the mirror.
Natasha: impatient, thinks about crying because she doesn’t want to wait longer, hides and studies.
War language, like in “ambush.”
Natasha: “What will happen now?”
Nikolai: “The whole world is no use to me! You alone are everything.”
Natasha almost cries with excitement. She sees the other two kiss and now she wants to kiss Boris.
Boris is blushing and waiting. Natasha has to take the lead. Natasha has to wait four years, but the bond is “Till death.”
Characters (characters who do not appear, but are mentioned are placed in italics. First appearances are in Bold. First mentions are underlined. Final appearance denoted by *):
Natasha Rostova
Boris
Sonya
Nikolai Rostov (everyone in the chapter is on first name basis)
Mimi (just “the doll”)
Abridged Versions:
Chapter 4 for Bell, no chapter break at the end
Gibian: Line break.
Gibian: Line break.
Fuller preserves the chapter, as does Komroff
Kropotkin keeps the chapter, but does not put a chapter break at the end of it, staying in chapter 9.
Bromfield: Chapter 16. Instead of remaining hiding, Natasha can’t stop herself from saying Boris’ name, and rather than seeing Nikolai and Sonya kiss being the motivation for Natasha trying to make Boris kiss the doll and then herself,
she comes out and says it without that help. However, when Natasha kisses Boris, she then feels regret and starts to run away, in which Boris tells her that he loves her. Boris’ reaction is slightly different as well, “His eyes seemed to be
gazing far into the future, four years ahead, to the happy year of 1809.” Nikolai tells Boris he can’t leave, that the two have to get married, Petrushka wants to be the sexton. Nikolai and Boris have a conversation about the former kissing
Sonya and Nikolai wondering if he now has to tell his father about it. The Nikolai and Sonya conversation is cut, with only the result, the kiss, being mentioned at all by Nikolai.
Simmons: Chapter is preserved. Followed by a line break.
she comes out and says it without that help. However, when Natasha kisses Boris, she then feels regret and starts to run away, in which Boris tells her that he loves her. Boris’ reaction is slightly different as well, “His eyes seemed to be
gazing far into the future, four years ahead, to the happy year of 1809.” Nikolai tells Boris he can’t leave, that the two have to get married, Petrushka wants to be the sexton. Nikolai and Boris have a conversation about the former kissing
Sonya and Nikolai wondering if he now has to tell his father about it. The Nikolai and Sonya conversation is cut, with only the result, the kiss, being mentioned at all by Nikolai.
Simmons: Chapter is preserved. Followed by a line break.
Additional Notes:
Kaufman Page 184: "In early drafts of the novel, before there was any Andrei, there was Boris Drubetskoi, who was endowed with many of the features of the character who would become Andrei.”
Kathyrn Feuer (The Book That Became War and Peace:
Boris Drubetskoy is an interesting case; originally he was to have been wealthy and honorable, though overly ambitious (very much like Prince Andrey, who did not exist in the earliest manuscripts);after Tolstoy decides to impoverish him, however, we begin to see, in the successive manuscripts, his steady moral decline, until he becomes the careerist and hypocrite of the final novel. It seems that for Tolstoy the actions of a poor man were inevitably morally suspect
Kaufman Page 184: "In early drafts of the novel, before there was any Andrei, there was Boris Drubetskoi, who was endowed with many of the features of the character who would become Andrei.”
Kathyrn Feuer (The Book That Became War and Peace:
Boris Drubetskoy is an interesting case; originally he was to have been wealthy and honorable, though overly ambitious (very much like Prince Andrey, who did not exist in the earliest manuscripts);after Tolstoy decides to impoverish him, however, we begin to see, in the successive manuscripts, his steady moral decline, until he becomes the careerist and hypocrite of the final novel. It seems that for Tolstoy the actions of a poor man were inevitably morally suspect
Christian: Page 3: “There is no doubt either that some details of her (Tatyana Alexandrovna Yergolskaya) life and position in Tolstoy’s grandmother's home were used in creating the character of Sonya in War and Peace.”
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