Book 2 Part 5 Chapter 12 (Chapter 154 overall)

Chapter Summaries: Dole: Marya Dmitrievna's unsuccessful attempt at mediation. Natasha's unhappiness. New dresses. Ellen's call. Her flattery. Her bad influence.
Briggs: Helene tells Natasha Anatole is in love with her.
Maude: Sunday at Marya Dmitrievna's. Helene calls and invites the Rostovs to hear Mademoiselle Georges recite. Tells Natasha that Anatole is in love with her.
Pevear and Volkhonsky: Helene calls on Natasha in Marya Dmitrievna's absense and invites her to a soiree.

Translation:

XII.

The next day after the theatre the Rostovs rode nowhere and no one came to them. Marya Dmitrievna about something, hiding from Natasha, talked with her father. Natasha guessed that they talked about the old prince and thought up something, and she was bothered and insulted by this. She at all moments was waiting for Prince Andrey, and two times on this day sent a servant to Vzdvizhenka to find out whether he had arrived or not. He had not come. She was now harder than on the first day of her arrival. To her impatience and sadness about him was joined the unpleasant memory about the appointment with Princess Marya and with the old prince, and fear and anxiety, which she knew not the cause of. To her all seemed that he would never come, or that before he comes, with her something will happen. She could not, as before, calmly and continuously, alone with herself think about him. Only as she began to think about him, the memory about him joined to a memory about the old prince, about Princess Marya and about the last performance, and about Kuragin. She again presented the question of whether or not she was to blame, and whether she had not now violated her allegiance to Prince Andrey, and again she met herself to the slightest details of the memory of each word, every gesture, every playful shade of expressions on the face of this man able to arouse in her an incomprehensible for her and scary feeling. In the view of the home, Natasha seemed livelier than ordinary, but she for a long way was not so calm and happy as she was before.

On Sunday morning Marya Dmitrievna invited her guests to mass for the coming Assumption at Mogiltsy.

— These fashionable churches I do not love, — she said, apparently proud of her freethinking. — Everywhere God is one. Our pope is beautiful, serves decently, so this is noble, and the deacon also. Isn’t from this holiness how choirs sing in concerts? I do not love, it is only pampering!

Marya Dmitrievna loved Sunday and was able to celebrate it. Her house had been all washed and cleaned out on Saturday; the people and she did not work, all were festively discharged, and all were at mass. To the master’s dinner was added food, and people were given vodka and fried goose or piglet. Yet in all of the house did not so have a noticeable celebration, as on the wide, strict face of Marya Dmitrievna, on this day adopted an immutable expression of solemnity.

When coffee was drunk after mass, in the living room with removed covers, Marya Dmitrievna reported that the coach was ready, and she with a strict look, dressed in a parade shawl, in which she did to visit, went up and declared that she rode to Prince Nikolay Andreyevich Bolkonsky, so to explain with him about Natasha.

After the departure of Marya Dmitrievna, to the Rostovs arrived the milliner from madam Shalme, and Natasha, shutting the door neighboring with the living room, extremely happy with the fun, was occupied by fitting new dresses. In that time as she, wearing a blended living thread still sleeveless bodice and bending her head, looked in the mirror, as sitting back, she heard in the living room the lively sounds of the voice of her father and another, female voice, which made her become red. This was the voice of Elen. Natasha did not manage to take off the measured bodice, as the door opened and in the room entered Countess Bezuhova, radiantly good-natured and with an affectionate smile, in a dark purple, with a high collar, velvet dress.

— Oh my, ravishing!544 — she said to the blushing Natasha. — Lovely!545 No, this is not what it appears, my sweet count, — she said to the entering behind her Ilya Andreich. — How do you live in Moscow and ride nowhere? No, I from you will not be behind! Now at night m-lle Georges recites and collects someone; and if you do not bring this beauty that is better than m-lle Georges, then I do not want to know you. No husband, he left for Tver, but I would have sent him for you. It is indispensable to come visit, indispensable, at the ninth hour. — She nodded her head to her friend the milliner, respectfully sat down beside her, and sat in the chair beside the mirror, picturesquely spreading out the folds of her velvet dress. She did not stop good-naturedly and funnily chatting, incessantly delighting in the beauty of Natasha. She examined her dresses and praised them, and praised her new dress of metal gas,546 which she received from Paris and advised Natasha to do such the same.

— However, you all are going, my lovely, — she said.

From the face of Natasha the smile of pleasure did not go off. She felt herself happy and blossoming under the praises of this nice Countess Bezuhova, seeming to her before such an inaccessible and important lady, and arriving now so good with her. Natasha had become funny and she felt herself almost in love with this so beautiful and so good-natured woman. Elen with her parts sincerely delighted in Natasha and wanted to amuse her. Anatole requested her to lead him with Natasha, and for this she arrived to the Rostovs. The idea of leading her brother with Natasha amused her.

Despite that, how before in her was annoyance at Natasha for how she in Petersburg repulsed Boris to her, she now did not think about this, and all her soul, by him, wanted good for Natasha. To go away from the Rostovs, she withdrew to the side her protégée.

— Yesterday my brother lunched with me — we were dying with laughter — he eats nothing and sighs by you, my beauty. He is without mind, well truly without mind has fallen in love with you.547

Natasha blushed crimson upon hearing these words.

— How she blushes, how she blushes, my lovely!548 — spoke Elen. — It is indispensable to come visit. If you love someone, my lovely, this is not a cause so that to lock up yourself. Even if you are a bride, I am sure that your fiance would rather wish that you rode into the world than disappear with boredom.549

"She knows that I am a bride and her with her husband, with Pierre, with this true Pierre," thought Natasha, "talked and laughed about this. This is nothing." And again under the influence of Elen that what before presented as terrible, seemed simple and natural. “And she is such an important young lady,550 so pretty and it is so seen all her soul loves me," thought Natasha. "And from what do I not have fun?" thought Natasha, surprised, with wide open eyes looking at Elen.

To dinner returned Marya Dmitrievna, silent, serious, obviously incurring defeat at the old prince’s. She was still too excited from what happened in the confrontation, so that for it to be in her forces to calmly talk about the business. To the question of the count she answered that all is okay and that she will tell tomorrow. Upon learning about the visiting Countess Bezuhova and the invitation to the evening, Marya Dmitrievna said:

— With Bezuhova to be found I do not love and do not advise; well, yes really if you promised, ride, distract, — she added, turning to Natasha.

544 Ah, ma délicieuse! (Ah, my delicious!)

545 Charmante! (Charming!)

546 en gaz métallique, (in metallic gas,)

547 Il est fou, mais fou amoureux de vous, ma chère. (He's mad, but madly in love with you, my dear.)

548 ma délicieuse! (my delicious!)

549 Si vous aimez quelqu’un, ma délicieuse, ce n’est pas une raison pour se cloitrer. Si même vous êtes promise, je suis sûre que votre promis aurait désiré que vous alliez danz le monde en son absence plutôt que de dépérir d’ennui. (If you love someone, my delicious, that's no reason to shut yourself up. Even if you are promised, I'm sure your promised would have desired that you go into the world in his absence rather than wasting away from boredom.)

550 grande dame, (great lady,)

Time: the day following, Sunday morning, dinner-time
Mentioned: Saturday, this evening, nine o'clock (between eight and nine in Dunnigan and Briggs. ten o'clock in Dole. about nine in Bell.), yesterday

Locations: church of the Ascension in the Mogiltsi (parish of the Dormition on Mogiltsy in Pevear and Volkhonsky. the Church of the Assumption in Briggs, Mandelker, and Maude (the latter two add built over the graves of victims of the plague). church of Uspenya on Mogiltse in Garnett.)
Mentioned: Vzdvizhenka, Moscow, Countess Bezukhov's house, Tver, Paris, St. Petersburg

Pevear and Volokhonsky Notes: Natasha is impatient in waiting for Andrei. Helene comes in and convinces them to go to her house that night. "The thought of bringing her bother together with Natasha amused her."

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 *):

Marya Dmitrievna

Natasha

Count Rostof (“father”)

Prince Nikolai Andreyevitch Bolkonsky (also “old prince”)

Prince Andrei (also “future husband”)

Princess Mariya

Anatol Kuragin (also “brother”)

Madame Chalme (“a modiste”, “dressmaker” in Mandelker, from her comes)

Countess Elena Bezukhaya

Mademoiselle Georges

Pierre (also “husband”)

Boris

Abridged Versions: Start of Chapter 20 in Bell, no chapter break at the end.
Gibian: Chapter 12

Fuller: first few paragraphs are cut off, starting with “Marya Dmitrievna liked Sundays.” Rest of chapter seems preserved and followed by a line break.

Komroff: Some of the detail about Natsha’s thoughts early in the chapter are shortened. The end of the chapter, where Marya Dmitrievna tells Natasha she doesn’t really approve of Helen, is removed. Followed by a line
break.

Kropotkin: Chapter 8: Chapter is preserved. Line break instead of chapter break.

Bromfield: Helen’s invitation to Natasha plays out rather quickly. End of chapter 13.
Simmons: Chapter 12: Natasha's thoughts and feelings at the beginning of the chapter are severely shortened.

Additional Notes: Roberts: Page 747: “Napoleon’s old flame from the Italian campaign, Mademoiselle George

Page 810: “Duke of Wellington...He slept with….Mademoiselle George”

The Fruits of Enlightenment: Page 139: “the ladies are somethin’! So dressed up, so dressed up, what d’ya know! Naked down t’here, an’ bare arms.”...I took a look: what’s this?--all of ‘em naked. Would yuh believe it, even the old ones--like our mistress, an’ she’s got grandchildren, yuh know--were naked...Soon’s the music starts, soon’s they start playin’--right away the gentlemen go up t’their ladies, put their arms aroun’ ‘em an’ off they go whirlin’ aroun’.”