The Weight of Family Expectations — War and Peace

Count Ilyá Rostóv has resigned as Marshal of the Nobility because the post cost too much, yet his affairs still tighten like a net he will not cut. Life at Otrádnoe is quieter, but more than twenty sit down daily: Dimmler the musician, Vogel the dancing master, the old maiden Belóva, tutors, a former governess, and others who find the house more advantageous than their own. The hunting establishment Nicholas has enlarged, fifty horses, name-day dinners, and whist and boston at which neighbours plunder hundreds of rubles from the count's open cards remain unchanged. The countess, seeing the children ruined, can picture only one remedy: Nicholas must marry a rich heiress.

The match she has found is Julie Karágina, a childhood friend who became wealthy after her brothers died. The countess has written Julie's mother in Moscow and received a favourable answer that everything depends on the daughter's inclination. Several times, in tears, she tells Nicholas that with both daughters settled she could lie down in her grave if he married. He forces her to speak frankly, then asks whether, if he loved a girl with no fortune, she would have him sacrifice feelings and honour for money. She says she wishes his happiness, knows it is untrue, and cries. He offers to sacrifice anything for her ease; she does not want a sacrifice from him. Alone he thinks of Sónya, refuses the Moscow trip, and will not coerce his feelings.

The countess, vexed that meek, devoted Sónya gives her no just grounds, turns cold, addresses her as my dear, and uses the formal you. A fourth letter from Prince Andrew in Rome says his wound has reopened in the warm climate and he cannot return until the new year. Natásha still loves him and still throws herself into pleasures, but after four months she cannot master fits of depression, sorry that she is being wasted while she feels so capable of loving. The household stays cheerless.