When Loneliness Makes Us Desperate — War and Peace

Mary sits through dinner deaf to the old men's politics, wondering only whether every guest has seen her father's hostility. She does not even notice Borís Drubetskóy's polished attentions, though this is already his third visit. After the prince goes out, Pierre, last of the guests, sinks into an armchair beside her in an agreeable after-dinner mood and asks if he may stay. He asks how long she has known that young man, then whether she likes him, because when a Petersburg man comes to Moscow on leave it is usually to marry an heiress. He can read Borís like a book: just now he is hesitating whom to lay siege to, Mary or Julie Karágina, and with Julie the new fashion of courtship is melancholy.

Mary, still thinking of the morning, feels it would be a relief to confide in Pierre. When he asks if she would marry Borís she cries out, to her own surprise, that there are moments when she would marry anybody. How bitter it is to love someone near and be able only to grieve him, with nowhere to go. She bursts into tears, then begs him to forget it. His gaiety vanishes. He presses her to speak fully; she will only repeat that she has no trouble except the one he knows, that Andrew's marriage threatens a rupture between father and son. She asks for news of the Rostóvs, whom she expects soon, and of Andrew, due any day. She wants them to meet here. The old prince, she indicates, has not come round. In a few months the year will be up.

She asks Pierre for the whole truth about Natásha, because Andrew is risking so much against his father's will. An instinct tells Pierre that the repeated request carries ill-will and a wish that he should disapprove, but he answers what he feels: he cannot analyse her; she is enchanting, and that is all. Is she clever? He thinks not, and yet yes; she does not deign to be clever. Mary's face says that is what she expected and feared. She still longs to like her, asks Pierre to say so if he sees Natásha first, and tells him her plan to become intimate with her future sister-in-law as soon as the Rostóvs arrive and to accustom the old prince to her.