Anatole is in Moscow because his father sent him from Petersburg, where he spent twenty thousand rubles a year in cash besides as much again in debts. Prince Vasíli will pay half for the last time only if Anatole goes as adjutant to the commander in chief, a post procured for him, and at last tries to make a good match, pointing to Princess Mary and Julie Karágina. Anatole consents and lodges at Pierre's. Pierre receives him unwillingly, then sometimes accompanies his carousals and gives him money as loans.
As Shinshín remarked, Anatole turns the heads of Moscow ladies especially by slighting them for gypsy girls and French actresses, above all Mademoiselle George. He drinks whole nights at Danílov's, never misses balls, flirts, but does not run after unmarried rich heiresses, most of them plain. There is a special reason, known only to intimate friends: two years before, while with his regiment in Poland, a landowner of small means forced him to marry his daughter. Anatole soon abandoned her and, for a payment to the father-in-law, arranged to pass as a bachelor. He is always content with himself. He cannot consider how his actions affect others. As a duck must live in water, God made him to spend thirty thousand a year and occupy a prominent place. Others, looking at him, are persuaded and lend what he will not repay. He is not a gambler who cares about winning, not vain, not ambitious; he laughs at distinctions and spoils his own career. All he cares about is gaiety and women, which he does not find dishonourable, so he carries his head high with a tranquil conscience. Rakes, like female Magdalenes, count on forgiveness because they enjoyed much.
Dólokhov, back after exile and Persian adventures, uses Kurágin's name and connections as bait for rich young men in his gambling set, and finds dominating another will a pleasure in itself. Anatole is sincerely fond of Dólokhov's cleverness and audacity. After the opera, at supper, Anatole describes Natásha's arms, shoulders, feet, and hair as a connoisseur and says he intends to make love to her, incapable of considering what might come of it. Dólokhov answers that she is first-rate, but not for them. Anatole will tell his sister to ask her to dinner; he adores little girls, they lose their heads at once. Dólokhov, who knows of the Polish marriage, warns that he has been caught once already. Anatole laughs that that cannot happen twice.
