War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Illustrated)
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War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Illustrated)

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eBook - ePub

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (Illustrated)

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This eBook features the unabridged text of 'War and Peace' from the bestselling edition of 'The Complete Works of Leo Tolstoy'.

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Information

Publisher
Delphi Classics (Parts Edition)
Year
2017
eBook ISBN
9781786566362
Topic
Literature
Subtopic
Classics
Index
Literature
For the Table of Contents, click here
 
 
BOOK ONE: 1805
 

CHAPTER I

“Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Buonapartes. But I warn you, if you don’t tell me that this means war, if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist — I really believe he is Antichrist — I will have nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend, no longer my ‘faithful slave,’ as you call yourself! But how do you do? I see I have frightened you — sit down and tell me all the news.”
It was in July, 1805, and the speaker was the well-known Anna Pavlovna Scherer, maid of honor and favorite of the Empress Marya Fedorovna. With these words she greeted Prince Vasili Kuragin, a man of high rank and importance, who was the first to arrive at her reception. Anna Pavlovna had had a cough for some days. She was, as she said, suffering from la grippe; grippe being then a new word in St. Petersburg, used only by the elite.
All her invitations without exception, written in French, and delivered by a scarlet-liveried footman that morning, ran as follows:
“If you have nothing better to do, Count (or Prince), and if the prospect of spending an evening with a poor invalid is not too terrible, I shall be very charmed to see you tonight between 7 and 10 — Annette Scherer.”
“Heavens! what a virulent attack!” replied the prince, not in the least disconcerted by this reception. He had just entered, wearing an embroidered court uniform, knee breeches, and shoes, and had stars on his breast and a serene expression on his flat face. He spoke in that refined French in which our grandfathers not only spoke but thought, and with the gentle, patronizing intonation natural to a man of importance who had grown old in society and at court. He went up to Anna Pavlovna, kissed her hand, presenting to her his bald, scented, and shining head, and complacently seated himself on the sofa.
“First of all, dear friend, tell me how you are. Set your friend’s mind at rest,” said he without altering his tone, beneath the politeness and affected sympathy of which indifference and even irony could be discerned.
“Can one be well while suffering morally? Can one be calm in times like these if one has any feeling?” said Anna Pavlovna. “You are staying the whole evening, I hope?”
“And the fete at the English ambassador’s? Today is Wednesday. I must put in an appearance there,” said the prince. “My daughter is coming for me to take me there.”
“I thought today’s fete had been canceled. I confess all these festivities and fireworks are becoming wearisome.”
“If they had known that you wished it, the entertainment would have been put off,” said the prince, who, like a wound-up clock, by force of habit said things he did not even wish to be believed.
“Don’t tease! Well, and what has been decided about Novosiltsev’s dispatch? You know everything.”
“What can one say about it?” replied the prince in a cold, listless tone. “What has been decided? They have decided that Buonaparte has burnt his boats, and I believe that we are ready to burn ours.”
Prince Vasili always spoke languidly, like an actor repeating a stale part. Anna Pavlovna Scherer on the contrary, despite her forty years, overflowed with animation and impulsiveness. To be an enthusiast had become her social vocation and, sometimes even when she did not feel like it, she became enthusiastic in order not to disappoint the expectations of those who knew her. The subdued smile which, though it did not suit her faded features, always played round her lips expressed, as in a spoiled child, a continual consciousness of her charming defect, which she neither wished, nor could, nor considered it necessary, to correct.
In the midst of a conversation on political matters Anna Pavlovna burst out:
“Oh, don’t speak to me of Austria. Perhaps I don’t understand things, but Austria never has wished, and does not wish, for war. She is betraying us! Russia alone must save Europe. Our gracious sovereign recognizes his high vocation and will be true to it. That is the one thing I have faith in! Our good and wonderful sovereign has to perform the noblest role on earth, and he is so virtuous and noble that God will not forsake him. He will fulfill his vocation and crush the hydra of revolution, which has become more terrible than ever in the person of this murderer and villain! We alone must avenge the blood of the just one.... Whom, I ask you, can we rely on?... England with her commercial spirit will not and cannot understand the Emperor Alexander’s loftiness of soul. She has refused to evacuate Malta. She wanted to find, and still seeks, some secret motive in our actions. What answer did Novosiltsev get? None. The English have not understood and cannot understand the self-abnegation of our Emperor who wants nothing for himself, but only desires the good of mankind. And what have they promised? Nothing! And what little they have promised they will not perform! Prussia has always declared that Buonaparte is invincible, and that all Europe is powerless before him.... And I don’t believe a word that Hardenburg says, or Haugwitz either. This famous Prussian neutrality is just a trap. I have faith only in God and the lofty destiny of our adored monarch. He will save Europe!”
She suddenly paused, smiling at her own impetuosity.
“I think,” said the prince with a smile, “that if you had been sent instead of our dear Wintzingerode you would have captured the King of Prussia’s consent by assault. You are so eloquent. Will you give me a cup of tea?”
“In a moment. A propos,” she added, becoming calm again, “I am expecting two very interesting men tonight, le Vicomte de Mortemart, who is connected with the Montmorencys through the Rohans, one of the best French families. He is one of the genuine emigres, the good ones. And also the Abbe Morio. Do you know that profound thinker? He has been received by the Emperor. Had you heard?”
“I shall be delighted to meet them,” said the prince. “But tell me,” he added with studied carelessness as if it had only just occurred to him, though the question he was about to ask was the chief motive of his visit, “is it true that the Dowager Empress wants Baron Funke to be appointed first secretary at Vienna? The baron by all accounts is a poor creature.”
Prince Vasili wished to obtain this post for his son, but others were trying through the Dowager Empress Marya Fedorovna to secure it for the baron.
Anna Pavlovna almost closed her eyes to indicate that neither she nor anyone else had a right to criticize what the Empress desired or was pleased with.
“Baron Funke has been recommended to the Dowager Empress by her sister,” was all she said, in a dry and mournful tone.
As she named the Empress, Anna Pavlovna’s face suddenly assumed an expression of profound and sincere devotion and respect mingled with sadness, and this occurred every time she mentioned her illustrious patroness. She added that Her Majesty had deigned to show Baron Funke beaucoup d’estime, and again her face clouded over with sadness.
The prince was silent and looked indifferent. But, with the womanly and courtierlike quickness and tact habitual to her, Anna Pavlovna wished both to rebuke him (for daring to speak he had done of a man recommended to the Empress) and at the same time to console him, so she said:
“Now about your family. Do you know that since your daughter came out everyone has been enraptured by her? They say she is amazingly beautiful.”
The prince bowed to signify his respect and gratitude.
“I often think,” she continued after a short pause, drawing nearer to the prince and smiling amiably at him as if to show that political and social topics were ended and the time had come for intimate conversation— “I often think how unfairly sometimes the joys of life are distributed. Why has fate given you two such splendid children? I don’t speak of Anatole, your youngest. I don’t like him,” she added in a tone admitting of no rejoinder and raising her eyebrows. “Two such charming children. And really you appreciate them less than anyone, and so you don’t deserve to have them.”
And she smiled her ecstatic smile.
“I can’t help it,” said the prince. “Lavater would have said I lack the bump of paternity.”
“Don’t joke; I mean to have a serious talk with you. Do you know I am dissatisfied with your younger son? Between ourselves” (and her face assumed its melancholy expression), “he was mentioned at Her Majesty’s and you were pitied....”
The prince answered nothing, but she looked at him significantly, awaiting a reply. He frowned.
“What would you have me do?” he said at last. “You know I did all a father could for their education, and they have both turned out fools. Hippolyte is at least a quiet fool, but Anatole is an active one. That is the only difference between them.” He said this smiling in a way more natural and animated than usual, so that the wrinkles round his mouth very clearly revealed something unexpectedly coarse and unpleasant.
“And why are children born to such men as you? If you were not a father there would be nothing I could reproach you with,” said Anna Pavlovna, looking up pensively.
“I am your faithful slave and to you alone I can confess that my children are the bane of my life. It is the cross I have to bear. That is how I explain it to myself. It can’t be helped!”
He said no more, but expressed his resignation to cruel fate by a gesture. Anna Pavlovna meditated.
“Have you never thought of marrying your prodigal son Anatole?” she asked. “They say old maids have a mania for matchmaking, and though I don’t feel that weakness in myself as yet, I know a little person who is very unhappy with her father. She is a relation of yours, Princess Mary Bolkonskaya.”
Prince Vasili did not reply, though, with the quickness of memory and perception befitting a man of the world, he indicated by a movement of the head that he was considering this information.
“Do you know,” he said at last, evidently unable to check the sad current of his thoughts, “that Anatole is costing me forty thousand rubles a year? And,” he went on after a pause, “what will it be in five years, if he goes on like this?” Presently he added: “That’s what we fathers have to put up with.... Is this princess of yours rich?”
“Her father is very rich and stingy. He lives in the country. He is the well-known Prince Bolkonski who had to retire from the army under the late Emperor, and was nicknamed ‘the King of Prussia.’ He is very clever but eccentric, and a bore. The poor girl is very unhappy. She has a brother; I think you know him, he married Lise Meinen lately. He is an aide-de-camp of Kutuzov’s and will be here tonight.”
“Listen, dear Annette,” said the prince, suddenly taking Anna Pavlovna’s hand and for some reason drawing it downwards. “Arrange that affair for me and I shall always be your most devoted slave-slafe with an f, as a village elder of mine writes in his reports. She is rich and of good family and that’s all I want.”
And with the familiarity and easy grace peculiar to him, he raised the maid of honor’s hand to his lips, kissed it, and swung it to and fro as he lay back in his armchair, looking in another direction.
“Attendez,” said Anna Pavlovna, reflecting, “I’ll speak to Lise, young Bolkonski’s wife, this very evening, and perhaps the thing can be arranged. It shall be on your family’s behalf that I’ll start my apprenticeship as old maid.”

CHAPTER II

Anna Pavlovna’s drawing room was gradually filling. The highest Petersburg society was assembled there: people differing widely in age and character but alike in the social circle to which they belonged. Prince Vasili’s daughter, the beautiful Helene, came to take her father to the ambassador’s entertainment; she wore a ball dress and her badge as maid of honor. The youthful little Princess Bolkonskaya, known as la femme la plus seduisante de Petersbourg, * was also there. She had been married during the previous winter, and being pregnant did not go to any large gatherings, but only to small receptions. Prince Vasili’s son, Hippolyte, had come with Mortemart, whom he introduced. The Abbe Morio and many others had also come.
* The most fascinating woman in Petersburg.
To each new arrival Anna Pavlovna said, “You have not yet seen my aunt,” or “You do not know my aunt?” and very gravely conducted him or her to a little old lady, wearing large bows of ribbon in her cap, who had come sailing in from another room as soon as the guests began to arrive; and slowly turning her eyes from the visitor to her aunt, Anna Pavlovna mentioned each one’s name and then left them.
Each visitor performed the ceremony of gre...

Table of contents

  1. Title page
  2. COPYRIGHT
  3. Leo Tolstoy: Parts Edition
  4. Parts Edition Contents
  5. War and Peace
  6. MAIN CHARACTERS
  7. CHAPTER I
  8. CHAPTER II
  9. CHAPTER III
  10. CHAPTER IV
  11. CHAPTER V
  12. CHAPTER VI
  13. CHAPTER VII
  14. CHAPTER VIII
  15. CHAPTER IX
  16. CHAPTER X
  17. CHAPTER XI
  18. CHAPTER XII
  19. CHAPTER XIII
  20. CHAPTER XIV
  21. CHAPTER XV
  22. CHAPTER XVI
  23. CHAPTER XVII
  24. CHAPTER XVIII
  25. CHAPTER XIX
  26. CHAPTER XX
  27. CHAPTER XXI
  28. CHAPTER XXII
  29. CHAPTER XXIII
  30. CHAPTER XXIV
  31. CHAPTER XXV
  32. CHAPTER XXVI
  33. CHAPTER XXVII
  34. CHAPTER XXVIII
  35. CHAPTER I
  36. CHAPTER II
  37. CHAPTER III
  38. CHAPTER IV
  39. CHAPTER V
  40. CHAPTER VI
  41. CHAPTER VII
  42. CHAPTER VIII
  43. CHAPTER IX
  44. CHAPTER X
  45. CHAPTER XI
  46. CHAPTER XII
  47. CHAPTER XIII
  48. CHAPTER XIV
  49. CHAPTER XV
  50. CHAPTER XVI
  51. CHAPTER XVII
  52. CHAPTER XVIII
  53. CHAPTER XIX
  54. CHAPTER XX
  55. CHAPTER XXI
  56. CHAPTER I
  57. CHAPTER II
  58. CHAPTER III
  59. CHAPTER IV
  60. CHAPTER V
  61. CHAPTER VI
  62. CHAPTER VII
  63. CHAPTER VIII
  64. CHAPTER IX
  65. CHAPTER X
  66. CHAPTER XI
  67. CHAPTER XII
  68. CHAPTER XIII
  69. CHAPTER XIV
  70. CHAPTER XV
  71. CHAPTER XVI
  72. CHAPTER XVII
  73. CHAPTER XVIII
  74. CHAPTER XIX
  75. CHAPTER I
  76. CHAPTER II
  77. CHAPTER III
  78. CHAPTER IV
  79. CHAPTER V
  80. CHAPTER VI
  81. CHAPTER VII
  82. CHAPTER VIII
  83. CHAPTER IX
  84. CHAPTER X
  85. CHAPTER XI
  86. CHAPTER XII
  87. CHAPTER XIII
  88. CHAPTER XIV
  89. CHAPTER XV
  90. CHAPTER XVI
  91. CHAPTER I
  92. CHAPTER II
  93. CHAPTER III
  94. CHAPTER IV
  95. CHAPTER V
  96. CHAPTER VI
  97. CHAPTER VII
  98. CHAPTER VIII
  99. CHAPTER IX
  100. CHAPTER X
  101. CHAPTER XI
  102. CHAPTER XII
  103. CHAPTER XIII
  104. CHAPTER XIV
  105. CHAPTER XV
  106. CHAPTER XVI
  107. CHAPTER XVII
  108. CHAPTER XVIII
  109. CHAPTER XIX
  110. CHAPTER XX
  111. CHAPTER XXI
  112. CHAPTER XXII
  113. CHAPTER I
  114. CHAPTER II
  115. CHAPTER III
  116. CHAPTER IV
  117. CHAPTER V
  118. CHAPTER VI
  119. CHAPTER VII
  120. CHAPTER VIII
  121. CHAPTER IX
  122. CHAPTER X
  123. CHAPTER XI
  124. CHAPTER XII
  125. CHAPTER XIII
  126. CHAPTER XIV
  127. CHAPTER XV
  128. CHAPTER XVI
  129. CHAPTER XVII
  130. CHAPTER XVIII
  131. CHAPTER XIX
  132. CHAPTER XX
  133. CHAPTER XXI
  134. CHAPTER XXII
  135. CHAPTER XXIII
  136. CHAPTER XXIV
  137. CHAPTER XXV
  138. CHAPTER XXVI
  139. CHAPTER I
  140. CHAPTER II
  141. CHAPTER III
  142. CHAPTER IV
  143. CHAPTER V
  144. CHAPTER VI
  145. CHAPTER VII
  146. CHAPTER VIII
  147. CHAPTER IX
  148. CHAPTER X
  149. CHAPTER XI
  150. CHAPTER XII
  151. CHAPTER XIII
  152. CHAPTER I
  153. CHAPTER II
  154. CHAPTER III
  155. CHAPTER IV
  156. CHAPTER V
  157. CHAPTER VI
  158. CHAPTER VII
  159. CHAPTER VIII
  160. CHAPTER IX
  161. CHAPTER X
  162. CHAPTER XI
  163. CHAPTER XII
  164. CHAPTER XIII
  165. CHAPTER XIV
  166. CHAPTER XV
  167. CHAPTER XVI
  168. CHAPTER XVII
  169. CHAPTER XVIII
  170. CHAPTER XIX
  171. CHAPTER XX
  172. CHAPTER XXI
  173. CHAPTER XXII
  174. CHAPTER I
  175. CHAPTER II
  176. CHAPTER III
  177. CHAPTER IV
  178. CHAPTER V
  179. CHAPTER VI
  180. CHAPTER VII
  181. CHAPTER VIII
  182. CHAPTER IX
  183. CHAPTER X
  184. CHAPTER XI
  185. CHAPTER XII
  186. CHAPTER XIII
  187. CHAPTER XIV
  188. CHAPTER XV
  189. CHAPTER XVI
  190. CHAPTER XVII
  191. CHAPTER XVIII
  192. CHAPTER XIX
  193. CHAPTER XX
  194. CHAPTER XXI
  195. CHAPTER XXII
  196. CHAPTER XXIII
  197. CHAPTER I
  198. CHAPTER II
  199. CHAPTER III
  200. CHAPTER IV
  201. CHAPTER V
  202. CHAPTER VI
  203. CHAPTER VII
  204. CHAPTER VIII
  205. CHAPTER IX
  206. CHAPTER X
  207. CHAPTER XI
  208. CHAPTER XII
  209. CHAPTER XIII
  210. CHAPTER XIV
  211. CHAPTER XV
  212. CHAPTER XVI
  213. CHAPTER XVII
  214. CHAPTER XVIII
  215. CHAPTER XIX
  216. CHAPTER XX
  217. CHAPTER XXI
  218. CHAPTER XXII
  219. CHAPTER XXIII
  220. CHAPTER XXIV
  221. CHAPTER XXV
  222. CHAPTER XXVI
  223. CHAPTER XXVII
  224. CHAPTER XXVIII
  225. CHAPTER XXIX
  226. CHAPTER XXX
  227. CHAPTER XXXI
  228. CHAPTER XXXII
  229. CHAPTER XXXIII
  230. CHAPTER XXXIV
  231. CHAPTER XXXV
  232. CHAPTER XXXVI
  233. CHAPTER XXXVII
  234. CHAPTER XXXVIII
  235. CHAPTER XXXIX
  236. CHAPTER I
  237. CHAPTER II
  238. CHAPTER III
  239. CHAPTER IV
  240. CHAPTER V
  241. CHAPTER VI
  242. CHAPTER VII
  243. CHAPTER VIII
  244. CHAPTER IX
  245. CHAPTER X
  246. CHAPTER XI
  247. CHAPTER XII
  248. CHAPTER XIII
  249. CHAPTER XIV
  250. CHAPTER XV
  251. CHAPTER XVI
  252. CHAPTER XVII
  253. CHAPTER XVIII
  254. CHAPTER XIX
  255. CHAPTER XX
  256. CHAPTER XXI
  257. CHAPTER XXII
  258. CHAPTER XXIII
  259. CHAPTER XXIV
  260. CHAPTER XXV
  261. CHAPTER XXVI
  262. CHAPTER XXVII
  263. CHAPTER XXVIII
  264. CHAPTER XXIX
  265. CHAPTER XXX
  266. CHAPTER XXXI
  267. CHAPTER XXXII
  268. CHAPTER XXXIII
  269. CHAPTER XXXIV
  270. CHAPTER I
  271. CHAPTER II
  272. CHAPTER III
  273. CHAPTER IV
  274. CHAPTER V
  275. CHAPTER VI
  276. CHAPTER VII
  277. CHAPTER VIII
  278. CHAPTER IX
  279. CHAPTER X
  280. CHAPTER XI
  281. CHAPTER XII
  282. CHAPTER XIII
  283. CHAPTER XIV
  284. CHAPTER XV
  285. CHAPTER XVI
  286. CHAPTER I
  287. CHAPTER II
  288. CHAPTER III
  289. CHAPTER IV
  290. CHAPTER V
  291. CHAPTER VI
  292. CHAPTER VII
  293. CHAPTER VIII
  294. CHAPTER IX
  295. CHAPTER X
  296. CHAPTER XI
  297. CHAPTER XII
  298. CHAPTER XIII
  299. CHAPTER XIV
  300. CHAPTER XV
  301. CHAPTER XVI
  302. CHAPTER XVII
  303. CHAPTER XVIII
  304. CHAPTER XIX
  305. CHAPTER I
  306. CHAPTER II
  307. CHAPTER III
  308. CHAPTER IV
  309. CHAPTER V
  310. CHAPTER VI
  311. CHAPTER VII
  312. CHAPTER VIII
  313. CHAPTER IX
  314. CHAPTER X
  315. CHAPTER XI
  316. CHAPTER XII
  317. CHAPTER XIII
  318. CHAPTER XIV
  319. CHAPTER XV
  320. CHAPTER XVI
  321. CHAPTER XVII
  322. CHAPTER XVIII
  323. CHAPTER XIX
  324. CHAPTER I
  325. CHAPTER II
  326. CHAPTER III
  327. CHAPTER IV
  328. CHAPTER V
  329. CHAPTER VI
  330. CHAPTER VII
  331. CHAPTER VIII
  332. CHAPTER IX
  333. CHAPTER X
  334. CHAPTER XI
  335. CHAPTER XII
  336. CHAPTER XIII
  337. CHAPTER XIV
  338. CHAPTER XV
  339. CHAPTER XVI
  340. CHAPTER XVII
  341. CHAPTER XVIII
  342. CHAPTER XIX
  343. CHAPTER XX
  344. CHAPTER I
  345. CHAPTER II
  346. CHAPTER III
  347. CHAPTER IV
  348. CHAPTER V
  349. CHAPTER VI
  350. CHAPTER VII
  351. CHAPTER VIII
  352. CHAPTER IX
  353. CHAPTER X
  354. CHAPTER XI
  355. CHAPTER XII
  356. CHAPTER XIII
  357. CHAPTER XIV
  358. CHAPTER XV
  359. CHAPTER XVI
  360. CHAPTER I
  361. CHAPTER II
  362. CHAPTER III
  363. CHAPTER IV
  364. CHAPTER V
  365. CHAPTER VI
  366. CHAPTER VII
  367. CHAPTER VIII
  368. CHAPTER IX
  369. CHAPTER X
  370. CHAPTER XI
  371. CHAPTER XII
  372. THE END
  373. CONTENTS
  374. The Delphi Classics Catalogue