His family’s straitened circumstances cause Nicholas to take a very cold and aloof tone with Princess Mary. But, when he sees how sad this makes Mary, he apologizes and the two reestablish their former closeness.
His family’s straitened circumstances cause Nicholas to take a very cold and aloof tone with Princess Mary. But, when he sees how sad this makes Mary, he apologizes and the two reestablish their former closeness.
First Epilogue Chapter 6
His family’s straitened circumstances cause Nicholas to take a very cold and aloof tone with Princess Mary. But, when he sees how sad this makes Mary, he apologizes and the two reestablish their former closeness.
Summary:
Princess Mary moves to Moscow. . From reports current in town she learned how the Rostóvs were situated, and how “the son has sacrificed himself for his mother”, which Mary thinks admirable. After several weeks she pays a visit to the Rostov house. Nicholas’ tone to Mary is cold and aloof. At the repeated urging of Countess Rostov, several weeks later Nicholas pays a return call to the princess. Again, his manner towards her is cold. After a very short visit, he gets up to leave. She begins to weep, saying she is very sad at losing his friendship. She cannot understand why he is treating her so coldly. Then she realized the cause. The poverty now facing his family as made Nicholas self-conscious. Mary, who is very saddened by his new attitude toward her, tells Nicholas she has had little joy in her life and that she will very much regret losing his friendship. She begins to cry and rush out of the room, but he stops her.. Looking into each other”s eyes, their former closeness seems reestablished.
quote from the chapter:
And remembering his former tenderness, and looking now at his kind, sorrowful face, she suddenly understood the cause of his coldness.
“But why, Count, why?” she almost cried, unconsciously moving closer to him. “Why? Tell me. You must tell me!”
He was silent.
“I don’t understand your why, Count,” she continued, “but it’s hard for me… I confess it. For some reason you wish to deprive me of our former friendship. And that hurts me.” There were tears in her eyes and in her voice. “I have had so little happiness in life that every loss is hard for me to bear…. Excuse me, good-by!” and suddenly she began to cry and was hurrying from the room.
“Princess, for God’s sake!” he exclaimed, trying to stop her. “Princess!”
She turned round. For a few seconds they gazed silently into one another’s eyes—and what had seemed impossible and remote suddenly became possible, inevitable, and very near.
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