The Rostóv’s are very late to start preparing to evacuate Moscow, but they manage to get Pétya reassigned near them where he will be safer.
The Rostóv’s are very late to start preparing to evacuate Moscow, but they manage to get Pétya reassigned near them where he will be safer.
Book 11, Chapter 12
The Rostóv’s are very late to start preparing to evacuate Moscow, but they manage to get Pétya reassigned near them where he will be safer.
Summary:
Up to a few days before they planned to leave Moscow, the Rostóv’s had not so much as begun packing. The Countess was preoccupied with the safety of her sons, both of them now serving in the army. The Countess simply would not leave Moscow until Pétya returned. Finally, they managed to have Pétya transferred to Bezúkhov’s regiment near Moscow so he could be with the family. By then, nearly all of their acquaintances had already fled, and the entire city was in a bustle and commotion. Everyday thousands of wounded men were pouring into Moscow and thousands of the inhabitants with their possessions poured out of the city. All sorts of strange and contradictory rumors about what was happening and what would happen next were flying about. Deep down, though, everyone knew Moscow was going to be abandoned, and they ought to get away quickly and take whatever they could carry. Finally, the Rostóv family began to pack to go. Natásha and Pétya were not much help, but Sónya was a huge help to the family. This helped take Sónya’s mind off of the fact that Nicholas might marry Princess Mary rather than her, and really if that happened it might be the best thing for the family.
quote from the chapter:
Owing to the (Count Rostov’s) customary carelessness nothing was ready for their departure by the twenty-eighth of August and the carts that were to come from their Ryazán and Moscow estates to remove their household belongings did not arrive till the thirtieth.
From the twenty-eighth till the thirty-first all Moscow was in a bustle and commotion. Every day thousands of men wounded at Borodinó were brought in by the Dorogomílov gate and taken to various parts of Moscow, and thousands of carts conveyed the inhabitants and their possessions out by the other gates.
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