In Which We Discuss War and Peace - Chapters XXI and XX

Chapter XXI

I feel like I'm going to regret this later, but I'm getting bored of these peace chapters; I want these spoilt children in a war zone.

During the party, count Bezukhov - Rich Uncle Cyril - has his sixth stroke.  The Military Governor comes to see him; how nice.  Prince Vasili insists on talking to him before he leaves.  Everyone is sitting around and whispering.  The conversations begin with Uncle Cyril's health, but very quickly turn to his wealth.  Vasili sneaks off to speak to his cousin, the Princess Catherine, in her room.  I don't think she's been mentioned much before.  She and Vasili, along with her sisters, are the direct heirs of the count, but he's asked for Pierre to be recognised instead, despite his being raised by wolves.  Catherine protests that the will won't stand because Pierre is illegitimate; Vasili confesses that the count has written a letter the emperor for Pierre to be legitimised.  He's trying to get Catherine to destroy it before the emperor sees it, the sneaky little sod.  Catherine rejects the idea that an illegitimate bastard could inherit under any circumstances; she's so certain that she ignores everything Vasili is saying.  I'm glad she's dicking herself over; I don't like her, and I don't think she deserves any inheritance.

Catherine begins to believe Vasili when he says he's spoken to the family solicitor, Dmitri, but then decides to deny she ever wanted an inheritance.  She really never did.  But still, it's so ungrateful of uncle Cyril, after everything she's done for him (that he didn't ask for).

Catherine continues ranting and Vasili tries to bring her back by claiming that he's sure the will leaving everything to Pierre is a mistake and the count will be glad to destroy it as soon as they remind him that it exists.

By the way, as I work through this, and add gifs and videos, I realise that War and Peace is unaged.  I choose these gifs because the characters remind me of one another, despite being over a hundred years apart, and I think that says a lot about War and Peace.  People are fundamentally people, and Tolstoy captured that.

The Princess is still ranting and has now begun blaming Anna and Darling Bory; I'm not sure she's wrong.  Vasili finally gets out of her where the will is hidden while Catherine vows to give Anna a piece of her mind.

Chapter XXII

Meanwhile, Pierre and Anna are on their way to Uncle Cyril.  As they walk in, Pierre spots some people, "who look like tradespeople", scuttering about and hiding in the shadows.  Since no one else seems concerned, he decides he won't be either.  He's going to see his dying father, that's enough to be worrying about.  Also, Anna's directed them up the back stairs, but he decides not to worry too much about that either.  They walk past Princess Catherine and Vasili while Catherine is ranting, but, luckily, she slams her door in a rage and doesn't spot them.  Anna also reminds Pierre that she has cared for him like a son and will always be there for him, and, unsaid, that kind of care obviously deserves monetary reciprocation.

Anna decides to act like she's exactly where she's supposed to be, and if anyone doesn't know that, that's their problem.  Pierre decides he's going to do whatever she says, since he's out of his depth.  Poor boy was raised by wolves.  He's a bit confused that the servants have all started being deferring to him.

Vasili walks in, tells Pierre that Uncle Cyril (Pierre's father) has asked to see him, and advises him to be brave.  He also tells Pierre that Uncle Cyril has had a stroke, which confuses poor Pierre for a minute (what is the Russian for stroke?).

Poor old Uncle Cyril is dying and everyone files in.