Chapter 3
On arriving in St Petersburg, Pierre sequesters himself away to read Thomas a Kempis, whose book someone has sent to him anonymously. It's religious. Pierre finds that it helps him better understand the things Joseph Alexeevitch was going on about. Count Willarski, who Pierre has briefly met before, comes to see him the next week. He tells Pierre that he's going to do him a great favour and act as his freemason sponsor, since someone has requested it. Pierre agrees, and says that he now believes in God. Count Willarski takes him off, and they do a full blind-folded secret society thing with the other freemasons. Pierre learns that the brotherhood has a secret mystery that they have sworn to hand down through the generations, so apparently we're now in the Da Vinci Code (and Peace). Their secondary aims are to regenerate and improve their members and so improve humanity, to better combat the evil which sways the world. And so on. When asked, poor Pierre says that his chief passion is "women" which, to be fair, did lead him into marriage with Helene, but if that's the worst thing his passion has done, it's not so terrible. The freemasons also take all of his valuables.
Chapter 4
The initiation continues. Pierre agrees to everything, he's so grateful just to have someone knowledgeable in charge (honestly, I feel that way about exam invigilators). There are more grand myths, and Pierre is called Seeker, Sufferer and Postulant at different points. Honestly, you can probably imagined this, it's been portrayed in so many movies. He's finally taken in front of 12 people, some of whom he recognises. They forget the order of the ritual, and, for a second, Pierre experiences doubts, but that's soon passed. Pierre is very joyful to acknowledge all men as brothers, and, honestly, having met his sisters, I can see why. Right at the end, they collect a promise of more money. Apparently, brotherhood is expensive. Pierre is quite sure that he is now completely changed and ready to lead a joyous, virtuous life.
Chapter 5
It's the day after the initiation, and Pierre is reading the literature they gave him and trying to make sense of all the secret symbols. He's also daydreaming about his new life. He's also heard the emperor has now heard about the duel, and so he should probably leave St Petersburg. He's planning to head to his estate in the south.
Suddenly, Prince Vasili is here and wanting to know why Pierre has quarrelled with Helene. He then interrupts himself to say he knows all about it, and none of its true, and Pierre has shamed them all with his impulses. Vasili goes on in this way for a while, while Pierre tries to get up the courage to tell him he's not interested. It's hard for him - he's not good at standing up against politeness judo. He's also thinking about the masons and what they've said about being kindly and courteous, and whether he wants to live his old life or a new one. Finally, he tells Vasili to go, channeling the spirit of the old Count Bezukhov.
A week later, Pierre heads to the south, having left a lot of his money behind with his new friends, who have promised to write to him with further guidance.
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