In Which We Discuss War and Peace, Part 8, Chapters 7, 8, and 9

Chapter 7

The Count takes Natasha to meet old Nikolai, but he's not looking forward to it.  Natasha is - she doesn't believe there's any way they could not like her.  I think this is another song from Great Comet, but I'm trying not to listen to them too much, in case of spoilers.  Also, I just don't like them that much.  They're not terribly catchy.

The servants are perturbed when the Rostovs arrive, and tell them that old Nikolai is not receiving but Mary asked them to come in.  They're met by Amelie, who shows them to Mary's room.  Mary...does not like Natasha at all.

Mary isn't aware that her feelings arise from jealousy of Natasha's youth and beauty, or how much Andrew loves her.  She just thinks Natasha is a flibbertigibbet.   She's also stressed because she's worried old Nikolai will throw another tantrum.  Count Ilya Rostov is worried about the same thing, although he doesn't know how bad old Nikolai can be in private.  He excuses himself to go visit Anna Semenovna, who I don't think we've met yet.  Later, he'll claim it was to allow Mary and Natasha to get to know one another, but he's really running away from the old Prince.  Natasha picks up on this and is mortified, and then annoyed about being mortified.  Mary wants Amelie to leave too, and keeps throwing her uneasy glances, but she won't go, and keeps gossiping about Moscow.  Natasha, for her part, thinks Mary is plain and boring, and feels patronised by her.  This makes Natasha assume an offhand air, which makes Mary dislike her even more.

Old Nikolai comes in then, and insists that he didn't realise Natasha was there, and expected only to see his daughter.  Then he wanders out again.  Amelie keeps talking, and the longer Natasha and Mary sit in silence the more they dislike one another.  When her father finally picks her up, Natasha is annoyed that she hasn't had the chance to talk about Andrew.  Mary has the same regret - neither felt able to discuss him in front of Amelie.  As Natasha leaves the room, Mary calls out to her, and tells her she's glad that Andrew has found happiness.  They both know she's not quite telling the truth, and Natasha guesses that it's because Mary dislikes her.  Natasha gives a snotty reply and walks out, then spends most of the rest of the day sobbing in her room while Sonya tries to soothe her.

At dinner, Marya Dmitrievna, who knows what happened, tries to be cheerful and keep the evening light.

Chapter 8

After dinner the Rostovs go to the opera.  Natasha doesn't want to go, but also doesn't want to be rude.  Natasha looks at herself, all pretty and dressed up to go, and wishes Andrew were there, because everything would be better if he were.  She doesn't know how Sonya can love Nikolai and yet be so sensible about it.  She spends the whole evening longing for Andrew.

They attract a lot of attention at the opera, because Natasha and Sonya are very pretty, and Natasha is making one of the best matches in Russia.  They also catch up on gossip and learn that Darling Bory proposed to Julie Karagina today. Natasha notices them watching her, and believes Bory is having to soothe Julie's jealousy over Natasha's beauty.  She might be right.  Anna Mikhaylovna is looking terribly pleased with herself, and the whole air of a recently engaged couple makes Natasha go right back to thinking about Andrew again.  Honestly, I think she likes the version in her head more than she'd like the real one - he's just not that interesting.  Dolokhov is also here, leading Moscow's most brilliant young men and looking very comfortable.  Apparently, everyone is very impressed with him because there's a story about him killing the brother of a Shah in Persia.  Anatole is also very popular.

Helene turns up, and Natasha admires her beauty and her jewellery before realising who she is.  Count Rostov greets her and asks about Pierre.

Chapter 9

People have now started paying attention to the opera rather than one another.  Natasha doesn't understand it.  She feels first ashamed for the actors and then amused by them - it's all so false and dramatic.  Speaking of dramatic, I suspect this is an intentional case of dramatic irony.  Natasha goes back to looking at the audience to see if anyone else feels the same way, but no one seems to.  Then she gets distracted by all the "seminude" women in the boxes, including Helene.  Anatole Kuragin comes in halfway through, when Natasha is sitting in a daze of boredom.  He looks at Natasha while greeting his sister, Helene, and nods towards her.    He calls Natasha charming, and then goes to sit with Dolokhov.  Shinshin - who is also here, but I didn't know he'd do anything relevant - starts gossiping about Anatole, and Natasha tries to hear because he called her charming.

After the first act, everyone wanders around to gossip some more.  Bory comes to the Rostov's box to be congratulated and to invite Nikolai - via Sonya - to the wedding.  Natasha genuinely doesn't care, despite formerly being in love with Darling Bory (which I had also forgotten about).  Helene is surrounded by distinguished and intellectual men.  The whole time, Anatole and Dolokhov hand around in front of the Rostov's box, and Natasha enjoys the idea that they're talking about her.  Pierre comes to their box, and he looks both sadder and stouter than he did before.  At some point, Natasha and Anatole make eye contact, and Natasha thinks how odd it is that they're basically having eye sex (paraphrased, but the sexual tension jumps off the page) with someone she's not formally acquainted with.

Natasha spends most of the second act looking across at Anatole, who is looking back at her.  After the second act, Helene beckons Count Ilya over and insists that he introduce her to his charming daughters.  Having been introduced, she insists that the count allow her to take Natasha under her wing for the rest of their stay.  Natasha is very flattered by all this, and spends the next act in Helene's box (innuendo not intended).  Natasha still doesn't follow the opera, but Tolstoy gets in a tart remark about one of the dancers, Dupont, being paid 60,000 rubles per year for this art.  Natasha agrees when Helene remarks that he is brilliant.