Chapter 22
Prince Andrew and Natasha are both now firmly convinced that they are in love. Natasha is pretty sure now that she's been in love with him from the start and that their meeting at the ball was fate. Pierre is feeling miserable, and is distracting himself with more Masonic things. Prince Andrew comes to Pierre to discuss this, and Pierre encourages him to marry. Andrew agrees; he will marry Natasha and either make his father like her or do without his father's goodwill. While Pierre encourages Andrew's happy mood, it makes his own feel more gloomy.
Chapter 23
Prince Andrew sets out for Bald Hills to try to obtain his father's blessing. His father is annoyed that anyone would dare change anything while he just wants to live out his days in peace, without further change. Still, he tries to discuss the matter diplomatically. It's not a good match regarding birth, wealth, or rank, Prince Andrew is getting old, and is not as strong as he used to be, and he needs to pick a good stepmother for baby Nikolai. Old Nikolai's final argument is that Andrew should go away for a year to think about it. Prince Andrew understands that his father is hoping that either Andrew and Natasha will go off each other or that he, old Nikolai, will die before the year is up. Andrew decides to propose and postpone the wedding for a year.
This whole thing takes three weeks, and then Andrew is back in St Petersburg. Natasha was expecting him three weeks ago (she didn't know he was going anyway) and did a bit of pining dramatically,. She's just beginning to recover when Andrew shows up again. He asks for an audience with the Countess, and both she and Natasha know what it's about. The Countess gives her consent and tries to begin loving Andrew as a son, which is difficult, because he's still a strange and terrifying man. The Countess fetches Natasha and sends her to Andrew. The second Natasha accepts the proposal, agrees she loves Andrew and kisses him, he suddenly cannot find his feeling of love for her. He's now missing the "poetic and mystic charm of desire", but has found pity for weakness, fear of her devotion, and "an oppressive yet joyful sense of the duty that now bound him to her forever". That last one is quite strong and serious, which makes up for the lack of poetry. Natasha is too distracted by the terrifying idea that she now might be an adult and the wife of a man her father respects to listen to the fact that they won't marry for a year. When it does sink in, she does a few more hysterics, and then, presumably, accepts the romance of the idea and agrees to wait a year. Bolkonski becomes a frequent visitor to the house.
Chapter 24
No one officially announces the engagement, on Andrew's insistence. He wants Natasha to be totally free to change her mind. After a few days everyone, including Natasha, get used to Andrew and begin seeing him as just a man and not some terrifying source of respect.
Natasha and Andrew rarely talk of their future. Andrew is afraid and ashamed of it, and Natasha shares this feeling, once she picks up on it. His son won't live with them.
On the eve of Andrew's departure from St Petersburg, he brings Pierre with him. Andrew insists that Pierre has a heart of gold, and that Natasha and Sonya should turn only to him if they ever need advice or help. Natasha does more dramatic pining after he's gone. I suspect she enjoys the drama and romance of it. After two weeks, she's almost her old self again, but with a change of expression as of a child getting up after a long illness.
Chapter 25
This past year, old Prince Nikolai gets more sick and more irritable and poor Maria has to deal with it. He makes a particular point of needling her two joys, little Nikolai and religion. She forgives him because he's her father and he's sick and dying. When Andrew comes to Bald Hills over the winter, he's "gay, gentle, and more affectionate" than he's been for a long time. When he leaves, she writes to her friend, Julie Karagina (no relation to the Kuragins) to comfort her about the loss of Julie's brother. She also talks about seeing Lise die, 5-years-ago. Honestly, it doesn't seem nearly that long. Anyway, it convinced her of God's Will, because if Lise had died any older, Andrew would have less perfect memories of her, or something. She also mentions that Tsar Alexander is the grandson of Catherine the Great, which I did not know. Her father is annoyed that the Tsar is negotiating with Napoleon as an equal. Maria doesn't believe at all that Andrew is engaged to Natasha, even though Julie has told her, in a previous letter, than the rumour is all around St Petersburg. She believes that no one could replace Lise, and certainly not Natasha.
Chapter 26
In the middle of summer, Andrew himself writes to his sister to tell her of his engagement. He apologies for not telling her the last time he visited. He didn't want her to try to intercede on his behalf and gain more criticism from their father. Now, he's writing to ask his father to reduce the year's betrothal by four months, and only asks Maria to make sure their father is in a good mood when he reads the letter. Old Nikolai does a better line in drama than Natasha, and tells Maria to tell Andrew that he, old Nikolai, is dead, and Andrew is free to do whatever he wants, but if Andrew marries Natasha, old Nikolai will marry Amelie Bourienne. He's now got a new thing to torment Maria about - the idea of a new stepmother for Nikolai, and of his marrying Amelie. Maria herself has personal dreams similar to that of Pierre's - to not worry herself too much with earthly things and leave all to her heavenly Father. She dreams of going on a pilgrimage herself, but the thought of her father and nephew - nicknamed 'little Koko', we learn here - stop her, and then she weeps for being a sinner who loves her family more than God.
That's the end of Part 6, and I do wonder if the next part is the bit Great Comet is based on.
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