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Helene understood that the question was very simple and easy
from the ecclesiastical point of view, and that her directors
were making difficulties only because they were apprehensive as
to how the matter would be regarded by the secular authorities.
So she decided that it was necessary to prepare the opinion
of society. She provoked the jealousy of the elderly magnate and
told him what she had told her other suitor; that is, she put
the matter so that the only way for him to obtain a right over
her was to marry her. The elderly magnate was at first as much
taken aback by this suggestion of marriage with a woman whose
husband was alive, as the younger man had been, but Helene's imperturbable
conviction that it was as simple and natural as marrying a maiden
had its effect on him too. Had Helene herself shown the least
sign of hesitation, shame, or secrecy, her cause would certainly
have been lost; but not only did she show no signs of secrecy
or shame, on the contrary, with good-natured naivete she told
her intimate friends (and these were all Petersburg) that both
the prince and the magnate had proposed to her and that she loved
both and was afraid of grieving either.
A rumor immediately spread in Petersburg, not that Helene
wanted to be divorced from her husband (had such a report spread
many would have opposed so illegal an intention) but simply that
the unfortunate and interesting Helene was in doubt which of the
two men she should marry. The question was no longer whether this
was possible, but only which was the better match and how the
matter would be regarded at court. There were, it is true, some
rigid individuals unable to rise to the height of such a question,
who saw in the project a desecration of the sacrament of marriage,
but there were not many such and they remained silent, while the
majority were interested in Helene's good fortune and in the question
which match would be the more advantageous. Whether it was right
or wrong to remarry while one had a husband living they did not
discuss, for that question had evidently been settled by people
"wiser than you or me," as they said, and to doubt the
correctness of that decision would be to risk exposing one's stupidity
and incapacity to live in society.
Only Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova, had come to Petersburg
that summer to see one of her sons, allowed herself plainly to
express an opinion contrary to the general one. Meeting Helene
at a ball she stopped her in the middle of the room and, amid
general silence, said in her gruff voice: "So wives of living
men have started marrying again! Perhaps you think you have invented
a novelty? You have been forestalled, my dear! It was thought
of long ago. It is done in all the brothels," and with these
words Marya Dmitrievna, turning up her wide sleeves with her usual
threatening gesture and glancing sternly round, moved across the
room.
Though people were afraid of Marya Dmitrievna she was regarded
in Petersburg as a buffoon, and so of what she had said they only
noticed, and repeated in a whisper, the one coarse word she had
used, supposing the whole sting of her remark to lie in that word.
Prince Vasili, who of late very often forgot what he had said
and repeated one and the same thing a hundred times, remarked
to his daughter whenever he chanced to see her:
"Helene, I have a word to say to you," and he would
lead her aside, drawing her hand downward. "I have heard
of certain projects concerning... you know. Well my dear child,
you know how your father's heart rejoices to know that you...
You have suffered so much.... But, my dear child, consult only
your own heart. That is all I have to say," and concealing
his unvarying emotion he would press his cheek against his daughter's
and move away.
Bilibin, who had not lost his reputation of an exceedingly
clever man, and who was one of one of the disinterested friends
so brilliant a woman as Helene always has- men friends who can
never change into lovers- once gave her his view of the matter
at a small and intimate gathering.
"Listen, Bilibin," said Helene (she always called
friends of that sort by their surnames), and she touched his coat
sleeve with her white, beringed fingers. "Tell me, as you
would a sister, what I ought to do. Which of the two?"
Bilibin wrinkled up the skin over his eyebrows and pondered,
with a smile on his lips.
"You are not taking me unawares, you know," said
he. "As a true friend, I have thought and thought again about
your affair. You see, if you marry the prince"- he meant
the younger man- and he crooked one finger, "you forever
lose the chance of marrying the other, and you will displease
the court besides. (You know there is some kind of connection.)
But if you marry the old count you will make his last days happy,
and as widow of the Grand... the prince would no longer be making
a mesalliance by marrying you," and Bilibin smoothed out
his forehead.
"That's a true friend!" said Helene beaming, and
again touching Bilibin's sleeve. "But I love them, you know,
and don't want to distress either of them. I would give my life
for the happiness of them both."
Bilibin shrugged his shoulders, as much as to say that not
even he could help in that difficulty.
"Une maitresse-femme!* That's what is called putting
things squarely. She would like to be married to all three at
the same time," thought he.
*A masterly woman.
"But tell me, how will your husband look at the matter?"
Bilibin asked, his reputation being so well established that he
did not fear to ask so naive a question. "Will he agree?"
"Oh, he loves me so!" said Helene, who for some
reason imagined that Pierre too loved her. "He will do anything
for me."
Bilibin puckered his skin in preparation for something witty.
"Even divorce you?" said he.
Helene laughed.
Among those who ventured to doubt the justifiability of the
proposed marriage was Helene's mother, Princess Kuragina. She
was continually tormented by jealousy of her daughter, and now
that jealousy concerned a subject near to her own heart, she could
not reconcile herself to the idea. She consulted a Russian priest
as to the possibility of divorce and remarriage during a husband's
lifetime, and the priest told her that it was impossible, and
to her delight showed her a text in the Gospel which (as it seemed
to him) plainly remarriage while the husband is alive.
Armed with these arguments, which appeared to her unanswerable,
she drove to her daughter's early one morning so as to find her
alone.
Having listened to her mother's objections, Helene smiled
blandly and ironically.
"But it says plainly: 'Whosoever shall marry her that
is divorced...'" said the old princess.
"Ah, Maman, ne dites pas de betises. Vous ne comprenez
rein. Dans ma position j'ai des devoirs,"* said Helene changing
from Russian, in which language she always felt that her case
did not sound quite clear, into French which suited it better.
*"Oh, Mamma, don't talk nonsense! You don't understand
anything. In my position I have obligations.
"But, my dear...."
"Oh, Mamma, how is it you don't understand that the Holy
Father, who has the right to grant dispensations..."
Just then the lady companion who lived with Helene came in
to announce that His Highness was in the ballroom and wished to
see her.
"Non, dites-lui que je ne veux pas le voir, que je suis
furieuse contre lui, parce qu'il m' a manque parole."*
*"No, tell him I don't wish to see him, I am furious
with him for not keeping his word to me."
"Comtesse, a tout peche misericorde,"* said a fair-haired
young man with a long face and nose, as he entered the room.
*"Countess, there is mercy for every sin."
The old princess rose respectfully and curtsied. The young
man who had entered took no notice of her. The princess nodded
to her daughter and sidled out of the room.
"Yes, she is right," thought the old princess, all
her convictions dissipated by the appearance of His Highness.
"She is right, but how is it that we in our irrecoverable
youth did not know it? Yet it is so simple," she thought
as she got into her carriage.
By the beginning of August Helene's affairs were clearly defined
and she wrote a letter to her husband- who, as she imagined, loved
her very much- informing him of her intention to marry N.N. and
of her having embraced the one true faith, and asking him to carry
out all the formalities necessary for a divorce, which would be
explained to him by the bearer of the letter.
And so I pray God to have you, my friend, in His holy and
powerful keeping- Your friend Helene.
This letter was brought to Pierre's house when he was on the
field of Borodino.
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