he?..."

The small group that assembled before dinner in the lofty old-fashioned
drawing room with its old furniture resembled the solemn gathering of
a court of justice. All were silent or talked in low tones. Prince
Nicholas came in serious and taciturn. Princess Mary seemed even quieter
and more diffident than usual. The guests were reluctant to address her,
feeling that she was in no mood for their conversation. Count Rostopchin
alone kept the conversation going, now relating the latest town news,
and now the latest political gossip.

Lopukhin and the old general occasionally took part in the conversation.
Prince Bolkonski listened as a presiding judge receives a report, only
now and then, silently or by a brief word, showing that he took heed of
what was being reported to him. The tone of the conversation was such as
indicated that no one approved of what was being done in the political
world. Incidents were related evidently confirming the opinion that
everything was going from bad to worse, but whether telling a story or
giving an opinion the speaker always stopped, or was stopped, at the
point beyond which his criticism might touch the sovereign himself.

At dinner the talk turned on the latest political news: Napoleon's
seizure of the Duke of Oldenburg's territory, and the Russian Note,
hostile to Napoleon, which had been sent to all the European courts.

"Bonaparte treats Europe as a pirate does a captured vessel," said Count
Rostopchin, repeating a phrase he had uttered several times before. "One
only wonders at the long-suffering or blindness of the crowned heads.
Now the Pope's turn has come and Bonaparte doesn't scruple to depose the
head of the Catholic Church--yet all keep silent! Our sovereign alone
has protested against the seizure of the Duke of Oldenburg's territory,
and even..." Count Rostopchin paused, feeling that he had reached the
limit beyond which censure was impossible.

"Other territories have been offered in exchange for the Duchy of
Oldenburg," said Prince Bolkonski. "He shifts the Dukes about as I might
move my serfs from Bald Hills to Bogucharovo or my Ryazan estates."

"The Duke of Oldenburg bears his misfortunes with admirable strength of
character and resignation," remarked Boris, joining in respectfully.

He said this because on his journey from Petersburg he had had the honor
of being presented to the Duke. Prince Bolkonski glanced at the young
man as if about to say something