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Prince Vasili passed by, seeming not to hear the ladies, and sat

down on a sofa in a far corner of the room. He closed his eyes

and seemed to be dozing. His head sank forward and then he roused

himself.

"Aline," he said to his wife, "go and see what they are about."

The princess went up to the door, passed by it with a dignified

and indifferent air, and glanced into the little drawing room.

Pierre and Helene still sat talking just as before.

"Still the same," she said to her husband.

Prince Vasili frowned, twisting his mouth, his cheeks quivered

and his face assumed the coarse, unpleasant expression peculiar

to him. Shaking himself, he rose, threw back his head, and with

resolute steps went past the ladies into the little drawing room.

With quick steps he went joyfully up to Pierre. His face was so

unusually triumphant that Pierre rose in alarm on seeing it.