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Six weeks after Anna Pavlovna's "At Home" and after the sleepless

night when he had decided that to marry Helene would be a

calamity and that he ought to avoid her and go away, Pierre,

despite that decision, had not left Prince Vasili's and felt with

terror that in people's eyes he was every day more and more

connected with her, that it was impossible for him to return to

his former conception of her, that he could not break away from

her, and that though it would be a terrible thing he would have

to unite his fate with hers. He might perhaps have been able to

free himself but that Prince Vasili (who had rarely before given

receptions) now hardly let a day go by without having an evening

party at which Pierre had to be present unless he wished to spoil

the general pleasure and disappoint everyone's expectation.