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"Why, you remember before you went away?... Well, she says you

are to forget all that.... She says: 'I shall love him always,

but let him be free.' Isn't that lovely and noble! Yes, very

noble? Isn't it?" asked Natasha, so seriously and excitedly that

it was evident that what she was now saying she had talked of

before, with tears.

Rostov became thoughtful.

"I never go back on my word," he said. "Besides, Sonya is so

charming that only a fool would renounce such happiness."

"No, no!" cried Natasha, "she and I have already talked it over.

We knew you'd say so. But it won't do, because you see, if you

say that-if you consider yourself bound by your promise-it will

seem as if she had not meant it seriously. It makes it as if you

were marrying her because you must, and that wouldn't do at all."