第133页 / 共3800页

I shall not be able to equip him."

The countess' eyes filled with tears and she pondered in silence.

"I often think, though, perhaps it's a sin," said the princess,

"that here lives Count Cyril Vladimirovich Bezukhov so rich, all

alone... that tremendous fortune... and what is his life worth?

It's a burden to him, and Bory's life is only just beginning...."

"Surely he will leave something to Boris," said the countess.

"Heaven only knows, my dear! These rich grandees are so selfish.

Still, I will take Boris and go to see him at once, and I shall

speak to him straight out. Let people think what they will of me,

it's really all the same to me when my son's fate is at stake."

The princess rose. "It's now two o'clock and you dine at four.

There will just be time."

And like a practical Petersburg lady who knows how to make the

most of time, Anna Mikhaylovna sent someone to call her son, and

went into the anteroom with him.