War and Peace: Volume 2, Part 5: Chapters 14–17 Summary & Analysis

The next morning, Natasha tries hard to act normal. After breakfast, Marya Dmitrievna calls Natasha and Count Rostov over. She tells them what happened at the Bolkonskys’ yesterday—she and Prince Nikolai got into a shouting match. She recommends that the Rostovs return to Otradnoe and wait until Prince Andrei returns and sets things straight. She hands Natasha a letter from Princess Marya. Reluctantly, Natasha reads Marya’s kind letter, which asks her not to think ill of Prince Nikolai. Natasha tries to recall her former devotion to Prince Andrei, yet now, just a day later, it’s overshadowed by her new passion for Anatole.

That evening, a maid hands Natasha another letter, looking secretive. It’s from Anatole. When she reads the passionate letter, Natasha believes her own feelings are echoed in it. Anatole promises that if Natasha only says “yes,” love will triumph, and he’ll carry her off. Natasha reads the letter over and over and avoids company, claiming she has a headache.

When Sonya gets home that evening, she finds Natasha asleep in her room with the letter lying nearby. She reads it. She bursts into tears and wakes her friend. Natasha immediately tells Sonya that she loves Anatole. When Sonya asks how she can reject Prince Andrei, Natasha impatiently tells her not to say stupid things. Though it’s only been a few days, she feels as if she’s loved Anatole forever; Sonya doesn’t understand such love.

Horrified, Sonya threatens to tell on Natasha; she feels ashamed for her friend. If Anatole isn’t comfortable seeing Natasha openly, she insists, there must be reasons for that. Natasha refuses to hear this, sends Sonya out, and writes back to Princess Marya. She writes that Prince Andrei had given her full freedom, and that she now knows she can’t be his wife. It all seems very clear to her.

On one of their final days in Moscow, Natasha tries to talk to Sonya about Anatole, but they end up arguing about how Natasha will “ruin” herself. Sonya watches Natasha closely for the next few days. She notices that Natasha signals to someone outside the window, and that she’s behaving distractedly. It dawns on her that Natasha must be planning to elope with Anatole. Count Rostov is away dealing with the Moscow estate, and Sonya doesn’t know what to do. But she’s determined to prove her loyalty to the Rostovs, who’ve done so much for her.

Anatole has been staying with Dolokhov, and together they’ve made a plan to abduct Natasha. Natasha is supposed to sneak out of the house late in the evening. Anatole will conceal her in a troika and drive them to Kamenka, a village 40 miles away, where a defrocked priest will be waiting to marry them. After that they’ll flee abroad. He’s got documents and money prepared, and two witnesses are waiting.

Anatole paces Dolokhov’s house, smiling. Dolokhov urges him to drop the plan—his marriage will be discovered, and Anatole will end up in criminal court. Anatole refuses to consider the future. After his troika driver arrives, Anatole speeds off to Marya Dmitrievna’s. But when he runs to the back porch to find Natasha, he’s met instead by a huge footman, who says that he must take Anatole to the mistress of the house. He’s been betrayed. Anatole dodges the footman and runs.