should he not love her now, even if he did not marry her,” mused Rostov, “but … just now he had so many other joys and interests!”
“Yes, that’s a very good conclusion on their part,” he thought; “I must remain free.”
“Well, that’s all right, then,” he said; “we’ll talk about it later on. Ah, how glad I am to be back with you!” he added. “Come, tell me, you’ve not been false to Boris?”
“That’s nonsense!” cried Natasha, laughing. “I never think of him nor of any one else, and don’t want to.”
“Oh, you don’t, don’t you! Then what do you want?”
“I?” Natasha queried, and her face beamed with a happy smile. “Have you seen Duport?”
“No.”
“Not seen Duport, the celebrated dancer? Oh, well then, you won’t understand. I—that’s what I am.” Curving her arms, Natasha held out her skirt, as dancers do, ran back a few steps, whirled round, executed a pirouette, bringing her little feet together and standing on the very tips of her toes, moved a few steps forward.
“You see how I stand? there, like this,” she kept saying; but she could not keep on her toes. “So that’s what I’m going to be! I’m never going to be married to any one; I’m going to be a dancer. Only, don’t tell anybody.”
Rostov laughed so loudly and merrily that Denisov in his room felt envious, and Natasha could not help laughing with him.
“No, isn’t it all right?” she kept saying.
“Oh, quite. So you don’t want to marry Boris now?”
Natasha got hot.
“I don’t want to marry any one. I’ll tell him so myself when I see him.”
“Oh, will you?” said Rostov.
“But that’s all nonsense,” Natasha prattled on. “And, I say, is Denisov nice?” she asked.
“Yes, he’s nice.”
“Well, good-bye, go and dress. Is he a dreadful person — Denisov?”
“How, dreadful?” asked Nikolay. “No, Vaska’s jolly.”
“You call him Vaska? … that’s funny. Well, is he very nice?”
“Very nice.”
“Make haste and come to tea, then. We are all going to have it together.”
And Natasha rose on to her toes and stepped out of the room, as dancers do, but smiling as only happy girls of fifteen can smile. Rostov reddened on meeting Sonya in the drawing-room. He did not know how to behave with her. Yesterday they had kissed in the first moment of joy at meeting, but to-day they felt that out of the question. He felt that every one, his mother and his sisters, were looking inquiringly