Ilya Rostov

A spendthrift count

BOOK ONE

Book 1, Part 1

Chapter 7

The count is a man who eats well, drinks well, and calls everyone mon cher or ma chère, regardless of rank. He invites everyone to dinner and inspects the dining hall set out for eighty guests for the celebrations of his wife's and his daughter’s name day.

Chapter 8

And here is his “pet” Natasha, “whose name-day it is”. He hugs his daughter and is reproached ironically by his wife.

Chapter 9

Everything is “splendid” in the count’s world, especially anything too complex for him to understand. His son is going to fight for friendship, he insists. But there will be no war, he believes. As for his eldest daughter, his wife was “too clever” in raising her.

Chapter 11

His wife despairs at all the “theatricals, hunting, and heaven knows what” that count Rostov spends their money on. And at the end of the chapter, he makes sure to invite another guest, Pierre, to the party tonight. Taras, the cook, is on standby to impress!

Chapter 12

Always interesting to know what others think of you. Prince Vasili calls Count Rostov an “unlicked bear”, “a stupid fellow” and a gambler. Not to his face, of course.

Chapter 14

Waddling in to see his countess, with sauce on his waistcoat from the kitchen. She asks for 500 rubles, and he gives her 700, in “nice clean notes”. His cook, the serf Taras, cost 1,000 rubles, the price of ten ordinary serfs. It all adds, Count. It all adds up.

Chapter 15

Watch him preside over the name-day celebrations, egging on conversation and laughing good-naturedly. Marvel at his red bald head, unfortunately, positioned too close to the pineapples. Worry, always, about the expense!

Chapter 17

The host fights the urge to sleep off his food and wine, and plays cards with his guests, laughing at everything. And he is a man of hidden talents, as he shows by dancing his favourite Daniel Cooper. “The count danced well and knew it.”