During his brief stay in Moscow, before his return to the
army, Rostov did not come nearer to Sonya, but on the contrary drifted further away
from her. She was very pretty and charming, and it was obvious that she was
passionately in love with him. But he was at that stage of youth when there
seems so much to do, that one has not time to pay attention to love, and a
young man dreads being bound, and prizes his liberty, which he wants for so
much else. When he thought about Sonya during this stay at Moscow, he said to
himself: “Ah! there are many, many more like her to come, and there are many of
them somewhere now, though I don’t know them yet. There’s plenty of time before
me to think about love when I want to, but I have not the time now.” Moreover,
it seemed to him that feminine society was somewhat beneath his manly dignity.
He went to balls, and into ladies’ society with an affection of doing so
against his will. Races, the English club, carousals with Denisov, and the
nocturnal visits that followed—all that was different, all that was the correct
thing for a dashing young hussar.
3.10.23
A youthful soldier’s thoughts on love, from WAR & PEACE (Pt. 4, Ch. 2) by Leo Tolstoy
[translated by Constance Garnett]