After seeing Fran finally agree to her request, Natasha Bezukhov finally relented and stopped pestering her guests, and Fran and Marie were finally able to sleep well. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

When they got up the next day, the atmosphere in the entire Earl's Mansion had changed dramatically. Perhaps because the Count had given her a special account, the servants treated her with respect, but seldom spoke to them, and said nothing to them except what they had asked of their own accord.

After that meeting, the Count rarely saw them again, and seemed to be busy doing something else, very busy, leaving his mansion from time to time.

The Count and Andrei tacitly never spoke of it again, as if she were really just a guest invited by Andrei Bezukhov.

When the Count was gone, Andrei Bezukhov played the role of master and entertained the two of them with hospitality, and by this time they never saw Natasha again, and they were very sensible not to ask about Natasha's condition, supposedly the Count had already taken the disobedient daughter into custody.

After settling everything down, Andrei Bezukhov brought Fran and Marie back to Petersburg so that they could visit the city, and he took the opportunity to catch up with his old friends.

Before being sent to France, Andrei, like many of the sons of the Russian nobles, joined the Guard, but like them, he spent all his time in the Guard, wandering, gambling, fighting, and becoming a troubled youth that everyone in the family feared.

This was a common occurrence in Petersburg, where it was almost a common custom for young nobles to spend their days drinking, even Count Pierre-Bezukhov himself was absurd in his youth - he used to mess around with a few fox friends, pick quarrels and provoke trouble, and even threw a police chief who dared to stop him tied to the back of a brown bear and threw it into the river, making a few big news in the social circles.

However, the Count of Pierre-Bezukhov was of course not so lenient with his son, and after Andrei had caused several incidents, the count scolded his son, and then sent André to the Foreign Office with his connections, and asked him to go to France as a diplomat.

When the Count did this, he wanted to let his stubborn son learn culture in France and follow the path he had walked, but he still miscalculated, and after arriving in France, André was like a fish in water, mingling with the prodigal children here, and indulging in pleasure even more.

Fortunately, in order to put his son on the right path, the earl deliberately controlled his son's living expenses, so that he would not be completely lost in pleasure.

And Andrei Bezukhov has become the envy of his friends because of his errand, after all, being a diplomat in France is the dream of many of them.

During these years, André had a great time in Paris, and became the object of imitation and envy of these gentlemen, and when he returned this time, he soon became big news in the social circles of those people, and he was happy to be entertained everywhere.

On the last warm days of autumn, the two of them, accompanied by André, went about the social world with a feast, and by the way they toured the whole of Petersburg, and at the same time made Mademoiselle de Treville famous in the social circles of Petersburg, and many people fell in love with such a beautiful and kind woman.

Fran, who had a low profile, did not want to show her head like this, but André said that the situation was delicate and the relations between France and Russia were not good, and if she acted too secretively, it would arouse unwarranted suspicion, so Fran had no choice but to continue to attend these banquets.

One evening, André was invited to a formal banquet hosted by Countess Aksana Akhmatova, a court lady at Her Majesty's side, and the invitation specifically stated that "the beautiful Mademoiselle de Treville" would be invited.

So they came together to visit the lady at her house.

The Russians have always loved to be lively, and today is no exception, because the countess was quite popular in the court, so many people liked to please this lady, and when she held banquets, celebrities gathered, and at the first time of the lanterns, it became a sea of fine clothes, with gentlemen in embroidered dresses and military uniforms, and ladies in various skirts.

"Are you that Mademoiselle de Treville?" As soon as she saw Branden, the thin, old, but still charming lady embraced her with the warmth peculiar to the Russians. "A lot of people say you're beautiful, and when I actually saw you today, I didn't think they were exaggerating."

"Good evening, ma'am, and it's a pleasure to meet you." Such exaggerated enthusiasm made Fran a little uncomfortable, but for the sake of etiquette, she still maintained the politeness that she should have on the surface. "Thank you for giving me a chance to visit you."

In fact, she had gone to the banquets several times these days, and had already extinguished the first novelty, and then she was inevitably tired of this kind of socialization, where the people, though on the surface solemn or kind, were dry and boring, and could not hear the witticisms she often heard, and everyone seemed to be talking about the same thing, especially in her presence, as if they were afraid of losing face in the presence of this famous nobleman from Western Europe.

Under this respect, even some flattery, Fran soon felt a little tired of it, and she only dealt with these people with formulaic words, but fortunately she had a perfunctory ability since she was a child, and she could make people feel like a spring breeze when she was not interested in her heart.

"You must have been visiting a lot of places these days, right?" Soon, the Countess asked a question that Fran had heard many times. "How do you feel?"

"It feels great, ma'am." Fran replied with a smile on her face, "The terroir of Russia has a different style, a beauty that is different from other places, and the people are very welcoming. All in all, I had a very enjoyable travel experience. ”

"Hey! That's great! A lot of people have a preconception about us, that we don't have anything here, like a desert......" The lady let go of Fran's arm and looked at her with a smile on her face, "but it's an illusion, we are beautiful in Russia, and at the same time enough to make everyone want to linger, so I think Russia will give you a very pleasant memory." ”

"Yes, ma'am, very pleasant." Fran also replied with a smile, "Even so enthusiastic that I am a little embarrassed." ”

"A beautiful girl like you deserves the best treatment and care, that's the best in the world, isn't it?" The Countess waved her hand, "Please go in and rest, there are many people waiting to see you!" ”

Then she turned to Andrei Bezukhov, "Andrey! You've lost a lot of weight since the last time we met? Why, did the flowery world of Paris torture you like this? ”

"Yes, we always have too much to do in Paris, after all, we are diplomats, ma'am." Andrei Bezukhov shrugged.

"Come on, we don't know about you yet!" The Countess still quipped André, "I know some people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and they don't have a very good opinion of you. ”

Her affectionate and warm manner, and the fact that she addresses André by you easily brings people closer, but just right not to be offended—a skill that is essential to a man at court, and a key to the countess's success at court and in social circles.

"It's obviously because they don't know me well enough." Andrei smiled bitterly, "Actually, I worked really hard, for Russia." ”

"Well, I'm not your boss, so why would you say such things to fool us?" The Countess glanced at him, "But Andre, seriously, you're not young now, are you?" It's time to think about personal matters, but there are quite a few people who have come to intercede with me, and I will be able to match you and their daughter......"

It's not like she's joking.

Generally speaking, as the youngest son, he was not very valued in the aristocratic class, because they were destined to have little share of the family business, but Count Bezukhov was so rich that everyone thought that even if he gave a little property to the younger son after his death, it would be a big number, so many people took up his idea, and Countess Aksana Akhmatova was famous for her love of matching young people's marriages, so many people entrusted this countess to him.

"Uh......" Andre shook his head rather awkwardly, "this kind of thing...... We'll talk about that later. ”

"How many will you have in the future? Don't waste any more youthful time! The Countess was still smiling, but she glanced at Fran as if to wonder if she was in a hurry.

Fran felt a little uncomfortable and immediately followed André inside.

Sure enough, when they came to the salon, she and Andrei Bezukhov were the center of attention. André was surrounded by a group of friends, and then joked with the other wives, and for a while he couldn't care about Fran, who was surrounded by many people to talk, and everyone was very curious about her, as if she were a traveler from another world.

Although the young men in front of her were quite handsome, Fran was not interested, she just responded to them with a proper smile, and then walked to the edge of the sofa in the corner to rest, although there were people talking all the time, but she turned a deaf ear.

"Hello, Miss......" Suddenly a greeting rang in her ears.

"I'm sorry, I'm a little tired, I want to rest, I don't want to dance, sorry." Fran barely gave the other party any space, and directly rejected the other party.

"No...... I'm not trying to dance with you, miss. However, the man showed no signs of giving up and continued to insist on his demands, "I just want to talk to you for a while." ”

"But...... I'm not in good spirits right now, so please forgive me. Fran continued to turn her down, and in general, in the social world, this level of talk is enough to make people feel embarrassed.

But the other party still did not give up.

"Don't you think about it anymore? After all, the opportunity is rare. At this point, he seemed to be standing in the present of Fran.

Fran looked up at this time, and saw that opposite him was a young man in his thirties with a beard and a hussar uniform, and his face was grim with an indescribable haughtiness, as if he were giving others a blessing in his conversation.

Fran suddenly had a strange premonition.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Alexander Nikolayevich," said the young man, holding his head high and rather pretentious.

He was fluent in French, but there was little emotion in it, as if he were just reading the verses smoothly and mechanically, and his expression was so serious that it was unpredictable.

"Mademoiselle de Treville, it is a pleasure to take this opportunity to meet you." (To be continued.) )