Among the young men introduced by Rostóv one of the first was Dólokhov, whom everyone in the house liked except Natásha. She almost quarreled with her brother about him. She insisted that he was a bad man, and that in the duel with Bezúkhov, Pierre was right and Dólokhov wrong, and further that he was disagreeable and unnatural.

“There’s nothing for me to understand,” she cried out with resolute self-will, “he is wicked and heartless. There now, I like your Denísov though he is a rake and all that, still I like him; so you see I do understand. I don’t know how to put it⁠ ⁠… with this one everything is calculated, and I don’t like that. But Denísov⁠ ⁠…”

“Oh, Denísov is quite different,” replied Nikoláy, implying that even Denísov was nothing compared to Dólokhov⁠—“you must understand what a soul there is in Dólokhov, you should see him with his mother. What a heart!”

“Well, I don’t know about that, but I am uncomfortable with him. And do you know he has fallen in love with Sónya?”

“What nonsense⁠ ⁠…”