“Well, then, are you refusing Prince Andréy?” said Sónya.
“Oh, you don’t understand anything! Don’t talk nonsense, just listen!” said Natásha, with momentary vexation.
“But I can’t believe it,” insisted Sónya. “I don’t understand. How is it you have loved a man for a whole year and suddenly … Why, you have only seen him three times! Natásha, I don’t believe you, you’re joking! In three days to forget everything and so …”
“Three days?” said Natásha. “It seems to me I’ve loved him a hundred years. It seems to me that I have never loved anyone before. You can’t understand it. … Sónya, wait a bit, sit here,” and Natásha embraced and kissed her.
“I had heard that it happens like this, and you must have heard it too, but it’s only now that I feel such love. It’s not the same as before. As soon as I saw him I felt he was my master and I his slave, and that I could not help loving him. Yes, his slave! Whatever he orders I shall do. You don’t understand that. What can I do? What can I do, Sónya?” cried Natásha with a happy yet frightened expression.
“But think what you are doing,” cried Sónya. “I can’t leave it like this. This secret correspondence … How could you let him go so far?” she went on, with a horror and disgust she could hardly conceal.
“I told you that I have no will,” Natásha replied. “Why can’t you understand? I love him!”
“Then I won’t let it come to that … I shall tell!” cried Sónya, bursting into tears.
“What do you mean? For God’s sake … If you tell, you are my enemy!” declared Natásha. “You want me to be miserable, you want us to be separated. …”