“But you know how it all ended, don’t you? You heard of the duel?”

“And so you had to go through that too!”

“One thing I thank God for is that I did not kill that man,” said Pierre.

“Why so?” asked Prince Andréy. “To kill a vicious dog is a very good thing really.”

“No, to kill a man is bad⁠—wrong.”

“Why is it wrong?” urged Prince Andréy. “It is not given to man to know what is right and what is wrong. Men always did and always will err, and in nothing more than in what they consider right and wrong.”

“What does harm to another is wrong,” said Pierre, feeling with pleasure that for the first time since his arrival Prince Andréy was roused, had begun to talk, and wanted to express what had brought him to his present state.