Sónya was softened, excited, and touched by all that had occurred that day, especially by the mysterious fulfillment she had just seen of her vision. Now that she knew that the renewal of Natásha’s relations with Prince Andréy would prevent Nikoláy from marrying Princess Márya, she was joyfully conscious of a return of that self-sacrificing spirit in which she was accustomed to live and loved to live. So with a joyful consciousness of performing a magnanimous deed⁠—interrupted several times by the tears that dimmed her velvety black eyes⁠—she wrote that touching letter the arrival of which had so amazed Nikoláy.

The officer and soldiers who had arrested Pierre treated him with hostility but yet with respect, in the guardhouse to which he was taken. In their attitude toward him could still be felt both uncertainty as to who he might be⁠—perhaps a very important person⁠—and hostility as a result of their recent personal conflict with him.