On the third day after his arrival he heard from the Drubetskóys that Princess Márya was in Moscow. The death, sufferings, and last days of Prince Andréy had often occupied Pierre’s thoughts and now recurred to him with fresh vividness. Having heard at dinner that Princess Márya was in Moscow and living in her house⁠—which had not been burned⁠—in Vozdvízhenka Street, he drove that same evening to see her.

On his way to the house Pierre kept thinking of Prince Andréy, of their friendship, of his various meetings with him, and especially of the last one at Borodinó.

“Is it possible that he died in the bitter frame of mind he was then in? Is it possible that the meaning of life was not disclosed to him before he died?” thought Pierre. He recalled Karatáev and his death and involuntarily began to compare these two men, so different, and yet so similar in that they had both lived and both died and in the love he felt for both of them.