“I don’t understand your why , Count,” she continued, “but it’s hard for me⁠ ⁠… I confess it. For some reason you wish to deprive me of our former friendship. And that hurts me.” There were tears in her eyes and in her voice. “I have had so little happiness in life that every loss is hard for me to bear.⁠ ⁠… Excuse me, goodbye!” and suddenly she began to cry and was hurrying from the room.

“Princess, for God’s sake!” he exclaimed, trying to stop her. “Princess!”

She turned round. For a few seconds they gazed silently into one another’s eyes⁠—and what had seemed impossible and remote suddenly became possible, inevitable, and very near.

In the winter of 1813 Nikoláy married Princess Márya and moved to Bald Hills with his wife, his mother, and Sónya.