It's silence. The countess looked at the guest, smiling pleasantly, however, not hiding the fact that she would not be upset now at all if the guest went up and left. The daughter of the guest had already set up her dress, looking at the mother with questioning eyes, when suddenly from the next room she heard running to the door of several male and female legs, the rattle of a caught and fallen chair, and a thirteen-year-old girl ran into the room, smelling something with a short pussy skirt, and stopped in the middle of the room. Apparently, she accidentally, from an uncalculated race, drove so far. At the same time, a student with a raspberry collar, a Guards officer, a fifteen-year-old girl and a fat, blushing boy in a children's jacket appeared at the door.
The count jumped up and swayed and placed his hands wide around the girl who was running away.
- Ah, here she is! - laughing, he shouted. - The birthday girl! Ma chère birthday girl!
- Ma chère, il y a un temps pour tout 1," said the Countess, pretending to be strict. - You spoil her all, Elie," she added to her husband.
- Bonjour, ma chère, je vous félicite," said the guest. - Quelle délicieuse enfant! 2" she added, addressing her mother.
A black-eyed, big mouth, ugly but lively girl, with her children's shoulders open, quick-running out of her corsage, with her backward-facing black curls, thin naked hands and small legs in lace pantaloons and open slippers, was at a time when the girl was no longer a child and the child was not a girl. Turning away from her father, she ran up to her mother and, without paying any attention to her strict remark, hid her flushed face in the lace of the mother's mantilla and laughed. She laughed at something, telling her about the doll she had taken out of her skirts.
- See? The doll... Mimi... You see.
And Natasha couldn't talk anymore (everything seemed funny to her). She fell on her mother and laughed so loudly and loudly that everybody laughed against her will, even the smug guest.
- Well, come on, go with your freak! - her mother said, pretending to be angry, repelling her daughter. - It's the least of my worries," she turned to the guest.
Natasha took her face away from her mother's lace scarf for a minute and looked at her from below through her tears of laughter and hid her face again.
The guest, forced to admire the family scene, thought it necessary to take part in it.
- Tell me, my dear," she said to Natasha, "how do you manage this Mimi? A daughter, right?
Natasha did not like the tone of condescension until the child's conversation the guest addressed her. She did not answer anything and looked at the guest seriously.
Meanwhile all this young generation: Boris - the officer, the son of Princess Anna Mikhailovna, Nikolay - the student, the eldest son of the count, Sonya - the 15-year-old niece of the count, and little Petrusha - the smaller son - all settled in the living room and, apparently, tried to keep within the limits of decency revival and merriment, which still breathed each of their traits. It was clear that there, in the back rooms, where they all came from so quickly, they had more fun conversations than here about urban gossip, weather and comtesse Apraksine 3. Occasionally they looked at each other and barely kept away from laughing.
Two young men, a student and an officer, friends since childhood, were of the same age and both beautiful, but not alike. Boris was a tall blond young man with the right subtle features of a calm and beautiful face. Nicholas was a short, curly young man with an open face. His upper lip was already covered in black hair, and his entire face expressed his impetuosity and enthusiasm. Nikolai blushed as soon as he entered the living room. It was obvious that he was looking for and did not find what to say; Boris, on the contrary, immediately found out and told calmly, jokingly, as this Mimi, the doll, he knew a young girl with a nose that was not spoiled yet, as she was five years old in his memory and as she had a cracked head all over her skull. When he said that, he looked at Natasha. Natasha turned her back on him, looked at her younger brother, who was shaking with a sullen laugh, and could no longer hold back, jumped and ran out of the room as soon as she could carry her quick legs. Boris did not laugh.
- You wanted to go too, didn't you, maman? Do you need a carriage? - he said, with a smile to his mother.
- Yes, come on, come on, they were cooking," she said, smiling.
Boris went quietly out the door and followed Natasha; the fat boy ran after them angrily, as if annoyed by the upset that had happened in his classes.
1 Honey, there's time for everything.
2 Hello, my dear, congratulations... What a lovely child.
3 Countess Apraksina.