At Bleak Hills, the estate of Prince Nikolay Andreivitch Bolkonsky, everyone awaits the arrival of Prince Andrey and his wife Liza. Besides the old man, nicknamed the"Prussian king," the household includes Princess Marya, her orphaned companion Mlle. Bourienne, the prince's architect Mihail Ivanovitch (whom the old man admits to the table to show that all men are equal), and numerous servants. Once a commander-in-chief, the old man was banished from Moscow by Paul; although reinstated by Catherine, he still lives in exile, declaring that anyone who wishes to see him can travel the 150 versts from Moscow. Secluded in the country, the old prince has many occupations — mathematics, woodworking, gardening, writing his memoirs, managing the estate — each of which fills an apportioned place in his unwavering daily schedule, where even meals must be served at a precise moment. Human vices derive from idleness and superstition, proclaims the prince, and energy and intelligence are the only virtues. With this in mind, he educates his daughter in algebra and geometry and maps out her life in uninterrupted occupation.
Princess Marya suffers each day during her father's lessons, her misery and fear blocking her comprehension. Each day he dismisses her in anger and she goes to work out the problem in her room. Today she turns to her correspondence with her childhood friend, Julie Karagin. Julie's letter contains news of the name-day party and of the splendid Nikolay Rostov who is going to fight the"Corsican monster." Julie writes that Pierre Bezuhov inherited the immense fortune and title of his father and warns Marya that Prince Vassily intends to marry her to his son, Anatole. In answer, Princess Marya expresses her profound religiosity: Killing one's fellow man even in war is a crime, Pierre deserves pity for being exposed to new temptations from his sudden wealth, and if God ordains wifehood and motherhood for her destiny she will submit to His will. Stolid and plain-faced, the 28-year-old Marya becomes beautiful when her large, deep, luminous eyes express, as now, her soulful intensity.
