Count Rostov has managed to hush up the scandal of the duel, and Nikolay, in the meantime, has become friends with Dolohov. In one of their talks, Dolohov states his intense nature: I would give my life to those I love, he says, and crush those who get in my way. For Dolohov, people are either useful or mischievous and almost all women are of the latter. He searches, he says, for a"heavenly creature, who would regenerate and purify and elevate me."
Dolohov falls in love with Sonya but she refuses to marry him even though Nikolay frees her of her promise to him. Sonya says she is content merely loving Nikolay and will demand nothing more from him. Meantime, Denisov, who is spending the Christmas holidays with the Rostovs, is captivated by Natasha.
Vengeful at Sonya's refusal, Dolohov plans a gambling party where he intends to fleece Nikolay of 43,000 rubles (the sum of his and Sonya's ages). Nikolay feels like a trapped mouse in the pitiless paws of a cat as he watches Dolohov's broad-boned hands deal out the fateful cards. His misery is more complete, since he had given his word of honor to his debt-ridden father not to ask for money.
In profound despair and shame, Nikolay enters the house where Sonya, Natasha, and Denisov are grouped around the clavichord. Denisov plays a song he composed for his"enchantress," and Natasha commences to sing it. Her pure untrained voice soothes Nikolay's spirit. As she hits a high note, his soul thrills and soars to a sphere beyond the world of Dolohovs, of losses, of honor."One might murder, steal, and yet be happy," Nikolay thinks in the ecstasy of the moment.
Confessing his shame to his father, Nikolay bursts into sobs as Count Rostov murmurs words of comfort, none of reproach, to his penitent son. Natasha, at the same moment, is in her mother's bedroom telling the countess that Denisov has made her an offer."Everyone is in love around here," remarks her mother, thinking Natasha is too young to consider marriage.
Crushed at Natasha's refusal, Denisov leaves Moscow the next day while Nikolay, having paid his debt to Dolohov, joins his regiment in Poland two weeks later.
