Despite having mortgaged the three estates that were to be his daughters' dowries, the financial troubles of Count Ilya Rostov increase.
Yet when Berg becomes engaged to Vera, the eldest daughter, Count Rostov promises 100,000 rubles to his future son-in-law for settlement.
Boris Drubetskoy now becomes attracted by Natasha and often visits the Rostovs. Her mother, however, says Boris is too poor for Natasha to marry and asks the young man to visit them less.
Natasha attends her first grand ball on New Year's Eve of 1810. Sparkling with excitement, aglow with feeling how pretty she is, Natasha seeks out Pierre and finds him conversing with a handsome young officer. This distinguished but conceited fellow, the chaperone tells her, is"hand in glove" with Speransky. When Prince Andrey leads Natasha through a waltz he feels spirited and youthful; her beauty intoxicates him. Watching her dance with other partners he delights anew in her freshness and charm. He surprises himself by wishing to marry her.
Prince Andrey finds work difficult the next morning. He recalls how fresh and original, how"unlike Petersburg" this charming"younger Rostov" was. When a fellow committeeman calls on him, Bolkonsky finds their talk tedious and petty. At Speransky's dinner party that night, he finds the great statesman suddenly unnatural and unattractive. Speranksy's forced staccato laugh rings unpleasantly in his ears. Prince Andrey marvels how unimportant and idle all his pursuits of these past four months now seem.
