Feebler and more irritable than ever while his son is absent, the old prince vents his anger against Princess Marya, jeering at her piousness and at her devotion to the baby. Only from her brother's letter from Switzerland does Marya learn of the betrothal. Andrey writes that he has never known love until now, that his life is full of value and meaning once more. He asks her to approach their father to cut the waiting period by three months. Dutifully Princess Marya tenders Andrey's request. Her father jeers: What a fine stepmother young Rostova will make for Nikolushka, and her family is so clever and rich besides. Let him marry, says the old man, then I can marry Bourienne and give Prince Andrey a suitable stepmother! He says nothing more on this subject, but among other mockeries against his daughter he adds allusions to a stepmother and offers gallantries to Mlle. Bourienne. In her misery, Princess Marya has a recurrent daydream: She would join her"God's folk" on a pilgrimage through the world where worldly troubles and deceptions have no meaning. But she would not leave home, she realizes, for she loves her father and her nephew better than she loves God.
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