Ellen Bezuhov invites Count Rostov to bring the girls to her box during the intermission. Her beautiful, unvarying smile nearly hypnotizes Natasha, and Ellen says flattering things to her and mentions Prince Andrey favorably. Now the opera no longer seems unnatural to Natasha and she thoroughly enjoys the stagecraft. At the next entr'acte, Ellen introduces her brother to Natasha. In their brief talk, the girl feels fearfully close to this bold, handsome stranger. She feels no barrier of reserve as usually exists between men and women. Thereafter during the opera Natasha is only conscious of Anatole's presence.
Something dreadful is happening, she thinks to herself later, and realizes with dread, she has lost the old purity of her love for Andrey.
Anatole is a man who believes utterly that the world exists for his pleasure. Besides amassing huge gambling debts, his past excesses once forced him to marry the daughter of a well-to-do farmer. He deserted his wife, paid off the father, and has lived as a bachelor ever since. He adores"little girls," he confides to Dolohov, and his friend warns him off Natasha.
But Ellen Bezuhov is amused by the idea of bringing her brother together with Natasha and tells the bewitched young girl that Anatole now pines away for love of her. At a party, Anatole's kiss confuses and excites Natasha and she wonders whom she really loves.
At the same time that she receives an apologetic note from Princess Marya, Natasha receives a love letter from Anatole. In her reply to Marya, Natasha writes that she is breaking her engagement to Prince Andrey. Sonya discovers Anatole's letter while Natasha is asleep. The cousins quarrel, with Natasha hotly defending the honorable intentions of Anatole. Shocked and grieved at the broken engagement, Sonya determines to watch her friend day and night.
