Meanwhile Dolohov and Anatole carefully plan Natasha's abduction. Sixty versts from Moscow an unfrocked priest awaits to perform a fake marriage when they arrive. Their plans are foiled, however, for instead of Natasha, they discover Marya Dmitryevna's huge groom awaiting them at the gate. Anatole and Dolohov barely manage to escape to their sledge.
Dry-eyed and silent, Natasha lies on the sofa heeding no one. Marya Dmitryevna keeps the news from Count Rostov, only telling him his daughter's engagement is broken. She tells Pierre the whole story and Bezuhov is not only shocked about the abduction, but about his wife's encouragement of the affair. Gently Pierre tells Natasha about Anatole's previous marriage, which makes his proposal to her a mockery; she is too shaken to reply. Pierre next searches out Anatole, and his towering rage entirely cows Kuragin, who quickly agrees to leave Moscow immediately.
Prince Andrey returns soon afterward, immediately learning that Natasha broke her promise. When Pierre visits him, he begs his friend to never mention the matter again, but to deliver back to Natasha all her tokens and letters. Theoretically Andrey believes one must forgive a fallen woman, but actually, he knows he can never forgive Natasha.
Returning to Natasha to fulfill Andrey's request, Pierre talks with her. She is confused now, no longer certain about her love for Anatole. Out of her tears, she casts him a glance so full of tenderness and gratitude that Pierre is stirred to his depths. His heart is full as he departs; he considers all men's actions pitiful compared with the tenderness of Natasha's glance. The famous comet of 1812 lights up the sky: a portent, it is said, of all horrors and the end of the world. To Pierre the glorious spectacle coincides with his feelings of harmony and joy in the universe. In his softened and emboldened heart,it betokens the new vigor that has blossomed into his life.
