War and Peace Volume 2, Part 4, Chapter 11 Summary

  • The Melyukov servants rush out to meet the mummers, and Pelageya Danilovna is really entertained by their antics.
  • In a second, Natasha has dressed up all the Melyukov young people as well, and their mom Pelageya doesn’t even recognize them.
  • There’s dancing and singing, and then someone suggests going to the bathhouse to listen for ghosts.
  • This is supposed to be way scary (but fun, in a Halloween kind of way), and Sonya surprisingly volunteers to go check it out.  After a sort of confusing ghost story, they tell her how to get to the bathhouse through the back porch.
  • Meanwhile, Nikolai slips out the front door, makes a beeline for the bathhouse and waits for her.
  • There’s a magical moment as he realizes that he’s really in love for good.
  • They meet, make out for a bit through their cross-dressed outfits and go back separately to the house.