War and Peace Volume 4, Part 1, Chapter 9 Summary

  • Back to Pierre, who’s being held under arrest. As the guards change shifts, he’s piled in with the rest of the prisoners, dregs of society who mock him because they immediately recognize him as an aristocrat.
  • He’s taken in for questioning, but it’s immediately clear that this is just for show. Every time he gives an answer that doesn’t fit into the story they want him to tell, they just ignore him and shut him up.
  • He refuses to tell them his name, but even so, they clearly will find him guilty of being an arsonist.
  • Pierre spends another four days under guard waiting for a decision from the marshal, whoever that might be.