War & Peace Podnotes, A Study Guide

The chapter opens with a foreboding update about Count Kirill Bezukhov. As the Rostov affair was in full swing, the Count suffered his sixth stroke, which places him near death. His team of doctors thought it would be a matter of hours. Local undertakers were outside his estate, waiting to be paged while some of the elite of Moscow society marched in and out. Dr. Lorrain, the lead physician, was conspicuously seated under a portrait of Catherine the Great. Catherine died in 1796 so the Count's fictional lifespan was intertwined with Catherine's. The ultimate question is what will happen to the Count’s vast estate and there are discussions of that in the sizable crowd.Vassily Kuragin was motivated to preserve his interests. He walked to the quarters of one of the nieces of Count Bezukhov, Katerina “Katishe” Mamontova. She is the eldest of the nieces, who are called "princesses."  He starts very gently, mentioning the difficult time for the family and that he loves Katerina and her sisters like