- Rastopchin calls Pierre in and immediately starts in with a barrage of questions. Are you a Mason? Yes I am, Pierre tells him. And did you send a carriage to help another Mason leave Moscow and agree to deal with his papers and things?
- Pierre doesn’t get to answer because Rastopchin starts telling him a long, defensive story about how some Masons had to be sent into exile because they were being traitors...or something. He’s ranting and raving and a little hard to make out. Not only that, but Rastopchin has a hard time explaining what their crimes were supposed to be.
- Finally, he tells Pierre to stop any dealings with the Masons and to leave town. Then Rastopchin asks if it’s true that Helene is now a Catholic.
- Totally furious, Pierre leaves the office, goes home, and reads Helene’s letter asking for a divorce.
- He’s in a rage. Andrei is dead, his wife wants to remarry – too many things to deal with at once. He falls asleep, and the next morning, instead of going out to see the various people who have business with him, he leaves the house through the back door.
- None of his people will see him or know anything about him until Moscow is totally destroyed.