IN THE INN, before which was standing the doctor's covered cart, there were already some half-dozen officers. Marya Hendrihovna, a plump, flaxen-headed little German in a dressing-jacket and nightcap, was sitting on a board bench in the foremost corner. Her husband, the doctor, lay asleep behind her. Rostov and Ilyin entered the room, welcomed with merry shouts and laughter.
“I say! You are having a jolly time here!” said Rostov, laughing.
“And what are you yawning over?”
“Pretty figures you look! There's a perfect waterfall from them! Don't swamp our drawing-room.”
“Mind you don't spatter Marya Hendrihovna's dress,” chimed in voices.
Rostov and Ilyin made haste to look for a retreat where, without offence to the modesty of Marya Hendrihovna, they might change their wet clothes. They went behind a partition wall to change; but in the little recess were three officers, who completely filled it up. They were sitting playing cards by the light of a single candle on an empty box, and nothing would induce them to budge from their places. Marya Hendrihovna lent them her petticoat to be hung by way of a curtain; and screened by it, Rostov and Ilyin took off their wet things and put on dry clothes, with the aid of Lavrushka, who had brought their packages.
They made up a fire in the broken-down stove. They got hold of a board, propped it on two saddles, and covered it with a horse-cloth; then brought out a little samovar, a case of wine, and half a bottle of rum. All crowded round Marya Hendrihovna, begging her to preside. One offered her a clean handkerchief, to wipe her charming hands; another put his tunic under her little feet, to keep them from the damp floor; a third hung a cape over the window, to screen her from the draught; while a fourth brushed the flies off her husband's face, to prevent their waking him.
“Let him alone,” said Marya Hendrihovna, with a timid and happy smile; “he will sleep well anyhow after being up all night.”
“Oh no, Marya Hendrihovna,” answered the officer, “one must look after the doctor well! Anything may happen; and he will be kind to me, I dare say, when he has to cut off my leg or my arm.”
There were only three glasses; the water was so dirty that there was no telling whether the tea were strong or weak, and the samovar would only hold water enough for six glasses. But that made it all the more fun to take turns in order of seniority to receive a glass from the plump, short-nailed, and not over clean fingers of Marya Hendrihovna. All the officers seemed indeed to be genuinely in love for that evening with Marya Hendrihovna. Even the officers who had been playing cards behind the screen soon threw up their game, and gathered round the samovar, catching the general mood, and joining in the homage paid to Marya Hendrihovna. The latter, seeing herself surrounded by these splendid and devoted young men, beamed with delight, which she sought in vain to conceal, though she was unmistakably alarmed at every movement made by her husband, who was slumbering behind her. There was only one spoon; sugar there was in plenty, but it took so long for all to stir their glasses, that it was settled that Marya Hendrihovna must stir the sugar for each in turn. Rostov took his glass of tea, and adding rum to it, begged Marya Hendrihovna to stir it for him.
“But you take it without sugar?” she said, smiling all the while, as though whatever she said or the others said had a quite different and very amusing meaning.
“I don't care about sugar, all I want is for you to stir it with your little hand.”
Marya Hendrihovna began looking for the spoon, which some one had pounced upon.
“Use your little finger, Marya Hendrihovna,” said Rostov; “it will be all the sweeter.”
“It's hot,” said Marya Hendrihovna, blushing with pleasure.
Ilyin took the bucket of water, and pouring a few drops of rum in it, went up to Marya Hendrihovna, begging her to stir it with her finger.
“This is my cup,” he said. “Only dip your finger in and I'll drink it all up.”
When the samovar was empty, Rostov took up the cards and proposed a game of “Kings” with Marya Hendrihovna. They tossed to decide which was to have the lady for a partner. Rostov proposed as a rule of the game that the one who was “king” should have the right to kiss Marya Hendrihovna's hand, and the one who was left knave should have to fetch another samovar for the doctor, when he waked.
“Well, but what if Marya Hendrihovna is king?” asked Ilyin.
“She is our queen already! And her commands are law.”
The game was just beginning when the doctor's dishevelled head popped up behind his wife. He had been awake for some time and listening to the conversation, and apparently he saw nothing agreeable, funny, or amusing in what was being said and done. His face looked depressed and weary. He did not greet the officers, but scratching himself, he asked them to move to let him pass. As soon as he had left the room, all the officers broke into loud peals of laughter, and Marya Hendrihovna blushed till the tears came, making her even more charming in the eyes of the officers. Coming in again from the yard, the doctor told his wife (who had lost her radiant smile, and looked at him in dismay in expectation of the sentence in store for her) that the rain was over and they must spend the night in their covered cart, or they would have all their things stolen.
“But I'll put an orderly on guard … two, indeed!” said Rostov. “That's nonsense, doctor.”
“I'll be sentinel myself!” said Ilyin.
“No, gentlemen, you have had plenty of sleep, but I have been up these two nights,” said the doctor, and he sat gloomily by his wife's side, waiting for the end of the game.
Looking at the doctor's gloomy face and sidelong glances at his wife, the officers grew even more lively, and many of them could not suppress their laughter, for which they hastily sought presentable pretexts. When the doctor had led his wife away, and settled himself with her in their cart, the officers lay down in the inn, covering themselves with their wet overcoats. But for a long while they stayed awake, chatting, recalling the dismay of the doctor, and the delight of the doctor's wife, or running out on to the steps to report on what was going on in the cart. Several times Rostov muffled his head up and tried to go to sleep. But again some remark roused him, again a conversation sprang up, and again there were peals of causeless, merry, childish laughter.
“嗬，你们这儿好快活。”罗斯托夫笑着说。
“您怎么错过了好时光？”
“好家伙！这对落汤鸡！不要把我们的客厅弄湿了。”
“不要弄脏了玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜的衣裳。”几个声音一齐答道。
罗斯托夫和伊林赶紧找了一个不致使玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜难堪的角落换湿衣服。他们走到隔扇后面好换衣服；但这间小贮藏全被挤得满满的，一只空箱子上点着一支蜡烛，三个军官坐在那儿玩牌，怎么也不愿让出自己的位子。玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜拿出一条裙子当帷幔，就在这张帷幔后，罗斯托夫和伊林在带来背包的拉夫鲁什卡的帮助下，换下湿衣服，穿上干衣服。
人们在一只破炉子里生了火，有人搞到一块木板搭在两个马鞍上，铺上马被，弄到一个茶炊、食品柜和半瓶罗姆酒，并请玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜作主人，大家围坐在她周围。有人递给她一条干净的手绢，让她擦擦秀丽的小手，有人把短上衣铺在她脚下防潮，有人把斗篷挂在窗户上挡风，有人挥手赶开她丈夫脸上的苍蝇，以免惊醒了他。
“不要理他，”玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜含着羞怯的幸福的微笑说，“他整夜未醒，总睡得这么香甜。”
“不，玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜，”一个军官回答道，“应该巴结一下医生，将来他给我截胳膊锯腿时，可能会怜悯怜悯我。”
只有三只杯子，水脏得看不清茶浓还是不浓，而茶炊里只有六杯水，但是这样却更令人高兴：按年龄大小依次从玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜不太干净的留着短指甲的小胖手里接过茶杯。看来，今天晚上所有的军官确实都爱上了玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜。甚至在隔壁玩牌的几个军官也感染上了向玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜献殷勤的情绪，受到它的支配，很快丢下牌移到茶炊这里来了。玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜看见身边这群英俊有礼的青年，高兴得容光焕发，虽然她极力不显露出来，尽管她显然害怕身后睡梦中的丈夫的每一动弹。
只有一把茶匙，白糖很多，搅不过来，因此就决定，她轮流给每个人搅和。罗斯托夫接过杯子，向杯中掺了罗姆酒，就请玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜搅和。
“可您并未放糖啊？”她总是微笑着说，仿佛她说什么或别人说些什么都很可笑，别有用意似的。
“我不要糖，只想您亲手搅搅就行了。”
玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜同意了，开始找把被谁拿走了的茶匙。
“您用手指头搅吧，玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜，”罗斯托夫说，“这样更好。”
“烫！”玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜高兴得红了脸，说道。
伊林提了一桶水，往桶里滴了几滴罗姆酒，走近玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜，请她用手指搅搅。
“这是我的茶碗，”他说，“只要您伸进手指头，我全部喝干。”
当茶喝完时，罗斯托夫取来一副牌，建议与玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜一块儿玩“国王”。以抓阄的方式决定谁做玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜的搭档。按罗斯托夫建议的规则玩，谁做了“国王”，谁就有权亲吻玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜的手，而谁做了“坏蛋”，则要在医生醒来时，为他烧好茶炊。
“那要是玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜当了‘国王'呢？”伊林问道。
“她本就是女王！她的命令就是法律。”
游戏刚开始，医生蓬乱的头就从玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜身后抬了起来。他早就醒了，仔细听着人们在说些什么，显然，他认为人们所说的和所做的一切都没什么可乐、可笑和好玩。他的脸郁闷而颓丧。他没同军官们打招呼，搔了搔头，请挡路的人让他过去。他刚一走出去，全体军官就哄然大笑，而玛丽亚·亨里霍夫娜脸红得涌出了泪水，这么一来，在全体军官眼中，她更有吸引力了。医生从外面返了回来，对妻子说（她已经不再现出幸福的笑容，惊恐地看着他，等待着判决），雨已经停了，要去篷车里过夜，不然东西要被人偷光了。
“我派一个勤务兵上去守着，派两个！”罗斯托夫说，“就这样，医生。”
“我亲自去站岗！”伊林说。
“不，先生们，你们已经睡过觉了，而我可两夜未合眼。”医生说着，闷闷不乐地在妻子旁边坐下，等着玩牌游戏结束。
医生阴沉着脸，斜视着自己的老婆，军官们望着他那个样子更乐了，许多人忍不住笑出声来，赶紧尽力为他们的笑找一个无伤大雅的借口。医生领着老婆离开了并一起进了篷车，军官们也在小酒馆里躺了下来，盖上潮湿的军士衣；但是他们久久不能入睡，时而谈论医生刚才的惶惶不安和他老婆的兴高采烈，时而跑到外面，通报篷车里有什么动静。罗斯托夫好几次蒙上头想入睡，却又有什么评论吸引了他，就又开始谈起来，又传出了无缘无故的、快活的、天真的笑声。