- Let’s get this party started!
- Is the roof on fire yet? Not really, it turns out, since most of the guests are old men, who just sit around.
- There are a few young guys there too, but it’s mostly a sea of gray hair.
- Pierre feels odd – based on his big money, he belongs with the old guys, but based on his age, he should be with the young crowd. He kind of flits back and forth between the two groups.
- Count Rostov is making sure everything is going according to plan.
- Finally, Bagration arrives. He is super awkward, has a weird haircut, and generally doesn’t know how to behave.
- In the main hall they bring him a silver tray with a poem on it. He doesn’t know what to do and just grabs the tray. Finally, someone takes the tray from him, and the poet starts reading his poem about yay-we-love-Bagration.
- At last dinner is announced.
- Bagration gets the guest of honor seat, then everyone sits around him in order of rank.
- The food is excellent. The wine starts flowing, and toast after toast after toast is drunk. Count Rostov is wasted enough to start crying when he proposes a toast to Emperor Alexander.