War and Peace Volume 2 Book 7 Chapter 13

In which the tender affections and aspirations of youth come into painful conflict with the cautious, sometimes harsh judgments of family and circumstance, as young Nicholas resolves to marry for love against his parents' wishes, setting familial tensions astir. Meanwhile, the household grows heavy with anxiety and melancholy as separations deepen, health declines, and the inexorable demands of fortune and social expectation beckon the Rostóvs towards Moscow once more.