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At first Pierre wished to take another seat so as not to trouble

the lady, and also to pick up the glove himself and to pass round

the doctors who were not even in his way; but all at once he felt

that this would not do, and that tonight he was a person obliged

to perform some sort of awful rite which everyone expected of

him, and that he was therefore bound to accept their services. He

took the glove in silence from the aide-de-camp, and sat down in

the lady's chair, placing his huge hands symmetrically on his

knees in the naive attitude of an Egyptian statue, and decided in

his own mind that all was as it should be, and that in order not

to lose his head and do foolish things he must not act on his own

ideas tonight, but must yield himself up entirely to the will of

those who were guiding him.