Bogucharevo gave Natasha back the forests and glades that she had loved as a child, and she quickly found mushrooms growing wild among Prince Andrei’s linden trees that lined the path to the estate and the pond. The beekeeper became her friend, and Natasha began a new life of singing.

And a day at Bogucharevo came that Natasha received a letter, one that had a stamp on it just like the stamps on the letters from Rome that Prince Andrei used to send her in 1812. But this letter was from Polina.

“Natasha, dear heart,

“I write you as I promised I would and after so long. I kiss you as my dearest friend. I must tell you how I have come to live in Rome, all so unanticipated.

“I remained in Russia after Napoleon’s expulsion from our fatherland and I married the French officer Senicourt. I am sure you remember him. Many Russians looked askance at me and were even cruel when I chose a Frenchman, but I must marry whom I wish. I have put aside French and have taught myself Russian and find great pleasure in writing poetry in my native language. I have met Zinaida Volkonskaya here in Rome in our small Russian circles, and she speaks with love of all you have done together in Paris. I hope to publish my poetry as she has.

“You must wonder how I came to be here. We were so happy in Russia until Senicourt learned that when Napoleon had been sent to Elba, many officers responded by abandoning the emperor for the return of the French king. I did not anticipate the spirit of patriotism for the king this news would awaken in Senicourt. He begged me to accompany him to France, to join the king’s Fifth Regiment at Grenoble, and I agreed. In early 1815 I left Russia with him and with a heavy heart.

“I was miserable in Grenoble. The French treated me as if I were the Russian concubine of Senicourt, so we moved outside the city to La Mure, where it was quiet and I could write. In March came the news that Napoleon had escaped and was marching toward us! To Paris!