Part 1, Chapters 17-20 Summary

Meanwhile, back at the Rostov's, Countess Rostov asks her husband for a great deal of money, 500 rubles. The Count doesn't hesitate in the least. He calls for Dmitri, their overseer, and tells Dmitri to bring 700 rubles right away. Dmitri begins to explain to Count Rostov the trouble of bringing so much money to him right away, but Rostov begins breathing heavily, as if his health were affected by such a statement, and Dmitri submits to the order. The Count asks why the Countess wants the money. When Anna Mikhaylovna returns from Count Bezuhov's, Countess Rostov gives the money to her, and the two women weep together.

While the women talk in the Rostov's drawing room, the men smoke and play cards in the study. Countess Rostov's cousin Shinshin, a sharp-tongued man, and Lieutenant Berg, whom Natasha teases her sister...