On one of his foraging expeditions, in a deserted and ruined village to which he had come in search of provisions, Rostov found a family consisting of an old Pole and his daughter with an infant in arms.

They were half clad, hungry, too weak to get away on foot and had no means of obtaining a conveyance.

Rostov brought them to his quarters, placed them in his own lodging, and kept them for some weeks while the old man was recovering.

One of his comrades, talking of women, began chaffing Rostov, saying that he was more wily than any of them and that it would not be a bad thing if he introduced to them the pretty Polish girl he had saved.