This action was so unlike her usual composure and the fear depicted on Prince Vasili's face so out of keeping with his dignity that Pierre stopped and glanced inquiringly over his spectacles at his guide.
Anna Mikhaylovna evinced no surprise, she only smiled faintly and sighed, as if to say that this was no more than she had expected.
"Be a man, my friend.
I will look after your interests," said she in reply to his look, and went still faster along the passage.
Pierre could not make out what it was all about, and still less what "watching over his interests" meant, but he decided that all these things had to be.