War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy [112]
L’aide-de-camp de l’Empereur de Russie est un…Les officiers ne sont rien quand ils n’ont pas de pouvoirs: celui-ci n’en avait point…Les Autrichiens se sont laissé jouer pour le passage du pont de Vienne, vous vous laissez jouer par un aide-de-camp de l’Empereur.
Napoléon.*217 17
Bonaparte’s adjutant galloped off at full speed with this threatening letter to Murat. Bonaparte himself, not trusting his generals, moved with all his guards to the field of battle, fearing to let the ready victim slip, while Bagration’s four-thousand-man division cheerfully lit campfires, dried out, warmed up, cooked kasha for the first time in three days, and not one man in the division knew or thought about what lay ahead of him.
XV
It was past three o’clock in the afternoon when Prince Andrei, who had persuaded Kutuzov to grant his request, arrived in Grunt and went to Bagration. Bonaparte’s adjutant had not yet reached Murat’s division, and the battle had not yet begun. In Bagration’s division, nothing was known about the general course of affairs; they talked of peace, but did not believe in its possibility. They talked of battle and also did not believe in the nearness of battle.
Bagration, knowing Bolkonsky to be a favorite and trusted adjutant, received him with a superior officer’s special distinction and indulgence, explained to him that there would probably be a battle that day or the next, and allowed him full freedom to stay by him during the battle or to supervise the order of retreat in the rear guard, “which was also very important.”
“However, there will probably be no action today,” said Bagration, as if to soothe Prince Andrei.
“If he’s one of those ordinary staff dandies sent to earn himself a little cross, he can earn it just as well in the rear guard, but if he wants to be with me, let him…he’ll be useful, if he’s a brave officer,” thought Bagration. Prince Andrei, having said nothing, asked permission to go around the lines and learn the disposition of the forces, so as to know where to go in case of an errand. The officer on duty in the detachment, a handsome man, foppishly dressed and with a diamond ring on his index finger, who spoke French poorly but eagerly, volunteered to accompany Prince Andrei.
On all sides one saw wet, sad-faced officers, who seemed to be looking for something, and soldiers, who were dragging doors, benches, and fences from the village.
“You see, Prince, we can’t rid ourselves of these folk,” said the staff officer, pointing to them. “The commanders neglect discipline. And here,” he pointed to a sutler’s tent, “they crowd in and sit. This morning I drove them all out: look, it’s full again. We must ride over, Prince, and scare them away. For a moment.”
“Let’s go in. I’ll have some bread and cheese,” said Prince Andrei, who had not yet had time to eat.
“Why didn’t you tell me, Prince? I’d have offered you my hospitality.”
They dismounted and went into the sutler’s tent. Several officers with flushed and languorous faces were sitting at tables eating and drinking.
“Well, what is this, gentlemen?” the staff officer said in a tone of reproach, like a man who has already repeated the same thing several times. “You can’t absent yourselves like this. The prince ordered that nobody should be found here. Well, take you, Mister Staff Captain,” he addressed a small, dirty, thin artillery officer, who was standing bootless before the entering men (he had given his boots to the sutler to dry), just in his stockings, smiling not quite naturally.
“Well, Captain Tushin, aren’t you ashamed?” the staff officer went on. “It would seem that you, as an artillerist, ought to set an example, and here you are bootless. They’ll sound the alarm, and a fine one you’ll be with no boots on.” (The staff officer smiled.) “Kindly go back to your posts, gentlemen—all, all of you,” he added in a superior’s tone.
Prince Andrei smiled involuntarily, looking at Captain Tushin. Silent and smiling, Tushin shifted from one bare foot to the other, and