War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy [171]
Kutuzov occupied a modest nobleman’s castle near Ostralitz. In the big drawing room, turned into the commander in chief’s office, were gathered: Kutuzov himself, Weyrother, and the members of the council of war. They were having tea. They were only waiting for Prince Bagration in order to begin the council of war. Finally, after seven o’clock Prince Bagration’s orderly officer arrived with the news that the prince could not be there. Prince Andrei came in to report that to the commander in chief, and, availing himself of the permission given him earlier by Kutuzov to be present at the council, remained in the room.
“Since Prince Bagration won’t be coming, we can begin,” said Weyrother, hurriedly getting up from his place and approaching the table, on which an enormous map of the environs of Brünn was spread.
Kutuzov, in an unbuttoned uniform, from which his fat neck, as if released, poured out over the collar, was sitting in a Voltaire armchair, his pudgy old man’s hands placed symmetrically on the two armrests, and was almost asleep. At the sound of Weyrother’s voice, he opened his one eye with effort.
“Yes, yes, please, or it will get late,” he said, and, nodding his head, lowered it and again closed his eye.
If the members of the council at first thought Kutuzov was pretending to sleep, the sounds his nose produced during the reading that followed proved that for the commander in chief at that moment the point of the matter was something far more important than a wish to show his contempt for the disposition or for anything at all: the point of the matter was to satisfy the irresistible human need for sleep. He was indeed asleep. Weyrother, with the gesture of a man who is too busy to waste even a moment of his time, glanced at Kutuzov and, assuring himself that he was asleep, took up the paper and began to read the disposition for the future battle in a loud, monotonous tone, under the title, which he also read:
“Disposition for the attack on the enemy’s position behind Kobelnitz and Sokolnitz, 20 November 1805.”
The disposition was very complex and difficult. The original began:
Da der Feind mit seinem linken Flügel an die mit Wald bedeckten Berge lehnt und sich mit seinem rechten Flügel längs Kobelnitz und Sokolnitz hinter die dort befindlichen Teiche zieht, wir im Gegenteil mit unserem linken Flügel seinen rechten sehr debordieren, so ist es vorteilhaft letzteren Flügel des Feindes zu attakieren, besonders wenn wir die Dörfer Sokolnitz und Kobelnitz im Besitze haben, wodurch wir dem Feind zugleich in die Flanke fallen und ihn auf der Fläche zwischen Schlapanitz und dem Thuerassa-Walde verfolgen können, indem wir dem Defileen von Schlapanitz und Bellowitz ausweichen, welche die feindliche Front decken. Zu diesem Endzwecke ist es nötig…die erste Kolonne marschiert…die zweite Kolonne marschiert…die dritte Kolonne marschiert…”*265 and so on, read Weyrother. The generals seemed to listen reluctantly to the difficult disposition. The tall, fair-haired General Buxhöwden stood leaning his back against the wall, and, resting his eyes on the burning candle, seemed not to be listening and even not to want it to be thought that he was listening. Directly opposite Weyrother, fixing his shining, wide-open eyes on him, in a martial pose, hands on his knees, elbows turned out, sat ruddy Miloradovich, with raised-up mustache and shoulders. He was obstinately silent, staring into Weyrother’s face, and took his eyes off him only when the Austrian chief of staff fell silent. Then Miloradovich looked around significantly at the other generals. But by the significance of this significant gaze it was impossible to tell whether he agreed or disagreed, was satisfied or dissatisfied with the disposition. Closest of all to Weyrother, Count Langeron sat and, with a subtle smile on his southern French face, which did not abandon him throughout the reading, gazed at his slender fingers, quickly twirling by the corners a golden snuffbox with a portrait. In the middle of one of the longest periods, he stopped