War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy [553]
“Ah, I see, the count wanted him to point to Klyucharev!” said Pierre.
“He didn’t want that at all,” the adjutant said in alarm. “Klyucharev had a few sins to his name without that, which is why he was banished. But the thing was that the count was highly indignant. ‘How could you have written it?’ says the count. He took the Hamburg Gazette from the table.9 ‘It’s here. You didn’t write it, you translated it, and badly at that, because, fool that you are, you don’t even know French.’ And what do you think? ‘No,’ he says, ‘I didn’t read any newspapers, I wrote it myself.’ ‘If so, you’re a traitor, I’ll have you up in court, and you’ll be hanged. Tell me, who did you get it from?’ ‘I haven’t seen any newspapers, I wrote it.’ And so it remained. The count summoned his father: he stood his ground. They took him to court and sentenced him, I believe, to hard labor. Now his father has come to petition for him. But what a nasty boy! You know that sort of little merchant’s son, a dandy, a charmer, he listened to some lectures and thinks he can pluck the devil by the beard. Quite the fellow! His father keeps an inn here by the Kamenny Bridge, and in that inn there’s a big icon of God Almighty, you know, holding a scepter in one hand and an orb in the other; so he took the icon home for a few days, and what did he do! He found some scoundrel of a painter…”
XI
In the middle of this new story, Pierre was summoned to the commander in chief.
Pierre went into Count Rastopchin’s study. Rastopchin, scowling, was rubbing his forehead and eyes with his hand as Pierre came in. A short man was saying something to him, but as soon as Pierre came in, he fell silent and left.
“Ah, greetings, great warrior!” said Rastopchin as soon as the man left. “We’ve heard about your prouesses!*533 But that’s not the point. Mon cher, entre nous,†534 are you a Mason?” Count Rastopchin said in a stern tone, as if there was something wrong with it, but he intended to forgive it. Pierre said nothing. “Mon cher, je suis bien informé,‡535 but I know that there are Masons and Masons, and I hope you don’t belong to those who, on the pretence of saving mankind, want to ruin Russia.”
“Yes, I am a Mason,” Pierre replied.
“Well, there you see, my dear. I suppose you’re not unaware of the fact that Messrs. Speransky and Magnitsky have been sent where they belong; the same has been done with Mr. Klyucharev,10 and the same with some others, who, on the pretence of building the temple of Solomon, were trying to destroy the temple of their fatherland. You can understand that there are reasons for that, and that I could not have banished our postmaster general if he had not been a harmful man. Now I am informed that you sent him your carriage so that he could leave the city and that you even took some papers from him for safekeeping. I like you and don’t wish you any harm, and since you’re half my age, I advise you like a father to stop all contacts with that sort of people and leave here as soon as possible.”
“But what is Klyucharev guilty of, Count?” asked Pierre.
“That’s for me to know and not for you to ask,” exclaimed Rastopchin.
“If he’s accused of distributing Napoleon’s proclamations, that hasn’t been proved,” said Pierre (not looking at Rastopchin), “and Vereshchagin…”
“Nous y voilà,”*536 Rastopchin, suddenly frowning, exclaimed still more loudly than before, interrupting Pierre. “Vereshchagin is a traitor and a turncoat, who will get the punishment he deserves,” said Rastopchin, with that hot