War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy [69]
“I’m by no means saying that all the plans are good,” said Prince Andrei, “only I can’t understand how you can make such a judgment about Bonaparte. Laugh all you like, but Bonaparte is still a great general!”
“Mikhail Ivanovich!” the old prince cried to the architect, who, being busy with the roast, had hoped to be forgotten. “Didn’t I tell you Bonaparte was a great tactician? Well, he says so, too.”
“Sure thing, Your Excellency,” replied the architect.
The prince again laughed his cold laugh.
“Bonaparte was born lucky. He has excellent soldiers. And the Germans were the first he attacked. You’d have to be a do-nothing not to beat the Germans. Ever since the world began, everybody’s beaten the Germans. And they’ve beaten nobody. Except each other. It was on them he earned his glory.”
And the prince began to analyze all the mistakes which, to his way of thinking, Bonaparte had made in all his wars and even in state affairs. His son did not object, but it was clear that, whatever the arguments presented to him, he was as little able to change his opinion as the old prince was. Prince Andrei listened, holding back his objections, and involuntarily amazed at how this old man, who had sat alone in the country uninterruptedly for so many years, could know and discuss, in such detail and with such subtlety, all the military and political circumstances of Europe in recent years.
“You think I’m an old man and don’t understand the real state of affairs,” he concluded. “But I have it all up here! I don’t sleep nights. So, where has this great general of yours shown himself?”
“That would be a long story,” said his son.
“Off with you to your Buonaparte, then. Mademoiselle Bourienne, voilà encore un admirateur de votre goujat d’empereur!”*167 he shouted in excellent French.
“Vous savez que je ne suis pas bonapartiste, mon prince.”†168
“Dieu sait quand reviendra…” the prince sang off-key, laughed still more off-key, and left the table.
All through the argument and the rest of dinner, the little princess was silent and kept glancing fearfully now at Princess Marya, now at her father-in-law. When they left the table, she took her sister-in-law by the arm and led her to another room.
“Comme c’est un homme d’esprit, votre père,” she said, “c’est à cause de cela peut-être qu’il me fait peur.”‡169
“Ah, he’s so kind!” said the princess.
XXV
Prince Andrei was leaving the next evening. The old prince, not abandoning his order, went to his rooms after dinner. The little princess was with her sister-in-law. Prince Andrei, dressed in a traveling frock coat without epaulettes, was packing with his valet in the rooms assigned to him. He personally saw to the carriage and the loading of the trunks, and ordered the horses harnessed up. All that remained in the room were the objects Prince Andrei always carried with him: a strongbox, a big silver cellaret, two Turkish pistols, and a saber—a present from his father, brought back from Ochakov. All these traveling accessories Prince Andrei kept in great order: everything was new, clean, in broadcloth covers, carefully tied with tapes.
At moments of departure and a change of life, people capable of reflecting on their actions usually get into a serious state of mind. At these moments they usually take stock of the past and make plans for the future. Prince Andrei’s face was very thoughtful and tender. His hands behind his back, he paced rapidly up and down the room, looking straight