War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy [83]
“Why so glum?” asked Nesvitsky, noticing Prince Andrei’s pale face with its glittering eyes.
“There’s nothing to be merry about,” replied Bolkonsky.
Just as Prince Andrei met Nesvitsky and Zherkov, the Austrian general Strauch, attached to Kutuzov’s staff to oversee the supplying of the Russian army, came from the other end of the corridor, along with the member of the Hofkriegsrath who had arrived the day before. The corridor was wide enough for the generals to pass the three officers unhindered, but Zherkov, pushing Nesvitsky aside with his hand, said in a breathless voice:
“They’re coming!…they’re coming!…step aside, make way, make way, please.”
The generals came on, looking as if they could do without embarrassing honors. The face of the joker Zherkov suddenly showed a stupid smile of joy, which he seemed unable to suppress.
“Your Excellency,” he said in German, stepping forward and addressing the Austrian general, “I have the honor to congratulate you.”
He bowed his head and began scraping with one foot, then the other, awkwardly, like children who are learning to dance.
The general who was a member of the Hofkriegsrath looked at him sternly; but, noticing the seriousness of the stupid smile, could not refuse it a moment’s attention. He narrowed his eyes, showing that he was listening.
“I have the honor to congratulate you: General Mack has arrived in good health, except for a slight wound here,” he added with a beaming smile, pointing to his head.
The general frowned, turned away, and walked on.
“Gott, wie naiv!”*180 he said angrily after going a few steps.
Nesvitsky, guffawing, put his arm around Prince Andrei, but Bolkonsky, turning still more pale, with an angry expression on his face, pushed him away and turned to Zherkov. The nervous irritation he had felt at the sight of Mack, the news of his defeat, and the thought of what awaited the Russian army now found its outlet in his anger at Zherkov’s inappropriate joke.
“If you, my dear sir,” he began in a shrill voice, with a slight trembling of the lower jaw, “wish to be a buffoon, I cannot prevent you from being one; but I announce to you that the next time you dare to clown in my presence, I will teach you how to behave.”
Nesvitsky and Zherkov were so astounded by this outburst that they silently stared wide-eyed at Bolkonsky.
“Why, I only congratulated him,” said Zherkov.
“I am not joking with you, kindly keep silent!” shouted Bolkonsky, and, taking Nesvitsky by the arm, he walked away from Zherkov, who was at a loss how to reply.
“Well, what’s with you, brother?” Nesvitsky said peaceably.
“What’s with me?” said Prince Andrei, stopping in agitation. “Understand that we’re either officers serving our tsar and fatherland, and rejoice in our common successes and grieve over our common failures, or we’re lackeys, who have nothing to do with their masters’ doings. Quarante mille hommes massacrés et l’armée de nos alliés détruite, et vous trouvez là le mot pour rire,” he said, as if clinching his opinion by this French phrase. “C’est bien pour un garçon de rien, comme cette individu, dont vous avez fait un ami, mais pas pour vous, pas pour vous.*181 Only schoolboys can have fun like that,” Prince Andrei added in Russian, pronouncing the word with a French accent, noticing that Zherkov was still within earshot.
He waited for the cornet to make some reply. But the cornet turned and left the corridor.
IV
The Pavlogradsky hussar regiment was stationed two miles from Braunau. The squadron in which Nikolai Rostov served as a junker had settled in the German village of Salzeneck. The squadron commander, Captain Denisov, known to the whole cavalry division as Vaska Denisov, was assigned the best quarters in the village. Junker Rostov had been living with the squadron commander ever since he caught up with his regiment in Poland.
On October 8th, the day when at headquarters all were brought to their feet