War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (section 2)

[00:00:00] Volume 1, Part 3, 1806. [00:00:05] Chapter 1 of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskell Doyle Prince Vasily was not in the habit of forecasting his plans. Still less did he ever think of doing people harm for the sake of his own advantage. [00:00:19] He was merely a man of the world who had been successful in the world, so that success had become a sort of second nature to him. [00:00:27] He was always accustomed to allow circumstances and his relations to other men to modify his various plans and projects, but he rarely gave himself a very scrupulous account of them, though they constituted his chief interest in life. [00:00:41] He managed to have several such plans and projects on the docket at one and the same time. And thus, while a dozen formulated themselves, some came to something, while others fell through, he never said to himself, for example, this man is now in power, I ought to gain his confidence and friendship, and thereby secure myself the advantage of his assistance. [00:01:02] Or this here Pierre is rich, I ought to induce him to marry my daughter, and thus get the 40,000 roubles that I need. [00:01:11] But if by chance he met the man in power, instinct immediately whispered to him that this man might be profitable to him. [00:01:18] And Prince Vasily struck up a friendship with him, and at the first opportunity, led by instinct, flattered him, treated him with easy familiarity, and finally brought about the crucial conversation. [00:01:31] Pierre was under his tutelage at Moscow, and Prince Vasily procured for him an appointment as gentleman in waiting, which at that time conferred the same rank as Counselor of State. And he insisted on the young man accompanying him to Petersburg and taking up his residence in his own mansion without making any exertion, and at the same time taking it absolutely for granted that he was on the right track. Prince Vasily was doing all in his power to marry Pierre to his daughter. [00:01:59] If Prince facility had formulated his plans beforehand, he could not have been so natural in his conversation, so simple and unaffected in his relations with all men, not only those above him, but those who stood below him. [00:02:13] There was something that ever attracted him to men richer or more powerful than himself, and he was endowed with the rare art of seizing exactly the right moment for profiting by people. [00:02:23] Pierre, who had unexpectedly succeeded to Count Bezukhoi's wealth and title, found himself, after his late life of loneliness and inaction, surrounded and occupied to such a degree that only when he was in bed could he have a moment entirely to himself. [00:02:39] He was obliged to sign letters, to show himself at the courthouse in regard to matters of which he had no clear comprehension, to ask questions about this and that of his chief overseer, to ride out to his estate in the suburbs of Moscow and to receive many people who hitherto had ignored his very existence, but would have been offended and insulted if he refused to see them all. These various individuals, businessmen, relations, acquaintances, were all, with one accord, disposed to treat the young heir in the most friendly and flattering manner. They were all indubitably persuaded of Pierre's distinguished merits. He was constantly hearing such phrases as with your extraordinary goodness, or considering your kind heart, or you are so upright, Count, or if he were as clever as you are, and so on, until he actually began to believe in his extraordinary goodness and and his extraordinary intelligence all the more, because always in the depths of his heart it had seemed to him that he was really very good and very clever. [00:03:43] Even people who before had been cross to him and showed him undisguised hatred now became sweet and affectionate toward him. [00:03:51] For example, the sharp tempered elder sister, the princess with the long waist and the phenomenally smooth hair like a doll's, came into Pierre's room after the funeral. [00:04:02] Dropping her eyes and flushing deeply, she assured him how sincerely she regretted the misunderstandings that had arisen between them, and asked him as a special favor, though she felt that she had no right to do so, that she might be allowed, after the blow that had befallen her, to remain for a few weeks longer in the house which she had loved so well and where she had borne so many sacrifices. [00:04:23] She could not restrain her tears and wept freely at these words. [00:04:27] Touched by the change that the statuesque princess had undergone, Pierre took her by the hand and begged her forgiveness, though he could not have told for what. [00:04:36] From that day the Princess began to knit Pierre a striped scarf and became entirely different to him. [00:04:43] Do this for her, my dear fellow, for she had much to put up with on account of the late Count's whims, said Prince Vasily, giving him a paper to sign for the Princess's benefit. [00:04:54] Prince Facility had made up his mind that he must cast this die and get this check of 30,000 rubles for the poor princess, in order that it might not enter her head to talk about the part which he had taken in the matter of the mosaic portfolio. [00:05:07] Pierre signed the check, and from that time forth the princess became still more affectionate to him. [00:05:13] The younger sisters also were very flattering in their behavior to him, especially the youngest one, the beauty with the mole, who often embarrassed Pierre with her smiles and her own embarrassment at the sight of him. [00:05:25] It seemed to Pierre so natural that everybody should like him. It seemed to him so unnatural that anyone should not like him that he could not help believing in the sincerity of those who surrounded him in the first place. He had no time to question the sincerity or lack of sincerity. He had no time for anything, but was constantly in a state of delicious intoxication, as it were. [00:05:46] He was conscious that he was the center of an important social mechanism, feeling that something was constantly expected of him, that if he failed to accomplish this, he would offend many and disappoint their expectations. [00:05:58] But if he did this thing and that, all would be well, and he did whatever was asked of him, and always imagined that better things lay in store for him. [00:06:08] During this first part of the time, Prince Vasili, more than anyone else, undertook the management of Pierre and his affairs. After Count Bezukhoi's death, he scarcely let Pierre out of his sight. Prince Vasili acted like a man who, though overburdened with business, wearied and careworn, was so filled with sympathy that he found it impossible to leave this hapless young man, the son of an old friend and the possessor of such an enormous fortune, to the play of fate and the designs of knaves. [00:06:36] During the few days which he spent in Moscow after Count Bezukhoi's death, he kept calling Pierre to him, or going himself to Pierre, and instructed him on his duties in a tone of such weariness and assurance that he seemed to say each time, you know that I am overwhelmed with business, but it would be heartless in me to leave you now, and you know that what I tell you is the only thing feasible. [00:06:58] Well, my dear fellow, to morrow we will start at last, said he one day, closing his eyes and touching Pierre's elbow with his fingers, while his voice had a tone that seemed to imply that this had long, long ago been decided upon and was now perfectly beyond question. [00:07:13] To morrow we start. I will give you a place in my carriage. I am glad. We have done everything necessary here, and I ought to have been at home long ago. Here's what I got from the chancellor. I asked him for it for you. You have a place in the diplomatic corps and are appointed gentlemen in waiting. [00:07:31] The diplomatic career is now open to you. [00:07:35] Notwithstanding the tone of weariness and assurance in which these words were spoken, Pierre, who for some time had been thinking about his future, began to make an objection. But Prince Facili interrupted him and spoke in that low, persuasive tone which effectually prevents anyone from breaking into a man's discourse, and which he employed in case it were absolutely necessary to meet a final objection. [00:07:57] But my dear fellow, I did this for my own sake, to satisfy my own conscience, and there is nothing to thank me for. No one ever complained of being too well loved. But then you are free. You can leave to morrow, then you can see for yourself in Petersburg it is high time that you left these scenes of painful recollections. [00:08:16] Prince Vasili sighed. [00:08:18] Well, well, my dear, and let my valet follow in your carriage. Oh, yes, I had almost forgotten, added Prince Vasily. [00:08:27] You know, my friend, we had some accounts with the late lamented, and so I have collected and kept the money from your raisin property. You don't need it. We will settle it up afterwards. [00:08:39] What Prince Facili called from the raisin property was a few thousand roubles of obrook or peasants quit rent, which he had appropriated for his own use. [00:08:48] In Petersburg, just the same as in Moscow, Pierre found himself surrounded by an atmosphere of affection and love. He could not decline the office, or rather sinecure, for he had nothing to do, which Prince Vasili had procured for him. But he was so engrossed with acquaintances, invitations and social duties that he felt, even more than in Moscow, the sense of confusion, hurry, and of happiness ever beckoning, but never becoming realized. [00:09:16] Many the set of gay young bachelors with whom he had formerly been intimate with were now absent from Petersburg. The guard were away on the campaign, Dolokhof was serving in the ranks, Anatol had joined the army and had been sent into the province. Prince Andrei was abroad, and therefore Pierre had no chance to spend his nights as he had once liked to do, or in occasionally engaging in confidential talks with some old and treasured friend. [00:09:40] All his time was spent in dinners and balls and pre eminently in the society of Prince Vasili. The portly princess, his wife, and the beautiful Ellen. [00:09:50] Anna Pavlovna Share, like everybody else, made Pierre feel the change which had come over society in regard to him Hitherto. Pierre, in Anna Pavlovna's presence, had constantly felt that whatever he said was unbecoming, wanting intact unsuitable, that his speeches, however sensible they might seem while he was getting them ready in his mind, were idiotic as soon as he spoke them aloud, while on the other hand, Ippolit's most stupid utterances were regarded as wise and witty. [00:10:20] Now, however, everything that he said was greeted with the epitaph splendid. Even if Anna Pavlovna did not say this, still he was made to see that she meant it and that she refrained from saying it only out of regard for his modesty. [00:10:35] At the beginning of the winter of the years 1805, 1806, Pierre received from Anna Pavlovna the usual pink note of invitation, and with this postscript, the beautiful Ellen will be with us, whom one is never tired of looking at. [00:10:49] On reading this sentence, Pierre for the first time realized that a peculiar bond had sprung up between him and Ellen, recognized by other people, and this thought alarmed him because it seemed to place him under some sort of obligation which he could not fulfill, and at the same time it pleased him as an amusing situation. [00:11:07] Anna Pavlovna's reception was exactly like the former one, except that the dessert with which she regaled her guests was not Montmartre as before, but a diplomat who had just arrived from Berlin, bringing the freshest details about the visit of the Emperor Alexander at Potsdam, and how the two most august friends had there sworn an oath of eternal alliance to protect the cause of right against the enemy of the human race people. Pierre was received by Anna Pavlovna with a shade of melancholy, evidently having reference to the recent loss which the young man had undergone in the death of Count Bezukhoi. [00:11:41] Everyone constantly felt it their duty to assure Pierre that he was greatly afflicted by his father's taking off, although he could hardly be said to have known him. And in Anna Pavlovna's case, this melancholy was almost equal to that high degree of melancholy which she always manifested at the mention of the most august Empress Maria Feodorovna. [00:12:01] Pierre felt himself quite overwhelmed by this. [00:12:04] Anna Pavlovna, with her usual art, arranged the circles of her drawing room, the largest, in which Prince Vasily and the generals were conspicuous, was enjoying the diplomat's conversation. [00:12:15] Still another group was gathered about the tea table. Pierre was anxious to join the former, but Anna Pavlovna, who was in the excitable state of a great captain on the field of battle, was when a thousand new and brilliant ideas are struggling almost hopelessly for a successful accomplishment. Anna Pavlovna, seeing Pierre's motion, laid her finger on his sleeve. [00:12:35] Wait. I have designs on you for this evening. [00:12:39] She glanced at Ellen and gave her a smile. [00:12:42] My dear Ellen, you must be good to my poor aunt, who has conceived a perfect adoration for you. Go and spend 10 minutes with her, and lest it should be very tiresome to you, in here is our dear Count, who certainly will not fail to follow you. [00:12:57] The beauty went over to Ma, but Anna Pavlovna detained The young man pretending that she still had some indispensable arrangement to complete. [00:13:05] Charming, isn't she? Said she to Pierre, referring to the stately beauty who was sailing away. [00:13:11] And so self possessed and so much tact for a young girl. Such wonderful capability and dignity. [00:13:18] It all comes natural to her. Fortunate will be the man who secures her with her. A man even of the humblest position in society could not fail to attain the most brilliant position. [00:13:30] Isn't that so? I only wanted to know your opinion. And Anna Pavlovna released Pierre. [00:13:37] Pierre had honestly replied in the affirmative to her question about Ellen's art of self reliance. Whenever he thought of Ellen, he thought of her beauty and of her extraordinary ability to appear grave and dignified in society. [00:13:49] Ma tante received the two young people in her corner, but it seemed as though she were trying to hide her adoration for Ellen and make rather a show of awe for Anna Pavlovna. She glanced at her niece as though asking how she should behave toward these people. As Anna Pavlovna turned away, she again touched Pierre's sleeve with her finger and said, I hope that you won't say another time that you are bored at my house. [00:14:12] And she glanced at Ellen. Ellen smiled back with a look that seemed to say that she could not admit the possibility of anyone seeing her and not being delighted. The aunt coughed, swallowed down the phlegm, and said in French that she was very glad to see Ellen. Then she turned to Pierre with the same compliment and the same look. [00:14:30] During their tedious and desultory conversation, Ellen glanced at Pierre and smiled upon him with the same bright and radiant smile that she bestowed upon all people. [00:14:40] Pierre was so accustomed to this smile that it made little impression upon him and he gave it no special attention. [00:14:47] The aunt happened at that moment to be speaking about a collection of snuff boxes which had belonged to Pierre's late father, Count Bezukhoi, and she showed him her own snuff box. The princess. Ellen asked to see the portrait of her husband painted in miniature on the COVID That is apparently the work of Vinay, remarked Pierre, mentioning the name of a distinguished miniature painter. He leaned over the table to take up the snuff box, but all the time he was listening to the conversation at the other table. He got up, intending to pass around, but the aunt handed him the snuff box, passing it directly behind Ellen. Ellen moved aside to give room, and as she looked up she smiled. In accordance with the custom of the day. She wore a dress cut very low. Both in front and behind. [00:15:32] Her bust, which always reminded Pierre of marble, was so near to him that even with his near sighted eyes he could not help seeing the exquisite beauty of her neck and shoulders, and if he had stooped but a little, his lips would have touched her neck. [00:15:46] He was conscious of the warmth of her body, the faint breath of some perfume, and the rustle of her corset as she moved. He saw not the statuesque beauty which agreed so well with the colour of her dress, but he saw and felt the whole charm of her form concealed as it was only by her drapery. And having once seen this, his eyes refused to see her in any other way, just as it is impossible for us to recall an illusion that has once been explained. [00:16:13] And so you have not noticed before how charming I am, Ellen seemed to say. Have you not noticed that I am a woman? [00:16:20] Yes, I am a woman whom any man might win, even you, her look seemed to say, and at that instant Pierre was conscious that Ellen not only might be, but that she must be his wife, that it could not be otherwise. [00:16:36] He knew this at this instant, just as surely as he would have known it had he been standing with her under the bridal crown. How would this be and when would it be? [00:16:45] He could not tell, but he was sure that it would be the best thing for him. He even had a dim consciousness that somehow it would not be for the best. [00:16:54] But he still knew that it would be. [00:16:56] Pierre dropped his eyes, then raised them and tried once more to see that beauty so far off and foreign to him as it were, which he had seen every day before. But he found it impossible. [00:17:08] He no more could recall his former thought of her than a man who, having seen a blade of step grass in the midst and mistaken it for a tree, could ever be deceived into taking the blade of grass for a tree again. [00:17:19] She was terribly near to him. Already she had begun to wield her power over him, and between him and her there was no longer any impediment except the impediment of his own will. [00:17:30] Excellent. I leave you in a quiet corner. I see that you are getting along very well. There, said Anna Pavlovna's voice, and Pierre, coming to his senses with a start of terror, lest he had been guilty of something reprehensible, reddened and glanced around. [00:17:45] It seemed to him that all knew as well as he himself did what had happened to him. [00:17:51] After a little while, when he had joined the large circle, Anna Pavlovna said to him, I hear that you are refitting your Petersburg house. [00:17:58] This was true. The architect had told him that it was needful to be done, and Pierre, though he did not know why, allowed the huge mansion to be improved. [00:18:07] That's a good plan, but I wouldn't give up your quarters at Prince Facili's. It's a good thing to have a friend like the Prince, said she, smiling at Prince Vasili. I know something about it, do I not? [00:18:19] And you are still so young. You need some one to advise you. You are not angry with me for exercising the prerogative of an old woman, I hope? [00:18:28] She added this in Russian and paused, as women always pause expecting something complimentary when they have been mentioning their age. [00:18:37] If you marry, that would be a different thing. And she united them in one significant glance. [00:18:42] Pierre did not look at Ellen, but she looked at him. But all the time she was terribly close to him. He stammered something and reddened. [00:18:51] After he returned home, Pierre was long unable to sleep for thinking of what had happened to him. [00:18:57] What had happened to him? [00:18:59] Nothing. [00:19:01] All he knew was that a woman whom he had known as a child, of whom he had often heedlessly said, yes, she's pretty, when he was told that Ellen was a beauty, might be his. [00:19:12] But she is stupid. She acknowledges that she is stupid, he said to himself. There is something revolting in the eye of her, exciting, my love, something repulsive. I have been told that her own brother Anatol, was in love with her, and that she loved him in return, and that there was quite a scandal about it, and that was the reason why Anatole was sent away. [00:19:32] Ippolit is her brother, her father, Prince Facili. That's all ugly, he went on thinking, and even while he came to this decision, such considerations are endless. He found himself, to his surprise, indulging in a smile, and acknowledged that another series of considerations were arising in his mind, that while he was thinking of her faults, he was at the same time dreaming how she would be his wife, how she might be in love with him, how she might be quite different, and how all that he had heard and thought about her might be untrue. [00:20:04] And again he saw her not as Prince Vasily's daughter, but as a woman, her form concealed merely by her grayish garment. [00:20:12] But no, why has this idea never entered my mind before? [00:20:16] And again he assured himself that it was impossible, that there would be something shameful, contrary to nature, something as it seemed dishonorable to him in this marriage. He recalled her words and glances, and the words and glances of those who had seen them together. [00:20:32] He remembered Anna Pavlovna's words and looks when she spoke to him about his house. [00:20:36] He remembered a thousand similar insinuations on the part of Prince Facility and others, and a sense of horror came over him, lest he had bound himself by the very undertaking of such a project, a project which was evidently wrong, and which he ought not to have undertaken. But at the very time that he came to this decision, in the other half of his mind arose her form in all its womanly beauty. [00:21:08] Chapter 2 of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskell Doyle In November 1805, Prince Vasili was obliged to go to four governments on a tour of inspection. [00:21:20] He had secured this commission for himself so as to visit one of his ruined estates, and it was his intention, having picked up his son Anatol, who was with his regiment at one of the places on his route, to go with him on a visit to Prince Nikolai Andreyevich Bolkonsky, so as to marry this same son to the daughter of this wealthy old man. [00:21:39] But before starting on this journey and undertaking these new duties, Prince Vasili felt called upon to bring Pierre's little affair to a crisis. [00:21:47] The truth was, Pierre, during these latter days of his visit at Prince Facilities, had shown himself absurd, agitated and moping in Ellen's presence, the proper condition of a man in love. But still he had not made his decision to sont abellai bon misle fou cass. [00:22:06] It must be decided, said Prince Facility one morning with a melancholy sigh, confessing to himself that Pierre, considering under what obligations he was to him, though Christ be with him, was not behaving very nicely in this matter. [00:22:20] Youth, fickleness. [00:22:22] Well, God bless him, said Prince Vasily, with a feeling of satisfaction at his own benevolence. [00:22:31] Day after tomorrow is Leolina's birthday. I will have a little party for her, and if he does not come up to the point in seeing what his duty is, then it will be my affair. Yes, my affair. I am her father. [00:22:44] A fortnight after Anna Pavlovna's reception and the sleepless, agitated night that followed it, when he had made up his mind that to marry Ellen would lead to unhappiness, and that it was his duty to flee from her and to go away, Pierre, in spite of this decision, was still at Prince Facilities and and felt with a sort of horror that each day he was becoming, in the eyes of the world, more and more attached to her, that he could not return to his former way of looking upon her, could not tear himself from her, that it was abominable, but still he must link his fate with hers. [00:23:17] Perhaps he might have abstained. But scarcely a day passed that Prince Vasily, who formerly had so rarely given receptions, did not have company, and Pierre was obliged to be present unless he were willing to disturb the general contentment and disappoint the expectation of all. [00:23:33] Prince Vasili, during those rare moments when he was at home, as he passed by, Pierre would draw his head down carelessly, offer him his shaven, wrinkled cheek to kiss, and say, till tomorrow, or we'll meet at dinner, or else I shall not see you, or I stay at home for your sake, or the like. [00:23:52] But notwithstanding the fact that Prince Facili, according to his own account, stayed at home for Pierre's sake, he did not exchange two words with him. And yet Pierre did not feel himself strong enough to disappoint him. [00:24:04] Each day he said to himself, ever the same thing, I must in the end understand her and explain her. What is she? Was I mistaken in her before, or am I mistaken now? [00:24:15] No, she is not stupid. No, she is a beautiful girl, he said to himself from time to time. [00:24:22] Never did she make a single error. Never, by any chance did she say anything stupid. She spoke little, but what she said was always simple and clear, so she could not be stupid. [00:24:34] Never was she agitated or confused. She could not be a vile woman. [00:24:39] Often it chanced that he began to discuss with her or to utter his thoughts in her hearing, but every time she replied in some brief but appropriately worded remark, showing that she was not interested, or else with a silent smile and look, which, more palpably than anything else, proved to Pierre her superiority. [00:24:56] She was in the right, for she made it evident that all arguments and reasonings were rubbish in comparison with this smile. [00:25:03] She always treated him with a radiant, confiding and confidential smile, which was meant for himself alone, as though there were in it something more significant than there was in that smile which she wore for the world in general. [00:25:16] Pierre knew that all were waiting for him to at last speak the one word needful, to step over the certain line, and he knew that sooner or later he should cross it. [00:25:25] A strange and invincible horror seized him at the mere thought of this momentous step. [00:25:30] A thousand times in the course of this fortnight, during which he felt himself all the time drawn deeper and deeper into the terrible gulf, he said to himself, what does it mean? [00:25:40] What I need is decision. [00:25:41] Why do I lack it? [00:25:44] He was anxious to come to a decision, but felt with horror that in this matter he was not displaying the strength of will which he knew he had and which he really had. [00:25:53] Pierre belonged to the number of those who are strong only when they have the consciousness of being perfectly pure. [00:25:59] But ever since he had begun to be overmastered by the feeling of sensual desire that came upon him and Edda Pavlovna's during the scene with the snuff box, an undefined sense of guilt had paralyzed his willpower. [00:26:11] On the evening of Ellen's name day, a small party of friends and relatives, our nearest and dearest, as the Princess expressed it, took separate Prince facilities. [00:26:21] All these friends and relatives were given to understand that on this day the young lady's fate was to be decided. The guests were seated in the dining room. The Princess Kuragina, the portly, imposing woman who had once been famous for her beauty, standing sat at the head of the table. On each side of her were placed the more important guests, an old general, his wife and Anna Pavlovna Sharer. And at the other end of the table were the younger and less honored guests. And there also sat the various members of the household, Pierre and Ellen, side by side. [00:26:53] Prince Facility did not sit down with the rest. He walked around the table in a jocund mood, stopping to chat now with one, now with another of his guests, speaking some light and pleasant word to all except Pierre and Ellen, whose presence he seemed entirely to ignore. [00:27:09] Prince facility was the very life of the company. [00:27:12] The wax candles burned brightly, the silver and cut glass gleamed. The jewels of the ladies and the gold and silver epaulets of the officers glistened. The clatter of knives and plates and glasses and the hum of lively conversation was heard around the table. [00:27:27] An aged chamberlain at one end was heard assuring an aged baroness of of his passionate love for her, while her laugh in reply rang out at the other end. Someone was telling of the misfortune that had fallen a certain Maria Victorovna. Near the center of the table, Prince Vasily was standing with a little circle of auditors, while he told the ladies, with a facetious smile on his face, of the last meeting on Wednesday of the Imperial Council, at which Serzi Kuzmitz Vasmitinov, the new military Governor General of Petersburg, received and read the then famous receipt addressed to him from the army headquarters by the Emperor Alexander Pavlovitch. [00:28:06] The Emperor declared that he was receiving from all sides proofs of the devotion of the people, and that the demonstration of Petersburg was particularly delightful to him, that he was proud of being the head of such a nation, and would do all in his power to prove himself worthy of the honor. [00:28:21] This rescript began with the words Sergey Kuzmitch from all sides reports reach me. And so he could not get further than Sergey Kuzmitch? Asked a lady. [00:28:32] No, not a hair's breadth, replied Prince Vasily, laughing. [00:28:36] Sergey Kuzmitch from all sides, Sergei Kuzmitch from all sides. [00:28:41] Poor Basmatinov could not get any further. Several times he began the letter over again, but could only say Sergi. Then sobs, coup Smith tears, and then the words from all sides were drowned in sobs, and he could not get any further, and again his handkerchief, and again Sergey Kuzimich from all sides, and more tears, until at last he had to get someone else to read it for him. [00:29:08] Kuzimich from all sides and tears. Repeated someone with a laugh. [00:29:13] Don't be naughty. Exclaimed Anna Pavlovna from the other end of the table, raising her finger threateningly. [00:29:19] Our good Vas Mitinov is such a dear, excellent man. [00:29:23] This greatly amused the company at the upper end of the table where sat the honorary guests. All were apparently in jovial spirits and under the influence the most varied and lively emotions. But Pierre and Ellen sat silent side by side at the lower end of the table. [00:29:39] On the faces of each hovered a radiant smile not evoked by the story about Sergi Kuzmatic, but rather a smile of bashfulness of their own thoughts. The others might chatter and laugh and jest. They might, with good appetite, enjoy the Rhine wine and the saute and the ice creams. They might let their eyes avoid resting on that couple. They might seem to be quite indifferent, and even to ignore their existence. [00:30:03] Nevertheless there was something in the very atmosphere that made it evident by the furtive glances bent upon them that the anecdote about Sergiy Kuzmitch and the laugh that it evoked and the dinner and everything were but merely pretense, and that the energies of the whole company were in reality devoted to this young couple, Pierre and Ellen, even while Prince Facility was imitating the lacrimose Sergey Kuzmatic all the time his glance sought his daughter, and even when he was laughing his heartiest, the expression on his face seemed to say, yes, yes, it is going all right. [00:30:38] It will be decided this evening. [00:30:41] Anna Pavlovna, when she threatened him with notre bomb, Vasmatinoff let Prince Facility read in her eyes as they flashed for a moment in Pierre's direction a congratulation for his daughter's coming marriage and good fortune. [00:30:53] The old princess, as she offered a glass of wine to her neighbor with a melancholy sigh and glanced gravely toward her daughter, seemed to say by this sigh, yes, my dear, now there is nothing for us but to sip sweet wine. Now it is the young people's turn to be insolently, defiantly happy. [00:31:11] And what melancholy rubbish. All that I have to say is as though it meant anything, thought the old diplomat as he gazed at the happy faces of the lovers. Yonder is true happiness. [00:31:23] Amid these mean, petty and artificial interests uniting this company, there rose the natural feeling of attraction felt for each other by a handsome and healthful young man and woman, and this human feeling put to knot and sword above all their artificial babble. The jests were not amusing. The news was not interesting, the liveliness was only counterfeited. [00:31:45] Not only they, but also the servants waiting on the table, seemed to feel the same thing and forget the proprieties of the service as they gazed on beautiful Ellen with her radiant face, and on Pierre's comely, stout face, so happy and so uneasy, it even seemed as if the light from the candles were all concentrated on these two happy faces. [00:32:06] Pierre was conscious that he was the centre of everything, and this position both pleased him and made him uncomfortable. He found himself in the position of a man plunged in some sort of absorbing occupation. He saw nothing, heard nothing, understood nothing clearly. Only occasionally, through his consciousness flashed fragmentary thoughts and expressions of the reality. [00:32:28] And so it is all over, he said to himself. How in the world did it happen? It was so sudden. [00:32:34] Now I know that it is not for her sake alone, nor for my sake alone, but for the sake of all. This must be accomplished without fail. [00:32:43] They all expect this so confidently. They are so certain that it will take place that I cannot, I cannot disappoint them. [00:32:51] But how will it take place? [00:32:53] I know not, but it will be. It infallibly must be, thought Pierre, as he glanced at those shoulders gleaming so near him. [00:33:01] Then suddenly, a feeling of humiliation mingled in his thoughts. He felt embarrassed to be the object of general attention, to be a lucky man in the eyes of all others, to be another though homely Paris possessing his Helen of Troy. [00:33:16] But to be sure, this has always been and therefore it must be so. He. He said, trying to comfort himself. [00:33:22] And besides, what have I done to bring it about? When did it begin? [00:33:27] I came from Moscow with Prince Vasily. There was certainly nothing in that. [00:33:31] Then what harm was there in my staying at his house? [00:33:34] And so I played cards with her and picked up her reticule and went to drive with her. [00:33:39] When did it begin? [00:33:41] When did it all begin? [00:33:44] And now here he is, sitting by her in the quality of accepted suitor, hearing, seeing, feeling her presence, her breathing, her every motion, her beauty. [00:33:55] Then suddenly it seemed to him that it was not she who was the beauty, but he himself, and to such an extraordinary degree that all had to look at him, and that he, delighting in this universal admiration, swelled out his chest, raised his head high, and rejoiced in his own happiness. [00:34:12] Suddenly he heard a voice, a well known voice, speaking and saying something for the second time. But Pierre was so absorbed that he did not comprehend what was said to him. [00:34:22] I asked you when you last heard from Bolkonski, said Prince Facility for the third time. How absent minded you are, my dear fellow. Prince Facility smiled, and Pierre saw that all, all were smiling at him and at Ellen. [00:34:36] Well, suppose you all do know, said Pierre to himself. What then? It is true. And he himself smiled his sweet, childlike smile, and Ellen also smiled. [00:34:48] When did you get the letter? Was it from Olmutz? Repeated Prince Facility, who pretended that he wished to know in order to decide a dispute. [00:34:56] How can one talk and think about such trifles? Was Pierre's mental exclamation. [00:35:01] Yes, from omn, he replied with a sigh. [00:35:06] After supper, Pierre gave his arm to Ellen and led her to the drawing room in the wake of the others. [00:35:11] The guests began to disperse, and some went away without bidding Ellen farewell. [00:35:16] Others, as though unwilling to tear her away from serious concerns, went up to her for a minute and then hurried away without allowing her to accompany them to the door. [00:35:25] The diplomat preserved a mournful silence as he left the drawing room. The utter futility of his diplomatic career presented itself in comparison with Pierre's good fortune. [00:35:35] The old general growled out a surly reply to his wife when she asked him about the gout in his foot. [00:35:41] Eka, the old fool, he said to himself, here's Elena Vasilevna, and she'll be just as much of a beauty at 50. [00:35:51] It seems as though I might congratulate you, said Anna Pavlovna in a whisper to the old princess, and gave her a resounding kiss. If I hadn't a sick headache, I would stay a little longer. [00:36:02] The princess made no answer. She was tormented by jealousy at her daughter's good fortune. [00:36:07] While the guests were taking their departure, Pierre was left for some time alone with Ellen in the little sitting room where they often sat. [00:36:14] During the past fortnight he had been often alone with Ellen. But he had never said a word to her about love. [00:36:20] Now he felt that this was indispensable, but still he found it impossible to make up his mind to undertake this last step. [00:36:27] He felt abashed. It seemed that here, in Ellen's presence, he occupied a place that belonged to someone else. [00:36:33] Not for thee is this good fortune, some internal voice seemed to whisper. This happiness is for those who have not what thou hast. [00:36:42] But it was essential to say something, and he tried to talk. He asked her if she had enjoyed the evening. She replied with her usual simplicity that this name day had been one of the pleasant events of her life. [00:36:54] One or two of the nearest relatives still remained. They were gathered in the great drawing room. Prince Vasili, with leisurely steps, came to Pierre. Pierre got up and remarked that it was already late. Prince Vasily looked at him with a gravely questioning face, as much as to imply that what he said was too strange to be heard. [00:37:13] But instantly this expression of sternness vanished, and Prince Facili laid his hand on Pierre's sleeve, making him sit down again, and gave him a flattering smile. [00:37:23] Well, Leolia? He asked, turning instantly to his daughter with that easygoing tone of habitual affection peculiar to parents who have lived on terms of a special affection with their children ever since their childhood, but which in Prince Facili's case had been acquired only through having observed other parents. [00:37:40] And then he turned again to Pierre. [00:37:43] Sergei Kuzmatic from all sides, he repeated nervously, unbuttoning the upper button of his waistcoat. [00:37:50] Pierre smiled, but his smile made it evident how well he understood that Prince Vasily was not interested now in this anecdote about Sergei Kuzmitic, and Prince Facility understood that Pierre understood this Prince Facility suddenly muttered some excuse and left the room. It seemed to Pierre that even Prince Facili was embarrassed. The appearance of embarrassment in this old society man deeply affected Pierre. He glanced at Ellen, and she, it seemed, was also embarrassed, and her glance said, well, it is all your fault. [00:38:21] It is absolutely indispensable for me to take this step. But I cannot, I cannot, said Pierre to himself, and once more he began to talk about irrelevant things, about Sergey Kuzmitich, asking what was the point of this anecdote, as he had not caught it, Ellen, with a smile, confessed that she also knew nothing about it. [00:38:41] When Prince Vasily returned to the drawing room, the Princess was engaged in talking in low tones with an elderly lady about Pierre. Of course it is a brilliant match. But happiness, my dear, said she, in the usual mixture Of French and Russian marriages are made in heaven. [00:39:00] Laissez you return. The old lady, Prince Facility, pretending not to hear what she said, went to the farthest table and sat down on the sofa. He closed his eyes and appeared to be dozing. His head sank forward. And then he woke with a start. Alina, he said to his wife, go and see what they are doing. [00:39:18] The princess went to the door, passed by it with a significant but indifferent look, and glanced in. Pierre and Ellen were still sitting and talking. [00:39:27] Just the same, she said in reply to her husband. Prince Facility scowled and screwed his mouth to one side, and his cheeks began to twitch with that unpleasant, coarse expression so characteristic of him. [00:39:39] Then, with a sudden impulse, he sprang to his feet, threw his head back, and with decided steps strode past the ladies into the little sitting room. [00:39:47] Swiftly and with great assumption of delight, he went straight to Pierre. His face was so unusually triumphant that Pierre, in seeing him, rose to his feet in dismay. [00:39:58] Slava Bohu. Glory to God, he cried. My wife has told me all. He threw one arm around Pierre, the other round his daughter. My dear boy, Leola, I'm very, very glad. His voice trembled. I loved your father, and she will make you a good wife. God bless you. He embraced his daughter, then Pierre again, and kissed him with his maladorous mouth. Tears actually moistened his cheeks. [00:40:23] Princess, come here. He cried. [00:40:26] The princess came and wept. The elderly lady also wiped her eyes with her handkerchief. They kissed Pierre, and he kissed the lovely Ellen's hand several times. After a little while they were left alone again. [00:40:38] All this had to be so and could not be otherwise, thought Pierre. And there is no need to ask if it be good or evil. [00:40:46] Good at least in that it is decided, and I am no longer tortured by suspense. [00:40:50] Pierre silently held the hand of his betrothed and looked at her fair bosom as it rose and fell. [00:40:57] Ellen, he said aloud, and then paused. He was aware that something of this sort must be said under such circumstances, but he could not for the life of him remember what was the proper thing to say. He looked into her face. She came nearer to him. Her face grew crimson. [00:41:13] Ach. Take them off. How they. She pointed to his glasses. [00:41:17] Pierre took them off, and his eyes had a scared and entreating look, in addition to that strange expression which people's eyes assume when they remove their glasses. Suddenly he was about to bend over her hand and kiss it, but she, with a quick and abrupt motion of her head, intercepted the motion and pressed her lips to his. [00:41:35] Her face disturbed Pierre, by its changed and unpleasantly passionate expression. [00:41:41] Now it is too late. It is all decided. [00:41:43] Yes, and I love her, thought Pierre. [00:41:47] Je vu's aim, he said at last, remembering what was necessary in these circumstances. [00:41:52] But these words sounded so meagre that he was ashamed of himself. [00:41:57] At the end of a fortnight he was married, the fortunate possessor, as they say, of a beautiful wife and of millions, and settled in the enormous Petersburg mansion of the Count's Bezukhoi, newly refitted for them. [00:42:11] Chapter 2. [00:42:18] Part 3 Chapter 3 of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskell Doyle the old Prince Nikolai Andreich Bolkonski, in December 1805, received a letter from Prince Vasily announcing his coming with his son on a visit. [00:42:34] I'm making a tour of inspection, and of course the hundred first distance across the country shall not keep me from coming to see you. Venerated benefactor, he wrote, and my Anatole accompanies me. He is on his way to the army, and I hope you will permit him to show you the deep respect which he, in emulation of his father, has conceived for you. [00:42:56] Well, there's no need of bringing Marie out if suitors come to us of their own accord, said the little princess indiscreetly. When this was mentioned to her, Prince Nikolai Andreich frowned and made no reply. [00:43:08] Two weeks after the receipt of the letter, Prince Vasily's servants made their appearance in advance of him, and on the next day he and his son arrived. [00:43:17] The old principal Konski had a low opinion of Prince Facili's character, and this had been intensified of late by the great advances which he had made in rank and honors under the Emperors Paul and Alexander. [00:43:29] Now, especially from the letter and the insinuations made by the little princess, he saw what was in the wind, and his low opinion of Prince Facility was transmuted in his heart. He into a feeling of really malevolent contempt. [00:43:42] He snorted whenever he mentioned his name. [00:43:45] On the day that Prince Facility was expected, Prince Nikolai Andreich was especially surly and out of sorts. [00:43:52] Whether he were out of sorts because Prince Facility was coming, or whether he was dissatisfied with Prince Facility's visit because he was out of sorts, it did not alter the fact that he was out of sorts and tick on early in the morning advised the architect not to come near the prince unless he was summoned. [00:44:08] Listen, hear him walking up and down, remarked Tickle in calling the architect's attention to the sounds of the Prince's tramp. [00:44:15] He stamps his heels and we all know what that means, however, at the usual hour of 9 o', clock, the prince came out for his morning walk, dressed in his velvet shubka with its sable collar and in a cap of the same fur. [00:44:30] The night before there had been a snowstorm. The path along which the prince walked to the orangery had been swept. The traces of the broom were still to be seen on the snow, and the shovel was driven into a light embankment of snow heaped high on both sides of the path. [00:44:45] The prince went the round of the greenhouses, the yard and the various buildings, frowning and silent. [00:44:51] Can slay's come up? He asked of his overseer, a man who was his image in face and actions, and was accompanying him with great deference back to the house. [00:45:02] The snow is deep, your illustriousness. I have already given orders to have the snow shoveled away from the press back. [00:45:08] The prince bent his head and started to go up the steps. [00:45:12] Glory to thee, O Lord, was the overseer's mental exclamation. The cloud has passed. [00:45:19] It was hard to approach, your illustriousness, added the superintendent, when I heard your Illustriousness, that your illustriousness was expecting a minister. [00:45:28] The prince turned round toward his overseer and fastened his gloomy eyes upon him. [00:45:33] What? [00:45:34] A minister? [00:45:36] What minister? [00:45:37] Who commanded you? He exclaimed in his shrill, harsh voice. [00:45:41] The road is cleared. Not for the princess, my daughter, but for a minister. [00:45:46] We have no ministers at my house, your illustriousness. I supposed. [00:45:52] You supposed, Screamed the prince, uttering the words more and more hastily and incoherently. You supposed cutthroats, placards, I will teach you to suppose. And raising his cane, flourished it over Albatuitch and would have struck him had not the overseer instinctively dodged the blow. [00:46:11] You supposed black guard. Screamed the prince. [00:46:15] But notwithstanding the fact that Albatuitch, alarmed at his audacity in avoiding the blow, had hastened up to the prince and humbly bent before him his bald pate. Or possibly for this very reason, the prince continued to scream, blackguards. Have the road shoveled back again, but did not raise the cane a second time and hastened into his room. [00:46:36] The Princess Marie and Mademoiselle Buhearn, knowing that he was in a bad humor, stood waiting for him to come to dinner. [00:46:43] Mademoiselle Burine, with a beaming face which said, oh, I know nothing about it. As for me, I am always the same. [00:46:52] And the princess, pale and scared, with downcast eyes. [00:46:56] Hardest of all was it for the Princess Marie to know that in these circumstances she ought to imitate Mademoiselle Burine. But she could not do so, it seemed to her. If I should pretend not to pay any attention, he would think that I had no sympathy for him. And if I show him that I am melancholy and out of sorts myself, he will say, as he always does, that I am in the blues. [00:47:19] The prince looked at his daughter's scared face and snorted. [00:47:22] Goo or fool, he muttered. And the other one? Not here. Can they have been tattling to her, he wondered, when he saw that the little princess was not in the dining room. [00:47:33] Where is the princess? He asked. Is she hiding herself? [00:47:37] She is not feeling very well, said Mademoiselle Burine with a radiant smile. She won't come down. That is natural in her condition, Grumbled the prince, and took his seat at the table. His plate seemed to him not quite clean. He pointed to a spot and flung it away tick and caught it and handed it to the butler. [00:48:01] The little princess was not ill, but she was so invincibly afraid of the old prince that when she learned that he was in a bad humor, she she resolved not to leave her room. [00:48:10] I'm afraid for my baby, said she to Mademoiselle Burine. God knows what might happen if I were frightened. [00:48:17] The little princess lived at Luisia Garai most of the time with a sense of fear and apathy for her father in law, whom she did not understand because her terror so overmastered her that she could not. [00:48:28] The prince reciprocated this antipathy for his daughter in law, but it was not so strong as his contempt for her. [00:48:35] The princess, since her residence at Luisia Giret, had taken special fancy to Mademoiselle Burine, spent whole days with her, often begged her to sleep with her, and talked about the old prince with her, and criticized him. [00:48:49] Some visitors are coming to see us, Prince, said Mademoiselle Burine as she unfolded her white napkin with her rosy fingers. His Excellency Prince Kurigan. I understand, said she with a questioning inflection. [00:49:02] Humph. This Excellency, as you call him, is a puppy. I got him appointed to the college, said the prince disdainfully. [00:49:10] But why his son is coming is more than I know. The Princess Lizaveta Karlovna and the Princess Mariya, possibly they know. But I don't know what he's bringing his son here for. I don't want him. [00:49:23] And he looked at his blushing daughter. [00:49:26] So she isn't very well to day. [00:49:28] From fear of the minister, I suppose, as that blockhead of an Alpatuich called him today. [00:49:35] No, mon pair, though Mama was a beurine, had been particularly unfortunate in her choice of a subject of conversation. She was not at all put out of countenance, but rattled on about the greenhouses and about the beauty of some new flower that had just blossomed. And the prince, after his soup, melted and became more genial. [00:49:54] After dinner he went to see his daughter in law. [00:49:57] The little princess was sitting by a stand and chatting with Masha, her maid. She turned pale at the sight of her father in law. [00:50:04] The little princess had very much altered. One would now much sooner call her ugly than pretty. Her cheeks were sunken, her lip was raised, her eyes had a drawn look. [00:50:15] Yes, a little headache, she replied to the prince's question how she felt. [00:50:20] Do you need anything? [00:50:23] No, merci, mon pair. [00:50:25] Well then. [00:50:27] Very good, very good. [00:50:29] He left the room and went to the office. [00:50:32] Albatuich, with drooping head, was waiting for him. There is the snow shoveled back. [00:50:37] It is, your illustriousness. Forgive me, for God's sake. This one piece of stupidity. [00:50:43] The prince interrupted him and smiled his unnatural smile. [00:50:47] Well then, very good, very good. He stretched out his hand for Alpatuich to kiss and then went to his cabinet. [00:50:55] Prince Vasily arrived in the evening. [00:50:58] He was met on the press pack, as they call the prospect or high road, by the coachman in stable hands, who with loud shouts dragged his covered volzuk and sledge up to the entrance over snow which had been purposefully heaped upon the driveway. [00:51:13] Separate chambers had been prepared for Prince Vasily and Anatol. [00:51:17] Anatole, in his shirt sleeves and with his arms akimbo, was sitting before a table on one corner of which he stared absent mindedly with his large handsome eyes while a smile played over his lips. [00:51:30] He looked upon his life as one unbroken round of gaiety, which it was fated should be prepared for his amusement. And even now he looked in the same way on this visit to a churlish old man as and a rich and monstrously ugly heiress. [00:51:44] According to his theory, all this might lead to something very good and amusing. [00:51:49] And why should he not marry her if she was so very rich? [00:51:52] That never comes amiss, thought Anatole. [00:51:56] He shaved, perfumed himself carefully and coquettishly and with an expression of indifference that was innate to him. And holding his head high like a young conqueror, he went to his father's chamber. [00:52:08] Two valets were engaged in getting Prince Vasily dressed. He himself looked around him with much animation and gave a nod to his son as he came in, as much as to say, good, that's the way I want you to look. [00:52:22] No, but tell me, Babushka, without joking, is she monstrously ugly, say? He asked, as though continuing a conversation that had been more than once broached during the course of their journey. [00:52:34] Oh, that'll do. It's all nonsense. The main thing is to try to be respectful and prudent towards the old prince. [00:52:42] If he's going to say unpleasant things to me, I shall go right away, said Anatole. I can't abide these old men, eh? [00:52:50] Remember, your whole future depends upon this Meantime in the maid servants room, not only was it known that the Minister and his son had arrived, but every detail of their personal appearance had been circumstantially discussed. [00:53:04] But the Princess Mariya sat alone in her room and vainly struggled to conquer her inward agitation. [00:53:10] Why did they write me? Why has Lisa spoken to me about this? [00:53:15] Why, of course it cannot take place, said she to herself, looking into her mirror. How can I go down to the drawing room? [00:53:23] Even if he pleased me, I could not now be sure of myself in his presence. [00:53:27] The mere thought of her father's eyes renewed her dismay. [00:53:31] The little Princess and Mademoiselle Burine had by this time received all necessary information from the maid Masha, who told them what a handsome young man with rosy cheeks and dark eyebrows the Minister's son was, and how, when his papenka had been scarcely able to drag his feet up the stairs, he had flown up like an eagle, three steps at a time. [00:53:52] After hearing this news, the little Princess and Mademoiselle Birin hastened to the Princess Mariya's room, filling the corridor with the lively sound of their voices as they went. [00:54:02] Ilsant, a reveille, Marie. Did you know it? Said the little Princess, waddling along and dropping heavily into an armchair. [00:54:10] She was no longer in the dressing sack which she had worn in the morning, but had put on one of her best gowns. Her hair was carefully brushed and her face was full of animation, which, however, did not atone for her sunken and livid features. [00:54:24] In the finery in which she was accustomed to appear in Petersburg society, it was still more noticeable that her beauty had sadly faded. [00:54:32] Mademoiselle Burien had also taken pains to make some improvement in her dress, and this made her pretty fresh face still more attractive. [00:54:41] What? And you intend to appear as you are, dear Princess? She exclaimed. They will be here in a moment to bring word that the gentlemen are in the drawing room. [00:54:51] We must go down, so won't you make just a little change in Your toilet. [00:54:55] The little princess got up out of the armchair, rang for the maid, and hastily and merrily began to devise some adornment for her sister in law. And get it materialized. [00:55:04] The Princess Mariya felt humiliated in her own sense of dignity by the excitement which the coming of her suitor stirred in her, and still more humiliated because both of her friends did not seem to imagine that it was possible to be otherwise. [00:55:18] To tell them how ashamed she was for herself and for them would have been to betray her agitation. [00:55:24] Moreover, to have refused to put on the adornment which they were getting ready for her would have entailed endless jests and reproaches. [00:55:31] She grew red. Her lovely eyes lost their brilliancy. Her face became covered with patches, and with the unlovely expression as of a victim coming more and more frequently into her face, she surrendered herself into the power of Mademoiselle Burine and Lisa. [00:55:47] Both the ladies labored in perfectly good faith to render her handsome. [00:55:51] She was so homely that neither of them could ever dream of entering into rivalry with her. Therefore, being perfectly sincere in that naive and firm conviction, peculiar to women, that ornaments can make a face beautiful, they busied themselves with her adornment. [00:56:06] No, it's a fact, ma bon ami. That dress isn't becoming, said Liza, looking critically at her sister in law from some little distance. [00:56:15] Truly, that dark red Masaka that you have. Truly. You know, your whole fate perhaps depends upon this matter. [00:56:23] This one is too light. It won't do. [00:56:26] No. Oh no, it won't do. [00:56:29] It was not that the dress was not becoming, but the princess's face and whole figure were at fault. But neither Mademoiselle Burien nor the little princess realized this. It seemed to them that if they put a blue ribbon in her hair and and combed it up properly, and then added a blue scarf to her cinnamon colored dress and made some other additions, all would be well. [00:56:49] They forgot that her scared face and her figure could not be altered. And therefore, no matter how much they might vary the frame and adornment, the face itself would remain pitiful and unattractive. [00:57:01] At last, after two or three experiments to which the Princess Maria patiently submitted, when her hair had been combed up high from her forehead and a mode of dressing the hair that absolutely changed her face, and that for the worse, she was dressed in the masaka dress with a blue scarf. The little princess walked around her twice in succession, adjusted with her dainty fingers some of the folds in the skirt, pulled out the scarf, looked at her with her head bent. Now on this side, now on that. [00:57:29] No, that is impossible, said she, decidedly clasping her fans. [00:57:34] No, Marie, decidedly. This does not do at all. I like you better in your little everyday gray dress. Now please do this for me, Katya, she said to the maid. Bring the princess her grayish dress and see Mademoiselle Burine how I am going to fix it, she added with a thrill of anticipation in her artistic pleasure. [00:57:54] But when Katya brought the desired garment, the Princess Maria sat motionless before the mirror, looking at her face. And the mirror gave back the reflection of eyes full of tears and a mouth trembling with the premonition of. Of a storm of sobbing. [00:58:07] Foyon share, Princess, said Mademoiselle Burine. [00:58:11] Encore petite. [00:58:13] The little princess, taking the dress from the maid, went to the Princess Marie. [00:58:18] Well, now we will try something that is simple and becoming, said she. [00:58:23] The three voices, hers, Mademoiselle Burine's and Katya's, who was laughing, mingled into one merry chatter like the chirping of birds. [00:58:32] Non, le se moi, let me be, said the princess, and her voice sounded so serious and sorrowful that the chirping of the birds ceased instantly. [00:58:41] They looked at her large, beautiful eyes, full of tears and of melancholy, and they knew from their wide and beseeching expression that it was useless and even cruel to insist. [00:58:51] Un moi chancez de coffeur, said the little princess. I told you so, said she reproachfully to Mademoiselle Burine. [00:58:59] Marie has one of those faces which can't stand this way of dressing the hair. Not at all, not at all. [00:59:05] Change it, please do listen. [00:59:11] It's all absolutely the same to me, replied the young princess in a weary voice, and scarcely refraining from tears. [00:59:18] Mademoiselle Burin and the little Princess were obliged to acknowledge themselves of the Princess Maria, as they had dressed her, was very homely, more so than usual. But now it was too late. [00:59:29] She looked at them with that expression which they had learned to know so well, an expression of deep thought and melancholy. [00:59:35] It did not inspire them with any sense of awe of her, for that feeling she could never inspire. But they knew that when her face had this expression, she was silent and immovable in her resolutions as Lisa. But when the Princess Maria made no reply, Lisa left the room. [00:59:55] The Princess Mario was left alone. She would not grant Lisa's request, and not only she did not change the style of her hair, but did not even look at herself in the glass, dropping her eyes and letting her hands fall nervously, she sat and pondered she saw in her imagination her husband, a man, a strong, commanding and strangely attractive being who should suddenly carry her off into his own world, so different from hers, so full of happiness. [01:00:23] She imagined herself pressing to her bosom her own child, just such a baby as she had seen the evening before at her old nurse's daughter's. [01:00:31] Her husband stands looking affectionately at her and their baby. [01:00:35] But no, this is impossible. I am too homely, said she to herself. [01:00:41] Please come to tea. The Prince will be down in a moment, said the voice of the chambermaid outside the door. [01:00:47] She started up from her daydream and was horror struck at her own thoughts. And before she went downstairs, she got up, went into the oratory, and pausing before the blackened face of the great image of the Savior, lighted by the beams of the tapers, she stood there for several moments with folded hands. [01:01:05] Her heart was filled with painful forebodings. [01:01:08] Could it be that for her there was the possibility of the joy of love, of earthly love for husband? [01:01:15] In her imaginings concerning marriage, the Princess Maria dreamed of family, happiness and children. But her principal dream, predominating over all others, though unknown to herself, was that of earthly love. [01:01:28] The feeling was all the stronger the more she tried to hide it from others and even from herself. [01:01:34] My God, she cried, how can I crush out of my heart these thoughts of the Evil one? [01:01:40] How can I escape once and for all from evil imaginings, and calmly fulfil thy will? [01:01:46] And she had hardly offered this prayer ere God gave an answer in her own heart. [01:01:52] Desire nothing for thyself, seek not, disturb not thyself, be not envious. [01:01:58] The future and thy fate must needs be hidden from thee. [01:02:02] But live so as to be ready for anything. [01:02:05] If it please God to try thee in the responsibilities of marriage, be ready to fulfil his will with this consoling thought, but still with a secret hope that her forbidden earthly dream might be realized. The Princess Mariya, with a sigh, crossed herself and went downstairs, thinking not of her dress, or of her hair, or of how she should make entrance, or of what she should say. [01:02:29] What did all that signify in comparison with the pre ordination of God, without whose will not a hair can fall from a man's head? [01:02:39] Chapter three. [01:02:46] Part three Chapter four Of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskell Doyle when the Princess Mariya came down, Prince Vasily and his son were already in the drawing room, talking with the little princess and Mademoiselle Burine. [01:03:01] When she came in with her heavy gate, treading on her Heels. The gentleman and Mademoiselle Burine stood up, and the little princess exclaimed, viola Marie. [01:03:11] The Princess Maria saw them all and saw them distinctly. She saw Prince Facili's face, becoming for an instant serious at the sight of her, instantly resume its smiling expression, and the little princess watching curiously the impression which her entrance would produce upon their guests. [01:03:28] She also saw Mademoiselle Burin, with her ribbon and her pretty face and her eyes, more sparkling than usual, fixed on him. [01:03:36] But she could not bring herself to see him, and all she could see was something tall, brilliant and magnificent coming toward her as she entered the room. [01:03:46] Prince Facility was the first to greet her, and she kissed the bald forehead bending over her hand and answered his question by assuring him that, on the contrary, she remembered him very well. [01:03:57] Then Anatol came to her. She could not see him as yet at all. She was only conscious of a soft hand holding hers, while she lightly touched with her lips the white brow adorned with handsome brown hair. [01:04:10] When she looked at him, his beauty dazzled her. [01:04:13] Anatol, hooking his right thumb behind one button of his uniform, stood with his chest thrust out and his back bent in, resting his weight on one leg and slightly inclining his head and looking at the princess cheerily but without speaking. [01:04:29] He was evidently not thinking of her at all. [01:04:31] Anatol was not quick witted or a ready talker, but on the other hand he had that gift of composure which is so invaluable in society, and a self confidence that nothing could disturb. [01:04:43] If a man lacking self confidence is silent at a first introduction and betrays a consciousness of the impropriety of such a silence and attempts to escape from it, it makes a bad matter worse. But Anatole, swaying a little on one leg, had nothing to say, and gazed with an amused look at the princess's hair. [01:05:02] It was evident that such ease of manner would enable him to preserve silence any length of time. [01:05:08] His look seemed to say, if this silence is awkward for anyone, then speak. But as for me, I have no desire to say anything. [01:05:16] Moreover, Anatole had in his behavior toward women that manner which strongly piques curiosity and excites fear and even love in them, a sort of scornful consciousness of his own superiority. [01:05:29] His looks seem to say to them, I know you. I know what is disturbing you. [01:05:34] Ah, how happy you would be if possibly he did not think any such thing when he met women. And there is considerable ground for such a supposition, because he thought very little. [01:05:45] But this was what was expressed by his look and manner. The Princess felt it, and apparently wishing to show him that she did not venture to do such a thing as engage his attention, she turned to his father. [01:05:57] The conversation became general and rather lively, thanks to the merry voice of the little princess, whose downy lip was constantly showing her white teeth. [01:06:06] She met Prince Vasili with that peculiarly vivacious manner which is often employed by people of merry, loquacious mood, and consists in the interchange between you and your acquaintance, of the regular stock of witticisms of the day, and of pleasant and amusing reminiscences, which, it is taken for granted, are not understood by all people, but which really do not exist at all, any more than they did exist in the case of the little princess and prince facility. [01:06:32] Prince Vasily willingly adapted himself to this spirit. The little princess managed to include Anatole as well, though she scarcely knew him, and soon found herself sharing with him in recollections of events that in some cases had never happened at all. [01:06:47] Mademoiselle Burine also took part in these general recollections, and even the Princess Maria had a sort of satisfaction in feeling herself drawn into this light gossip. [01:06:57] Here, at least, we shall have the benefit of your company all to ourselves, dear Prince, said the little princess in French, of course, to Prince Vasily. [01:07:05] It won't be as it used to be at our receptions at Annette's, where you always made your escape, you know, set, share Annette. [01:07:14] Ah, but of course you won't oblige me to talk about politics as Annette does. [01:07:19] But our tea table. Oh, yes. [01:07:23] Why were you never at Annette's? Asked the little princess to Anatol. Oh, but I know, I know, said she with a sly expression. Your brother Ippolit told me all about your doings. Oh. She exclaimed, threatening him with her finger. And then again in Paris. I know all about your pranks. [01:07:41] And hasn't Ipolit told you, as Prince Vasily addressing his son and seizing Princess Lisa by the arm, and as though they were in danger of her running away, and he wished to prevent it while yet there was time. [01:07:53] Hasn't he ever told you how he himself was dead in love with our dear Princess here, and how she wouldn't have anything to say to him? [01:08:00] Oh, she is a pearl among women, Princess, said he, addressing the Princess Maria. [01:08:06] Mademoiselle Burine, on her part, when she heard the word Paris, did not lose the opportunity of also adding her recollections to the general conversation. [01:08:15] She allowed herself to inquire of Anatole if he had been Long in Paris, and how that city pleased him. [01:08:21] Anatole took evident pleasure in answering the French woman's questions, and with a smile talked with her about her native land. [01:08:29] Seeing how pretty Laburine was, Anatol decided that, after all, it would not be so very stupid here at Luisia Giri. [01:08:37] Not at all bad looking, he said to himself as he looked at her. [01:08:41] Very far from it. I hope that when she marries me, she will take this demoiselle de company with her. La petite gentier. [01:08:50] The old prince took his own time about dressing, and as he thought what course was best for him to take, he frowned. [01:08:57] The coming of these guests annoyed him. [01:09:00] What are Prince Facili and his son? To me, Prince Facili is an empty swagger, and his son must be a fine specimen, he grumbled to himself. [01:09:09] He was annoyed because the coming of these guests aroused in the depths of his soul and unsettled and constantly avoided question, a question in regard to which the old prince was always deceiving himself. [01:09:20] The question was this, whether he could make up his mind to part with his daughter and let her marry. [01:09:26] The old prince could never bring himself to ask the question directly, knowing beforehand that if he should answer it honestly, his honesty would come into open antagonism, not merely with his feelings, but with the whole order and system of his life. [01:09:39] For Prince Nikolai Andreich, life without his daughter, little as he outwardly seemed to appreciate her, was out of the question. [01:09:48] And why should she get married? He asked himself? [01:09:51] Probably to be unhappy. Here is Lisa. Certainly it would be hard to find a better husband than Andre. And yet is she contented with her lot? [01:10:00] And who would take her from mere love? [01:10:02] She is homely, awkward. [01:10:04] They would marry her for her connections, for her wealth. [01:10:08] And can't girls live unmarried? They'd be much happier. [01:10:12] Thus thought Prince Nikolai Andreyevich, as he performed his toilet in his cabinet. And still at the same time, the ever procrastinated question now demanded an immediate solution. [01:10:22] Prince Vasily had brought his son, evidently with the intention of making a proposal, and therefore, this very day or the next, he should have to give a direct answer. His name, his position in the world, was excellent. [01:10:36] Well, I've no objection, said the prince to himself, but let him prove himself worthy of her. [01:10:42] Well, we shall see. [01:10:44] Yes, we shall see. He exclaimed aloud. [01:10:48] Yes, we shall see how it is. And with his usual firm tread, he went into the drawing room, took in all present with a sweeping glance, notice even the change that the little princess had made in her dress and Laburine's ribbon and the Princess Marius Monstrous headdress and her isolation in the general conversation and not least urine and Anatole's exchange of smiles. [01:11:11] She is dressed up like a fool, he thought, giving his daughter a wrathful glance. She has no sense of shame. And he he does not care anything about making her acquaintance. [01:11:22] He went straight to Prince Facility. [01:11:24] Well, how are you? How are you? Glad to see you. [01:11:30] Friendship laughs at distance. Exclaimed Prince Facility, quoting the familiar proverb with ready wit and with his usual self confident familiarity. Here is my second son. Grant him your friendship, I beg of you. [01:11:44] Prince Nikolai Andrevich surveyed Anatoly. [01:11:47] Fine young fellow, fine young fellow, said he. Now come, give me a kiss. And he offered him his cheek. [01:11:55] Anatole kissed the old man and looked at him curiously, but with perfect composure. Expecting soon to hear one of those droll remarks of which his father had told him, Prince Nikolai Andreyevich sat down in his usual place at one end of the sofa and drew up an armchair for Prince Vasili, pointed him to it, and began to ask him about the news in the political world. [01:12:16] He listened with apparent attention to what Prince Facility had to say, but he kept glancing at the Princess Maria. [01:12:23] So that's what they write from Potsdam, is it? Said he, repeating Prince Facility's last words and then suddenly getting up, he went over to his daughter. [01:12:32] So this is how you dress before company, eh? Exclaimed here. [01:12:35] Excellent, admirable. You appear before folks with your hair done up in this newfangled way, and I tell you, in the presence of these same folks, never again without my leave to rig yourself up in such a fashion. [01:12:49] It was my fault, mon pair, said the little princess, blushing and coming to her sister in law's rescue. [01:12:56] You can do as you please, said Prince Nikolai Andrea, making a low bow before his son's wife. But she has no right to disfigure herself. She's ugly enough without that. [01:13:06] And once more resumed his place, paid, paying no further heed to his daughter, who was ready to weep. [01:13:13] On the contrary, that way of dressing her hair is very becoming to the princess, said Prince Facility. [01:13:19] Well, Batyushka, my young prince, what is his name? Said Prince Nikolai Andreyevich, turning to Anatole. Come here, let us have a little talk and get acquainted. [01:13:30] Now the sport begins, thought Anatole, and with a smile he took a seat by the old prince. [01:13:37] Well now, my dear, you have been educated abroad, somewhat different from your father and me, who had the parish yokchak to teach us our ABCs. [01:13:46] Tell me, my dear, you serve in The Horse Guards, don't you? Asked the old prince, scrutinizing Anatole closely and keenly. [01:13:54] No, I have been transferred to the line, replied Anatole, scarcely able to keep from laughing. [01:14:00] Ah, excellent thing. [01:14:02] So that you can serve the Czar and your country. It's war time. Such fine young men as you ought to be in the service at the front, I suppose. [01:14:11] No, Prince, our regiment has gone. But I was detached. [01:14:16] What was I detached for, Papa? Asked Anatol, turning to his father with a laugh. [01:14:21] Famous way of serving, I must confess. [01:14:24] What am I detached for? Ha, ha. Roared Prince Nikolai Andreyevitch, and. And Anatole joined in still more vociferously. [01:14:32] Suddenly Prince Nikolai Andreyevich began to scowl. Well, get you gone, said he to Anatole. Anatole, with a smile, went and rejoined the ladies. [01:14:43] And so you have had him educated abroad, eh, Prince Facility? Asked the old Prince of Kurgan. [01:14:49] I did the best I could for him, and I must say that the schools there are far better than ours. [01:14:55] Well, everything is changed. All newfangled notions. He's a fine young man, a fine lad. Now let's go into my room. [01:15:04] He took Prince Facility by the arm and carried him off to his cabinet. [01:15:08] Prince Facility, finding himself alone with the old prince, immediately began to unfold to him his wishes and hopes. [01:15:15] What kind of an idea have you? Exclaimed the old prince savagely, that I keep her tied and cannot part with her. What notions they have. He exclaimed angrily. [01:15:26] Tomorrow, as far as I'm concerned, I merely tell you that I want to know my daughter's husband better. [01:15:32] You know my principles. All above board. [01:15:36] Tomorrow I will ask her in your presence if she will have him, if she will. Then let him stay. [01:15:42] Let him stay. I will study him. The prince snorted. Or let him go. It's all the same to me. He cried, in the same piercing tone in which he had uttered his farewell when his son took his departure. [01:15:54] I will tell you frankly, said Prince Vasily, in the tone of a cunning man who is convinced of the uselessness of trying to be shrewd towards such a sharp eyed opponent. [01:16:04] You see, your eyes read through men. [01:16:07] Anatole is no genius, but he is an honorable, kind hearted boy and an excellent son. [01:16:13] Very good. [01:16:15] We shall see. [01:16:18] As usually happens in the case of women who have been long deprived of the society of men, all three of the women at Prince Andrevich's, now that they had Anatole in their midst, felt that hitherto life had not been life for them. [01:16:31] The powers of thinking, feeling, loving, were instantly multiplied tenfold in each one of them, so that their existence, which had been till now, as it were, spent in darkness and was suddenly filled by a new light full of rich significance. [01:16:46] The Princess Maria no longer gave a thought to her looks or the dressing of her hair. Her whole attention was absorbed by the handsome, open face of the man who perhaps would be her husband. [01:16:57] He seemed to her good, brave, resolute, manly and noble. [01:17:03] She was quite convinced of this. A thousand dreams of the family life, which she should enjoy in the future, persisted in rising in her mind. [01:17:11] She tried to banish them and keep them out of her imagination. [01:17:15] But was I too cool toward him? Queried the Princess Mariya. [01:17:19] I try to be reserved, because I feel in the depths of my soul that he is already too near to me. But of course he cannot know all that I think about him, and he may imagine that I do not like him. [01:17:31] And the young princess strove, and yet was unable to be amiable to her new guest. [01:17:41] Devilishly ugly. Such was Anatole's uncomplimentary thought of her Mademoiselle Burine, who Anatole's arrival had brought into a high state of excitement, allowed herself to have quite different thoughts. [01:17:54] Of course, being a pretty young girl without any stated position in society, without relatives and friends, and far from her native land, she had no intention of devoting her whole life to the service of Prince Nikolai Andreyevich, reading books to him and playing the part of companion to the Princess Maria. [01:18:12] Mademoiselle Burine had been long waiting for the Russian prince, who should immediately have wit enough to appreciate her superiority to these homely, unbecomingly dressed and awkward Russian princesses should fall in love with her and elope with her. [01:18:26] Now, at last, the Russian prince had come. [01:18:30] Mademoiselle Bourienne knew a story which her aunt had once told her, and which, in imagination, she liked to repeat to the end, with herself in the heroine's place. [01:18:39] The story was about a young girl who had been seduced and whose poor mother, sa pauvre mer, finding where she was, came and covered her with reproaches, because she had gone to live with a man to whom she was not married. [01:18:52] Mademoiselle Bourienne was often melted to tears by imagining herself telling him, her seducer, this story. [01:18:58] And now this he, this genuine Russian prince, had made his appearance. [01:19:04] He would elope with her. Then Sapovra Mer would appear and he would marry her. [01:19:09] Thus, in Mademoiselle Burine's fertile brain, the whole romance evolved itself from the moment that she began to talk with him about Paris. [01:19:17] Not that Mademoiselle Berene conceived of all the details, or what she was going to do did not once occur to her. [01:19:24] But still all the materials were long ago ready in her, and now they merely grouped themselves around Anatole, whom she was anxious and determined to please as much as possible. [01:19:34] The little princess forgetting her situation instinctively and like an old war horse at the sound of the trumpet, made ready to flirt at headlong speed without meaning anything by it, but with her usual naive and light hearted spirit of fun. [01:19:49] In spite of the fact that Anatole, in the society of women, generally affected the position of a man who considers it a bore to have them running after him, still he felt a consciousness of gratified vanity to see his power over these three women. [01:20:03] Moreover, he began to feel for the pretty and enticing Murine a real animal passion, such as sometimes overcame him with extraordinary rapidity and impelled him to commit the coarsest and most audacious actions. [01:20:17] After tea they all went into the divine room and the Princess Mario was invited to play on the harpsichord. Anatole leaned on his elbows in front of her, near Mademoiselle Burine, and with eyes full of mirth and gaiety, looked at the young princess, who with a painful and at the same time joyous emotion, felt his gaze resting on her. [01:20:37] Her favorite sonata bore her away into a most genuinely poetic world, and the consciousness of that glance endowed this world with even more poetry. [01:20:46] In reality, however, Anatole, though he looked in her direction, was not thinking of her, but was occupied with the motion of Mademoiselle Beren's foot, which he was at this moment pressing with his under the piano. [01:21:00] Mademoiselle Burine was also looking at the Princess, but her beautiful eyes had an expression of frightened happiness and hope. [01:21:08] How fond she is of me, thought the Princess Maria. How happy I am now, and how happy I might be with such a friend and such a husband. [01:21:16] Husband? [01:21:18] Can it be possible? She asked herself, not daring to look at him, but nevertheless feeling his gaze fixed on her face. [01:21:26] In the evening, when after supper they were about to separate for the night, Anatole kissed the young princess's hand. [01:21:33] She herself knew not how she dared to do such a thing, but she looked straight into his handsome face as it approached her short sighted eyes. [01:21:41] Turning from the princess, he went and kissed Mademoiselle Burine's hand. [01:21:44] This was contrary to etiquette, but he did everything with such confidence and simplicity. [01:21:49] Mademoiselle Burine flushed and glanced in dismay at the princess. [01:21:55] How considerate of him, thought the princess. [01:21:58] Can it be that Emile, so she called Mademoiselle Burine, thinks that I should be jealous of her and do not appreciate her affection and devotion to me? [01:22:07] She went straight over to Mademoiselle Birin and gave her an affectionate kiss. [01:22:11] Anatole was about to kiss the little princess's hand also. [01:22:15] Non, non, non. When your father writes me that you are behaving beautifully, then I will let you kiss my hand, not before. [01:22:23] And shaking her finger at him, she left the room with a smile. [01:22:28] End of Chapter Four. [01:22:35] Part 3 Chapter V of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskell Doyle all had gone to their rooms, but with the exception of Anatol, who went to sleep as soon as he got into bed. It was long before any one could close an eye that night. [01:22:51] Is he really to be my husband, this handsome stranger who seems so good? [01:22:56] Ah, yes, above all so good, thought the Princess Maria, and a feeling of fear such as she had scarcely ever experienced before came upon her. [01:23:07] She was afraid to look round. It seemed to her as though someone were standing there behind the screen in the dark corner, and this someone was he the devil? [01:23:18] And he was this man with a white forehead, the black eyebrows, and the rosy lips. [01:23:23] She called her maid and begged for her to sleep in her room. [01:23:28] Mademoiselle Burine that same evening, walked for a long time up and down the winter garden, vainly expecting someone, now smiling at her own thought, now stirred to tears by imagining the words which so Paul Romero would say in reproaching her after her fall. [01:23:44] The little princess scolded her maid. Because her bed was not comfortable, it was impossible for her to lie on her side or on her face. Any position was awkward and uncomfortable. [01:23:55] She felt more than ever try today, especially because Anatole's presence brought back so vividly the days before she was married, when she was light hearted and merry. [01:24:04] She reclined in her easy chair in her dressing jacket and nightcap. Katia, half asleep with her hair hanging down in a braid, was turning for the third time and shaking up the heavy mattress, muttering to herself. [01:24:18] I told you that it was all humps and hollows, insisted the little princess. I should like to go to sleep myself. [01:24:25] I'm sure it isn't my fault. And her voice trembled as though she were a child getting ready to cry. [01:24:32] The old prince also could not sleep. Tikon, as he napped, heard him stamping wrathfully up and down and snorting it. It seemed to the old prince that he had been insulted through his daughter. [01:24:45] The insult was painful because it was directed not to himself but to another, to his daughter, whom he loved better than himself. [01:24:53] He kept telling himself that he would calmly think the whole matter over and decide how injustice to himself he must act. [01:25:00] But instead of so doing, he grew more and more vexed with himself. [01:25:05] Let the first young man come along and. And she forgets father and all, and she runs upstairs, combs up her hair and prinks, and is no longer like herself, glad to throw her father over. [01:25:17] And she knew that it noticed it ferfer. [01:25:24] And then haven't I eyes to see that that simpleton has no eyes for anyone except Bjorinka? Must get rid of her. And how is it that she hasn't enough pride to see it herself? [01:25:36] If not for her own sake, she might at least show some for mine. I must show her that this booby doesn't think of her at all, but only stares at Burine. [01:25:45] She has no pride, but I'll prove this for her. [01:25:49] The old prince knew that if he told his daughter that she was laboring under a delusion, that Anatol was bent on flirting with Burine, he would in this way touch his daughter's pride, and his game would be played, for he was anxious not to part with his daughter. [01:26:03] This consideration served to quiet him. He summoned Tikon and began to undress. [01:26:09] The devil take him, he said to himself, as Tikon slipped the night shirt over his master's thin old body, the chest overgrown with gray hairs. [01:26:18] I did not invite him. They have come to upset my whole life, and my life will soon come to an end. The devil with them, he muttered when his head was still hidden by the shirt. [01:26:29] Tikon knew the prince's habit of sometimes thinking aloud, and therefore he met with unflinching eyes the prince's wrathfully scrutinizing gaze as his head came out from the night shirt. [01:26:40] Have they gone to bed? Asked the prince. [01:26:43] Tikon, after the manner of all well trained valets, knew by intuition what his baron was thinking about. He judged that the question referred to Prince Vasily and his son. [01:26:54] They have deigned to go to bed, and their lights are out, your illustriousness. [01:26:58] No reason why they shouldn't. Briskly exclaimed the prince, and thrusting his feet into his slippers and his arms into his dressing gown, he went to the sofa where he usually slept. [01:27:09] Although but few words had been exchanged by Anatole and Mademoiselle Burine. They thoroughly understood one another as to the first chapters of the romance, up to the appearance of Paul Romero. [01:27:19] They understood that they had much to say to each other in secret, and therefore early in the morning they both sought an opportunity for a private interview. [01:27:27] While the young princess was going at the usual hour to meet her father, Mademoiselle Burine and Anatole met in the winter garden. [01:27:34] The Princess Maria on this particular day, went with more than her usual trepidation to the door of her father's cabinet. [01:27:41] It seemed to her that everyone knew that this day her fate was to be decided, but also knew what she herself felt about it. [01:27:49] She read this expression on Tikon's face and on the face of Prince Facili's valet as he met her in the corridor on his way with hot water for the prince, and made her a low bow. [01:27:59] The old prince this morning was thoroughly affectionate and kind in his behavior to his daughter, the Princess Mario well knew this expression of kindness. It was the expression which his face generally wore when his nervous hands doubled up with vexation. Because she did not understand her arithmetical examples and he would spring to his feet, walk away from her, and then repeat the same words in a low, gentle voice. [01:28:23] He immediately addressed himself to the business in hand and began to explain to her, all the time using the formal we you. [01:28:30] I received an offer for your hand in marriage, said he with an unnatural smile. I suppose you did not imagine. He went on to say, that he came here and brought his pupil. For some inexplicable reason, Prince Nikolai Andreyevich called Anatole vos botanic pupil for the sake of my handsome eyes. [01:28:49] Last evening he proposed for your hand, and as you know my principles, I refer it to you. [01:28:57] How am I to understand you, mon pair? She exclaimed, turning pale and then blushing. [01:29:02] How understand me? Cried her father wrathfully. Prince facility is satisfied with you for a daughter in law, and has proposed for your hand in behalf of his pupil. That's what it means. How understand it that I ask you? [01:29:18] I do not know so well as you, mon pair, whispered the Princess. [01:29:23] I? I? What have I got to do with it? Consider me out of the question. I'm not the one who's going to be married. What's your opinion? That is what must be known. [01:29:35] The princess saw that her father did not regard the matter very favorably, but at the same time the thought occurred to her that now or never, the whole destiny of her life hung in the balance. [01:29:44] She dropped her eyes so as not to see his Face because she knew that she could not think if she were under its dominion. But even then she could only be subject to him. And she said, I desire only one thing. To fulfill your will. But if it be necessary for me to express my desire. [01:30:02] She had no time to finish her sentence. The prince interrupted her. [01:30:07] That's admirable. He cried. He will take you for your fortune. And by the way, hook on Mademoiselle Burine. She will be his wife. And you. The prince paused. He noticed the effect produced on his daughter by his words. She hung her head and was ready to burst into tears. [01:30:24] Well, well, I was only jesting, said he. Remember this one thing, Princess. I stick to my principles. That a girl has a perfect right to choose for herself. [01:30:35] I give you your freedom. Remember this, though the happiness of your whole life depends upon your decision. [01:30:42] Leave me out of the consideration. [01:30:46] But I do not know, mon pair. [01:30:48] There is nothing to be said. He will marry as he is bid, whether it be you or somebody else. But you are free to choose. [01:30:57] Go to your room, think it over, and at the end of an hour come to me and tell me in his presence what your decision is. Yea or no? [01:31:06] I know that you'll have to pray over it. Well, pray, if you please. [01:31:11] Only you'd better use your reason. [01:31:13] Get you gone. Yay or no. [01:31:16] Yay or no. [01:31:18] Yay or no. Cried he, as the princess, still in a mist, left the room with tottering step. [01:31:25] Her fate was already decided, and happily decided. [01:31:28] But what her father said about Mademoiselle Burien, that insinuation was horrible, false, Let us hope. But still it was horrible, and she could not keep it out of her thoughts. She started directly to her room, through the winter garden, seeing nothing and hearing nothing, when suddenly Mademoiselle Bourien's well known chatter struck her ear and woke her from her dreaming. [01:31:50] She raised her eyes and two paces away saw Anatole with the French woman in his arms and whispering something in her ear. [01:31:58] With a terrible expression on his handsome face. He looked at the Princess Mariya and at first did not release Mademoiselle Burine, who had not seen the princess at all. [01:32:08] Who is here? What is the trouble? Just wait a little, Anatol's face seemed to say. [01:32:14] The Princess Mariya silently gazed at them. [01:32:17] She could not comprehend it. Then Mademoiselle Burine uttered a cry and fled. [01:32:22] Anatole, with an amused smile, gave the princess a bow, as though asking her to look on the ridiculous side of this strange behavior. And shrugging his shoulders disappeared through the door that led to his own quarters. [01:32:35] At the end of an hour, Tikon came to summon the Princess Maria. He conducted her to her father's room and told her that Prince Vasily was also there. [01:32:44] When Tikon came for her, the Princess was sitting on a sofa in her room with her arm around Mademoiselle Burine. [01:32:50] The latter was weeping, and the Princess softly stroked her hair. [01:32:55] The Princess's beautiful eyes, with all their usual calmness and brilliancy, gazed with affectionate love and sympathy into Mademoiselle Beren's pretty face. [01:33:04] No, Princess, my place is forever gone from your heart, said Mademoiselle Burine. [01:33:10] Why, I love you more than ever, replied the Princess Mariya, and I will try to do all that is in my power for your happiness. [01:33:18] But you despise me. You, who are so pure, will never understand this frenzy of passion. [01:33:25] Ah, my poor mother, I understand it all, replied the Princess with a melancholy smile. [01:33:32] Compose yourself, my friend. I am going to see my father, said she, and left the room. [01:33:38] Prince Facility, with one leg thrown across his knee and holding his snuff box in his hand, was greatly excited and evidently realized that he was in a precarious condition. And yet he tried to conquer his own nervousness. He was sitting with an imploring smile on his face. As the Princess Maria entered the room, he hastily applied a pinch of snuff to his nose. [01:33:59] Ah, ma bonne, ma bonnet. He exclaimed, rising and seizing her by both hands. He sighed and added, my son's fate is in your hand. [01:34:10] D.C. day, ma bone, ma share my dose. Marie, I've always loved you as though you were my own daughter. [01:34:19] He turned away. [01:34:21] Genuine tears stood in his eyes. [01:34:24] Fur, fur. Snorted Prince Nikolai Andreich. [01:34:29] The Prince, in the name of his pupil, I mean his son, makes you an offer. [01:34:33] Will you or will you not be the wife of Prince Anatole Kurigan? Speak yay or no? Cried he. And then I reserve to myself the right to give my opinion also. [01:34:45] Yes, my opinion and only my opinion, added Prince Nikolai Andreich in reply to Prince Facili's beseeching expression. [01:34:54] Yay or no, my desire, mon pair, is never to leave you, nor to part from you as long as we live. [01:35:03] I do not wish to marry, said she with firm deliberation, fixing her beautiful eyes on Prince Vasily and on her father. [01:35:12] Folly. Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense, nonsense. Cried Prince Nikolai Andreyitch. Frowning, he drew his daughter close to him. Yet he did not kiss her, but merely brought his forehead close to hers. And squeezed her hand, which he held in his, so that she screamed out with pain. Prince Facili arose. [01:35:35] My dear, I will tell you that this is a moment that I shall never forget. [01:35:40] Never. But, my dear, can't you give us a little hope of ever touching your kind and generous heart? [01:35:47] Say that perhaps the future is so long. [01:35:51] Only say perhaps, Prince, what I have told you is all that my heart can say. [01:35:58] I thank you for the honor, but I can never be your son's wife. [01:36:04] Well, that ends it. My dear fellow. Very glad to have seen you. Very glad to have seen you. [01:36:10] Go to your room, Princess, go to your room, said the old prince. [01:36:14] Very, very glad to have seen you. He reiterated, embracing Prince facility. [01:36:21] My vocation is different, said the Princess Maria to herself. [01:36:25] My vocation is to be happy in the happiness of others. A different sort of happiness, the happiness of love and self sacrifice. [01:36:33] And so far as within me lies, I will bring about the happiness of poor Emily. [01:36:39] She loves him so passionately. She repents her conduct so bitterly. [01:36:43] I will do everything to bring about a marriage between them. [01:36:46] If he is not rich, I will give her the means. I will petition my father, I will ask Andre. [01:36:53] And I shall be so happy when she becomes his wife. [01:36:57] She is so unfortunate, lonely and helpless in a strange land. [01:37:02] Ah, boss moi, how passionately she must love him, if she can so far forget herself. [01:37:09] Maybe I myself should have done the same thing, thought the Princess. Mariya. [01:37:22] Part 3 Chapter 6 of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskel Doyle the Rostofs had not heard for a long time from their Nikolushka, and it was near the middle of winter when a letter was handed to the Count, on the envelope of which he recognized his son's handwriting. [01:37:39] On receipt of the letter, the Count hastily and anxiously stole off to his own cabinet, walking on his tiptoes twice to escape observation, and shut himself in and began to read it. [01:37:50] Anna Michaelovna, learning about the arrival of the letter, for she knew everything that took place in the house, quietly followed the Count and. And found him with the letter in his hands, sobbing and laughing at the same time. [01:38:03] Anna Michaelovna, notwithstanding the improvement in her affairs, still continued to live at the Rostovs. [01:38:10] Mon bon ami. Exclaimed Anna Michalovna, with a tone of pathetic inquiry in her voice, and prepared to give him sympathy to any extent. [01:38:19] The Count sobs still more violently. [01:38:22] Nikolushka, a letter. [01:38:25] Wounded. He was wounded, mon cher wounded. My darling boy. The little countess been made an officer. Glory to God. [01:38:40] How Can I tell the little countess? [01:38:44] Anna Michaelovna sat down by him, wiped the tears from his eyes with her handkerchief and from the letter, for they were dropping on it, and then from her own eyes read the letter herself, sued the count, and decided that she would use the time till dinner and even tea for preparing the countess, and then after tea she would break the news to her, if God would only aid her. [01:39:07] During dinner time Anna Michaelovna talked about the events of the war and about Nikolushka, and asked twice when they had received the last letter from him, though she herself knew perfectly well, and remarked that very likely they might have a letter from him. Perhaps that day, every time when at such insinuations, the countess began to grow uneasy and glance anxiously, first at the count and then at Anna Michailovna, Anna Mikhailovna most adroitly led the conversation to insignificant topics. [01:39:37] Natasha, more than the rest of the family, was endowed with peculiar sensitiveness to shades of intonation, to the looks and expressions of faces, and as soon as dinner began, she pricked up her ears and came to the conclusion that there was some secret between her father and Anna Mikhailovna, and that it was something referring to her brother, and that Anna Mikhailovna was trying to prepare some one. [01:39:59] Notwithstanding all her audacity, she dared not ask any questions during dinner time, for she knew too well how sensitive her mother was in regard to all that related to her son. [01:40:09] But her curiosity was so great that she ate nothing and kept turning and twisting in her chair in spite of the reproaches of her governess. [01:40:18] After dinner she rushed precipitously after Anna Michael Avna and threw herself into her arms. [01:40:24] Auntie, darling, tell me what it is. [01:40:27] Nothing, my dear. [01:40:29] Yes, there is, dearest sweet one, you old pet, and I shan't let you go till you tell me, for I know that you know. [01:40:38] Anna Michalovna shook her head. Your little witch. Unfin mush monofont, said she. [01:40:45] A letter from Nicolenka. Truly, isn't that it? Cried Natasha, reading an affirmative answer in Anna Michael Avna's face. [01:40:53] Yes, but for heaven's sake, be more cautious. You know how this might trouble your mama. [01:40:59] I will, I will. But tell me all about it. You won't tell me? Well, then I'm going right to tell her. [01:41:07] Anna Michalovna, in few words, told Natasha the contents of the letter under the conditions of secrecy. [01:41:14] My true, true word of honor, said Natasha, crossing herself. I won't tell anyone. And immediately she went to Sonia Nicolenka, wounded A letter. She exclaimed triumphantly and joyously. [01:41:27] Nicholas. Cried Sonia, turning pale. [01:41:31] Natasha, seeing the impression produced on Sonia by the news that her brother was wounded, realized for the first time all the sorrowful side of the news. [01:41:39] She ran to Sonia, threw her arms around her neck, and burst into tears. [01:41:44] He's not badly wounded and has been promoted to be an officer. He's all well again, for he wrote the letter himself, cried she through her tears. [01:41:54] That's the way all you women are. Milk sops. Exclaimed Petya, marching along with gallant strides up and down the room. [01:42:01] I'm very glad, more glad than I can tell, that my brother has distinguished himself. So you are all crybabies. You haven't any sense at all. [01:42:11] Natasha smiled through her tears. [01:42:13] You haven't read the letter, have you? [01:42:16] No, I haven't read it. But she said the worst was over and that he was already an officer. [01:42:22] Glory to God. Cried Sonya, crossing herself. But maybe she was deceiving you. Let's go to Maman. [01:42:29] Petya walked silently up and down the room. [01:42:32] If I had been in Nikolushka's place, I should have killed still more of those Frenchmen, said he after a little. What nasty brutes they are. I would have killed such a lot of them that it would have made a pile so high, continued Petya. [01:42:47] Hush, Petya. What a goose you are. [01:42:50] I am not a goose. But you are geese to cry over mere trifles, said he. [01:42:55] Do you remember him suddenly? Asked Natasha. After a moment's silence, Sonya smiled. Do I remember Nicholas? [01:43:04] No, Sonia. Do you remember him perfectly so that you can recall everything about him? Asked Natasha with an emphatic gesture, evidently wishing to give her words the most serious meaning. [01:43:16] Well, now I remember, Nicolenka. I remember him well, but I don't remember Boris. I don't remember him at all. [01:43:25] What? You don't remember Boris? Exclaimed Sonia in amazement. [01:43:30] No, I don't really remember him. I have a general idea how he looked, but I can't bring him up before me as I can, Nicolenka. [01:43:39] If I shut my eyes, I can see. But it is not so with Boris. She shut her eyes that way? No, not at all. [01:43:48] Oh, Natasha, said Sonya, looking at her friend with enraptured earnestness, as though she considered her unworthy to hear what she had in mind to say, and as though she were saying it to someone else with whom it was impossible to jest, I love your brother, and whatever might happen to him or to me, I shall never cease to love him as long as I live. [01:44:11] Natasha looked at Sonia with wondering, inquisitive eyes and made no answer. [01:44:16] She felt convinced that what Sonia had said was true, that what Sonia talked about was real love. But Natasha had never experienced anything like it. [01:44:26] She believed that it was in the realm of the possible, but she could not understand it. [01:44:31] Shall you write him? She asked. [01:44:34] Sonia deliberated the question how to write to Nicolas and whether it were her duty to write to him. And what she should write to him tormented her. [01:44:43] Now that he were already an officer and a wounded hero, it was a question of doubt in her mind whether it would be right for her to remind him of herself and of the promise which he had made to her. [01:44:55] I do not know. [01:44:57] I think if he writes to me, then I will answer it, she replied, blushing. [01:45:02] And shan't you feel ashamed to write to him? Sonia smiled. [01:45:06] No. [01:45:07] Well, I should feel ashamed to write to Boris, and I'm not going to. [01:45:12] Why should one feel ashamed? [01:45:15] There now, I'm sure I don't know. It's awkward. Anyway, I should be. [01:45:20] Well, I know why she would be ashamed, said Petya. I affronted at Natasha's first remark because she fell in love with that fat fellow with the glasses. He meant by this his namesake, Pierre, the new Count Bezukhoi. And now she's in love with that singer. Petya now referred to an Italian who was giving Natasha singing lessons. And that's why she would be ashamed. [01:45:43] Petya, you're too silly. I'm no sillier than you are, matushka, said the 10 year old lad, exactly as though he were an elderly brigadier. [01:45:53] The Countess had been prepared during dinner time by means of Anna Michaelovna's hints. [01:45:58] Going to her own room, she sat down on her sofa, not taking her eyes from a miniature picture of her son painted on her snuff box, and her eyes quickly filled with tears. [01:46:09] Anna Michaelovna, with the letter, came into the Countess's room on her tiptoes and remained standing. [01:46:16] Don't you come in? She said to the old count, who was following her. She closed the door behind her. The count applied his ear to the keyhole and tried to listen. [01:46:26] At first all that he heard was a monotonous sound of voices, then Anna Mikhailovna making a long speech without interruption, then a shriek, then silence, then again both voices speaking together with joyful inflections. And then steps. And Ana Mikhailovna opened the door. [01:46:45] On Amikolovna's face were the proud expression of a surgical operator who had just accomplished a difficult amputation and allows the public to enter and appreciate his skill. [01:46:55] Cef, it's all right, said she to the count, pointing with an enthusiastic gesture to the countess, who held in one hand the snuff box with the portrait in the other the letter, and was pressing her lips first to the one and then to the other. [01:47:11] Seeing the count, she stretched out her hand toward him, embraced his bald head and over his bald head, looked at the letter and the portrait, and then, in order to press them to her lips again, very gently, pushed the bald head away. [01:47:26] Viera, Natasha, Sonia, and Petya came into the room, and the reading of the letter began. [01:47:33] It contained a brief description of the campaign and the two engagements in which Nikoloshka had taken place. [01:47:39] He announced his promotion and said that he kissed Maman and Papa's hands, asking for their blessing, and kissed Vieira, Natasha, and Petya. [01:47:48] Moreover, he made his respects to Mr. Schelling and Madame Soche and his old nurse, and then he begged them to kiss his dear Sonia, whom he had always loved so and whom he had remembered so affectionately. [01:48:00] When Sonya heard this, she blushed so that tears came into her eyes, and, not able to endure the glances fastened on her, she ran into the drawing parlor, whirled around it at full speed, her dress flying out like a balloon, and then plumped down on the floor, all flushed and smiling. [01:48:17] The countess melted into tears. [01:48:20] What makes you cry, Maman? Asked Viera. Everything that he writes seems to me a cause for rejoicing and not for weeping. [01:48:28] This was perfectly true, but nevertheless the count and the Countess and Natasha all looked at her reproachfully. [01:48:36] Whom is she like, I wonder? Said the countess to herself. [01:48:40] Nikolushka's letter was re read a hundred times, and those who felt themselves entitled to hear it had to go to the countess, who would not let it out of her hands. The tutors came, and the nurses and Matenka, and ever so many acquaintances, and the Countess read the letter to them, each time with new delight, each time discovering new virtues in her Nikolushka. [01:49:02] How strange, marvelous and beautiful it was to her that her son, that son, the almost imperceptible motions of whose tiny limbs she had felt 20 years before, that son over whom she had quarreled with the count for spoiling him, that son who had learned to say Grusha first and then Baba, that this same son was now far away in a foreign land, in foreign surroundings, a heroic soldier, alone, without help or guidance, performing there his part in the deeds of heroes, the universal experience of the world in all ages going to show that children by imperceptible steps March from the cradle into manhood was not realized by the countess. [01:49:46] The attainment of manhood by her son was at every step as extraordinary as though there had not been millions upon millions of men who had gone through exactly the same process. [01:49:57] Just as 20 years before, it had been almost impossible for her to believe that the mysterious little being that was living and moving somewhere under her heart would ever wail and nurse and learn to talk, so now it was incredible that this same being had become a strong, gallant man, the paragon of sons and of men such as he was now, judging by his letter. [01:50:21] What a style he has, how elegantly he expresses himself, said she as she read over the descriptive portions of the letter. [01:50:29] And how much soul. Nothing about himself, nothing at all, something about Denisov, but he himself must have been braver than all the rest. [01:50:38] He writes nothing at all about his sufferings, how much heart he has, how well I know him, and how kindly he remembers all the household. [01:50:48] He did not forget a single one. [01:50:50] But I always said it of him. Even when he was ever so little, I always said it. [01:50:56] For more than a week rough drafts of letters to Nikolushka were prepared and written and copied out on white paper by the whole family under the superintendence of the Countess and the zealous care of the Count, all sorts of necessary articles were made into a parcel, together with money for the new uniform and the installation of the newly appointed officer. [01:51:16] Anna Michaelovna, a practical woman, had been shrewd enough to secure for her son a protector in the army, even for the better forwarding of correspondence. [01:51:26] She had managed to find the opportunity of sending her letters in care of the Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich, who commanded the guards. [01:51:34] The Rostovs has supposed that Ruskaya, Gvardia, Zagranitier, the Russian Guard on service abroad, was a sufficiently definite address, and that if a letter reached the Grand Duke commanding the Guards, then there was no reason why it should not reach the Pavlograd regiment, which must be somewhere near. And therefore it was decided to be best to send the packet and the money by the Grand Duke's courier to Boris, and Boris would see to it that it was put into Nikolushka's hands. [01:52:03] There were letters from the old Count, from the Countess, from Petya, from Viera, from from Natasha, from sonya, and finally 6,000 roubles for his outfit, and various things which the Count wished to send him. [01:52:16] Chapter 6. [01:52:23] Part 3 Chapter 7 of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskell Doyle On 24 November, Kutuzov's fighting army bivouac near Olmutz made ready to be reviewed on the following day by the Emperor of Russia and the Emperor of Austria. [01:52:40] The Imperial Guards, which had just arrived from Russia, encamped about 15 versts from Olmutz and on the next day were to proceed directly to the review which would take place about 10 o' clock in the morning on the parade ground at Olmutz. [01:52:54] Nikolai Rostov on that day had received a note from Boris informing him that that the Ismailovsky regiment was going to encamp about 15 versts away and that he wanted to see him to give him some letters and some money. [01:53:07] The money came particularly handy to Rostof just now when, after the toils of the campaign the army had settled down at Olmutz and well provided. Soldiers and Austrian Jews, offering all sorts of enticements, infested the camp. [01:53:21] The Pavlograd warriors enjoyed banquet after banquet celebrated in honor of promotions won during the campaign, as well as excursions into the town where Carolina, called Vergenka, or the Hungarian, had recently opened a tavern at which all the waiters were girls. [01:53:38] Rostov had just celebrated his promotion from Yunker to Cornet, had bought Denisov's horse Bedouin, and was in debt to his comrades and the salters on every side. [01:53:49] On receipt of the note from Boris, Rostof rode into Olmutz with some comrades, dined there, drank a bottle of wine and rode off alone to the guards camp to find the friend and companion of his youth. [01:54:01] Rostof had not as yet had a chance to procure his new uniform. He wore a soiled yunker's jacket with private's cross, his ordinary well worn leather seated riding trousers and an officer's saber with a sword knot. The horse which he rode was a don pony which he had bought during the campaign of a Cossack. [01:54:20] His crumpled cap was rakishly set sideways on the back of his head. [01:54:24] When he reached the camp of the Ismailovsky regiment he thought how much he should surprise Boris and all his comrades of the Guard by appearing before them like a veteran who had been under fire. [01:54:34] The guard had made the whole campaign as though it were a picnic, making a great display of their neatness and discipline. [01:54:41] Their marches had been short, their knapsacks had been transported on the baggage wagons and the officers had been given splendid entertainments at every halting place by the Austrian authorities. [01:54:51] The regiments entered and left the cities with MUSIC playing and during the whole campaign, much to the pride of the guard, the men had marched in serried ranks, keeping step while the officers mounted, rode in their places of assignment. [01:55:05] Boris, during the whole campaign, had marched and halted with Berg, who had now risen to be Rot Nui, commandeer or captain. [01:55:14] Berg, having been given a company, had succeeded by his promptness and punctuality in winning the good will of his superiors, and his financial affairs were now in very good shape. [01:55:24] Boris had made many acquaintances with men who might be of service to him, and by means of a letter of introduction given him by Pierre, had become acquainted with Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, through whom he hoped to obtain a place on the staff of the Commander in Chief. [01:55:38] Berg and Boris, neatly and elegantly dressed, were resting after their day's journey, and, seated in a neat room that had been made ready for them, were playing checkers at a small round table. [01:55:49] Berrick held between his knees the pipe which he was smoking. [01:55:53] Boris, with the carefulness characteristic of him, had piled up the checkers in pyramidal form with his delicate white fingers and was waiting for Berg's move and looking at his opponent's face, evidently thinking only of the game, just as he always thought only of what occupied him at the moment. [01:56:10] There, now, how will you get out of that? He asked. [01:56:14] We'll do our best, replied Berg, touching a king and then dropping his hand again. [01:56:19] At this moment the door opened. Ah, you petite san fan a lacusha domir. He cried, quoting the words of their old nurse, in which he and Boris always found great amusement. [01:56:31] But, Yushki, how you have changed. [01:56:34] Boris arose to meet Rostov, but as he did so, he took pains to pick up and replace the checkers that had fallen, and he was about to embrace his friend. But Nikolai slipped out of his grasp with that feeling peculiar to youth, which suggests the avoidance of beaten paths and the expression of feelings. Like everyone else, and especially that often hypocritical fashion which obtains with our elders, Nikolai wanted to do something unusual and original. On the occasion of meeting his friends, he wanted to give Boris a pinch or a push, anything except kiss him, as was universally done. [01:57:09] Boris, on the contrary, threw his arms around Rostov in a composed and friendly fashion and kissed him three times. [01:57:16] They had not met for almost six months, and in such an interval, when young men have been taking their first steps on the pathway of life, each finds in the other tremendous changes due to surroundings so entirely different from those in which they had taken their first steps of life. [01:57:31] Both had changed greatly since they last met, and each was equally anxious to show the other the changes that they had undergone. [01:57:39] Oh, you cursed dandies, spruce and shiny, just in from a promenade. [01:57:44] Not much like us poor sinners of the line. Exclaimed Rostov with baritone notes in his voice and with brusque army manners quite new to Boris, and he exhibited his own dirty and bespattered trousers. [01:57:56] On hearing Rostov's loud voice, the German mistress of the house put her head in through the door. [01:58:02] Rather pretty, hey? Cried Nikolai with a wink. [01:58:06] What makes you shout so? You will scare them, Said Boris. I wasn't expecting you today, he added. It was only this afternoon that I sent my note to you through an acquaintance of mine, Kudasoff's adjutant, Volkonski. I didn't think of its reaching you so soon. Well, how are you? Been under fire already, have you? Asked Boris. [01:58:26] Rostof said nothing in reply, but shook the Georgievsky cross on the lace of his coat and pointed to his arm, which he carried in a sling, looking at Berg with a smile. [01:58:37] As you see, said he. [01:58:39] Well, well, so you have returned, Boris, with a smile. [01:58:43] And we have also had a glorious campaign. [01:58:46] You know, His Imperial Highness was most of the time near our regiment, so that we had all sorts of privileges and advantages. [01:58:52] What receptions we had in Poland, what dinners and balls, I can't begin to tell you. And the Cesarevitch was very courteous to all of us officers. [01:59:02] Then the two friends related their experiences, the one telling of the jolly good times with the hussars and his campaign life, the other of the pleasures and advantages of serving under the direct command of men high in authority, and so on. [01:59:16] Oh, you guardsmen. Cried Rostov. But come now, send out for some wine. Boris scowled. Certainly, if you really wish it. And going to his couch, he took out from under the clean pillows a purse and ordered his man to bring wine. Oh, yes, and I will deliver over to you some of the letters and your money, he added. [01:59:36] Rostov took his packet and, flinging the money on the sofa, leaned both elbows on the table and began to read. [01:59:42] He read a few lines and then gave Berg a wrathful glance. [01:59:46] Berg's eyes fastened upon him, annoyed him, and he shielded his face with the letter. [01:59:51] Well, they've sent you a good lot of money. Exclaimed Berg, glancing at the heavy purse half buried in the sofa. And here we have to live on our salaries, Count. [02:00:01] Now I will tell you about myself. [02:00:03] Look here, Berg, my dear fellow, said Rostov, when I find you with a letter just received from home and with A man with whom you want to talk about all sorts of things. I will instantly leave you, so as not to disturb you. [02:00:17] Hear what I say. Get you gone anywhere, anywhere. To the devil. He cried. And then, seizing him by the shoulder and giving him an affectionate look, full in the face, and evidently for the purpose of modifying the rudeness of his words, he added, now see here, don't be angry with me, my dear heart. I speak frankly because you are an old acquaintance. [02:00:38] Ah, for heaven's sake, Count, I understand perfectly, said Berg, getting up and swallowing down his throaty voice. [02:00:45] Go and see our hosts. They have invited you. Suggested Boris Burke, put on his immaculate, neat, and dustless coat, went to the mirror, brushed the hair up from his temples, after the style of the Emperor Alexander Pavlovich, and being persuaded by Rostov's looks that his coat was noticeable, left the room with a smile of satisfaction. [02:01:07] Ugh, what a brute I am, though. Exclaimed Rostov, reading the letter. What now? [02:01:14] What a pig I am that I did not write them sooner and frighten them so. Ah, what a pig I am. He repeated, suddenly reddening. [02:01:23] Well, you sent Gavrilo for wine, have you? Very good. We'll have a drink, said he. [02:01:30] Among the home letters there was enclosed a note of recommendation to Prince Bagration, which the old countess, at Anna Michelovna's suggestion, obtained from some acquaintance and sent to her son, urging him to present it and get all the advantage she could find from it. [02:01:44] What nonsense. [02:01:46] Much I need this, said Rostov, flinging the letter on the table. [02:01:50] Why did you throw it down as Boris? Oh, it was a letter of suggestion. What the deuce do I want of such a letter? [02:01:57] Why do you say that? Asked Boris, picking up the letter and reading the inscription. This letter might be very useful to you. [02:02:05] I don't need anything, and I don't care to become anyone's adjutant. [02:02:09] Why not, pray? Asked Boris. It's a lackey's place. [02:02:14] You still have some queer notions, I see, rejoined Boris, shaking his head. [02:02:19] And you're the same old diplomat. However, that's not to the point. How are you? Asked Rostov. [02:02:26] Just exactly as you see. So far all has gone well with me, but I confess I should very much like to be made an adjutant and not stick to the line. [02:02:35] Why? [02:02:37] Because, having once entered upon the profession of arms, it is best to make one's career as brilliant as possible. [02:02:44] Yes, that's true, said Rostov, evidently thinking of something else. [02:02:49] He gave his friend a steady, inquiring look, evidently trying in vain to find in his eyes the answer to some puzzling question. [02:02:56] Old Gavrilo brought the wine. [02:02:59] Hadn't we better send now for Alphonse Carluich? And asked Boris, he will drink with you, for I can't. [02:03:06] Yes, do send for him. But who is this Dutchman? Asked Rostovs with a scornful smile. [02:03:12] He's a very, very nice, honorable and pleasant man. Exclaimed Boris. [02:03:18] Rostov once more looked steadily into Boris's eyes. Inside Berg came back, and over the bottle of wine the conversation between the three officers grew more lively. [02:03:28] The two guardsmen told Rostov of their march and how they had been honored in Russia, Poland and abroad. [02:03:35] They told about the sayings and doings of their commander, the Grand Duke, together with anecdotes about his goodness and irascibility. [02:03:43] Berg, as usual, kept silent when there was nothing that specially concerned himself. But when they began to speak about the goodness and irascibility of the Grand Duke, he told with great gusto how in Galicia he happened to have a talk with the Grand Duke. The Grand Duke was making the tour of the regiment and became very angry at the disorderly state of the division. [02:04:03] With a smile of complacency on his face, Berg told how the Grand Duke, in a great state of vexation, came up to it and shouted, arno tui. Villains being a favorite term of abuse, when he was vexed and called the company commander. [02:04:19] Would you believe it, Count? [02:04:21] I was not the least scared, because I knew that I was all right. [02:04:24] And, Count, I may say without boasting that I knew all the regulations by heart and the standing orders as well, knew them just as well as our Father in heaven. And so, Count, in my company there was no complaint to be made of negligence. And that was the reason of my being so composed and having such an untroubled conscience, I stepped forward. [02:04:46] Here Berg stood up and represented in pantomime how he had raised his hand to his visor as he stepped forward. [02:04:53] Really, it would have been hard to imagine a face more expressive of deference and self sufficiency. [02:04:58] Oh, how he scolded me. Rated me, you might say. Rated and rated and rated mortally, not for life, but for death, as the Russians say, and called me and are not and a devil and threatened me with Siberia, proceeded Berg with a shrewd smile. [02:05:16] But I knew that I was in the right, and so I made no reply. Wasn't that best, Count? [02:05:22] What, are you dumb? He cried. Still I hold my tongue. What do you think of that, Count? [02:05:29] On the next day there was nothing at all about it in the general orders. So that's what comes of not losing one's wits, isn't that so, Count? Demanded Berg, lighting his pipe and sending out rings of smoke. [02:05:42] Yes, that's splendid, said Rostov with a smile. But Boris, perceiving that Rostov was all ready to poke fun at Berg, adroitly changed the conversation. [02:05:51] He asked Rostov to tell them how and where he had been wounded. [02:05:55] This quite suited the young man, and he began to give a circumstantial account of it. Growing more and more animated all the time, he described his action at Schongraben exactly in the way that those who take part in battles always describe them, that is, in the way that they would be glad to have had them happen so that his story agreed with all the other accounts of the participants, but was very far from being the exact truth. [02:06:20] Rostof was a truthful young man, for not anything in the world would he have deliberately told a falsehood. [02:06:26] He began with the intention of telling it exactly as it happened, but imperceptibly, involuntarily and unavoidably, as far as he was concerned, he fell into falsehood. [02:06:37] If he had told the truth to these listeners of his, who had already heard from others, just as he himself had many times the story of the charge, and had formed a definite idea of how the charge was made, and expected a substantially similar account of it from him, either they would not have believed him, or what would have been worse, they would have come to the conclusion that Rostof was himself to blame for it, and that he had not undergone what he claimed to have undergone, since it did not agree with what is usually related of Calvary charges, he could not tell them in so many words that they had all started on the trot, that he had fallen from his horse, sprained his arm, and run away from the Frenchman with all his might and main into the forest. [02:07:20] Moreover, in order to tell the story in its grim reality, he would have been obliged to exercise much self control to tell only what had occurred, to tell the truth is very hard, and young men are rarely capable of was expected of him to tell how he grew excited under the fire and forgetting everything, had dashed like a whirlwind against the square, how he had cut and slashed with his saber right and left as a knife cuts cheese, and how at length he had fallen from exhaustion and the like. [02:07:51] And that was what he told them in the midst of his tale, just as he was saying the words. [02:07:57] You can't imagine what a Strange sensation of frenzy you experience during a charge. Prince Andre Bolkonski, whom Boris had been expected, came into the room. [02:08:07] Prince Andre, who liked to bear a patronizing relationship toward young men, was flattered at having Boris consigned to his protection and was very well disposed toward him. Boris had succeeded in making a pleasant impression upon him, and he had made up his mind to have the young man's desire gratified. [02:08:24] Being sent with dispatches from Kutuzov to the Cesarevich, he had looked up his young protege, expecting to find him alone when he came in, and found there a hussar of the line relating his military experiences, a sort of individual whom the Prince could not endure. He gave Boris an affectionate smile, scowled at Rostof half closing his eyes, and with a stiff little bow took his seat wearily and indifferently on the sofa. [02:08:50] He was disgusted at finding himself in uncongenial society. [02:08:54] Rostov, feeling this instinctively, instantly took fire. [02:08:58] But it was all the same to the Prince. This was a stranger. [02:09:02] He looked at Boris and saw that he seemed to be ashamed of being in company with a hussar of the line, notwithstanding Prince Andre's disagreeable mocking tone, notwithstanding the general scorn which, from his point of view as a hussar of the line, which Rostov shared for the staff adjutants, to which number evidently belonged the gentleman who had just entered. Rostov felt overwhelmed with confusion, reddened, and grew silent. [02:09:27] Boris asked what was the news at headquarters and whether it were indiscretion for him to inquire about our future movements. [02:09:34] Probably shall advance, replied Volkonski, evidently not wishing to commit himself further in the presence of strangers. [02:09:41] Barrick took advantage of his opportunity to ask with his usual politeness whether it were true, as he had heard, that double rations of forage were to be supplied to the captains of the line. [02:09:51] At this, Prince Andrei smiled and replied that he could not give an opinion in regard to such important questions of state, and Baric laughed heartily with delight. [02:10:01] In regard to that matter of yours, said Prince Andrei, turning to Boris again. We will talk about it by and by. And he glanced at Rostov. [02:10:10] You come to me after the review. [02:10:12] We will do all that is in our power. And glancing around the room, he addressed himself to Rostov, pretending not to notice his state of childish confusion. Which was rapidly assuming the form of ill temper, said he, I suppose you were telling about the affair at Shun Graven. Were you there? [02:10:29] Certainly I was there. Spitefully replied Rostov, as though desiring by his tone to insult the adjutant Volkonski noticed the hussar's state of mind, and it seemed to him amusing. [02:10:40] A scornful smile played lightly over his lips. [02:10:43] Yes, there are many stories afloat now about that affair. [02:10:47] Stories indeed. Exclaimed Rostov in a loud voice, turning his angry eyes on Boris and Bolkonsky. Yes, many stories. But the stories we tell are the accounts of those who are under the hottest fire of the enemy. Our accounts have some weight and are very different from the stories of those staff officers, milk suckers who win rewards by doing nothing. [02:11:10] By which you mean to insinuate that I am one of them? Demanded Prince Andre with a calm and very pleasant smile. [02:11:17] A strange feeling of anger, and at the same time of respect for the dignity of this stranger, were at this moment united in Rostov's mind. [02:11:25] I was not speaking of you, said he. I do not know you, and I confess I have no desire to know you. I merely made a general remark concerning staff officers. [02:11:36] And I will say this much to you, said Prince Andre, interrupting him, a tone of calm superiority ringing in his voice. [02:11:43] You wish to insult me, and I am ready to have a settlement with you, it being very easy to bring about if you have not sufficient self respect. [02:11:52] But you must agree with me that the time and place are exceedingly unpropitious for any such settlement. [02:11:58] We are all soon to take place in a great and far more serious duel. And moreover, Drubetskoy here, who says that he is an old friend of yours, cannot be held accountable for the fact that my face was unfortunate enough to displease you. [02:12:12] However, he went on to say as he got up, you know my name and you know where to find me. But don't forget, he added, that I consider that neither I nor you have any ground for feeling insulted, and my advice, as a man older than you, is not to let this matter go any further. [02:12:29] Well, Drubetzkoi, on Friday after the review, I shall expect you. Au revoir, called Prince Andrei, and he went out with a bow to both of them. [02:12:40] It was only after Prince Andrei had left the room that Rostov remembered what reply he should have made, and he was still more out of temper because he had not had the wit to say it. [02:12:50] He immediately ordered his horse brought round, and, bidding Boris farewell, rather dryly rode off to his own camp. [02:12:57] Should he go next day to headquarters and challenge this captious adjutant, or should he follow his advice and leave things as they were? [02:13:04] That was the question that tormented him all the way. [02:13:07] At one moment he angrily imagined how frightened this little feeble bumptious man would look when covered by his pistol. [02:13:15] The next he confessed with amazement that of all the men whom he knew, there was none whom he should be more glad to have as his friend than this same detestable adjutant. [02:13:26] End of Chapter seven. [02:13:33] Part 3 chapter 8 of War and PEACE by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan HASKILDOYLE on the day following the meeting of Boris and Rostov, a occurred the review of the Austrian and Russian troops, including those who had just arrived from Russia, as well as those who had made the campaign with Kutuzof. [02:13:51] Both the Emperor of Russia with the Cesarevich and the Emperor of Austria with the Archduke, reviewed this army, aggregating 80,000 men. [02:14:01] Early in the morning the soldiers, elegantly spruced and attired, began to move, falling into line in front of the fortress. [02:14:09] Here thousands of legs and bayonets moved along with streaming banners, and at the command of their officers halted or wheeled or formed into detachments, passing by other similar bodies of infantry in other uniforms. [02:14:22] There with measured hoof beats and jingling of trappings, came the cavalry, gaily dressed in blue, red and green embroidered uniforms, with gaily dressed musicians ahead, riding coal black chestnut and gray horses yonder, stretching out in a long line with their polished shining cannon jolting with a brazen din on their carriages, and with the smell of linstocks came the artillery between the infantry and cavalry, and drew up in the places assigned to them, not only the generals in full dress uniform, with slender waists or stout waist tightened in to the last degree, and with red necks tightly clasped by their colors, and wearing their scarfs and all their orders. [02:15:04] Not only the officers promenaded and decked with all their glories, but all the soldiers with shining, clean, washed, and freshly shaven faces, and with all their appurtenances polished up to the highest lustre, and all the horses gaily caparisoned and groomed, so that their coats were as glossy as satin, and every individual hair in their manes in exactly its proper place, had the consciousness that something grave, significant, and solemn was taking place. [02:15:31] Every general and every soldier felt his own insignificance, counting himself as merely a grain of sand in the sea of humanity, and at the same time felt his power when regarded as part of this mighty whole, by means of strenuous efforts and devoted energy. The preparations which had begun early in the morning, were completed by 10 o', clock, and everything was in proper order. [02:15:54] The ranks were drawn up across the broad parade ground, the whole army was arranged in three columns in front the cavalry Then the artillery, and in the rear, the infantry. [02:16:05] Between each division of the army was a space like a street. [02:16:08] The three divisions of this army were sharply contrasted with each other. Kutasov's war worn veterans, among whom, on the right flank of the front row stood the Pavlogradsky Hussars, the troops of the line that had just arrived from Russia, and the regiments of the Guard and the Austrian army. But all stood in one line, under one commander and in identical order. [02:16:31] Like the wind rustling the leaves, a murmur agitated the lines. They are coming. They are coming. [02:16:38] Vivacious shouts of command were heard, and throughout the whole army, like a wave, ran the bustle of the final preparations. [02:16:46] Far away in front of them, near Olmutz, appeared a group coming toward them. [02:16:51] At this moment, though the day was calm, a gentle breeze, as it were, stirred the army and seemed to shake the pinioned pikes and the loosened standards clinging to their staffs. [02:17:02] It seemed as though the army itself, by this silent tremor, expressed its gladness. At the approach of the emperors the word of command was heard, uttered by one voice, eyes front. [02:17:14] Then, like the answering of cocks at daybreak, many voices repeated this command from point to point, and all grew still. [02:17:22] In the death like silence. The only sound heard was the trampling of horses feet. [02:17:27] This was the suite of the emperors. The two monarchs rode along the left wing, and the bugles of the 1st Cavalry Regiment burst forth with the general march. [02:17:38] It seemed as if it were not the bugles that played this march, but as if the army itself, in its delight at the approach of the emperors, emitted these sounds. [02:17:47] Their echoes had not died away when the Emperor Alexander's affable young voice was distinctly heard. Addressing the men, he uttered the usual welcome, and the first regiment gave forth one huzza so deafening, so long drawn out and expressive of joy, that the men themselves were amazed and awestruck at the magnitude and strength of the mass which they constituted. Hurrah. [02:18:11] Rostov, standing in the front rank of Kutasov's army, which the emperor first approached, shared the feeling experienced by every man in that army, a feeling of self forgetfulness, a proud consciousness of invincibility and of passionate attachment to him, on whose account all this solemn parade was prepared. [02:18:31] He felt that the mere word of this man was only needed for this mighty mass, including himself, as an insignificant grain of sand to dash through fire and water, to commit crime, to face death, or perform the mightiest deeds of heroism. And therefore he could not help trembling, could not help his heart melting within him. At the Sight of this approaching word Hurrah, Hurrah. Hurrah. Was roared on all sides, and one regiment after another welcomed the sovereigns with the music of the general Marsh and then renewed huzzahs. The general march and huzzahs on huzzas, which, growing louder and louder, mingled in one overpowering and deafening tumult, until the sovereign came quite close. Every regiment, in its silence and rigidity, seemed like a lifeless body, but as soon as the sovereign came abreast of it, the regiment woke to life and broke out into acclamations, which mingled with the roar extending down the whole line, past which the sovereign rode amid the tremendous deafening tumult of these thousands of voices through the midst of the armies, standing in their squares as motionless as though they had been carved out of granite, moved easily, carelessly, but symmetrically, and above all with freedom and grace, the hundreds of riders constituting the suites, and in front of all two men, the emperors. [02:19:55] Upon them, and upon them alone, were concentrated the suppressed but eager attention of all that mass of warriors. [02:20:03] The handsome young emperor Alexander, in his horse guards uniform and three cornered hat worn, pointed forward, with his pleasant face and clear but not loud voice, was the sinister of all eyes. [02:20:16] Rostof stood not far from the buglers, and his keen glance recognized the emperor while he was still far off, and followed him as he drew near. [02:20:24] When the sovereign had approached to a distance of 20 paces and Nikolai could clearly distinguish every feature of his handsome and radiant young face, he experienced a sense of affection and enthusiasm such as he had never felt before. [02:20:37] Everything, every feature, every motion seemed to him bewitching in his sovereign. [02:20:43] Pausing in front of the Pavlograd regiment, the monarch said something in French to the Emperor of Austria and smiled. [02:20:50] Seeing this smile, Rostov himself involuntarily smiled also and felt a still more powerful impulse of love toward his sovereign. [02:20:59] He felt a burning desire to display this love in some way. [02:21:03] He knew that this was impossible, and he felt like weeping. [02:21:07] The sovereign summoned the regimental commander and said a few words to him. [02:21:12] Boss Moi. What would happen to me if the sovereign were to address me? Thought Rostof. I should die of happiness. [02:21:20] The Emperor also addressed the officers. [02:21:23] Gentlemen, said he and Rostof listened as to a voice from heaven how happy he would have been now, could he only die for his Tsar. [02:21:32] I thank you all from my heart. You have won the standards of the George, proved yourself worthy of them, only to die to die for him, thought Rostov. [02:21:43] The sovereign said a few words more, which Rostov did not catch and the soldiers, straining their throats, cried, hurrah. Hurrah. [02:21:52] Rostov also joined with them, leaning forward in his saddle and shouting with all his might, willing to burst his lungs in his efforts to express the full extent of his enthusiasm for his sovereign, the emperor stood a few seconds in front of the hussars, as though he were undecided. [02:22:09] How can the sovereign be undecided? Mused Rostov. But immediately even this indecision seemed to him a new proof of majesty and charm. Like everything else that the sovereign did, the emperor's indecision lasted only a moment. His foot shot in a narrow, sharp, pointed boot, such as were worn at that time, pressed against the flank of the English groomed bay mare on which he sat. [02:22:33] The sovereign's hand in a white glove, gathered up the reins, and he rode off, accompanied by a disorderly tossing sea of adjutants. [02:22:41] As he kept riding farther and farther down the line, he kept halting in front of the different regiments, and at last only his white plume could be seen by Rostov, distinguishing him from the suite that accompanied the emperors. [02:22:54] In the number of those who accompanied the emperor, he noticed Bolkonski lazily and indifferently bestriding his steed. [02:23:01] The yesterday evening's quarrel with him came into his mind, and the question arose whether or no he ought to challenge him. [02:23:08] Of course it is out of the question now, thought Rostof. [02:23:11] Is it worth while to think or to talk about such a thing at such a moment as this, at a time when one feels such impulses of love, enthusiasm, and self renunciation? [02:23:22] What consequence are our petty quarrels and. And provocations? [02:23:27] I love the whole world. I forgive everyone. Now, said Rostof to himself. [02:23:32] After the sovereign had ridden past almost all the regiments, the troops began to move in front of him in ceremonial march, and Rostof, on his Bedouin, which he had recently bought of Denisof, rode at the end of his squadron, that is, alone and in a most conspicuous position before his sovereign. [02:23:51] Just before he came up to where the emperor was, Rostov, who was an admirable horseman, plunged the spurs in Bedouin's flanks and urged him into that mad, frenzied gallop which Bedouin always took when he was excited, pressing his foaming mouth back to his breast, arching his tail, and seeming to fly through the air and spurning the earth, gracefully tossing and interweaving his legs. Bedouin, also conscious that the emperor's eyes were fastened on him, dashed gallantly by Rostov himself, keeping his feet back and sitting straight in his saddle, feeling himself one with his horse, rode by his sovereign with disturbed but beatific face. A very devil, as Denisov expressed it. [02:24:34] Bravo, Pravla Grazui. Exclaimed the Emperor. [02:24:39] How happy I should be, if only he would bid me to dash instantly into the fire, thought Rostov. [02:24:45] When the review was ended, the officers who had just come from Russia and those of Kutuzov's division began to gather in groups and talk about the rewards of the campaign, about the Austrians and their uniforms, about their line of battle, about Bonaparte and what a desperate position he had got himself into now, especially if Essen's corps should join them and Prussia should take to their side. [02:25:08] But more than all else, in each of these circles the conversation ran on the sovereign Alexander, and every word that he had spoken was repeated, and everything that he had done was praised, and all were enthusiastic over him. [02:25:21] All had but one single expectation, under the personal direction of the sovereign, to go with all speed against the enemy under the command of the Emperor himself. It would be an impossibility not to win the victory over anyone in the world. So thought Rostov, and the majority of the officers after this review, all were more assured of victory than they could have been after the gaining of two battles. [02:25:47] Chapter 8. [02:25:53] Part 3 Chapter 9 of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskell Doyle on the day following the review, Boris, dressed in his best uniform and accompanied by the wishes of his comrade Berg for his success, rode off to Olmutz to find Bolkonsky, anxious to take advantage of his good will and secure a most brilliant position, especially the position of adjutant to some important personage, as this seemed to him the most attractive branch of the service. [02:26:23] It's fine for Rostof, whose father sends him 10,000 at a time, to argue that he would not accept favours of anyone or be anyone's lackey. But I, who have nothing except my brains, must pursue my career and not miss opportunities, but take advantage of them. [02:26:40] He did not find Prince Andre in omuts that day, but the site of the town where the imperial headquarters were situated, where the diplomatic corps were established and both emperors were quartered with their suites and courtiers and intimates only expired the more desire in the young man's heart to belong to this exalted world. [02:27:00] He had no acquaintances, and notwithstanding his elegant uniform of the guards, all these superior people crowding the streets in handsome equipages, plumes, ribbons and orders, these courtiers and warriors seemed to stand so immeasurably above him that not only would they not but they could not recognize the existence of such an insignificant officer of the guards as he was at the establishment of the Commander in chief, Kutuzov, where he inquired for Bolkonsky. All the adjutants and even the servants looked at him as though it were their wish to inspire him with the idea that there was a great abundance of officers like him there, and that all were very much annoyed by their presence. [02:27:41] In spite of this, or rather in direct consequence of this, on the very next day, the 27th, immediately after dinner, he went to Olmutz again, and, and, going to the house occupied by Kutuzov, inquired for Bolkonski. [02:27:55] Prince Andrei was at home, and Boris was ushered into a great drawing room where probably in times gone by balls had been given, but which was now occupied by five beds and a heterogeneous melody of furniture, tables, chairs and a harpsichord. [02:28:11] One adjutant in a Persian smoking jacket was sitting at a table near the door in writing. [02:28:17] Another, the stout and handsome Nesvitsky, lay on his bed with his hands supporting his head and laughing and talking with an officer who was sitting near him. [02:28:26] A third was at the harpsichord playing a Viennese waltz. A fourth leaned on the harpsichord and was humming the air. [02:28:33] Volkonsky was not in the room. Not one of these gentlemen, though they glanced at Boris, paid him the slightest attention. [02:28:41] The one who was writing and whom Boris ventured to address, turned round with an air of annoyance and and told him that Bolkonsky was on duty and that he would find him by passing through the door on the left and going to the reception room if he wanted to see him. [02:28:55] Boris thanked him and went to the reception room. He found there 10 or a dozen generals and their officers at the moment that Boris came in, Prince Andrei, with a contemptuous frown on his face and that peculiar look of well bred weariness which says louder than words that if it were not my duty, I should not think of wasting any more time talking with you. [02:29:16] Was listening to an old Russian general with orders on his breast, who was standing upright, almost on his tiptoes, and with the servile expression characteristic of the military on his purple face, was laying his case before Prince Andrei. [02:29:31] Very good. Be kind enough to have patience, he was saying to the general in Russian, but with that French accent which he affected when he wished to speak rather scornfully, then catching sight of Boris and making no further reply to the general, who hastened after him with his petition, begging him to let him say just one thing more. Prince Andre, with a radiant smile and waving his hand to him, went to meet Boris. [02:29:56] Boris at this instant clearly understood what he had suspected before, that in the army there was above and beyond the fact of subordination and discipline as laid down in the code, and which they in the regiments knew by heart, and which he knew as well as anyone else. There was another, still more essential form of subordination, one which compelled this anxious general with the purple face to bide his time respectfully, while Captain Prince Andrei, for his own satisfaction, found it more interesting to talk with Ensign Drubetskoye. [02:30:28] More than ever, Boris decided henceforth not to act in accordance with the written law, but with this unwritten code. [02:30:35] He now felt that merely through the fact of having been sent to Prince Andre with a letter of recommendation he was allowed to take precedence of this old general, who in other circumstances at the front, for instance, might utterly humiliate him. A mere ensign of the Guards. [02:30:51] Prince Andrei came to meet him and gave him his hand. [02:30:55] Very sorry that you missed me yesterday. I spent the whole day with the Germans, went with Weirother to inspect the disposition of the troops. What fellows, these Germans are for accuracy. There's no end to it. [02:31:08] Boris smiled exactly as though he understood to what Prince Andrei referred. He affected to see in it a piece of generally known information, but really this was the first time that he had heard Feyre's name and even the word dispositzia. [02:31:23] Well now, my dear, so you would still like to become an adjutant, would you? I was just thinking about you. [02:31:30] Yes, replied Boris, in spite of himself, reddening at the very thought. [02:31:35] I was thinking of calling upon the Commander in chief. He has had a letter in regard to me from Prince Corrigan. I wanted to ask it, he added, as though by way of apology, because I was afraid the guards would not take part in any action. [02:31:49] Very good, very good. Well, we will talk it all over, said Prince Andrei, only let me finish up this gentleman's business and I will be at your service. [02:31:58] While Prince Andrei went to report on the business of the purple faced general, this general, evidently not sharing Boris's comprehension in regard to advantages of the unwritten code, glared so fiercely at the audacious young ensign who had interrupted his conversation with the adjutant that Boris grew uncomfortable. He turned away and waited impatiently for Prince Andrei's return from the Commander in Chief's private room. [02:32:22] Well, my dear fellow, as I said, I was just thinking of you, said Prince Andre as they went into the big room where the harpsichord was. [02:32:30] There is no use in your going to call in the Commander in chief, he went on to say, he will make you pleasant enough speeches he will have you invited to dinner. That would not be so bad according to this other code, thought Boris in his own mind. [02:32:43] But nothing more would come of it. If it did, there would soon be a whole battalion of us adjutants and orderlies. [02:32:50] But I tell you what we'll do. I have a good friend who is general adjutant and a splendid man, Prince Dolgorukov. And perhaps you may not know this, but it is a fact that just now Kutasov and his staff and all of us are of mighty little consequence. [02:33:05] Everything at the present time is centered on the Emperor. So let us go to Dolgorukov. I have an errand to him anyway, and I have already spoken to him of you so we will see whether he can't find the means of giving you a place on his own staff or or somewhere even nearer to the sun. [02:33:21] Prince Andre always showed great energy when he had the chance to lend a young man a hand and help him to worldly success under the COVID of the assistance granted another and which he would have been too proud to accept for himself. He came within the charmed circle which was the source of success and in reality a powerful attraction for him. [02:33:41] He very readily took Boris under his wing and went with him to Prince Dolgorokov. [02:33:46] It was already quite late in the afternoon when they reached the palace of Olmutz, occupied by the emperors and their immediate followers. [02:33:54] On this very day there had been a council of war in which all the members of the Hofkriegs, Roth and the two emperors had taken part in the council. It had been decided, contrary to the advice of the old generals Kudasov and Schwarzenberg, to act immediately on the offensive and offer Bonaparte general battle. [02:34:12] The council had only just adjourned when Prince Andre, accompanied by Boris, entered the palace in search of Prince Dolgorukov. [02:34:20] Already the magic impression of this war council which had resulted in victory for the younger party could be seen in the faces of all whom they met at headquarters. [02:34:28] The voices of the temporizers who advised further postponement of the attack had been so unanimously drowned out and their arguments confuted by such indubitable proofs of the advantage of immediate attack and that the subject of their deliberations, that is the impending engagement and the victory which would doubtless result from it, seemed to be a thing of the past rather than of the future. [02:34:51] All advantages were on our side. The enormous forces of the allies doubtless Far outnumbering Napoleon's forces were concentrated. At one point the armies were inspired by the presence of the emperors and eager for action. [02:35:05] The the strategical point where the battle was to be fought was known in its minutest details to the Austrian General Weihrather, who would take direction of the army. It happened also by a fortunate coincidence that the Austrian army had manoeuvred the previous year on the very plains where it now was proposed that they should meet the French in battle. [02:35:25] All the features of the ground were well known and accurately delineated on the maps, and Bonaparte, evidently weakened, was making no preparations to meet them. [02:35:34] Dogolikov, one of the most fiery partisans in favor of immediate attack, had only just returned from the council. Weary and jaded, but full of excitement and proud of the victory won. [02:35:46] Prince Andre introduced the young officer whom he had taken under his protection. But Prince Dogolikov, though he politely and even warmly pressed his hand, said nothing to him. And being evidently unable to refrain from expressing the thoughts that occupied him at this time, to the exclusion of everything else, he turned to Prince Andre and said in French, well, my dear fellow, what a struggle we've been having. [02:36:09] May God only grant that the one which will result from it will be no less victorious. [02:36:14] One thing, my dear fellow, said he, speaking eagerly and brusquely, I must confess my injustice to these Austrians, and especially via other what exactness and care for details. What accurate knowledge of the localities, what foresight for contingencies, what thoughts for all the minutest details. No, my friend, nothing more advantageous than the condition in which we find ourselves could possibly be imagined. [02:36:40] Austrian accuracy and Russian valor combined. What more could you desire? [02:36:46] So an engagement has actually been determined upon as Balconski. [02:36:51] And do you know, my dear, it seems to me that really Bonaparte has lost his Latin. [02:36:56] Do you know a letter was received from him today addressed to. The Emperor smiled significantly. [02:37:02] What's that? What did he write? Asked Bolkonski. What could he write? [02:37:09] And so forth merely for the sake of gaining time, that's all. I tell you, he's right in our hands, that's certain. But the most amusing thing of all, said he with a good natured smile, was this, that no one could think how it was best to address the reply to him, not as counsel, and still less as Emperor. Of course, I suppose it would be to General Bonaparte. [02:37:32] But there is considerable difference between not recognizing him as emperor and addressing him as General Bonaparte, said Bolkonski. [02:37:39] That's the very point, said Dolgorukov. Interrupting him with a laugh and speaking rapidly. You know Bilibin, he's a very clever man. [02:37:48] He proposed to address him as usurper and enemy of the human race. Dogorukov broke into a hearty peel of laughter. [02:37:55] Was that all? Remarked Bolkonski. [02:37:58] But in the end it was Bilibin who invented a serious title for the address. [02:38:02] He's a shrewd and clever man. [02:38:05] What was it? [02:38:07] Head of the French government? [02:38:09] A chef de gouverne Francais, replied Prince Dogorukov gravely and with satisfaction. [02:38:15] Say now, wasn't that good? [02:38:18] Very good, but it won't please him much, replied Bolkonski. Oh, not at all. My brother knows him. He's dined with him more than once with the present Emperor at Paris, and told me that he never saw a more refined and cunning diplomat. French finesse combined with Italian astuteness. You know, you've heard the anecdotes about him and Count Markov, haven't you? [02:38:40] Count Markov was the only man who could meet him on his own ground. You know the story of the handkerchief. It's charming. And the loquacious Dolgolikov, turning now to Boris, now to Prince Andrei, told how Bonaparte, wishing to test Markov, our ambassador, purposely dropped his handkerchief in front of him and stood looking at him, apparently expecting Markov to hand it to him. And how Markov instantly dropped his handkerchief beside Bonaparte's and, stooping down, picked it up, leaving Bonaparte's where it lay. [02:39:08] Charmon. Exclaimed Bolkonski. But Prince, I have come as a petitioner in behalf of this young man here. Do you know whether. [02:39:17] But before Prince Andre had time to finish, an adjutant came into the room with a summons for Prince Dolgorukov to go to the Emperor. [02:39:25] Ah, what a nuisance. Exclaimed Dolgorukov, hurriedly rising and pressing Prince Andre and Boris's hands. [02:39:32] You know, I should be very glad to do all in my power either for you or for this charming young man. [02:39:38] Once more he pressed Boris's hand with an expression of good natured frankness and mercurial heedlessness. But we'll see about it. See you another time. [02:39:48] Boris was greatly excited by the thought of being so near to such exalted powers. He felt that here he was almost in contact with the springs which set in motion all these enormous masses of which he and his regiment appeared to be a small, humble and insignificant part. [02:40:04] They followed Prince Dolgorukov into the corridor. [02:40:07] Just then from out the door leading into the sovereign's apartment, through which Dolgorukov was going came a short individual in civil attire, with an intellectual face and a strongly pronounced and prominent lower jaw, which, without disfiguring him, lent a special energy and mobility to his expression. [02:40:24] This short man nodded to Dolgorukhov as to a friend, and came along straight toward Prince Andrei with a fixed cold stare, evidently expecting him to make a bow or to stand out of the way from him. [02:40:36] Prince Andre did neither. A wrathful expression came into his face, and the young man, turning about, went down the corridor in the other direction. [02:40:45] Who was that? Asked Boris. [02:40:48] That is one of the most remarkable and to me most detestable of men. [02:40:53] The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Adam Sartorinsky. Those are the men, said Bolkonski with a sigh which he could not stifle as they left the palace. [02:41:03] Those are the men who decide the fate of nations. [02:41:07] On the next day the armies were set in motion, and Boris had no opportunities until the Battle of Austerlitz itself to meet either Prince Bolkonsky or Dolgorukov, and remained for the time being in his regiment. [02:41:20] End of Chapter nine. [02:41:27] Part 3 Chapter X of WAR and PEACE by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskell Doyle at Dawn on the 28th, Denisof's squadron, in which Nikolai Rostof served, and which belonged to Prince Bagration's division, marched out from its bivouac to battle, as it was said, and after proceeding about a verst behind the other columns, was halted on the highway. [02:41:50] Rostov saw the Cossacks riding forward past them, then the first and second squadron of hussars and battalions of infantry and artillery, and then the generals Bagration and Dolgorukov and their adjutants also rode by all the fear which, just as at the previous battle he had experienced before the action, all the internal conflict by means of which he had overcome this fear. All his dreams of how he would distinguish himself in hussar fashion in this action were wasted. [02:42:19] Their squadron were stationed in the reserve, and Nikolai Rostov spent that day bored and anxious. [02:42:26] About 9 o' clock in the morning he heard at the front the sounds of musketry firing, huzzahs and shouting. He saw some wounded men carried to the rear. There were not many of them, and at last he beheld a whole division of French cavalrymen conducted by in charge of a sotia of Cossacks. Evidently the action was at an end, and though it appeared to be of small magnitude, it was attended with success. [02:42:51] The soldiers and the officers, as they returned, narrated the story of their brilliant victory resulting in the occupation of the city of Vischau and the capture of a whole squadron of the French. [02:43:01] The day was clear and sunny after the nipping frost of the night before, and the joyful brilliancy of an autumn day seemed to harmonize with the news of the victory, which was confirmed not only by the narratives of those who had taken part in it, but still more by the enthusiastic faces of the soldiers, officers, generals and adjutants passing this way and that before Rostov. [02:43:23] Nikolai's heart was the heavier for having suffered to no purpose all the pangs of fear anticipatory of the battle, and then being obliged to spend this glorious day in inaction. [02:43:34] Bostoff, come here. Let us drown our sorrow in drink. Cried Denisov, seated on the edge of the road with a flask and lunch spread before him. [02:43:44] The officers gathered in a circle around Denisov's bottle case, eating their lunch and chatting. [02:43:49] Here they come, bringing another. Exclaimed one of the officers, pointing to a French dragoon who had been made prisoner and was walking along under guard of two Cossacks. [02:43:59] One of them was leading by the bridle, a large, handsome French horse that had been taken from the prisoner. [02:44:05] Sell us the horse. Cried Denisov to the Cossack. Certainly your nobility. [02:44:11] The officer sprang up and crowded around the Cossacks and the prisoner. [02:44:15] The French dragoon was a young Alsatian, speaking French with a German accent. He was quite out of breath with emotion. His face was crimson. [02:44:24] Hearing the officers talking French, he began to speak with them eagerly. Turning to one and another of them, he told them that he ought not to have been taken, and that it was not his fault he was taken, but the fault of la capital, who had sent him to get some comparisons, and that he told him the Russians were already there, and at the end of every sentence he added, chevelle, don't let them harm my little horse. At the same time, petting his coat, it was evident that he didn't understand very well what had happened to him. [02:44:55] Now he apologized for having been captured. Then, as though he imagined himself in the presence of his own superiors, he vaunted his strict attention to the duties of a soldier and his zeal in the service. [02:45:07] He brought with him to our rear guard in all its freshness, the very atmosphere of the French army, which was so foreign to our men. [02:45:14] The Cossacks sold the horse for two ducats, and Rostof, who was now just possessed of money in plenty and was the richest of the officers, bought it Me conne FAS pas de malemons, petite chevalier, said the Alsatian, good naturedly to Rostov. When the horse was handed over to the hussar, Rostov, with a smile, reassured the dragoon and gave him some money. [02:45:36] Alio, aliyu, said the Cossack, attempting to speak in French and touching the prisoner's arm to make him move on. [02:45:44] Gozuda. Gosuda. The Emperor. The Emperor was suddenly heard among the hussars. [02:45:49] All was hurry and confusion as the officers scattered and Rostov distinguished down the road a number of horsemen with white plumes in their hats riding toward them. [02:45:58] In a moment's time all were in their places and waiting. [02:46:02] Rostov did not remember and had no consciousness of how he got to his place and mounted his horse. Instantly his disappointment at not being present at the skirmish, the mutinous frame of mind that he had felt during the hours of inaction, passed away. [02:46:16] Every thought about himself instantly vanished. He was perfectly absorbed in the sense of happiness arising from the proximity of his sovereign. [02:46:25] He felt himself compensated by the mere fact of his presence. For all the loss of the day. [02:46:30] He was as happy as a lover in expectation of the wished for meeting, not daring to look down the line and not glancing around. He felt his approach by his enthusiastic sense, and he felt this was not alone by the mere trampling of the horse's hoofs and as the cavalcade rode along. [02:46:48] But he felt it, because in proportion as they drew near, all around him grew brighter, more radiant with joy, more impressive and festive. [02:46:57] Nearer and nearer came what was the sun for Rostov, scattering around him rays of blissful and majestic light. And now at last, he realized that he was enveloped by these rays. He heard his voice, that affable, serene, majestic, and at the same time utterly unaffected voice. [02:47:15] A dead silence ensued, just as Rostov felt ought to be the case. And this silence was broken by the sound of his sovereign's voice. [02:47:23] Les hussar de Pavlogra? He asked Larry. Serva seer, replied some other voice, a mere human voice. After the superhuman voice which had asked if they were the Pavlograd Hussars. [02:47:35] The Emperor came up near where Rostov was and reigned in his horse. [02:47:40] I. Alexander's face was still more beautiful than it had been three days before. the time of the parade it fairly beamed with delight and youthful spirits, such innocently youthful spirits that it reminded one of the sportiveness of a 14 year old lad. And yet nevertheless it was the face of a majestic emperor chancing to glance down the Squadron. The sovereign's eyes met Rostof's, and for upwards of two seconds gazed into them. [02:48:07] Maybe the sovereign read what was passing in Rostov's soul. It certainly seemed to Rostov that he must know it. At all events, he fixed his blue eyes for the space of two seconds on Rostov's face. A sweet and gentle light seemed to emanate from them. [02:48:22] Then suddenly his eyebrows contracted, and with a brusque movement of his left foot, he spurred his horse and galloped forward. [02:48:29] The young emperor could not restrain his desire to be present at the battle, and in spite of all objections of his courtiers, he managed about 12 o' clock, to leave the third column, under whose escort he had been moving, and spurred off to the front. [02:48:43] But before he reached the hussars, he was met by adjutants with the report of the happy issue of the skirmish. [02:48:50] The engagement, which was merely the capture of a squadron of French, was represented as a brilliant victory, and consequently the sovereign and the whole army, after this, and especially before the smoke had cleared away from the field of battle, were firmly convinced that the French were conquered and were in full retreat. [02:49:08] A few minutes after the passing of the sovereign, the division of the Pavlograd hussars were ordered to advance. [02:49:14] In the little German town of Vischau, Rostof saw the emperor yet a second time in the town square, where, just before the sovereign's arrival there had been a pretty lively interchange of shots. [02:49:26] Still lay a number of men killed and wounded whom it had not been possible as yet to remove. [02:49:32] The sovereign, surrounded by his suite of military and civil attendance, and riding a chestnut mare groomed in English style, though not the same one which he had ridden at the parade, leaning over and gracefully holding a gold lornier to his eye, was looking at a soldier stretched out on the ground without his shackle and with his head all covered with blood. [02:49:53] The soldier was so filthy, rough and disgusting that Rostof was quite affronted that he should be so near His Majesty. [02:50:00] Rostov saw how the sovereign, stooping shoulders contracted as though a chill ran down his back, and how his left heel convulsively pressed the spur into the horse's side, and how the admirably trained animal looked around good naturedly and did not stir from his place. [02:50:16] An adjutant dismounted and, and taking the soldier under the arm, assisted to lift him to a stretcher which had just been brought. [02:50:23] The soldier groaned. [02:50:25] Gently, gently. Can't you lift him more gently? Exclaimed the sovereign, apparently suffering more keenly than the dying soldier, and rode Away. [02:50:35] Rostov saw the tears that filled his monarch's eyes and heard him say in French to Czar Torisky as he rode away, what a terrible thing war is. [02:50:45] What a terrible thing. [02:50:50] The vanguard had been stationed in front of this chow inside of the enemy's pickets who had left us the place. After desultory firing that had lasted all day. [02:50:59] The vanguard had been personally congratulated and thanked by the Emperor. Rewards had been promised and a double portion of vodka had been dealt out to the men. [02:51:07] The bivouac fires crackled even more merrily than the night before, and the soldiers songs rang out with greater gusto. [02:51:15] Denisov that night gave a supper in honor of his promotion as major, and Rostof, who had already taken his share of wine at the end of the merrymaking, proposed a toast to the sovereign's health. [02:51:26] Not to the sovereign Emperor, the Gozuda Empra, as he is called in official circles, said he, but the health of the sovereign as a kind hearted, lovable and great man. [02:51:39] Let us drink to his health and to our probable victory over the French. [02:51:43] If we fought well before he went on to say, and gave no quarter to the French at Schoen Graben, will not this be the case now? When he himself leads us, we will all die gladly. Die for him. Isn't that so, gentlemen? Perhaps I do not express myself very well, for I have been drinking a good deal, but that's what I feel, and so do you all. [02:52:05] To the health of Alexander the First. Hurrah. [02:52:09] Hurrah. Hurrah. Rang the hearty voices of the officers and the old captain. Kirsten shouted just as heartily and no less sincerely than the 20 year old Rostov. [02:52:20] When the officers had drunken the toast and broken their glasses, Kirsten got a fresh one and filled it, and in his shirt sleeves and riding trousers with the glass in his hand, went to the camp fire of some of the soldiers, assuming a majestic pose, waving his hand over his head, stood with his long gray mustache and white chest visible under his unbuttoned shirt in the firelight. [02:52:42] Children, to the health of the sovereign Emperor. To victory over our enemies. Hurrah. He cried in his youthful old hussar's baritone. [02:52:51] The hussars crowded around and answered in friendly wise with a tremendous shout. [02:52:57] Late that night, when all had separated, Denisov laid his stubby hand on his favorite Rostov's shoulder in the field. No room for love affairs when one's so much in love with the Tsar, said he Denisov, don't jest on this subject, cried Rostov, this is such an exalted, such a noble feeling, that I agree with you. I agree with you, my friend. I understand, I approve. [02:53:24] No, you can't understand it. And Rostof got up and began to wander among the watch fires and dreamed of what bliss it would be to die. As to losing his life, he did not dare think of that, but simply to die in the presence of his sovereign. He was really in love, not only with the Czar, but also with the glory of the Russian arms and the hope of impending victory. [02:53:46] And he was not the only one who experienced this feeling. On the memorable days that preceded the Battle of Austerlitz, 9/10 of the men composing the Russian army were at that time in love, though perhaps less ecstatically, with their Czar and the glory of the Russian arms. [02:54:03] Chapter 10. [02:54:09] Part 3 Chapter 11 of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskell Doyle on the following day the sovereign remained in Vischow. [02:54:19] His body physician, Villier, was several times called to see him, and not only at headquarters, but in the various corps. The report was spread abroad that the Emperor was ill. [02:54:29] He had eaten nothing that day and had slept badly the night before. [02:54:34] So those who were in his councils reported. [02:54:37] This indisposition proceeded from the powerful impression produced upon his sensitive soul by the sight of the wounded and the killed. [02:54:46] At daybreak on the 29th, a French officer with a flag of truce passed the sentinels and was brought into Vischau, demanding a personal interview with the Russian Emperor. [02:54:57] This officer was Sevres. [02:55:00] The sovereign had just fallen asleep, and therefore Sevres was obliged to wait. [02:55:05] At noon he was admitted into the Emperor's presence, and at the end of an hour came out and rode, accompanied by Prince Dolgov, back to the pickets of the French army. [02:55:16] It was soon reported that the purpose of Sevres mission was a proposal for a meeting of the Emperor with Napoleon. [02:55:23] This personal meeting was refused, much to the gratification and delight of the whole army. And in the sovereign's place, Prince Dolgorukov, the conqueror of his job, was delegated to confer with Napoleon, if, contrary to anticipation, he should express a genuine desire for peace. [02:55:41] In the evening Dolgorukof returned, went directly to the sovereign, and was closeted a long time with him alone. [02:55:48] On 30 November and 1 December the armies moved forward two more stages, and the advanced pickets of the army, after slight skirmishes, retired. [02:55:59] Before noon of December 1st there began in the Upper circles of the army, a vigorous, stirring and exciting movement, which continued until the morning of the 2nd of December, when was fought the world renowned battle of Austerlitz. [02:56:14] Up till the afternoon of the first, the movement, the excited conversations, the galloping about and carrying of messages, was confined to the headquarters of the two emperors. [02:56:25] In the afternoon of the same day the excitement was communicated to Kutuzof's headquarters and and to the staffs and the division commanders. [02:56:33] By evening this movement had spread by means of the adjutants to all the remotest portions of the army. And during the night that followed, the 1st of December, the enormous mass of 80,000 men comprising the Allied armies arose from their bivouacs with a hum of voices and stirred and wavered like a mighty fabric 10 versts in length. [02:56:54] The concentrated movement, beginning in the morning at the headquarters of the emperors, and finally giving its impulse to the whole, even to the remotest parts, was analogous to the first movement of the central wheel of a great tower clock. [02:57:08] The one wheel moves slowly, it starts another a third, and ever more and more swiftly. The wheels, pulleys, pinions, begin to revolve, the chimes of bells to play, the figures to go through their evolutions, the hands to move in measured time, showing the results of the motions, as in the mechanism of the clock, so in the mechanism of this military movement, no less irresistibly they move even to the last resultant, when, once the impulse is given, and just as impassably immovable, up to the moment when the movement is started, are the parts of the mechanisms as yet unstirred by their work. [02:57:49] The wheels whiz on their axles, the cogs catch, the revolving sheaves hiss in their rapid motion. But the next wheel is as yet as calm and immovable as though it had before it a century to remain in immobility. [02:58:04] And then its movement comes. The cog has caught and becoming subject to the motion of the wheel, begins to whir as it revolves and takes part in an activity, the results and aim of which are incomprehensible to it. [02:58:19] Just as in the clock. The result of the complicated motions of numberless and different wheels and pulleys is merely to move the hands slowly and in measured rhythm, so as to tell the time. [02:58:30] So the results of all the complicated human motions of these 160,000 Russians and French, all the passions, desires, regrets, humiliations, sufferings, transports of pride, panic, enthusiasms, of all of these men was merely the loss of the Battle of Austerlitz, called the Battle of the Three Emperors, in other words, the measured forward motion of the hand of universal history on the dial of humanity. [02:58:59] Prince Andre was on duty this day and constantly by the side of the Commander in Chief. [02:59:04] About 6 o' clock in the evening Kutuzov came to the headquarters of the emperors and and after a short audience with his sovereign went to see Count Tolstoy, the Oberhof Marshall master of supplies. [02:59:16] Bokonsky took advantage of this time to run into Dogorukovs to find out about the impending engagement. [02:59:23] Prince Andrei felt that Kuduzoff was dissatisfied and out of sorts for some reason or another and that he was out of favor at headquarters and that all whom he had met at the Emperor's headquarters behaved toward him like men who know more than others know. [02:59:37] And it was for this reason that he was anxious for a talk with Dogolikov. [02:59:42] Well, how are you, mon cher? Exclaimed Dolgorukov, who was drinking tea with Bilibin. The celebration comes tomorrow. What's the matter with your old man? He seems out of sorts. [02:59:54] I should not say that he was out of sorts, but I think that he would like to have been listened to. [03:00:00] Well, he was listened to at the Council of War and he will be when he is willing to talk business. [03:00:06] But to be temporizing and waiting for something now that Bonaparte fears a general engagement more than anything else is impossible. [03:00:13] And so you've seen him, have you? Asked Prince Andre, well, what sort of man is this Bonaparte? What impression did he produce upon you? [03:00:23] Yes, I have seen him, and I am convinced that he is more afraid of a general engagement than of anything else in the world, replied Dogorulakov, evidently laying great store by this general conclusion drawn from his interview with Napoleon. [03:00:37] If he were not afraid of a general battle, why should he have demanded this interview and entered into negotiations and above all retreated when retreating is contrary to his entire method of carrying on war? [03:00:49] Believe me, he is afraid. Afraid of a general engagement. His hour is at hand, mark my words. [03:00:58] But tell me about him. What kind of man is he? As Prince Andre? [03:01:03] He is a man in a gray overcoat, very anxious for me to address him as your Majesty, and very much affronted because I gave him no title at all. [03:01:12] That's the kind of a man he is, and that's all I can say, replied Dogurikov, looking at Billabin with a smile. [03:01:19] In spite of my perfect confidence in old Kudasov, he went on to say, we should all be in a fine state if we kept on waiting for something to happen. And thereby giving him the chance to outflank us or play some trick upon us now that he's right in our hands, Evidently no, it's not a good thing to forget Suvaroff and his rule. It's a better policy to attack than to be attacked, I assure you. In war the energy of young men often points out the way more wisely than all the experience of old tacticians. [03:01:51] But in what position are we going to attack him? I was at the advance post today, and it is impossible to make out where his main force is stationed, said Prince Andre. [03:02:00] He was anxious to explain to Dogorukov a plan of attack of his own that he had devised. [03:02:06] Oh, it's of absolutely no consequence, replied Dogolikov, hastily, getting up and spreading a map on the table. [03:02:13] All contingencies are foreseen if he's posted at Brune and Prince Do Gurukov. Rapidly, and not very clearly unfolded Virather's plan for a flank movement. [03:02:25] Prince Andre hastened to raise objections and to expound his own plan. [03:02:29] Perhaps it was fully as good as Weirother's, but it had one serious fault that Weirothers had been approved. Instead, as soon as Prince Andre began to point out the disadvantages of Vayrathers and the excellencies of his own plan, Prince Dolgorukov ceased listening to him and looked absently not at the map but at Prince Andre's face. [03:02:49] Well, there is to be a council of war this evening at Kudasovs. There you will have a chance to deliver your views, said Dogurikov. [03:02:57] I certainly shall, said Prince Andre, pushing the map aside. [03:03:02] And what are you struggling over, gentlemen? Asked Bilibin, who until now had been listening to their discussion with a gay smile and had at last made up his mind to get some sport out of it. [03:03:12] Whether we have a victory or a defeat tomorrow, the glory of the Russian arms is assured. [03:03:17] Except our Kurdishov, there isn't a single Russian division commander. [03:03:22] The heads are Herr General Wimpfin, le Comp de la grand, le Prince de Lichtenstein, le Prince de Hohenlohe at Einfin, Prats, Pratts, and all the rest of the Alphabet, like all Polish names. [03:03:36] Hush moves Lanka, said Dogorukov. It isn't so, for here are two others, Russians, Melodovich and Doctorov, and we might count Count Eric Chef as a third. But he has weak nerves. [03:03:52] Well, I think Mikhail Iloronovich must have come out, said Prince Andre. I wish you all happiness and success, gentlemen, he added, and after shaking hands with Dolgorokov and Bilibin went in search of Kudasov. [03:04:05] On the way back to their quarters, Prince Andre could not refrain from asking Kudasov, who sat in moody silence beside him, what he thought of the approaching engagement. [03:04:15] Kutasov looked sternly at his adjutant and after a moment of silence replied, I think that the battle will be lost. And so I told Count Tolstoy and begged him to repeat it to the sovereign. [03:04:27] And what do you think was the answer he gave me? [03:04:30] Ah, my dear General, rice and cutlets occupy me. You attend to the affairs of war. [03:04:36] Yes, that's the way they answer me. [03:04:40] End of chapter 11. [03:04:47] Part 3 Chapter 12 of War and Peace By Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskel Doyle at 10 o' clock that evening Weirother came with his plans to Kutuzof's headquarters where the Council of War was to be convened. [03:05:00] All the division commanders had been summoned to meet at the Commander in Chief's and with the exception of Prince Bagration, who excused himself, all appeared at the appointed hour. [03:05:11] Weirother, who was the chief promoter of the proposed engagement, presented by his eagerness and vehemence, a sharp contrast to the dissatisfied and sleepy looking Kutuzof, who in spite of himself was obliged to preside as chairman over the Council of War. [03:05:26] Weirother evidently felt that he was the head centre of the movement which had already become irresistible. [03:05:32] He was like a horse harnessed into a loaded team and going downhill. He knows not whether he is pulling it or whether it is forcing him onward, but he is borne down with all possible rapidity and has no time to deliberate on the outcomes of this downward motion. [03:05:48] Weirother twice that afternoon had been out personally to inspect the enemy's pickets and and had twice called on the Russian and Austrian emperors with his reports and explanations, and had been to his own chancellery where he had dictated his dispositions in German and now, all worn out he came to Kudasov's. [03:06:08] He was evidently so full of his own ideas that he forgot to be civil to the Commander in Chief. He interrupted him, spoke rapidly and incoherently, not looking into the face of his colleague, not replying to the questions asked him, and he was spattered with mud and had a woe begone, haggard, distracted, but at the same time self conceited and haughty appearance, Kutasov occupied a small manor house near Austerlitz. In the large drawing room, which had been converted into a cabinet for the Commander in Chief were gathered all the members of the Council of War, including Kutasov himself and Weirother, they were drinking tea. They were only waiting for Bagration in order to open the Council session. [03:06:51] Shortly after 10 o' clock Bagration's orderly rode over with the message that the Prince was unable to be present. [03:06:58] Prince Andrei came in to report this to the Commander in Chief, and improving the permission previously granted by Kutuzof to be present at the Council, remained in the room. [03:07:08] Well then, as Prince Bagration is not to be here, we may as well begin. And exclaimed Viol, hastily jumping up from his seat and going over to the table, whereon was spread a large map of the environs of Brune. [03:07:22] Kutasov, with his uniform unbuttoned, apparently to give greater freedom to his stout neck clasped by his collar, was sitting in a Voltaire chair with his plump, aged looking hands symmetrically placed on the arms, and was almost asleep. [03:07:37] At the sound of Violeta's voice he with difficulty opened his one eye. [03:07:43] Yes, yes, please, else it will be late, said he, nodding his head. He let it sink and again closed his eye. [03:07:52] If at first the members of the Council supposed that Kudasoff was only pretending to sleep, this time the sounds that proceeded from his nose during the course of the subsequent reading were sufficient proof that what occupied the Commander in Chief was vastly more serious to him than than his desire to express scorn for the plan of battle or anything else. [03:08:12] What concerned him at that moment was the invincible requirement of human nature sleep. He was actually napping. [03:08:20] Weirother, with the action of a man too much occupied to waste a moment of time, glanced at Kutuzov as though he perceived that he was asleep, took his paper and in a loud, monotonous tone began to read his plan for the disposition of forces for the impending engagement, under the heading which he also read, distribution of the forces for the attack on the enemy's position behind Kobelnitz and Sokolnitz, November 30, 1805. [03:08:49] The disposition was very complicated and difficult to comprehend in the original German it was to the following effect. [03:08:57] Since the enemy rests his left wing on the wooded mountains, and his right wing stretches along by Noblenitz and Sokolnitz behind the ponds that are there, while we, on the other hand far outnumber his right wing with our left, it is therefore to our advantage to attack the enemy's right wing, especially if we are in possession of the villages of Sokolnitz and Kobelnitz, because we should immediately fall upon the enemy's flanks and be able to Drive him across the plain between Schlapanitz and the Thueris forest and avoid the defiles of Schlapanitz and Bellowitz which protect the enemy's front. [03:09:34] To this end it is necessary the first columns must march, the second column must march, the third column must march, and so on. [03:09:44] Thus read Weirother. [03:09:47] The generals found it hard to listen to the tedious details of the scheme. [03:09:51] The tall, fair haired General Buxhovden stood leaning up against a wall and resting his eyes upon the lighted candles. Standing seemed neither to listen nor to wish it to be supposed that he was listening. [03:10:03] Directly opposite fire author set Miloradovich, with his brilliant wide open eyes, ruddy face and elevated mustache and shoulders in soldierly attitude, resting his hands on his knees with the elbows turned out, he preserved a stubborn silence, gazing directly into Varother's face and taking his eyes from him only when the Austrian commander paused. [03:10:26] Then Miloradovic looked significantly at the other generals, but it was utterly impossible to tell by this significant look whether he agreed or disagreed, whether he were satisfied or dissatisfied with the proposed plan. [03:10:41] Nearest of all to Weirother sat Count de Langeron, and with a shrewd smile which did not once during the reading vanish from his southern French countenance, he gazed at his slender fingers rapidly twirling by the corners, his gold snuff box adorned with a miniature portrait. [03:10:58] In the midst of one of the longest sentences he stopped this whirling of his snuff box, raised his head, and with a disagreeable show of politeness carried to extremes, he interrupted him and started to make some remark. But the Austrian general, not pausing in his task, frowned angrily and made a gesture with his elbows as much as to say, wait, wait. You shall tell me your ideas by and by. [03:11:23] Now be good enough to look at the map and follow me. [03:11:27] Legron threw up his eyes with an expression of perplexity, glanced at Miloradovic as though seeking for an explanation, but meeting Miloradovic's significant but enigmatical glance, he looked away gloomily and began once more to twirl his snuffbox. [03:11:45] He exclaimed, as if to himself, but loud enough to be heard by the others, with respectful but dignified politeness, held one hand to the ear nearest virother and had the appearance of a man whose attention is perfectly absorbed. [03:12:02] Doctorov, small in stature, sat opposite Fireother with attentive and modest mien, and leaned over the map unrolled before him and unconscientiously followed the scheme as it was evolved, studying the places which he did not know. [03:12:16] Several times he begged Weirother to repeat some word that he had failed to understand, or the names of villages that were hard for him to catch. [03:12:24] Weirother complied with his request, and Dokhturov wrote them down in his notebook. [03:12:30] When the reading, which had lasted upwards of an hour was completed, Langeron again laying down his snuff box and, and without looking at Var Arthur or anyone in particular, began to discourse on the difficulties in the way of carrying out such a plan of battle, even where the position of the enemy was known, and particularly when the position of the enemy could not be known, owing to their constant changing from one place to another. [03:12:54] Langeron's objections were well taken, but it was evident that their animus came from a desire to show General Weirother, who had been reading his plan of attack in the most conceited manner, and as though to a pack of schoolboys, that he was dealing not with dunces, but with men who were able to give even him lessons in the art of waging war. [03:13:14] When Weirother's monotonous voice ceased, Kutasov opened his eyes like a miller who wakes the moment the sephoric sounds of his mill wheels are interrupted. He listened to what Langeron said, and then, as much as to say, well, what nonsense you are all capable of uttering, hurriedly closed his eyes again and let his head sink even lower on his breast. [03:13:37] Langeron, evidently to wound Weirother as cruelly as possible in his self love as an author and soldier, went on to show that Bonaparte might easily attack, instead of waiting to be attacked, and consequently make all this elaborate plan of battle perfectly nugatory. [03:13:54] Weirother replied to all these objections with a steady, scornful smile that was evidently prepared beforehand against everything that might be said to him. [03:14:03] If he had been able to attack us, he would have done so today, said he. [03:14:08] You think that he is weak, do you? As longoron he is well off if he has 40,000 men, replied Fire Author with the same smile of a regular practitioner, to whom a woman doctor wishes to suggest some remedy. [03:14:22] In that case he is rushing on his own ruin by waiting for us to attack him, said Langeron with a slightly ironical smile, looking to Miloradovic again for confirmation. But Miloradovic was apparently thinking least of all of what the generals were contending about. [03:14:39] Ma foi, said he, to morrow we shall find out all about it on the battlefield. [03:14:44] Weirother again indulged in that smile, which said that to him it was absurd and Strange to meet the objections of the Russian generals toward what not only he himself, but the sovereign emperors had had faith in the enemy, have quenched their fires, and a constant rumble has been heard in his camp, said he. What does that signify? Either he is retreating, which is the only thing that we have to fear, or he is changing his position. [03:15:11] He smiled. [03:15:12] But even if he should take up his position in Thrarassa, he is merely saving us great trouble. And all our arrangements, even to the minutest details, would remain the same. [03:15:23] How so? As Prince Andre, who had been watching for some time for an opportunity to express his doubts, Kudasov here woke up, coughed severely, and looked around on the generals. [03:15:34] Gentlemen, the arrangements for tomorrow, or rather for today, for it is already one o', clock, cannot be changed, said he. [03:15:44] You have heard them, and we will all perform our duty. But before the battle there is nothing more important. [03:15:50] He paused a moment. Then, to have a good night's rest, he made a motion to arise. The generals bowed and separated. It was already after midnight. Prince Andre went to his quarters. [03:16:04] The Council of War, at which Prince Andre was not given a chance to express his opinion as he had hoped, left a dubious and disturbing impression on his mind. [03:16:14] He did not know who was right, Dolgorokov and Rothfiler, or Kutuzov and Langaron and the others who did not approve of the plan of attack. [03:16:24] But is it possible that Kutasov cannot communicate his ideas directly with the Emperor? [03:16:29] Can't this be done even now? [03:16:32] Can it be that for mere court or private considerations thousands of lives must be imperiled? And mine? Mine? He asked himself. [03:16:41] Yes, it is very possible, he thought, that I may be killed to morrow. And suddenly, at this thought of death, a whole series of most remote and most sincere recollections began to arise in his mind. [03:16:54] He recalled his last parting with his father and his wife. [03:16:58] He remembered the early days of his love toward her. He remembered the baby that she was to bear him. And he began to feel sorry for her and for himself. [03:17:07] And so, in a nervously tender and agitated frame of mind, he left the cottage where he lodged with Nesvitsky and began to walk up and down in front of the house. [03:17:17] The night was cloudy, but the moonbeams mysteriously gleamed through the clouds. [03:17:22] Yes, to morrow. [03:17:25] To morrow, he thought. [03:17:27] To morrow. Perhaps all will be ended. As far as I am concerned, all these recollections will have vanished. [03:17:34] All these recollections will be for me as a mere nothing. [03:17:38] To morrow, perhaps. Indeed, most probably to morrow. [03:17:43] I am convinced of it. I shall have an opportunity for the first time at last, of showing all that I can do. [03:17:50] And he began to picture to himself the battle, the loss of it, the concentration of the fighting at one single point, and the confusion and bewilderment of all the leaders. [03:18:00] And now comes the blessed moment that Toulon, for which he had been waiting so long, offering itself to him. [03:18:08] He resolutely and clearly tells his opinion to Kutuzof and Warotherother and the emperors. All his plans are honored with their approval, but no one offers to carry them out. And so he selects a regiment, a division, imposes the condition that no one shall interfere in his arrangements, and he leads his division to the decisive point and and alone wins the victory. [03:18:30] But death and suffering, Says another voice. [03:18:34] Prince Andrei, however, paid no heed to this voice and continued to dream of his triumphs. [03:18:40] The arrangements of the next battle are entrusted to him alone. He is still nothing but an officer of the day in Kutuzof's army, but still he does everything by his own unaided efforts. The next battle is gained by him alone. [03:18:54] Kutasov is removed, he is called to fill his place. [03:18:59] Well, but what then? Whispered the other voices. [03:19:02] What then? [03:19:04] Supposing you are not wounded 10 times, killed or overreached? [03:19:09] Well, then, and what next? [03:19:13] I am sure I do not know, replied Prince Andre to himself. [03:19:18] I know not what will come next. [03:19:20] I cannot know, and I have no wish to know. But if I wish this, if I wish to gain glory, if I wish to be a famous man, if I wish to be loved by men, then I am not to blame, because I desire it, because this is the only thing that I desire, the only thing for which I live. [03:19:39] Yes, the only thing. [03:19:42] I never will confess this to anyone, but my God, what can I do if I love nothing except glory only and devotion to humanity, death, wounds, loss of family, nothing is terrible to me and yet dear to me, precious to me as many people are, father, sister, wife, the dearest of all. Yet, strange and unnatural as it may seem, I would instantly sacrifice them all for one minute of glory, of triumph, for the affection of men whom I do not know and never shall know, even for the love of those men There, he said to himself, as he listened to the sounds of voices talking in Kutasov's courtyard. [03:20:26] In Kudasov's courtyard the dense Chinks were busy packing up and talking. One voice, apparently, that of the coachman who was teasing Kurasov's old cook, whom Prince Andrei knew and whom they called tit, kept saying tit. I say tit. [03:20:43] There now, replied the old man, tit, grind the wheat, go to the devil. Rang the voice, which was drowned by the shouts of laughter of the dense jinks and servants. [03:20:57] And yet I love and prize the victory over them all. I prize this mysterious strength and glory which seems here to hover above my head in yonder clouds. [03:21:10] End of chapter 12. [03:21:17] Part 3 Chapter 13 of War and Peace By Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskel Doyle Rostof went that same night with his platoon to serve as outpost stationed in the front of Bagration's division. [03:21:30] His hussars were posted two and two along the line. [03:21:34] He himself kept riding his horse the whole length of the line, struggling to overcome his irresistible inclination to drowsiness. [03:21:41] Behind him he could see the enormous extent of space filled with the watch fires of our army, dimly gleaming through the fog. [03:21:49] In front of him was the misty darkness. [03:21:52] Though he strained his eyes to penetrate this misty distance, he could see nothing. [03:21:58] Now it seemed to brighten up a little. [03:22:00] Then there seemed to be some black object. Then he imagined that he saw a light, which he thought must be the watch fires where the enemy were. And then again he told himself that his eyes had deceived him. [03:22:12] He closed his eyes and his imagination presented now his sovereign, now Denisov, now his recollections of Moscow. And again he would open his eyes and see right before his face the head and ears of his horse and and here and there the dark forms of hussars as he came within six paces of them, while everywhere was the same misty darkness veiling the distance. [03:22:36] Why not? It might very possibly come to pass, thought Rostov. The Emperor might meet me and give me an order, just as to any other officer might say, right off yonder and find out what is there. [03:22:49] I have heard many stories about his finding, just by mere chance, an officer like me and taking him into his personal service. [03:22:57] What if he should take me into his personal service? [03:23:00] Oh, and how I should watch over him, how I should tell him the whole truth, how I should unmask his deceivers and Rostof in order to give greater color to the love and devotion which he felt, for his sovereign imagined that he had before him an enemy whom he was killing, or a German traitor whose ears he was roundly boxing in presence of his sovereign. [03:23:25] Suddenly a distant shout startled him. He awoke and opened his eyes. [03:23:31] Where am I? Oh, yes, at the outposts. Counter sign and password are cart, pole and Ohmutz. What a shame that Our squadron is going to be held in reserve. Tomorrow, he said to himself, I will beg to take part. That is probably the only chance I shall have of seeing the Emperor, and it won't be long before I am relieved. I will ride up and down once more, and then I will go and ask the General. [03:23:56] He straightened himself up in the saddle and turned his horse once more to inspect his hussars. [03:24:02] It seemed to him that it had grown lighter. Toward his left he could see a slope, the gleam of a declivity, and lying opposite to him a dark knoll which seemed as steep as a wall. [03:24:15] On the top of this knoll was a white spot. Rostov could not clearly make out whether it was a clearing in the woods lighted by the moon, or a patch of snow or white houses. [03:24:25] It even seemed to him that there was something moving in that white spot. [03:24:30] It must be snow, that spot. [03:24:33] Spot. Untash. Said Rostov, first in Russian, then in French. [03:24:39] How absurd. It's no Tash. [03:24:41] Natasha. My sister has black eyes. N. Tashka. How amazed she will be when I tell her I have seen the Emperor. [03:24:50] Natasha, my saber. Tasha. Take it farther to the right, your nobility. There are bushes there, said the voice of the hussar, by whom Rostov was passing. Half asleep. [03:25:03] Rostov raised his head, which had fallen over almost down to his horse's mane. He drew up near the hussar. [03:25:10] The sleep of youth, of childhood, irresistibly overcame him. [03:25:16] Oh, dear me, what was I thinking of? I must not forget. [03:25:21] How shall I speak to the Emperor? [03:25:23] No, that's not it. That's for tomorrow. [03:25:27] Oh, yes, yes, that spot. Sitash. They'll be attacking us. [03:25:33] Us? [03:25:34] Who? The hussars. But the hussars. And. [03:25:39] And a pair of mustaches. [03:25:41] Along this first Kaya, the hussar was riding. And I was thinking about him. [03:25:45] Right opposite Harif's house. The old man. Harif. [03:25:50] Splendid little Denisov. [03:25:52] Ah, this is all nonsense. The main thing. The Emperor is here now. How he looked at me and wanted to say something to me, but he did not venture. [03:26:03] No, it was I who did not venture. [03:26:07] This is all mixed up. But the main thing is that I must not forget that I had something important on my mind. [03:26:14] So I had. Natashka, Natasha, Latash. [03:26:20] Yes, that's a good joke. And again his head sank forward on the horse's mane. [03:26:26] Suddenly it seemed to him that the enemy were firing at him. [03:26:30] What? [03:26:31] What? What's that? Speak. What is it? Cried Rostof, waking. [03:26:37] At the instant Rostof opened his eyes, he Heard in front of him in the direction of the enemy, the prolonged shouts of thousands of voices. [03:26:45] His horse and the hussars stationed near him picked up their ears at these sounds. [03:26:51] On the spot from which the cries proceeded, one point of fire after another flashed and died, and along the whole line of the French army, stretching up the hills, gleamed those fires. While the shouts grew louder and louder. Rostov made out that it was French, but could not distinguish the words. [03:27:09] There was too great a roar of voices. [03:27:12] All that sounded like was a confused ah and r. [03:27:17] What's that? What do you think it is? Asked Rostov, turning to his neighbor. The hussar. It's from the enemy, isn't it? [03:27:25] The hussar made no reply. [03:27:27] What, don't you hear anything? Asked Rostov, after waiting for some time for the hussar to speak. [03:27:34] How can anybody tell your nobility? Replied the hussar in a non committal way. [03:27:41] Judging from the direction, it must be the enemy, mustn't it? Inquired Rostov. [03:27:46] Maybe tis and maybe tisn't, Exclaimed the hussar. You see, it's night. [03:27:52] There now, steady. He cried to his horse, who was growing restive. [03:27:56] Rostov's horse also became excited and pawed the frozen ground as he listened to the shouting and glanced at the flashing fires. [03:28:04] The shouts of the voices constantly increased in volume and mingled in a general roar such as could have been produced only by an army of many thousand men. [03:28:15] The fire stretched out more and more until at last they seemed to extend throughout the French camp. [03:28:21] Rostov had now lost all inclination to sleep. [03:28:24] The joyful, enthusiastic huzzahs in the enemy's army had a most stimulating effect upon him. [03:28:31] Viva lompre l', empre were the words that Rostov could now clearly distinguish. [03:28:37] Well, they can't be far away. It must be just beyond the brook, said he to the hussar by his side. [03:28:44] The hussar only sighed without vouchsafing any answer and coughed sullenly. [03:28:51] Along the line of the hussars was heard the sound of horsemen coming at full gallop, and out of the darkness of the night suddenly loomed up a shape apparently larger than a colossal elephant. [03:29:02] It was a non commissioned officer of hussars. [03:29:06] The generals, your nobility. Cried the subaltern, riding up to Rostov. [03:29:11] Rostov, still looking in the direction of the shouting and the light, joined the subaltern and rode back to meet several horsemen who were riding along the line. [03:29:20] One was on a white horse. It was Bagration, who, together with Prince Dolgorokov and several aids, came down to see what they could make of the strange phenomenon of the fires and the shouting in the enemy's army. [03:29:33] Rostof rode up to Bagration, reported, and took his place among the adjutants who were listening to what the general might say. [03:29:41] Believe me, said Prince Dolokov, addressing Bagration, this is nothing but a ruse. He is retreating and has ordered the rear guard to light fires and make a noise so as to deceive us. [03:29:53] It is not likely sepagration. [03:29:56] Last evening I saw them on that knoll. [03:29:58] If they were retreating, they would have abandoned it. Mr. Officer, turning to Rostov, are his scouts still there? [03:30:06] They were there last evening, but I can't tell now. Your Illustriousness, if you would like, I will take some of the hussars and find out, replied Rostov. [03:30:15] The gracian hesitated and, making no answer, tried to peer into Rostov's face. [03:30:21] Well, all right, go and reconnoiter, said he after a short pause. [03:30:27] I will do so. [03:30:28] Rostov applied spurs to his horse, called Subaltern Fenchenko and two other hussars, ordered them to follow him, and galloped off down the slope in the direction of the prolonged shouts. [03:30:39] Rostov felt both sad and glad to be riding thus alone with three hussars yonder into that mysterious and terrible misty distance where no one had preceded him. [03:30:50] Bagration called to him from the crest not to go further than the brook, but Rostof pretended not to hear what he said, and without pausing they rode farther and farther, constantly finding themselves subject to illusions, mistaking bushes for trees, gullies for men, and constantly rectifying his impressions. [03:31:08] After they had reached the bottom at a rapid trot, they no longer saw any fires, either on our side or on the enemy's weak. But the shouts of the French began to sound louder and clearer. In the ravine he saw before him what looked to be a river, but when he approached it, he recognized that it was a highway over which he had once ridden. [03:31:28] When he reached the highway, he reined in his horse with some uncertainty. Should he ride along the road or cross it, or strike into the dark field on the other side? [03:31:37] To ride along the road, which shone through the fog, was less perilous because he could distinguish men at a greater distance. [03:31:44] Follow me. He cried, crossing the road. And he began to gallop up the hill toward that place where a French picket had been stationed the afternoon before. [03:31:53] Your nobility, there he is. Exclaimed one of the hussars. And before Rostov had a chance to look at what was beginning to loom up black in the fog, there came A flash of fire, the report rang out, and the bullet, as though regretting something, buzzed high over their heads through the fog and sped out of hearing. [03:32:11] There was no second report. The powder merely flashed in the priming pan. [03:32:16] Rostov turned his horse about and rode back at a gallop again from different points. Four musket shots rang out, and the bullets, with various tones, whistled by and buried themselves in the darkness. [03:32:28] Rostov reined in his horse, which, like himself, felt a thrill of joy at the firing and proceeded at a walk. [03:32:35] Well, there it is again. [03:32:37] There it is again. Whispered some inspiriting voice in his heart. But there were no more shots. [03:32:43] As soon as he neared Bagration, Rostov again urged his horse into a gallop and held his hand to his visor as he approached. [03:32:51] Dogorukov still clung to his opinion that the French were retreating and had kindled the fires merely for the sake of deceiving us. [03:32:58] What does this signify? He asked as Rostov rode up to them. [03:33:03] They might retreat and still leave pickets. [03:33:06] It is evident they have not all gone. Prince Separation. [03:33:10] Tomorrow morning. Tomorrow we shall know for a certainty. [03:33:15] There is a picket, your illustriousness, in just the same place as yesterday, reported Rostov, bending forward, still holding his hand at his visor and unable to refrain from a smile of delight at his ride and especially at the sound of the bullets. [03:33:30] Very good, very good, replied the Gracian. Thank you, Mr. Officer. [03:33:36] Your illustriousness. Astro stuff. Allow me to ask a favor. [03:33:40] What is it? [03:33:42] Tomorrow our squadron is to be left in reserve. Allow me to be transferred to the first squadron. [03:33:48] What is your name? [03:33:49] Count Rostov. [03:33:51] Ah, good. [03:33:53] Stay with me as orderly son of Ilya Andreich? Asked Olgurukov, but Rostov made him no answer. [03:34:01] So I may expect it, your illustriousness. [03:34:04] I will see to it tomorrow. Very likely I may be sent with some message to the sovereign, said Rostov, to himself. [03:34:12] Glory to God. [03:34:14] The shouts and cries in the enemy's army arose from the circumstance that at the time, Napoleon's general order was being read throughout the army, the Emperor himself came on horseback to inspect the bivouacs. The soldiers, seeing the emperor, lighted trusses of straw and followed him with cries of Viva l'. Empire. [03:34:33] Napoleon's order was as follows. [03:34:36] Soldiers, the Russian army has come against us in order to avenge the Austrian army of Ulm. [03:34:43] These are the same battalions which we defeated at Holabrun and which since that time we have been constantly following up. [03:34:52] The position which we occupy is paramount, and as soon as they attempt to outflank my right. They will expose their own flank. [03:35:00] Soldiers. I myself will direct your battalions. I will keep out of range of the firing. If you, with your usual gallantry, carry confusion and consternation into the ranks of the enemy. [03:35:12] But if the combat becomes for one instant doubtful, you will see your Emperor exposing himself at the front to the blows of the enemy. Since there can be no hesitation in the victory, especially today, when the honor of the French infantry, in whose hand lies the honor of the nation, is at stake. [03:35:32] Do not break the ranks under the pretext of carrying away the wounded. Let each man be animated by the thought that we must conquer these mercenaries of England filled with such hatred against our nation. [03:35:46] This victory will bring the campaign to an end and we can retire to winter quarters where we shall be joined by the fresh troops which are mobilizing in France. [03:35:55] And then the peace which I shall conclude will be memorable for my people, for you and for me. [03:36:01] Napoleon. [03:36:04] End of chapter 13. [03:36:11] Part 3 Chapter 14 of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskel Doyle at five o' clock in the morning it was still perfectly dark. The troops of the centre of the reserves and the right wing under Bagration were as yet motionless. But on the left wing the columns of infantry, cavalry and artillery, ordered to be the first to descend from the heights and attack the enemy's right flank and and drive him back into the mountains of Bohemia, according to the disposition, were already stirring and beginning to rise from their couches. [03:36:44] The smoke from the fires into which they were throwing everything superfluous made their eyes smart. [03:36:50] It was cold and dark. [03:36:52] The officers were hastily drinking their tea and breakfasting. The soldiers were munching their biscuits, kicking the round shot to warm their feet, and crowding about in front of the fires, throwing in the remains of their huts, chairs, tables, wheels, buckets and everything that could not be taken with them. [03:37:11] The Austrian guides came between the Russian lines and gave the signal for the start. [03:37:16] As soon as the Austrian officer made his appearance near the quarters of a regimental commander, the regiment began to stir. The soldiers hastened from the fires, thrust their pipes into their bootlegs, their bags into the baggage wagons, put their guns in order and fell into line. [03:37:33] The officers buttoned themselves up, put on their swords and pouches and inspected the lines. Now and then, venting their displeasure, the adjutants, battalion commanders and colonels mounted their horses, crossed themselves and issued their last instructions, orders and commissions to the train hands left in charge of the baggage. [03:37:53] Then was heard the monotonous tramping of thousands of feet the columns were set in motion, but they knew not whither they were going, and owing to the throngs that surrounded them and the smoke and the thickening fog, they could not see either the place that they were leaving or that to which they were sent. [03:38:12] The soldier in a military movement is as much surrounded, limited and fettered by his regiment as a sailor is by the ship in which he sails, however far he goes, into whatever strange, unknown and terrible distances he is sent around him. Are always and everywhere the same comrades, the same ranks, the same sergeant Ivan Mitrich, the same company dog Zulchka, the same officers. [03:38:40] Just as for the sailor, there are the same decks, the same masts and the same cables. [03:38:46] The sailor rarely cares to know what distances over which his ship has sailed. [03:38:51] But on the day of a military movement, God knows how or whence, or in what world of mystery, the soldiers hear a stern note which is the same for all and which signifies the nearness of something decisive and solemn and invites them to dream of what they are not usually wont to think about. [03:39:09] The soldiers on the day of a military movement are excited and strive to get beyond the petty interests of their own regiment. [03:39:17] They are all ears and eyes and greedily ask questions about what is going to take place before them. [03:39:23] The fog was so dense that, though it had grown lighter, it was impossible to see ten paces ahead. [03:39:30] Bushes seemed like huge trees. Level places gave the impression of being precipices and slopes. [03:39:37] Anywhere, at any moment they might fall upon the enemy, who would be utterly invisible within ten paces. [03:39:44] But the columns marched for a long time in the same fog, up hill and down dale, skirting gardens and orchards along by places where none of them had ever been before and still they found no enemy. [03:39:57] On the other hand, in front of them, behind them, on all sides of them, the soldiers were made conscious that our Russian columns were all marching in the same direction. [03:40:08] Each soldier felt a thrill at the heart, at the knowledge that many, many others of our men were going where he was going, that is, he knew not whether. [03:40:18] See there, the Kursk men have started, said various voices in the ranks. [03:40:23] Terrible lot of our troops collecting here. Messmates. Last evening I looked around when the fires were lit, couldn't see the end of them. Like Moscow in one word, although not one of the division nachalniks came near the ranks or had anything to say to the soldiers. The division of Chalnyx, as we saw in the Council of War, were out of sorts and dissatisfied with the work in hand and consequently merely carried out the general orders and did nothing to inspirit the men. [03:40:53] Still the soldiers marched on cheerfully, as is usually the case when they are going into action, and particularly to offensive action. [03:41:01] But after they had been marching for about an hour, all the time in thick fog, they they were ordered to halt, and an unpleasant consciousness of disorder and confusion in the operations spread through the ranks. [03:41:13] It would be very difficult to explain how such a consciousness got abroad, but there was no doubt that it was transmitted and spread with extraordinary rapidity. [03:41:21] The uncertainty became certainty, gaining with irresistible force as water rushes down a ravine. [03:41:29] If the Russian army had been alone by itself, which without allies, then possibly it would have taken much longer time for this consciousness of confusion to grow into a general certainty. [03:41:39] But as it was, all took a natural satisfaction in attributing the cause of the disorder to the stupid Germans, and were convinced that the pernicious snarl was due to the sausage makers. [03:41:50] Why are we halting? [03:41:52] What have we got blocked? We can't have come afoul of the French, can we? [03:41:58] No, we should have heard from them. They'd have begun to fire at us. [03:42:02] They hurried us off so. And now here we are all in muddle in the middle of the field. [03:42:08] That's the way with those cursed Germans. They muddle everything all up. [03:42:13] What stupid devils. If I'd had anything to do with them, I'd have put them to the front. But instead, you may be sure of it, they press us from behind. [03:42:22] And here we are without having anything to eat. [03:42:26] Well, I wonder if we shall be planted here all day. The calvary, they say, is what is blocking the road. Exclaimed an officer. [03:42:35] Those damned Germans don't know their own country. Said another. [03:42:39] What division are you? Cried an adjutant, riding up to them. The 18th. [03:42:45] Then why are you here? You should have been at the front long since. You won't get there now before the afternoon. [03:42:52] Here's a stupid piece of confusion. They themselves don't know what they're up to, said the officer, and he rode off. [03:42:59] Then a general passed and angrily shouted some order in a language that wasn't Russian to Falafa. What sort of stuff is he jabbering? Can't make out a thing he says, remarked a soldier, mimicking the general as he rode off. [03:43:13] I'd have had them all shot down, the scoundrels. [03:43:17] We were ordered to be in position by 9 o', clock, and now we have not got half way there. What stupid arrangements. [03:43:24] And this was heard on all sides. And the feeling of energetic ardor with which the army had started out began to be wasted in vexation and anger against the arrangements and the Germans. [03:43:35] The cause of the confusion was this. [03:43:38] After the Austrian cavalry on the left wing had set forward, those who had charge of it came to the conclusion that the Russian centre was too widely separated from the right, and all the cavalry was commanded to cross over to the right side. [03:43:51] Several thousands of cavalrymen rode across the front of the columns of infantry, and the infantry had to wait till they passed. [03:43:58] At the front a dispute had arisen between the Austrian guide and a Russian general. [03:44:03] The Russian general shouted angrily, demanding that the cavalry should stop. [03:44:07] The Austrian insisted that he was not to blame but his superior officers. [03:44:13] Meantime, the army was obliged to halt and was growing impatient and losing spirit. [03:44:18] After an hour's delay, the troops at last began to move forward once more and found themselves descending into the valley. [03:44:25] The fog, which had been scattering on the heights, was as thick as ever on the lower lands, where they were now marching in front of them in the fog, one shot and then a second was fired incoherently and at different points trata tat. [03:44:39] And then the firing became more regular and rapid, and the engagement fairly began over the brook called holdback, as the troops had no expectation of falling in with the enemy so far down in the valley as the brook, and then met them unexpectedly in the fog, as they had no words of encouragement from their commanding officers and the idea was widespread among them that it was too late. And moreover, as they could not see anyone either in front of them or anywhere near them, owing to the density of the fog, they apathetically and lazily exchanged shots with the enemy, slowly moved forward and then came to a halt again, failing to receive in time the word of command from their officers or the adjutants who wandered at haphazard through the fog in places with which they were unacquainted and in search of their own divisions, that was the way that affairs occurred to the first, second and third columns, which had been ordered to march down into the valley. [03:45:35] The fourth column, which Kutuzov himself had under his own command, was stationed on the heights of the Pretzer in the lowlands, where the battle had already begun. The fog seemed thicker than ever, but on the heights it was clear still nothing could be seen of what was going on at the front. [03:45:52] Until 9 o'. Clock. No one could tell whether the enemy was in his full strength, as we supposed, 10 versts in advance, or was down there in the impenetrable fog. [03:46:02] It was now 9 o'. Clock. [03:46:04] The fog, like a fathomless sea, spread over the valley. But on the height in front of the village of Schlapanitz, on the height where Napoleon stood surrounded by his marshals, it was perfectly bright. [03:46:17] Over them was the bright blue heaven and the mighty sun, like a gigantic hollow ball of fire, just rose above the milk white sea of fog. [03:46:26] The French troops and Napoleon himself with his staff, were not on the farther side of the brooks and the hollows of Sokolnitz and Schlapanitz, behind which we had expected to take up our positions and begin the engagement. [03:46:39] But they had all come over to the hither side and were so near our troops that Napoleon with his naked eye could distinguish in our army a horseman from an infantry soldier. [03:46:49] Napoleon, mounted on his little gray Arab and wearing the same blue cloak in which he had made the whole Italian campaign, stood a little in advance of his marshals. [03:46:59] He silently gazed at the summits of the hills, seeming to emerge from the fog, and watched the Russian troops moving along in the distance and listened to the sounds of firing in the valley. [03:47:10] Not a muscle of his face, it was still thin moved. His glittering eyes were steadfastly fixed upon one spot. His anticipation seemed to be justified. [03:47:22] The Russian troops had already in part defiled down into the ravine toward the ponds and lakes, and part of them were evacuating the heights of the Pretzer, which he considered the key of the situation and intended to attack. [03:47:35] He could see amid the fog how, down into the hollow formed by the two high hills near the village of Pretzen, the Russian columns with glittering bayonets were steadily moving in one direction toward the valley and disappearing one after another into the sea of fog, by the reports which had been brought him the evening before, by the sound of wheels and footsteps that had been heard during the night along the vanguard, by the disorderly movements of the Russian columns, by all the indications, he clearly saw, in fact, that the allied armies supposed him to be posted a long distance from them, that the columns moving near in the vicinity of Pratzen constituted the centre of the Russian army, and that this centre was weak enough to justify him in giving it attack. [03:48:19] But still he did not begin the battle that was a solemn day for him, the anniversary of his coronation. [03:48:28] Just before morning he had taken a nap for a few hours, and then, waking healthy, jovial, fresh and in that happy frame of mind in which everything seems possible, success certain, he mounted his horse and rode out into the field. [03:48:44] He stood motionless, gazing at the hills becoming visible through the fog and into his cold face. There came that peculiar shade of self confident, well deserved happiness, such as is sometimes seen on the face of a young lad who is happy and in love. [03:49:00] His marshals were grouped behind him and did not venture to distract his attention. [03:49:05] He gazed now at the heights of the Pretzer, now at the sun swimming out of the fog. [03:49:11] When the sun had risen clear above the fog, and his dazzling radiance gushed over the fields and the fog, as though this were the signal for which he was waiting to begin the affair, he drew off his glove from his handsome white hand, beckoned his marshals, and gave the order for the beginning of the battle. [03:49:28] The marshals, accompanied by their aids, galloped off in different directions, and within a few moments the chief forces of the French army were in rapid motion toward those same heights of the Pratzer which the Russian troops were abandoning more and more as they filed to the left and into the vale. [03:49:46] End of chapter 14. [03:49:54] Part 3 Chapter 15 of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskell Doyle at 8 o' clock that morning Kutuzof had ridden up toward the Praetzer and at the head of the fourth Division Miladradoviches, which was to take the place of the columns of Pershevsky and Langaron, which were now on their way down into the valley, he greeted the men of the foremost regiment and gave the word of command, thereby signifying that he intended to lead that column in person. [03:50:25] When he reached the village of Pritzen, he halted. [03:50:28] Prince Andre, forming one of his large staff, stood just behind him. [03:50:33] Prince Andre felt stirred and excited, and at the same time self confident and calm, as is apt to be the case with a man at the arrival of the moment which he has been anxiously awaiting, he was firmly convinced that this day was to be his Toulon or his Bridge of Arcola. [03:50:52] How it would come about he had not the faintest idea, but he was firmly convinced that it would be. [03:50:58] The lay of the land and the position of our forces were well known to him, so far as they could be known to any one in our army. [03:51:06] His own strategical plan, which now seemed to be doomed never to be carried into effect, had been forgotten. [03:51:12] Having made himself master of Varother's scheme, Prince Andrei wondered what possibilities might rise before him, and began to make new combinations according to which his presence of mind and firmness of might might be called into request. [03:51:27] Toward the left, in the valley below where the fog lay, could be heard the musket fires of the unseen opponents. [03:51:34] There, so it Seemed to Prince Andre. The fighting would be hottest there the obstacles would be met with, and there I shall be sent, he said to himself, with a brigade or division, and with the standard in my hand, I shall rush on and conquer everything before me. [03:51:52] Prince Andrei could not look at the standards of the battalions passing before him without a thrill. [03:51:57] As he looked at one, he kept saying to himself, maybe that is the very standard that I shall seize when I lead the army to the front. [03:52:06] The nocturnal fog remained on the heights only in the form of hoar frost, which was rapidly changing into dew. In the hollows, however, it still spread out like milk white sea. [03:52:18] Nothing could be discerned in that fog. Toward the left, where our troops were descending and where the musketry firing was heard. [03:52:25] Over the heights stretched the clear bright sky, and at the right hung the monstrous ball of the sun. [03:52:32] Far away toward the front, on the other shore of the sea of fog, the wooded hills could be seen rising. [03:52:38] There the enemy must be stationed, and there some object could be distinguished. [03:52:44] At the right, the guards with echoing tramp and rattling wheels and occasionally the glint of bayonets were passing down into the dominion of the fog. [03:52:54] At the left, beyond the village, similar masses of cavalry were filing down and disappearing from view in the sea of fog. [03:53:01] In front and behind, the infantry were debouching. [03:53:05] The commander in chief stationed himself at the entrance of the village and allowed the troops to file past him. [03:53:11] Kutasov that morning appeared fatigued and irritated. [03:53:15] The infantry filing by him came to a halt without any orders, apparently because they had come in contact with some obstacle ahead of them. [03:53:24] Go and tell them to form into battalions and get outside the village, said Kudasov to a general who came riding along. [03:53:31] How is it you do not understand, your excellency, my dear sir, that it's impossible to open ranks so along a village street when we are moving against the enemy? [03:53:42] I propose to form behind the village, your eminence, replied the general. [03:53:47] Kutasov gave him a saturene smile. [03:53:50] You'd be in a fine condition, deploying your front in presence of the enemy. Very fine idea. [03:53:57] The enemy are still a long way off, your eminence, according to the plan. [03:54:01] The plan. Cried Kudasov bitterly. And who told you that? Be good enough to do as I bid you. [03:54:08] I obey, Mons Share, whispered Nesvetsky to Prince Andre. The old man is surly as a dog. [03:54:17] An Austrian officer in a white uniform with a green plume in his hat galloped up to Kutasov and asked him in the name of the Emperor whether the fourth column were taking part in the action. [03:54:28] Kutasov, without answering him, turned around, and his glance fell accidentally on Prince Andre, who was stationed near him. [03:54:36] When he noticed Bolkonski, the vicious and acrimonious expression of his face softened, as though to acknowledge that he was not to blame for what was taking place. [03:54:45] And still, without answering the Austrian adjutant, he turned to Bokonski and said in French, go and see, my dear, if the third division has passed the village yet, command them to halt and await my orders. [03:54:58] As soon as Prince Andre started, he called back and ask if the skirmishers are posted and what they are doing. [03:55:05] What they are doing, he repeated to himself, still paying no attention to the Austrian. [03:55:11] Prince Andre galloped off to execute this order, outstripping the battalions which were all the time pressing forward. He halted the third division and convinced himself that no skirmishers had been thrown out in front of our columns. And the general command in front of the foremost regiment was greatly amazed at the order from the commander in chief to throw out sharpshooters. [03:55:31] The regimental commander was firmly assured in his own mind that other troops were in front of him, and that the enemy could not be less than 10 versts distance. [03:55:40] In reality, nothing could be discerned in front of them except waste ground, which sloped down and was shrouded in fog. [03:55:47] After giving him the commander in chief's orders to repair his negligence, Prince Andre galloped back. Kutuzov was still in the same place, and with his fat body sitting in a dumpy position in the saddle, was yawning heavily with his eyes closed. [03:56:02] The troops had not yet moved, but stood with grounded arms. [03:56:07] Good, very good, said he to Prince Andre, and turned to the general, who, holding his watch in his hand, said that it must be time to move, since all the columns had already gone down from the left wing. [03:56:19] Time enough, your excellency, said Kudasov. [03:56:22] We shall have time enough, he repeated. [03:56:25] At this time, behind Kutuzov were heard the sounds of the regiments in the distance, cheering, and these voices quickly ran along the whole extent of the line of the Russian columns under march. [03:56:36] It was evident that the one whom they greeted was approaching rapidly. [03:56:41] When the soldiers of the regiment at whose head Kutuzov was stationed began to cheer, he rode a little to one side and glanced around with a frown. [03:56:49] Along the road from Prattson came what appeared to be a squadron of gay colored horsemen, two of them at a round gallop road, side by side ahead of the others. [03:56:59] One was in a black uniform with A white plume on a chestnut horse groomed in the English style, the other in a white uniform on a coal black steed. [03:57:09] These were the two emperors with their suite. [03:57:13] Kutasov, with the affectation of the thorough soldier, founded his post, shouted Smyrno ice front to the soldiers halting near him and saluting, rode toward the Emperor. [03:57:25] His whole figure and manner had suddenly undergone a change. [03:57:29] He had assumed the mean of a subordinate, of a man ready to surrender his own will. [03:57:34] With an affectation of deference which evidently was not pleasing to the Emperor Alexander, he came to meet him and saluted him. [03:57:42] This impression crossed the young and happy face of the emperor and disappeared like the mist wreaths in the clear sky after his indisposition. He was a trifle thinner that day than he had been on the fields of old Moots, where Bonsky had for the first time seen him abroad. [03:57:58] There was the same enchanting union of majesty and sweetness in his beautiful gray eyes and on his thin lips the same possibility of varied feelings and the same predominating expression of beneficent, innocent youth. [03:58:12] At the review at Olmutz he had been more majestic. Here he was happier and more full of energy. [03:58:18] His face was a trifle flushed after his gallop of three versts and as he reined in his horse he drew a long breath and glanced around into the faces of his suite. All young men like himself. And like himself, all full of life and Nova Silstoff and Prince Volkonski and Stroganoff and many others, all richly dressed, jovial young men on handsome, well groomed, fresh looking and slightly sweating horses, chatting and laughing together, formed a group behind the sovereign. [03:58:51] The Emperor Franz, a Florida young man with a long face, sat bolt upright in his saddle on his handsome black stallion and slowly glanced around him with an anxious expression. [03:59:02] He beckoned to one of his white uniformed aids and asked him some question. [03:59:06] Probably he asked, at what hour they had come, thought Prince Andre, gazing at his old acquaintance with a smile which he could not repress at the thought of his audience. [03:59:16] The Emperor's suite was composed of young orderlies, Austrian and Russian, selected from the regiments of the guards and of the line grooms, had brought with them handsome reserve horses in embroidered comparisons for the emperors justice. When a fresh breeze from the fields breeze through an open window into a stuffy chamber, so these brilliant young men brought with them to Kudasov's dispirited staff the sense of youth and energy and confidence in victory. [03:59:43] Why don't you begin? Mikhail Larianovic impatiently demanded the Emperor Alexander, turning to Kudasov at the same time looking curiously toward the Emperor France. [03:59:54] I was waiting, your majesty, replied Kudasov, deferentially, bowing low. [03:59:59] The emperor leaned toward him, frowning slightly and giving him to understand that he did not hear. [04:00:05] I was waiting, your Majesty, repeated Kudasov, and Prince Andre noted that Kudasov's upper lip curled unnaturally when he repeated the words. I was waiting. [04:00:15] The columns have not all assembled, your majesty, the sovereign heard, but the answer evidently displeased him. He shrugged his drooping shoulders, glanced at Nova Silstaf, who was standing near him, and his glance seemed to imply a certain compassion for Kutasov. [04:00:31] We are not on the Empress's field, Mikhail Arianovich, where the review is not begun until all the regiments are present, said the Emperor, again glancing at the Emperor Franz's eyes and as if to ask him if he would not take part, so that he might listen to what he might say. [04:00:47] But the Emperor Franz, who was still gazing about, did not heed him. [04:00:51] That's the very reason I do not begin, sire, said Kudasov in a ringing voice, seeming to anticipate the possibility that the Emperor might not see fit to hear him. And again a peculiar look passed over his face. [04:01:04] That's the very reason I do not begin, sire, because we are not on parade and not on the Empress's field, he repeated clearly and distinctly. [04:01:13] The faces of all those composing the Emperor's suite expressed annoyance and reproach as they hastily exchanged glances on hearing these words. [04:01:22] No matter if he is old, he ought not, he never ought to speak in that way, the faces seem to say. [04:01:29] However, if you give the order, your majesty, said Kudasov, raising his head, and again assuming that former tone of a general ready to listen to orders and to obey, he turned his horse, beckoning to Division Commander Miloradovich, he gave him the order to attack. [04:01:46] The troops were again set in motion, and two battalions of the Novgorodsky Regiment and one battalion of the Esperian Regiment filed forward past the Emperor. [04:01:56] While this affairson battalion was passing, the florid Miloradovic without his cloak and with his uniform covered with orders and his hat decorated with an immense plume, and set on one side with a point forward, galloped forward and gallantly saluting, reigned in his horse in front of the sovereign Espogam. God be with you, General. Exclaimed the Emperor. [04:02:18] We will do our best, sire, replied the other cheerily. [04:02:21] Nevertheless, the gentleman of the suite could not refrain from smiling contemptuously at the execrable way in which he pronounced his French, Miloradovic turned his horse sharply round and remained a short distance behind the Emperor. [04:02:35] The Spherium boys, inspired by the presence of their sovereign, marched by the emperors and their suite with lively, gallant strides, keeping perfect time. [04:02:45] Children. Cried Miloradovic in a loud, self confident and cheering voice, evidently roused by the sounds of the firing, the expectation of the battle, and the sight of the Esperan boys, who had been his comrades in the campaign with Suvaroff, and were now briskly marching past the emperors and roused to such a pitch that he forgot that the sovereign was present. [04:03:06] Children, this is not the first village that you have had to take. He cried. [04:03:11] Do our best. Cried the soldiers. The Emperor's mayor started at the unexpected shout. [04:03:17] This mayor, which the Emperor had written before during other reviews in Russia, here on the battlefield of Austerlitz, carried her rider, not noticing the captious thrust of his left heel, pricking up her ears at the sound of the musketry firing, just as she did on the field of Mars, not realizing the significance of those re echoing volleys, nor of the neighborhood of the Emperor Franz's black stallion, nor of what the man who was on that day set upon her back, said, thought, felt. [04:03:46] The sovereign, with a smile, turned to one of his immediate suite, and, pointing to the Asphirian lads, made some remarks. [04:03:54] End of chapter 15. [04:04:02] Part 3 Chapter 16 of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskel Doyle Kutuzof, accompanied by his aides, rode slowly after the carabiners. After riding half a verst, he caught up with the rear end of the column and halted at a single deserted house. It had apparently been a drinking house near the junction of two roads. [04:04:24] Both roads led down into the valley, and both were crowded with troops. [04:04:28] The fog began to disperse, and already two verse away could be seen those yet indistinctly the ranks of the enemy on the heights opposite. [04:04:37] Down in the valley at the left, the firing was growing more violent. Kutasov halted, discussing some point with the Austrian general. [04:04:45] Prince Andre, sitting on his horse a little distance behind, gazed at them, and then, wishing to obtain the use of a field glass, turned to one of the aides who had one. [04:04:55] Look, look. Exclaimed this adjutant, turning his glass not at the distant host, but to a hill nearby in front of them. Look. There are the French. [04:05:05] The two generals and the adjutants reached after the glass, one taking it from the other. [04:05:10] All the faces suddenly changed and an expression of dismay came into them. [04:05:15] They expected to find the French two Verses away. And there they were, unexpectedly appearing bright at hand. [04:05:21] Is that the enemy? It can't be. [04:05:25] Yes, look. They certainly it is. [04:05:29] What does it mean? Exclaimed various voices. [04:05:32] Prince Andre, with his naked eye, could see a dense mass of the French moving up at the right to meet the Asphirin boys not more than 500 paces from the very spot where Kutasov was standing. [04:05:42] Here it is. The decisive moment is at hand. My chance has come, said Prince Andre, and starting up his horse, he approached Kudasov. [04:05:51] The Asphirin men ought to be halted, your Eminence. He cried. [04:05:55] But at that very instant all became veiled in smoke. The rattle of musketry sounded near them, and a naively terrified voice only two steps from Prince Andre called, well, brothers, it's all up with us. And this voice seemed to be a command. [04:06:10] At this voice all started to run, confused, but still constantly increasing throngs ran back by the very same place where, five minutes before, the troops had filed so proudly past the emperors. [04:06:22] Not only was it hard to arrest these fugitives, but it was even impossible not to be borne back by the mob. [04:06:29] Bolkonsky could only struggle not to let them pass him, and and he gazed around, finding it quite out of the question to understand what was taking place at the front. [04:06:38] Nezvitsky, with angry face, flushed and quite unlike himself, cried to Kudasov that if he did not instantly come away, he would probably be taken prisoner. Kudasov still stayed in the same place and without answering took out his handkerchief. A stream of blood was trickling from his face. [04:06:55] Prince Andre forced his way through to where he was. [04:06:59] You are wounded? He asked, scarcely controlling the trembling of his lower jaw. [04:07:04] The wound is not here, but yonder, said Kudasov, pressing his handkerchief to his wounded cheek and pointing to the fugitives. Halt them. He cried, and at the same time, evidently convinced that it was an impossibility to bring them to a halt, he gave spurs to his horse and rode off to the right. [04:07:23] New masses of fugitives came pouring along like a torrent, engulfed him, and bore him along with them. [04:07:30] These troops were pouring back in such a dense throng that when one was once entangled in the midst of it, there was great difficulty in extricating oneself. [04:07:39] Some shouted, he's coming. Why don't you let him pass? [04:07:43] Others turned around and fired their muskets into the air. [04:07:46] Others struck the horse on which Kutuzof rode. But by the exercise of supreme force, Kof, accompanied by his staff, diminished by more than half, struggled through to the left and rode off in the direction of the cannonading herd. Not far away, Prince Andre, also forcing his way through the throng of fugitives and endeavoring not to become separated from Kudasof, could make out through the reek of gunpowder smoke a Russian battery on the side of the hill, still blazing away vigorously, while the French were just marching against it. [04:08:18] A little higher up stood the Russian infantry, neither moving forward to the aid of the battery nor back in the same direction with the fugitives. A general spurred down from this brigade of infantry and approached Kutasov. [04:08:31] Out of Kutasov's staff only four men were left, and all were pale and silently exchanged glances. [04:08:37] Stop those poltroons. Cried Kutuzov, all out of breath, as the regimental commander came up to him and pointing to the fugitives. But at that very second, as though for punishment for those words, like a bevy of birds, a number of bullets flew, buzzing over the heads of the regiment and of Kutuzov staff. [04:08:56] The French were charging the battery, and when they caught sight of Kutuzov, they aimed at him. [04:09:02] At this volley the regimental commander suddenly clapped his hand to his leg. A few soldiers fell, and an ensign standing with the flag dropped it from his hand. [04:09:11] The flag reeled and fell, catching on the bayonets of the soldiers near him. The men began to load and fire without orders. [04:09:19] Oh. Groaned Kutuzov with an expression of despair, and glanced around. [04:09:24] Bolkonski, he whispered, his weak old man's voice trembling with emotion. Balconsky, he whispered, pointing to the demoralized battalion and at the enemy. [04:09:35] What does this mean? [04:09:37] But before he had uttered these words, Prince Andre, conscious of the tears of shame and anger choking him, had already leaped from his horse and rushed toward the standard. [04:09:47] Children, follow me. He cried in his youthful, penetrating voice. [04:09:51] Here it is, thought Prince Andrei, as he sees the flag staff. And he listened with rapture to the whiz of the bullets that were evidently directed straight at him. [04:10:00] A number of the soldiers fell. [04:10:03] Hurrah. Cried Prince Andre, instantly seizing the flag and rushing forward with unfailing confidence that the whole battalion would follow him. [04:10:11] In fact, he ran on only a few steps alone. Then one soldier was stirred, and then another, and the whole battalion, with hussas, dashed forward and overtook him. A non commissioned officer of the battalion grasped the standard, which from its weight shook in Prince Andrei's hand. But he was instantly shot down. [04:10:30] Prince Andre again grasped the flag and, dragging it along by the staff, followed after the battalion. [04:10:36] In front of him he saw our artillerymen Some fighting, others abandoning the guns and running toward him. He also saw the French infantry who had seized the artillery horses and were reversing the field pieces. [04:10:48] Prince Andrei and the battalion were now only 20 paces distant from the battery. He heard the incessant whizzing of the bullets over his head and the soldiers constantly groaning and falling at his left and at his right. [04:11:00] But he did not look at them. His eyes were fastened only on what was going on in front of him. Where the battery was, he now saw distinctly a red headed artilleryman with his shacko knocked in and on one side struggling with a French soldier for the possession of the ramrod. [04:11:15] Prince Andrei distinguished clearly the distorted and angry faces of these two men, who evidently were not aware of what they were doing. [04:11:23] What are they up to? Queried Prince Andrei as he looked at them. [04:11:27] Why doesn't the sandy artillerist run if he has no weapons? And why doesn't the Frenchman finish him? He wouldn't have time to get any distance though, before the Frenchman would recollect his musket and put an end to him. [04:11:39] In point of fact, another Frenchman with pointed bayonet ran up to the combatants and the fate of the red haired artillerist, who had no idea what was coming upon him and had just triumphantly made himself master of the ramrod, must have been sealed. [04:11:53] But Prince Andre did not witness the end of the struggle. It seemed to him as though one of the approaching soldiers struck him in the head with the full weight of a cudgel. It was rather painful, but his chief sensation was that of displeasure because it distracted his attention and prevented him from seeing what he had been looking at. [04:12:11] What does this mean? Am I falling? Surely my legs are giving way, he said to himself, and he fell on his back. He. He opened his eyes, hoping to see how the struggle between the artilleryman and the Frenchman ended, and anxious to know whether or not the red haired artillerist was killed or not and the cannon saved or captured. But he could see nothing of it over him. He could see nothing except the sky, the lofty sky, no longer clear, but still immeasurably lofty and with light gray clouds slowly wandering over it. [04:12:43] How still calm and solemn. How entirely different from when I was running, said Prince Andrei to himself. [04:12:51] It was not so when we were all running and shouting and fighting. [04:12:56] How entirely different it is from when the Frenchmen and the artillerymen with vindictive and frightened faces were struggling for possession of the ramrod. [04:13:05] It wasn't so that the clouds then floated over the infinite depths of sky. [04:13:09] How is it that I never before saw this lofty sky? [04:13:13] And how glad I am that I have learned to know it at last. [04:13:17] Yes, all is empty, all is deception, except these infinite heavens, nothing, nothing at all beside and even that is nothing but silence and peace. And thank God. [04:13:34] Chapter 16. [04:13:40] Part 3 Chapter 17 of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskell Doyle at 9 o' clock the right wing under Bagration had not as yet begun to fight. [04:13:52] Unwilling to acquiesce in Dolgorukof? S urgency to begin the battle, and anxious to escape the responsibility, Prince Bagration proposed to the latter to send and make inquiries of the Commander in Chief knew that as the distance separating the two wings was almost 10 verse, the messenger, if he were not killed, which was very probable, and even if he found the Commander in chief, which would be extremely difficult, would not have time to return till late in the afternoon. [04:14:19] The Gracian glanced over his staff with his great expressionless sleepy eyes, and was involuntarily attracted by Rostov's boyish face. Full of excitement and hope, he chose him for the messenger. [04:14:33] And if I should meet His Majesty first before I found the Commander in chief, your illustriousness? Asked Rostov, touching his cap visor. [04:14:40] You can give the message to His Majesty, said Dogorukov, taking the words out of a gracious mouth. [04:14:47] After he was relieved at the outposts, Rostov had been able to catch a few hours sleep before the morning, and felt happy, full of daring and resolution, and brimming over with elasticity of motion and confidence in his own good fortune. [04:15:00] In such a state of mind everything seems easy, bright, and possible. [04:15:05] All his desires had been fulfilled that morning. A general engagement was to be fought he was to take part in it. Moreover, he had been made orderly on the staff of one of the bravest generals. Nay more. He was entrusted with a message to Kudasov, and might have to deliver it to the sovereign himself. [04:15:23] The morning was clear and bright the horse that he rode was excellent his heart was full of joy and courage. [04:15:30] Having received his instructions, he struck in the spurs and galloped off along the line. [04:15:35] At first he passed in front of Bagration's forces, which had not as yet engaged, and were ranged in motionless ranks. [04:15:42] Then he rode into the space occupied by Uvaroff's cavalry, and here he began to remark some excitement and and indications of readiness for battle. [04:15:51] After passing Uvarov's cavalry, he began to distinguish clearly the sounds of cannonading and musketry in front of him the firing kept growing more violent. [04:16:00] The morning air was fresh and clear, and it was no longer firing at irregular intervals, two or three shots at a time, and then one or two cannon shot. But along the declivities of the hills in front of Pratzen was heard the thunder of musketry, dominated by such frequent reports from the heavy guns that often a number of them could not be distinguished apart, but mingled in one general rumble. [04:16:23] It could be seen how over the mountain side the puffs of smoke from the muskets seemed to run along chasing each other, and how the great clouds of smoke from the cannon rolled, whirling up, spread and mingled in the air by the glint of bayonets. Through the smoke, the masses of infantry could be seen moving along, and the narrow ribbons of artillery with their green caissons. [04:16:44] Rostov reined in his horse on a hilltop for a moment in order to watch what was going on. But in spite of the closeness of his scrutiny, he could not make out or decipher himself from what he saw what men were moving in the smoke, or what bodies of troops were hurrying this way and that back and forth. [04:17:02] But why? Who are they? [04:17:04] Where are they going? [04:17:06] It was impossible to tell. [04:17:08] This spectacle did not arouse in him any melancholy or timid feelings. On the contrary, they filled him with a new energy and zeal. [04:17:16] Well then, give it to them again, said he, mentally replying to these sounds. And again he started on a gallop along the lines, making his way farther and farther within the domain of troops already now entering into the action. [04:17:30] How this is going to turn out yonder I do not know, but it will be all right, thought Rostov, having passed by some of the troops of the Austrian army, Rostof noticed that the portion of the line next they were the guards were already moving to the attack. [04:17:45] So much the better. I can see it close at hand, he said to himself. [04:17:49] He was now riding along. Almost at the very front. [04:17:52] A number of horsemen were galloping in his direction. These were our lieb uhlans, who, with broken and disorderly ranks, were returning from the charge. [04:18:01] Rostov passed them and could not help noticing that one of them was covered with blood. But he galloped on. [04:18:07] That's of no consequence to me, he said to himself. [04:18:10] He had ridden only a few hundred paces further when he perceived at his left, coming down upon him an immense body of cavalry extending the whole length of the field and likely to cross his path. They were on coal black horses and dressed in brilliant white uniforms. [04:18:25] Rostof spurred his horse at full speed so as to get out of the way of these cavalrymen, and and he would easily have done so had they kept on at the same pace all the time. But they rode faster and faster, and some of the horses were almost upon him. [04:18:39] Rostof distinguished more and more clearly the trampling of their feet and the jingling of their arms, and could see more and more distinctly their horses, their figures and their faces. [04:18:48] These were our cavalier guards on their way to charge the French cavalry who were deploying to meet them. [04:18:55] The cavalier guards came galloping along, still keeping their horses under restraint. Rostov could already see their faces and hear the word of command spoken by an officer, Marsh Marsh, who was urging on his blooded charger. [04:19:10] Rostov, afraid of being crushed or carried away into the charge against the French, spurred along the front with all the speed that he could get out of his horse, and still it seemed as though he were going to fail of it. [04:19:22] The last rider in the line, a pock marked man of giant frame, frowned angrily when he saw Rostof in front of him. Knowing that they must infallibly come into collision, this guardsman would surely have overthrown Rostov, for Rostov himself could not help seeing how small and slight he and Bedouin were in comparison with these tremendous men and horses. If he had not had the presence of mind to shake his riding whip into the eyes of the guardsman's horse, the charger, black as coal, heavy and high, shied, cropping back his ears. But the pock marked rider plunged his huge spurs into his side with all his might, and the charger, arching his tail and stretching out his neck, rushed onwards faster than ever. [04:20:04] Rostov was hardly out of the way of the guardsmen when he heard their huzzas, and glancing around, saw that their front ranks were already mingling with strange horsemen with red epaulets. Apparently the French farther away, it was impossible to see anything, because immediately after this, on the other side, the cannon began to belch for smoke, and everything was shrouded. [04:20:25] At the moment that the guardsmen dashed past him and were lost to view in the smoke, Rostov was undecided in his own mind whether he should gallop after them or go where his duty called him. [04:20:35] This was that brilliant charge of the cavalier guards which the French themselves supplied much admired. It was terrible for Rostof when he heard afterward that out of all that throng of handsome young giants, out of all those brilliant rich young men, officers and yonkers, mounted on splendid chargers, who galloped past him, only 18 were left alive after the charge. [04:20:57] Why should I envy them? My turn will come, and perhaps I shall see the sovereign very soon now, thought Rostof as he galloped on. [04:21:05] When he came up to the infantry of the Guards, his attention was called to the fact that shot and shell were flying over them and all around them. Not so much because he heard the sounds of the missiles as because he saw dismay on the faces of the soldiers and an unnatural martial solemnity on the faces of the officers. [04:21:23] As he was riding behind one of the infantry regiments of the Guard, he heard a voice calling him by name. Rostov. [04:21:30] What is it? He. He replied, not seeing that it was Boris. [04:21:33] What do you think of this? We were put in the front line. Our regiment has been in a charge, said Boris, smiling with the happy face such as young men wear when they have been for the first time under fire. Rostov drew up. Have you indeed? He said. And how was it? Repulsed, said Boris, eagerly, and becoming talkative, you can imagine. And Boris began to relate how the Guards, as they stood in their places and seeing troops in front of them, mistook them for Austrians, and then suddenly, by the shots that came flying over them from these same troops, recognized that they were in the front line and unexpectedly engaged in the conflict. [04:22:11] Rostov, not stopping to hear Boris, to the end of the story, started his horse. [04:22:16] Where are you bound? To His Majesty with a message. [04:22:20] There he is, said Boris, who supposed that Rostov wanted His Highness instead of His Majesty, and therefore pointed him to the Grand Duke, who is standing not a hundred paces away, dressed in a helmet and a cavalier guard Colette or jacket, with elevated shoulders and frowning face. He was shouting something to a pale Austrian officer in a white uniform. [04:22:40] No, that's the Grand Duke. But my errand is to the Commander in chief or to the Emperor, said Rostov, and was just getting his horse underway. [04:22:49] Count. Count. Cried Berg, who, no less excited than Boris had been, came running out from the other side. [04:22:56] Count, I've been wounded in my right arm, said he, pointing to his wrist, which was bloody and wrapped up in a handkerchief. And I stayed at the front, Count. I had to hold my sword in my left hand. [04:23:08] In our family, all the von Bergs have been knighted. [04:23:12] Berg went on to say something more, but Rostov, not stopping to listen to him, was already far away, passing by the guards and across a vacant space. Rostov, in order not to get into the front again, as he had been when he was caught by the charge of the cavalier guards, rode along the line of the reserves making a considerable detour of the place where the most violent cannonade and musketry firing was heard. [04:23:34] Suddenly he heard loud volleys of musketry before him and behind our troops, in a place where he would never have suspected the presence of the enemy. [04:23:43] What can that mean? Wondered Rostov. Can the enemy have outflanked us? [04:23:48] It cannot be, he said to himself, and a horror of fear for himself and for the success of the battle suddenly came over him. [04:23:55] Whatever it is, however, he thought now there's no avoiding it. I must find the commander in chief here, and if all is lost, then it is my place to perish with the rest. [04:24:06] The gloomy presentiment which had come over him was more and more made certainty the farther he rode into the fields behind the village of Pratzen, which were occupied by throngs of demoralized troops. [04:24:17] What does this mean? What can this mean? At whom are they firing? Who is firing? He inquired as he overtook Russian and Austrian soldiers running in confused throngs across his path. [04:24:29] The devil only knows. He has beaten us all. All is lost, answered the throngs of the fugitives, in Russian, in German, and in Bohemian, and they could tell no better than he himself could what was going on there. [04:24:43] Hang the Germans. Cried 1. [04:24:45] The devil take them. The traitors Zum Henker diesen to the devil with these Russians, stammered some German. [04:24:54] A number of wounded were wandering down the road. [04:24:57] Curses, cries, groans, mingled in one general uproar. The firing ceased. As Rostov afterwards heard, Russian and Austrian soldiers had fired at each other. [04:25:09] Booze Moi, My God, what does this mean? The thought Rostov. [04:25:13] And here, where any minute the Emperor might see them. But no, these were apparently only a few cowards. [04:25:20] This is only transient. This is nothing. It cannot be, he said to himself. I must get by them as soon as possible. [04:25:29] The idea of a defeat, and of a total defeat could not enter Rostov's head. [04:25:34] Although he could see the French cannon and troops on the prezer on the very place where he had been commanded to find the commander in chief, he could not and would not believe this. [04:25:45] End of chapter 17. [04:25:52] Part 3 Chapter 18 of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskel Doyle Rostof had been told that he should find Kutuzof and the Emperor somewhere in the vicinity of the village of Pratzen, but they were not to be found there, nor was a single nachalnik in sight. But everywhere throngs of fleeing troops of all nationalities. [04:26:13] He spurred on his horse, which was already growing fagged so as to pass by these fugitives as quickly as possible. [04:26:20] But the farther he went, the more demoralized he found. The forces along the high roads where he was riding carriages and equipages of all sorts were crowded together. [04:26:30] Russian and Austrian soldiers of all the different branches of the service, wounded and not wounded. [04:26:37] All this mass hummed and confusedly swarmed under the dispiriting sounds of the shells fired from French batteries posted on the heights overlooking Pratzen. [04:26:47] Where is the Emperor? Where's Kutuzov? Asked Rostov of all whom he could bring to a stop, but not one could vouchsafe him any answer. [04:26:55] At last, seizing a soldier by the collar, he obliged him to reply. [04:27:00] Hey, brother, they've all been yonder this long time. All cut sticks, said the soldier, laughing for some reason and breaking away. [04:27:09] Releasing the soldier, who was evidently drunk, Rostov managed to stop the dense chick or the groom of some person of consequence, and began to ply him with questions. [04:27:19] The dense chick told Rostov that the Emperor had been driven by an hour before, at full speed in a carriage along the same road, and that the Emperor had been wounded. [04:27:28] It cannot be, said Rostov. It must have been someone else. [04:27:33] I myself saw him, said the dense chick with a self satisfied laugh. I ought to know the sovereign by sight. I should like to know how many times I have seen him in Petersburg. He leaned back in the carriage and was pale, very pale. [04:27:47] Heavens, what a rate. Those four black horses thundered by us here. [04:27:51] I should think I might know the Tsar's horses. And Ilya Ivanuich. I guess Ilya the coachman wouldn't be very likely to drive by with anyone less than the Tsar. [04:28:02] Rostov gave his horse the spur and started to ride farther. A wounded officer, passing by turned to him. [04:28:09] Who was it you wanted? Asked the officer. The commander in chief. He was killed by a cannonball. Hit him in the chest right at the head of our regiment. [04:28:19] Not killed, only wounded, said another officer. [04:28:22] Who, Kutuzov? Asked Rostov. [04:28:25] No, not Kutasov, but what do you call him? Ah, well, it's all the same. Not many are left alive. If you go down yonder, yonder to that village, you'll find all the commanders gathered, said the officer, pointing to the village of Gostyradec, and he passed on. [04:28:42] Rostov walked his horse, not knowing now where to go or whom to seek. The sovereign wounded, the battle lost. It was impossible to believe that even now. Rostov rode away in the direction indicated by the officer. In the Distance could be seen towers and a church. [04:29:00] What was the need of him to hurry? What had he now to say to the sovereign or to Kudasoff, even if they were alive and not wounded? [04:29:08] That road. Take that road, your nobility, else they'll shoot you. Down yonder. Cried a soldier to him. They'll shoot you. [04:29:16] Oh, what are you talking about? Cried another. That's the nearest way to where he's going. [04:29:22] Rostov considered a moment and then rode in exactly the direction where they said that he would be killed. [04:29:28] Now it's all the same to me if the sovereign is wounded. Why should I try to save my life? He asked himself. [04:29:35] He rode out on the open space where there had been the heaviest slaughter of men escaping from Pratzen. [04:29:41] The French had not yet occupied this place, and the Russians, that is, those who were alive or only slightly wounded, had long before abandoned it. [04:29:49] On the ground, like shocks of corn on a fertile field lay 10 men, 15 men, killed or wounded. On every route of the place the wounded had crawled together two or three at a time, and their cries and groans could be heard most gruesomely, though it seemed to Rostov that they were often simulated. [04:30:09] He put his horse at a trot so as not to see all these suffering men, and a great horror overcame him. [04:30:15] He was not afraid for his own life, but lest he should lose the manliness which he felt was essential to him, he knew that he could not endure the spectacle of those unfortunate wretches. [04:30:27] The French had ceased to fire on this field strewn with dead and wounded because there was no longer any sign of life on it. [04:30:34] But when they caught sight of the adjutant riding across, they turned one of their cannon on it and sent a few balls after him. [04:30:41] The sensation caused by these terrific whistling sounds and the spectacle of the dead around him aroused in Rostov's mind an impression of horror and self commiseration. [04:30:51] He recalled his mother's last letter. [04:30:53] How would she feel, he asked himself, if she should see me now, here in this field with these cannon pointed at me? [04:31:03] At the village of Kostyradek, the Russian troops were retiring from the field of battle in good order, though the regiments were mixed together. [04:31:10] This was out of range of the French cannon balls, and the sounds of the firing seemed more distant. [04:31:16] Here all clearly saw and openly confessed that the battle was lost. [04:31:20] No one to whom Rostof applied for information could tell him where the Emperor was, or or where Kudasov was. [04:31:26] Some declared that the report about the sovereign being wounded was correct. [04:31:30] Others denied it and explained this False, though widespread rumor, by the fact that the Oberhofmacher Count Tolstoy, who had gone out in company of others of the suite to see the battle, had dashed away, pale and frightened from the field of battle in the Emperor's carriage. [04:31:46] One officer told Rostov that in the rear of the village, over toward the left, he had seen some officials of high rank, and and Rostov started in that direction, not indeed with the expectation of finding anyone, but merely for the sake of clearing his conscience. [04:32:01] After writing three verse and passing beyond the last of the Russian troops, Rostov reached an orchard protected by a ditch and saw two riders standing near the ditch. [04:32:10] One with a white plume in his hat had a familiar look. The other writer, whom he did not know, was mounted on a handsome chestnut charger. [04:32:18] This charger somehow seemed familiar to Rostov, and rode up to the ditch, put spurs to his horse, and, giving him his head, easily leaped the ditch into the orchard. [04:32:28] The earth merely crumbled away a little from the embankment under the horse's hind hooves. [04:32:32] Turning his horse short, he leaped back over the ditch again and addressed himself respectfully to the rider with the white plume, apparently urging him to do the same thing. [04:32:42] The writer, whose figure Rostov seemed to recognize and and had therefore involuntarily attracted his attention, shook his head and made a gesture of refusal with his hand. And Rostov immediately by this gesture knew that it was his idolized, lamented sovereign. [04:32:58] But it cannot be that he is left alone in this bare field, thought Rostov. [04:33:02] Just then Alexander turned his head so that he had a good view of those beloved features so sharply graven in his memory. [04:33:10] The sovereign was pale, his his cheeks sunken, and his eyes cavernous, but there was all the more charm, all the more sweetness in his features. [04:33:18] Rostof was delighted to be convinced that the rumor of the sovereign's wound was false. He was happy to have seen him. He knew that he might, nay, that he ought go straight up to him and deliver the message that had been entrusted to him by Dolgorukov. [04:33:33] But just as a young man in love trembles and loses his presence of mind, not daring to say what he has been dreaming about night after night, and timidly looks around in search of help, or the possibility of postponing it, when the wished for moment has at last arrived and he stands alone with her, so also with Rostov, now that he had attained what he had yearned for more than all else in the world, he did not know how to approach his sovereign, and devised a thousand excuses for finding it untimely improper and impossible. [04:34:04] What I might seem to be taking advantage of his being alone and dejected. An unknown face at this moment of sorrow might seem unpleasant and troublesome. Besides, what could I say to him now, when one glance from him makes my heart swell within me and seem to leap into my mouth? [04:34:22] Not one of those innumerable speeches which he had so carefully prepared in case he should meet the emperor now recurred to his mind. [04:34:30] Those speeches were for the most part indicated under different conditions. [04:34:34] They were to be spoken at the moment of victory and triumph. [04:34:38] Above all, on his death bed, when he sank under the wounds that he had received, his sovereign would come to see him and thank him for his heroic conduct. [04:34:47] Thus he would show him his love sealed by his death. [04:34:51] Besides, what now could I ask the Emperor, in regard to his commands to the left wing, when now already it is 4 o' clock in the afternoon, and the battle is lost? [04:35:00] No, really, I ought not to trouble him. [04:35:04] I ought not to break in upon his reflections. [04:35:07] It would be better to die a thousand times than to receive an angry look or an angry word from him. [04:35:13] Such was Rostof's decision and melancholy, and with despair in his heart, he rode away constantly glancing back at the Emperor still, still remaining in the same undecided attitude. [04:35:25] While Rostof was making these reflections, and sadly rode away from his sovereign, Captain von Toll galloped up to the same place, and seeing the emperor, went straight up to him, offered him his services, and helped him to cross the ditch on foot. [04:35:39] The emperor, wishing to rest and feeling ill, sat down under an apple tree, and Toll stood near him. [04:35:46] Rostof looked from afar and saw with jealousy and regret how von Toll talked long and eagerly to the sovereign, and how the sovereign, apparently weeping, covered his eyes with one hand, and with the other pressed von Tolls. [04:36:00] And I might have done that in his place, thought Rostov, and with difficulty restraining the tears of sympathy for his sovereign, he rode away in utter despair, not knowing now where he should go or for what reason. [04:36:12] His despair was all the more bitter the because he felt that his own weakness was the cause of his misfortune. [04:36:18] He might, not only might, but he ought to have written up to the emperor, and this was his only chance of exhibiting to the sovereign his devotion, and he did not take advantage of it. [04:36:30] Why did I do so? He asked himself, and he turned his horse about and galloped back to the same place where the emperor had been sitting. But there was no one any longer on the other side of the ditch, a train of baggage wagons and carriages was winding along. [04:36:45] From one of the wagoneers, Rostov learned that Kudasov's staff were not very far away, at the village where the wagons were bound. Rostov followed them, the foremost in the train, Kudasov's groom, leading a horse with his trappings. The wagons followed. Behind the groom and behind the wagon walked an old man, a household serf with bandy legs, wearing a cap and and a half. Shuba tit. Ah tit. Cried the groom. [04:37:12] What is it? Asked the old man, heedlessly. [04:37:15] Tit, grind the wheat, E dirak. [04:37:21] Said the old man angrily, spitting. [04:37:24] Some time passed in silence as they moved onward, and then the same joking rhyme was repeated. [04:37:30] By 5 o' clock in the evening the battle was lost. At every point more than a hundred cannon had already fallen into the hands of the French press, and his battalion had laid down their arms. The other columns, having lost more than half their efficient, were retreating in disorderly, demoralized throngs. [04:37:48] The relics of Langeron and Duktorov's forces, all in confusion, were crowded together around the ponds on the dikes and banks of the village of August. [04:37:58] By 6 o' clock the only cannonading that was any longer heard was directed at the dyke of Auguste by some of the French, who had established a large battery on the slopes of the Praetzer and were trying to cut down our men as they retreated. [04:38:11] At the rear, Dokhturov and some others, having collected their battalions, made a stand against the French who were pursuing our troops. [04:38:19] It had begun to be entirely dark on the narrow dyke of Auguste, where so many years the little old miller had peacefully sat with his hook and line, while his grandson, with shirt sleeves rolled up, played in the water can with a palpitating silver fish. [04:38:34] On that dike over which the Moravians, in shaggy caps and blue blouses, had driven, their two horse teams loaded down with spring wheat and returned dusted with flour and with whitened teams. [04:38:46] Along this same dike, this narrow dike, among vans and field pieces, under the feet of horses and between the wheels, crowded a throng of men, their faces distorted with fear of death, pushing each other, expiring, trampling on the dying and dead, and crushing each other, only to be killed themselves a few steps Farther on. [04:39:08] Every 10 seconds a cannonball compressing the air flew by, or a shell came bursting amid this dense throng, dealing death and spattering with blood those who stood nearby. [04:39:19] Dolokhov, wounded in the arm, on foot with 10 men of his company, he was now an officer again, and his regimental commander on horseback constituted the sole survivors of the whole regiment. [04:39:32] Carried along in the throng, they were crowded together at the very entrance of the dike and pressed on all sides were obliged to halt because a horse attached to a field piece had fallen and the throng were trying to drag it along. [04:39:44] One cannonball struck someone behind them, another struck just in front and spattered Dolokhov with blood. [04:39:51] The crowd moved on in desperation, squeezing together, and then halted again. [04:39:56] If only we could make those hundred paces and safety is sure. If we stay here two minutes longer, our destruction is certain, said each one to himself. [04:40:06] Dolokhov, standing in the midst of the throng, forced his way through to the edge of the dyke, knocking down two soldiers, and sprang out on the glare ice that covered the pond. [04:40:16] Turn out this way. He cried, sliding along on the ice which bent under his weight. Turn out. He cried to the gunner. It will hold, it will hold. [04:40:26] And it was evident that it would immediately give way, if not under his weight alone, certainly under that of the field piece or the throng of men. [04:40:34] They looked at him and crowded along the shore, not venturing to step upon the ice. [04:40:39] The commander of the regiment, sitting on horseback at the entrance was. Was just raising his hand and opening his mouth to speak to Dolokhov, when suddenly a cannonball flew so close over the men that they all ducked their heads. [04:40:51] There was a dull thud, as though something soft were struck and the general fell in a pool of blood. [04:40:58] No one looked at the general or thought of picking him up. [04:41:02] Come on. The ice. Cross the ice. Come on, move on. Don't you hear? Come. Was heard suddenly from innumerable voices after the cannonball had struck the general, though the men knew not what or why they were crying. [04:41:18] One of the last field pieces that was just entering the dike ventured on the ice. [04:41:23] A throng of soldiers hastened down from the ground upon the frozen pond. [04:41:27] One of the rearmost soldiers broke through, one leg slumping down into the water. [04:41:32] He tried to save himself and sank up to his belt. [04:41:36] The men who stood nearest held back. The driver of the field piece drew in his horses, but still behind them were heard the shouts. Take to the ice. What are you stopping for? Take to the ice. [04:41:48] Take to the ice. And cries of horror were heard among the throng. [04:41:52] The soldiers surrounding the gun gesticulated over their horses and beat them to make them turn and go on. [04:41:59] The horses struck out from the shore. [04:42:01] The ice which might have held the foot soldiers gave way in one immense sheet, and 40 men who were on it threw themselves, some forward and some back, trampling on each other all the time. The cannon balls kept regularly whistling by and falling on the ice into the water, and more frequently than all, into the mass of men that covered the dyke, the ponds, and the banks. [04:42:26] End of Chapter 18. [04:42:34] Part 3 Chapter 19 of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskel Doyle on the Pratzer Hill, in the same spot where he had fallen with the flagstaff in his hand, lay Prince Andrei Bolkonski, his life blood oozing away and unconsciously groaning with light, pitiful groans like an ailing child. [04:42:55] By evening he ceased to groan and lay absolutely still. [04:42:59] He did not know how long his unconsciousness continued. [04:43:03] Suddenly he felt that he was alive and suffering from a burning and tormenting pain in his head. [04:43:09] Where is that lofty heaven which I had never seen before and which I saw today? [04:43:14] That was his first thought. [04:43:16] And I never knew such pain as this either. He said to himself. [04:43:21] Yes, I have never known anything, anything at all till now. [04:43:26] But where am I? [04:43:28] He tried to listen and heard the trampling hoofs of several horses approaching and the sounds of voices talking French. [04:43:35] He opened his eyes. [04:43:37] Over him still stretched the same lofty heavens, with clouds sailing over it in still loftier heights, and beyond them he could see the depths of endless blue. [04:43:47] He did not turn his head or look at those who, to judge from the hoof beats of the horses and the sounds of the voices, rode up to him and paused. [04:43:56] These horsemen were Napoleon, accompanied by two aides. [04:44:00] Bonaparte, who had been riding over the field of battle, had given orders to strengthen the battery that was cannonading the dike of Auguste and was now looking after the killed and wounded left on the battlefield. [04:44:12] The bosom. Handsome men, said Napoleon, gazing at a Russian grenadier who lay on his belly with his face half buried in the soil and his neck turning black and one arm flung out and stiffened in death. [04:44:27] The ammunition for the field guns is exhausted, sire. [04:44:31] Have that of the reserves brought, said Napoleon, and then a step or two nearer he paused over Prince Andre, who lay on his back with the flagstaff clutched in his hands, and the flag had been carried off by the French as a trophy. Voila umbella mo, said Napoleon, gazing at Bolkonsky. Prince Andre realized that this was said of him and that it was spoken by Napoleon. [04:44:53] He heard them address the speaker as Sire, but he heard these words as though they had been the buzzing of a fly he was not only not interested in them, but they made no impression upon him, and he immediately forgot them. [04:45:07] His head throbbed as with fire. He felt that his lifeblood was ebbing, and he still saw far above him, the distant eternal heavens. [04:45:16] He knew that this was Napoleon, his hero. But at this moment Napoleon seemed to him merely a small, insignificant man. In comparison with that lofty infinite heaven with the clouds flying over was a matter of utter indifference to him who stood looking down upon him, who or what was said about him at that moment. [04:45:37] He was merely conscious of a feeling of joy that people had come to him, and of a desire that these people give him assistance and bring him back to life, which seemed to him so beautiful because he understood it so differently. Now he collected all his strength to move and make some sound. [04:45:53] He managed to move his leg slightly and uttered a weak, feeble, sickly moan that stirred pity even in himself. [04:46:01] Ah, he is alive, said Napoleon. Take up this young man, Sergey Nom, and take him to the temporary hospital. [04:46:10] Having given this order, Napoleon went on to meet Marshall Lens, who, removing his hat and smiling, rode up and congratulated him on the victory. [04:46:19] Prince Andre recollected nothing further. He lost consciousness of the terrible pain caused by those who placed him on the stretcher and by the jolting as he was carried along and the probing of the wound. [04:46:30] He recovered it again only at the very end of the day, as he was carried to the hospital together with the other Russian wounded and taken prisoner. [04:46:38] At this time he felt a little fresher and was able to glance around and even to speak. [04:46:44] The first words which he heard after he came to were spoken by a French officer in charge of the convoy, who said, we must stop here. The Emperor's coming by immediately. It will give him pleasure to see these prisoners. [04:46:57] There are so many prisoners today, almost the whole Russian army. I should think it would have become an old story, said another officer. [04:47:05] Well, at any events, this man here, they say, was the commander of all the Emperor Alexander's guards, said the first speaker, indicating a wounded Russian officer in a white Cavalier Guards uniform. [04:47:17] Volkonski recognized Prince Repnin, whom he had met in Petersburg society. [04:47:22] Next him was a youth of 19, an officer of the Cavalier Guard, also wounded. [04:47:27] Bonaparte, coming up at a gallop, reined in his horse. [04:47:31] Who is the chief officer here? He asked, looking at the wounded. [04:47:35] They pointed to Colonel Prince Repnin. [04:47:38] Were you the commander of the Emperor Alexander's Horse Guard regiment? Asked Napoleon. [04:47:43] I commanded a squadron, replied Repnin. [04:47:46] Your regiment did its duty with honor, remarked Napoleon. [04:47:50] Praise from a great commander is the highest reward that a soldier can have, said Repnin. [04:47:55] It is with pleasure that I give it to you, replied Napoleon. [04:47:59] Who is this young man next? You, Prince Repnin, named Lieutenant Suctilin. [04:48:05] Napoleon glanced at him and said with a smile, Very young to oppose us. [04:48:14] Youth does not prevent one from being brave, replied Sulktelen in a broken voice. [04:48:20] A beautiful answer, said Napoleon. Young man, you will get on in the world. [04:48:26] Prince Andre, who had been placed also in the front rank under the eyes of the Emperor, so as to swell the number of those who had been taken prisoner, naturally attracted his attention. [04:48:36] Napoleon evidently remembered having seen him on the field, and turning to him, he used exactly the same expression, young man, as when Balconski had the first time come under his notice. [04:48:49] Well, and you, young man, said he, addressing him, how do you feel, mon brav? [04:48:55] Although five minutes before this, Prince Andre had been able to say a few words to the soldiers who were bearing him, he now fixed his eyes directly on Napoleon, but had nothing to say to him. At this moment all the interests occupying Napoleon seemed so petty. His former hero himself, with his small vanity and delight in the victory, seemed so sordid in comparison with that high, true and just heaven which he had seen and learned to understand. [04:49:22] And that was why he could not answer him. [04:49:25] Yes, and everything seemed to him so profitless and insignificant in comparison with that strange, stern and majestic train of thought induced in his mind by his lapsing strength as his life blood ebbed away by his suffering and the near expectation of death. [04:49:41] As Prince Andrei looked into Napoleon's eyes, he thought of the insignificance of majesty, of the insignificance of life, the meaning of which no one could understand, and of the still greater insignificance of death, the thought of which no one could among men understand or explain. [04:50:00] The Emperor, without waiting for any answer, turned away, and as he started to ride on, said to one of the officers, have these gentlemen looked after and conveyed to my bivouac half Dr. Larry himself looked after their wounds. Au revoir, Prince Repnin. And he touched the spurs to his horse and galloped away. [04:50:20] His face was bright with self satisfaction and happiness. [04:50:24] The soldiers carrying Prince Andrei had taken from him the gold medallion which the Princess Mariya had hung around her brother other's neck. But when they saw the flattering way in which the Emperor treated the prisoners, they hastened to return the medallion. [04:50:37] Prince Andre did not see how or by whom the medallion was replaced, but he suddenly discovered on his chest outside of his uniform, the little image attached to its slender golden chain. [04:50:50] It would be good, thought Prince Andre, letting his eyes rest on the medallion which his sister had hung around his neck with so much feeling and reverence. [04:50:59] It would be good if everything were as clear and simple as it seems to the Princess Maria. [04:51:05] How good it would be to know where to find help in this life and what to expect after it beyond the grave. [04:51:12] How happy and composed I should be if I could say now, Lord have mercy on me. [04:51:18] But to whom can I say that? [04:51:20] It is force, impalpable, incomprehensible, which I cannot turn to or even express in words. [04:51:28] Is it the great all or nothingness? Said he to himself, or is it God which has sewed in this amulet which my sister gave me? [04:51:37] Nothing, nothing is certain except the insignificance of all within my comprehension and the majesty of that which is incomprehensible. But all important. [04:51:49] The stretcher started off. [04:51:51] At every jolt he again felt the insufferable pain. His fever grew more violent and he began to be delirious. [04:51:58] The dreams about his father, his wife, his sister and his unborn son, and the feeling of tenderness which he had experienced on the night before the battle. The figure of the little insignificant Napoleon and above all the lofty sky, form the principal content of his feverish imaginations. [04:52:18] He seemed to be living a quiet life amid calm domestic happiness. At Luisia Gari, he was beginning to take delight in this blissful existence, when suddenly the little Napoleon appeared with his unsympathetic, shallow minded face, expressing happiness at the unhappiness of others. And once more doubts began to arise and torment him. And only the skies seemed to promise healing balm toward morning. All his imaginations were utterly confused and blurred in the chaos and fogs of unconsciousness and forgetfulness, which much more likely, according to the opinion of Dr. Larae, Napoleon's physician, would end with death than recovery. [04:53:02] He won't recover. [04:53:05] Prince Andre, together with other prisoners, hopelessly wounded, was turned over to the care of the natives of the region. [04:53:14] End of chapter 19 end of part 3 end of volume 1 of war and PEACE by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Nathan Haskell Doyle.