Any trace of annoyance had vanished from Boris’s face. Having apparently weighed things up and decided how to proceed, he took him by both hands and led him into the next room with studied composure. Boris’s eyes, gazing serenely but sharply at Rostov, seemed to have disappeared behind some sort of veil or screen. It was as if he had donned the sunglasses of their earlier life spent together – or so it seemed to Rostov.
‘Nonsense, you couldn’t come at a bad time,’ said Boris. Boris led him into a room where supper was laid, introduced him to the guests by name, explaining that he was not a civilian, but an officer in the hussars, and an old friend of his. He named the other guests: ‘Count Zhilinsky, and from France Count N. N. and Captain S. S. . . .’ Rostov scowled at the Frenchmen, gave a grudging bow and said nothing.
Zhilinsky was by no means pleased to receive this unknown Russian intruder, but he said nothing to Rostov. Boris seemed oblivious to any embarrassment caused by the new arrival, and he made an attempt to liven up the conversation with the same easy friendliness and the veiled look that had come into his eyes when he had welcomed Rostov. With typical French courtesy one of the French officers turned to Rostov, as he sat there in grim silence, and said to him that he must surely have come to Tilsit to see the Emperor.
‘No, I came on business,’ was Rostov’s terse reply. Rostov had been in a bad mood since the moment he had spotted the displeasure on Boris’s face, and like all people in bad moods, he imagined himself surrounded by hostile glares and he felt
‘Listen, I’m getting in your way,’ he whispered. ‘If we could just have a quick talk . . . I’ll just go away.’
‘No, no, you’re not,’ said Boris. ‘But if you’re feeling tired, come and lie down and have a rest in my room.’
‘No but really . . .’
They went into the little room where Boris slept. Rostov declined to sit down and without further ado he launched into his business with every appearance of being annoyed and somehow blaming it on Boris. He told him about Denisov and asked whether he could and would prevail on his general to intercede with the Emperor on Denisov’s behalf and get the letter presented. When they were alone together Rostov became acutely aware for the first time that he felt embarrassed to look Boris in the eye. Boris crossed one leg over the other, and stroked the slender fingers of his right hand with his left as he listened to Rostov, rather like a general listening to a report from a subordinate, one minute glancing away and the next looking Rostov straight in the face with the same cloudiness in his eyes. And every time this happened Rostov felt awkward and looked down.
‘I’ve heard of cases like this, and I know the Emperor is very strict about these things. I think it might be better not to take this sort of thing to his Majesty. To my mind, you’d be better off applying straight to the corps commander . . . But my general view is . . .’
‘You won’t do it, will you?’ Rostov almost shouted, avoiding Boris’s eyes.
Boris smiled.
‘On the contrary, I’ll do what I can. It’s just that . . .’
At that moment Zhilinsky’s voice came through the door, calling Boris.
‘Well, go on. Go on in,’ said Rostov. He refused supper and stayed there on his own in the little room, pacing up and down for quite some time and listening to the cheery French chatter coming from the next room.
CHAPTER 20
Rostov had arrived in Tilsit on the worst possible day for appealing on Denisov’s behalf. He could not go in person to see the general in attendance, because he was not in uniform, and besides, he had come to Tilsit without official permission, and Boris, even had he wanted to, could not have gone the day after Rostov’s visit. That was the day (the 27th of June) when the preliminaries of peace were signed. The Emperors exchanged decorations, Alexander receiving the Legion of Honour, and Napoleon the Order of St Andrew (First Degree), and it was also the day fixed for a banquet given by a battalion of the French guards for the Preobrazhensky battalion, with both Emperors due to attend.
