War And Peace полностью

‘Well I never!’ he cried. ‘What quirk of fate brings you here? You’re the last person I expected.’

As he was saying this his eyes and his whole expression displayed more than coldness, they displayed outright hostility, and it was not lost on Pierre. He had approached the barn in a state of high excitement, but now after one look at Prince Andrey’s face he felt crushed and embarrassed.

‘Well, I’ve come . . . er, you know . . . just . . . come along . . . I think it’s interesting,’ said Pierre, parroting the meaningless word ‘interesting’ for the umpteenth time that day. ‘I wanted to watch the battle.’

‘Oh yes? What about your masonic brethren? What do they say about the war? What would they do to stop it?’ said Prince Andrey sardonically. ‘Oh well, tell me about Moscow. Do you know anything about my people? Did they get to Moscow all right?’ he asked in all seriousness.

‘Yes. Julie Drubetskoy told me they did. I went to see them, but they weren’t there. They’d gone out to your Moscow estate.’

CHAPTER 25

The officers would have been happy to leave, but Prince Andrey seemed reluctant to be left alone with his friend, and he invited them to stay on and have a drink of tea. Benches were brought in, and tea was provided. The officers stared in bemusement at Pierre’s big bulky figure, and listened as he talked first about Moscow and then the disposition of our troops, which he had been lucky enough to see round. Prince Andrey said nothing, and there was such an intimidating look on his face that Pierre found himself talking to the good-hearted Timokhin rather than Bolkonsky.

‘So, you now understand the whole disposition of our troops?’ said Prince Andrey, cutting him short.

‘Yes . . . Well, it depends what you mean,’ said Pierre. ‘I’m not a military man, so I can’t say I’ve got the last detail, but, yes, I do understand the general arrangement.’

‘In which case you know more than anybody else does,’ said Prince Andrey.

‘Oh!’ said Pierre, taken aback, looking over his spectacles at Prince Andrey. ‘Well, anyway, how do you feel about Kutuzov’s appointment?’

‘I was very pleased about it, and that’s all I know,’ said Prince Andrey.

‘Well, what’s your opinion of Barclay de Tolly? All sorts of things were being said about him in Moscow. What do you make of him?’

‘Ask them,’ said Prince Andrey, indicating the officers.

Pierre looked across at Timokhin with the condescendingly quizzical smile that everyone adopted towards him.

‘It was a moment of serendipity, sir, when his Serene Highness took over,’ said Timokhin diffidently, hardly able to take his eyes of his colonel.

‘Why do you say that?’ asked Pierre.

‘Well, take firewood or fodder . . . I tell you what . . . All the way back from Swienciany you daren’t lay hands on a twig, or a wisp of hay, or anything at all. We were in retreat, you see, so he was going to get the lot. Isn’t that right, sir?’ he said, turning to his prince. ‘But no, for us it was hands off. In our regiment two officers were court-martialled for things like that. Well, ever since his Serene Highness has been in charge, it’s all been dead simple. Serendipity I call it.’

‘But why had he been forbidding it?’

Timokhin looked round in embarrassment, not knowing how to respond to a question like that. Pierre turned to Prince Andrey and asked him the same thing.