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Chapter 15 - Prince Andrey goes to headquarters
On receiving command of the armies Kutuzov remembered Prince Andrey and sent an order for him to report at headquarters.
Prince Andrey arrived at Tsarevo-Zaymishche on the very day and at the very hour that Kutuzov was reviewing the troops for the first time. He stopped in the village at the priest’s house in front of which stood the commander in chief’s carriage, and he sat down on the bench at the gate awaiting his Serene1 Highness, as everyone now called Kutuzov. From the field beyond the village came now sounds of regimental music and now the roar of many voices shouting “Hurrah2!” to the new commander in chief. Two orderlies, a courier and a major-domo, stood near by, some ten paces from Prince Andrey, availing themselves of Kutuzov’s absence and of the fine weather. A short, swarthy lieutenant3 colonel of hussars with thick mustaches and whiskers rode up to the gate and, glancing at Prince Andrey, inquired whether his Serene Highness was putting up there and whether he would soon be back.
Prince Andrey replied that he was not on his Serene Highness’ staff but was himself a new arrival. The lieutenant colonel turned to a smart orderly, who, with the peculiar4 contempt with which a commander in chief’s orderly speaks to officers, replied:
“What? His Serene Highness? I expect he’ll be here soon. What do you want?”
The lieutenant colonel of hussars smiled beneath his mustache at the orderly’s tone, dismounted, gave his horse to a dispatch runner, and approached Bolkonsky with a slight bow. Bolkonsky made room for him on the bench and the lieutenant colonel sat down beside him.
“You’re also waiting for the commander in chief?” said he. “They say he weceives evewyone, thank God! . . . It’s awful with those sausage eaters! Ermolov had weason to ask to be pwomoted to be a German! Now p’waps Wussians will get a look in. As it was, devil only knows what was happening. We kept wetweating and wetweating. Did you take part in the campaign?” he asked.
“I had the pleasure,” replied Prince Andrey, “not only of taking part in the retreat but of losing in that retreat all I held dear — not to mention the estate and home of my birth — my father, who died of grief. I belong to the province of Smolensk.”
“Ah? You’re Pwince Bolkonsky? Vewy glad to make your acquaintance! I’m Lieutenant Colonel Denisov, better known as ‘Vaska,’” said Denisov, pressing Prince Andrey’s hand and looking into his face with a particularly kindly5 attention. “Yes, I heard,” said he sympathetically, and after a short pause added: “Yes, it’s Scythian warfare6. It’s all vewy well — only not for those who get it in the neck. So you are Pwince Andwew Bolkonsky?” He swayed his head. “Vewy pleased, Pwince, to make your acquaintance!” he repeated again, smiling sadly, and he again pressed Prince Andrey’s hand.
Prince Andrey knew Denisov from what Natasha had told him of her first suitor. This memory carried him sadly and sweetly back to those painful feelings of which he had not thought lately, but which still found place in his soul. Of late he had received so many new and very serious impressions — such as the retreat from Smolensk, his visit to Bald Hills, and the recent news of his father’s death — and had experienced so many emotions, that for a long time past those memories had not entered his mind, and now that they did, they did not act on him with nearly their former strength. For Denisov, too, the memories awakened7 by the name of Bolkonsky belonged to a distant, romantic past, when after supper and after Natasha’s singing he had proposed to a little girl of fifteen without realizing what he was doing. He smiled at the recollection of that time and of his love for Natasha, and passed at once to what now interested him passionately8 and exclusively. This was a plan of campaign he had devised while serving at the outposts during the retreat. He had proposed that plan to Barclay de Tolly and now wished to propose it to Kutuzov. The plan was based on the fact that the French line of operation was too extended, and it proposed that instead of, or concurrently9 with, action on the front to bar the advance of the French, we should attack their line of communication. He began explaining his plan to Prince Andrey.
“They can’t hold all that line. It’s impossible. I will undertake to bweak thwough. Give me five hundwed men and I will bweak the line, that’s certain! There’s only one way — guewilla warfare!”
Denisov rose and began gesticulating as he explained his plan to Bolkonsky. In the midst of his explanation shouts were heard from the army, growing more incoherent and more diffused10, mingling11 with music and songs and coming from the field where the review was held. Sounds of hoofs12 and shouts were nearing the village.
Bolkonsky and Denisov moved to the gate, at which a knot of soldiers (a guard of honor) was standing, and they saw Kutuzov coming down the street mounted on a rather small sorrel horse. A huge suite14 of generals rode behind him. Barclay was riding almost beside him, and a crowd of officers ran after and around them shouting, “Hurrah!”
His adjutants galloped15 into the yard before him. Kutuzov was impatiently urging on his horse, which ambled16 smoothly17 under his weight, and he raised his hand to his white Horse Guard’s cap with a red band and no peak, nodding his head continually. When he came up to the guard of honor, a fine set of Grenadiers mostly wearing decorations, who were giving him the salute18, he looked at them silently and attentively19 for nearly a minute with the steady gaze of a commander and then turned to the crowd of generals and officers surrounding him. Suddenly his face assumed a subtle expression, he shrugged20 his shoulders with an air of perplexity.
“And with such fine fellows to retreat and retreat! Well, good-by, General,” he added, and rode into the yard past Prince Andrey and Denisov.
“Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!” shouted those behind him.
Since Prince Andrey had last seen him Kutuzov had grown still more corpulent, flaccid, and fat. But the bleached21 eyeball, the scar, and the familiar weariness of his expression were still the same. He was wearing the white Horse Guard’s cap and a military overcoat with a whip hanging over his shoulder by a thin strap22. He sat heavily and swayed limply on his brisk little horse.
“Whew . . . whew . . . whew!” he whistled just audibly as he rode into the yard. His face expressed the relief of relaxed strain felt by a man who means to rest after a ceremony. He drew his left foot out of the stirrup and, lurching with his whole body and puckering23 his face with the effort, raised it with difficulty onto the saddle, leaned on his knee, groaned24, and slipped down into the arms of the Cossacks and adjutants who stood ready to assist him.
He pulled himself together, looked round, screwing up his eyes, glanced at Prince Andrey, and, evidently not recognizing him, moved with his waddling25 gait to the porch. “Whew . . . whew . . . whew!” he whistled, and again glanced at Prince Andrey. As often occurs with old men, it was only after some seconds that the impression produced by Prince Andrey’s face linked itself up with Kutuzov’s remembrance of his personality.
“Ah, how do you do, my dear prince? How do you do, my dear boy? Come along . . . ” said he, glancing wearily round, and he stepped onto the porch which creaked under his weight.
He unbuttoned his coat and sat down on a bench in the porch.
“And how’s your father?”
Kutuzov looked at him with eyes wide open with dismay and then took off his cap and crossed himself:
“May the kingdom of Heaven be his! God’s will be done to us all!” He sighed deeply, his whole chest heaving, and was silent for a while. “I loved him and respected him, and sympathize with you with all my heart.”
He embraced Prince Andrey, pressing him to his fat breast, and for some time did not let him go. When he released him Prince Andrey saw that Kutuzov’s flabby lips were trembling and that tears were in his eyes. He sighed and pressed on the bench with both hands to raise himself.
“Come! Come with me, we’ll have a talk,” said he.
But at that moment Denisov, no more intimidated27 by his superiors than by the enemy, came with jingling28 spurs up the steps of the porch, despite the angry whispers of the adjutants who tried to stop him. Kutuzov, his hands still pressed on the seat, glanced at him glumly29. Denisov, having given his name, announced that he had to communicate to his Serene Highness a matter of great importance for their country’s welfare. Kutuzov looked wearily at him and, lifting his hands with a gesture of annoyance30, folded them across his stomach, repeating the words: “For our country’s welfare? Well, what is it? Speak!” Denisov blushed like a girl (it was strange to see the color rise in that shaggy, bibulous31, time-worn face) and boldly began to expound32 his plan of cutting the enemy’s lines of communication between Smolensk and Vyazma. Denisov came from those parts and knew the country well. His plan seemed decidedly a good one, especially from the strength of conviction with which he spoke33. Kutuzov looked down at his own legs, occasionally glancing at the door of the adjoining hut as if expecting something unpleasant to emerge from it. And from that hut, while Denisov was speaking, a general with a portfolio34 under his arm really did appear.
“What?” said Kutuzov, in the midst of Denisov’s explanations, “are you ready so soon?”
“Ready, your Serene Highness,” replied the general.
Kutuzov swayed his head, as much as to say: “How is one man to deal with it all?” and again listened to Denisov.
“I give my word of honor as a Wussian officer,” said Denisov, “that I can bweak Napoleon’s line of communication!”
“What relation are you to Intendant General Kiril Andreevich Denisov?” asked Kutuzov, interrupting him.
“He is my uncle, your Sewene Highness.”
“Ah, we were friends,” said Kutuzov cheerfully. “All right, all right, friend, stay here at the staff and tomorrow we’ll have a talk.”
With a nod to Denisov he turned away and put out his hand for the papers Konovnitsyn had brought him.
“Would not your Serene Highness like to come inside?” said the general on duty in a discontented voice, “the plans must be examined and several papers have to be signed.”
An adjutant came out and announced that everything was in readiness within. But Kutuzov evidently did not wish to enter that room till he was disengaged. He made a grimace35 . . .
“No, tell them to bring a small table out here, my dear boy. I’ll look at them here,” said he. “Don’t go away,” he added, turning to Prince Andrey, who remained in the porch and listened to the general’s report.
While this was being given, Prince Andrey heard the whisper of a woman’s voice and the rustle36 of a silk dress behind the door. Several times on glancing that way he noticed behind that door a plump, rosy37, handsome woman in a pink dress with a lilac silk kerchief on her head, holding a dish and evidently awaiting the entrance of the commander in chief. Kutiizov’s adjutant whispered to Prince Andrey that this was the wife of the priest whose home it was, and that she intended to offer his Serene Highness bread and salt. “Her husband has welcomed his Serene Highness with the cross at the church, and she intends to welcome him in the house. . . . She’s very pretty,” added the adjutant with a smile. At those words Kutuzov looked round. He was listening to the general’s report — which consisted chiefly of a criticism of the position at Tsarevo-Zaymishche — as he had listened to Denisov, and seven years previously38 had listened to the discussion at the Austerlitz council of war. He evidently listened only because he had ears which, though there was a piece of tow in one of them, could not help hearing; but it was evident that nothing the general could say would surprise or even interest him, that he knew all that would be said beforehand, and heard it all only because he had to, as one has to listen to the chanting of a service of prayer. All that Denisov had said was clever and to the point. What the general was saying was even more clever and to the point, but it was evident that Kutuzov despised knowledge and cleverness, and knew of something else that would decide the matter — something independent of cleverness and knowledge. Prince Andrey watched the commander in chief’s face attentively, and the only expression he could see there was one of boredom39, curiosity as to the meaning of the feminine whispering behind the door, and a desire to observe propriety40. It was evident that Kutuzov despised cleverness and learning and even the patriotic41 feeling shown by Denisov, but despised them not because of his own intellect, feelings, or knowledge — he did not try to display any of these — but because of something else. He despised them because of his old age and experience of life. The only instruction Kutuzov gave of his own accord during that report referred to looting by the Russian troops. At the end of the report the general put before him for signature a paper relating to the recovery of payment from army commanders for green oats mown down by the soldiers, when landowners lodged42 petitions for compensation.
“Into the stove . . . into the fire with it! I tell you once for all, my dear fellow,” said he, “into the fire with all such things! Let them cut the crops and burn wood to their hearts’ content. I don’t order it or allow it, but I don’t exact compensation either. One can’t get on without it. ‘When wood is chopped the chips will fly.’” He looked at the paper again. “Oh, this German precision!” he muttered, shaking his head.
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1
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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hurrah
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| int.好哇，万岁，乌拉 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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passionately
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| ad.热烈地，激烈地 | |
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concurrently
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| adv.同时地 | |
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diffused
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| 散布的，普及的，扩散的 | |
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mingling
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| adj.混合的 | |
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hoofs
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| n.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的名词复数 )v.（兽的）蹄，马蹄( hoof的第三人称单数 ) | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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suite
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| n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员 | |
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galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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ambled
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| v.（马）缓行( amble的过去式和过去分词 )；从容地走，漫步 | |
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smoothly
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| adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地 | |
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salute
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| vi.行礼，致意，问候，放礼炮；vt.向…致意，迎接，赞扬；n.招呼，敬礼，礼炮 | |
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attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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bleached
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| 漂白的，晒白的，颜色变浅的 | |
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strap
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| n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎 | |
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puckering
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的现在分词 )；小褶纹；小褶皱 | |
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groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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waddling
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| v.（像鸭子一样）摇摇摆摆地走( waddle的现在分词 ) | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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intimidated
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| v.恐吓；威胁adj.害怕的；受到威胁的 | |
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jingling
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| 叮当声 | |
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glumly
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| adv.忧郁地，闷闷不乐地；阴郁地 | |
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annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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bibulous
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| adj.高度吸收的，酗酒的 | |
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32
expound
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| v.详述；解释；阐述 | |
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33
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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34
portfolio
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| n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位 | |
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grimace
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| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
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rustle
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| v.沙沙作响；偷盗(牛、马等)；n.沙沙声声 | |
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rosy
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| adj.美好的，乐观的，玫瑰色的 | |
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38
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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39
boredom
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| n.厌烦，厌倦，乏味，无聊 | |
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40
propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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41
patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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42
lodged
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| v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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smacked
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| 拍，打，掴( smack的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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