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Chapter 28 - The French officer
Pierre, having decided1 that until he had carried out his design he would disclose neither his identity nor his knowledge of French, stood at the half-open door of the corridor, intending to conceal2 himself as soon as the French entered. But the French entered and still Pierre did not retire — an irresistible3 curiosity kept him there.
There were two of them. One was an officer — a tall, soldierly, handsome man — the other evidently a private or an orderly, sunburned, short, and thin, with sunken cheeks and a dull expression. The officer walked in front, leaning on a stick and slightly limping. When he had advanced a few steps he stopped, having apparently4 decided that these were good quarters, turned round to the soldiers standing5 at the entrance, and in a loud voice of command ordered them to put up the horses. Having done that, the officer, lifting his elbow with a smart gesture, stroked his mustache and lightly touched his hat.
* “Good day, everybody!”
No one gave any reply.
Gerasim gazed at the officer with an alarmed and inquiring look.
“Quartier, quartier, logement!” said the officer, looking down at the little man with a condescending8 and good-natured smile. “Les francais sont de bons enfants. Que diable! Voyons! Ne nous fachons pas, mon vieux!”* added he, clapping the scared and silent Gerasim on the shoulder. “Well, does no one speak French in this establishment?” he asked again in French, looking around and meeting Pierre’s eyes. Pierre moved away from the door.
* “Quarters, quarters, lodgings9! The French are good fellows. What the devil! There, don’t let us be cross, old fellow!”
Again the officer turned to Gerasim and asked him to show him the rooms in the house.
“Master, not here — don’t understand . . . me, you . . . ” said Gerasim, trying to render his words more comprehensible by contorting them.
Still smiling, the French officer spread out his hands before Gerasim’s nose, intimating that he did not understand him either, and moved, limping, to the door at which Pierre was standing. Pierre wished to go away and conceal himself, but at that moment he saw Makar Alexeevich appearing at the open kitchen door with the pistol in his hand. With a madman’s cunning, Makar Alexeevich eyed the Frenchman, raised his pistol, and took aim.
“Board them!” yelled the tipsy man, trying to press the trigger. Hearing the yell the officer turned round, and at the same moment Pierre threw himself on the drunkard. Just when Pierre snatched at and struck up the pistol Makar Alexeevich at last got his fingers on the trigger, there was a deafening10 report, and all were enveloped11 in a cloud of smoke. The Frenchman turned pale and rushed to the door.
Forgetting his intention of concealing12 his knowledge of French, Pierre, snatching away the pistol and throwing it down, ran up to the officer and addressed him in French.
“You are not wounded?” he asked.
“I think not,” answered the Frenchman, feeling himself over. “But I have had a lucky escape this time,” he added, pointing to the damaged plaster of the wall. “Who is that man?” said he, looking sternly at Pierre.
“Oh, I am really in despair at what has occurred,” said Pierre rapidly, quite forgetting the part he had intended to play. “He is an unfortunate madman who did not know what he was doing.”
The officer went up to Makar Alexeevich and took him by the collar.
Makar Alexeevich was standing with parted lips, swaying, as if about to fall asleep, as he leaned against the wall.
“Brigand! You shall pay for this,” said the Frenchman, letting go of him. “We French are merciful after victory, but we do not pardon traitors,” he added, with a look of gloomy dignity and a fine energetic gesture.
Pierre continued, in French, to persuade the officer not to hold that drunken imbecile to account. The Frenchman listened in silence with the same gloomy expression, but suddenly turned to Pierre with a smile. For a few seconds he looked at him in silence. His handsome face assumed a melodramatically gentle expression and he held out his hand.
“You have saved my life. You are French,” said he.
For a Frenchman that deduction13 was indubitable. Only a Frenchman could perform a great deed, and to save his life — the life of M. Ramballe, captain of the 13th Light Regiment14 — was undoubtedly15 a very great deed.
But however indubitable that conclusion and the officer’s conviction based upon it, Pierre felt it necessary to disillusion16 him.
“I am Russian,” he said quickly.
“Tut, tut, tut! Tell that to others,” said the officer, waving his finger before his nose and smiling. “You shall tell me all about that presently. I am delighted to meet a compatriot. Well, and what are we to do with this man?” he added, addressing himself to Pierre as to a brother.
Even if Pierre were not a Frenchman, having once received that loftiest of human appellations17 he could not renounce18 it, said the officer’s look and tone. In reply to his last question Pierre again explained who Makar Alexeevich was and how just before their arrival that drunken imbecile had seized the loaded pistol which they had not had time to recover from him, and begged the officer to let the deed go unpunished.
“You have saved my life! You are French. You ask his pardon? I grant it you. Lead that man away!” said he quickly and energetically, and taking the arm of Pierre whom he had promoted to be a Frenchman for saving his life, he went with him into the room.
The soldiers in the yard, hearing the shot, came into the passage asking what had happened, and expressed their readiness to punish the culprits, but the officer sternly checked them.
“You will be called in when you are wanted,” he said.
The soldiers went out again, and the orderly, who had meanwhile had time to visit the kitchen, came up to his officer.
“Captain, there is soup and a leg of mutton in the kitchen,” said he. “Shall I serve them up?”
“Yes, and some wine,” answered the captain.
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1
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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2
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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3
irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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4
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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5
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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6
gaily
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| adv.欢乐地，高兴地 | |
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bourgeois
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| adj./n.追求物质享受的(人)；中产阶级分子 | |
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8
condescending
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| adj.谦逊的,故意屈尊的 | |
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9
lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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10
deafening
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| adj. 振耳欲聋的, 极喧闹的 动词deafen的现在分词形式 | |
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11
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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12
concealing
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，遮住( conceal的现在分词 ) | |
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13
deduction
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| n.减除，扣除，减除额；推论，推理，演绎 | |
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14
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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15
undoubtedly
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| adv.确实地，无疑地 | |
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16
disillusion
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| vt.使不再抱幻想，使理想破灭 | |
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17
appellations
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| n.名称，称号( appellation的名词复数 ) | |
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18
renounce
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| v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系 | |
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19
majestic
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| adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的 | |
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