第142章

第142章bolkonskytookadvantageofthisintervaltogointodolgorukovtotryandlearndetailsaboutthecomingaction.princeandreyfeltthatkutuzovwasdisturbedanddispleasedaboutsomething，andthattheyweredispleasedwithhimatheadquarters，andthatallthepersonsattheemperor’sheadquarterstookthetonewithhimofpeoplewhoknewsomethingotherpeoplearenotawareof；andforthatreasonhewantedtohavesometalkwithdolgorukov.

“oh，goodevening，mydearboy，”saiddolgorukov，whowassittingatteawithbilibin.“thefête’sforto-morrow.how’syouroldfellow？outofhumour？”

“iwon’tsayhe’soutofhumour，butifancyhewouldliketogetahearing.”

“buthedidgetahearingatthecouncilofwar，andhewillgetahearingwhenhebeginstotalksense.buttodelayandwaitaboutnowwhenbonapartefearsageneralengagementmorethananything—isoutofthequestion.”

“ohyes，youhaveseenhim，”saidprinceandrey.“well，whatdidyouthinkofbonaparte？whatimpressiondidhemakeonyou？”

“yes，isawhim，andi’mpersuadedhefearsageneralengagementmorethananythingintheworld，”repeateddolgorukov，whoevidentlyattachedgreatvaluetothisgeneraldeductionhehadmadefromhisinterviewwithnapoleon.“ifheweren’tafraidofanengagementwhatreasonhashetoaskforthisinterview，toopennegotiations，and，aboveall，toretreat，whenretreatiscontrarytohiswholemethodofconductingwarfare？believeme，he’safraid，afraidofageneralengagement；hishourhascome，markmywords.”

“buttellmewhatwashelike，howdidhebehave？”princeandreystillinsisted.

“he’samaninagreyovercoat，veryanxioustobecalled‘yourmajesty，’butdisappointedatnotgettingatitleofanykindoutofme.that’sthesortofmanheis，that’sall，”answereddolgorukov，lookingroundwithasmileatbilibin.

“inspiteofmyprofoundrespectforoldkutuzov，”hepursued，“aprettysetoffoolsweshouldbetowaitaboutandlethimhaveachancetogetawayorcheatus，whenasitishe’sinourhandsforcertain.no，wemustn’tforgetsuvorovandhisrule—nevertoputoneselfinapositiontobeattacked，buttomaketheattackoneself.believeme，theenergyofyoungmenisoftenasaferguideinwarfarethanalltheexperienceoftheoldcunctators.”

“butinwhatpositionareyougoingtoattackhim？ihavebeenattheoutpoststo-day，andtherewasnomakingoutwherehischiefforcesareconcentrated，”saidprinceandrey.hewaslongingtoexplaintodolgorukovhisownidea，theplanofattackhehadformed.

“ah，that’samatterofnoconsequencewhatever，”dolgorukovsaidquickly，gettingupandunfoldingamaponthetable.“everycontingencyhasbeenprovidedfor；ifheisconcentratedatbrunn.…”andprincedolgorukovgavearapidandvagueaccountofweierother’splanofaflankmovement.

princeandreybegantomakeobjectionsandtoexplainhisownplan，whichmayhavebeenasgoodasweierother’s，buthadthefataldisadvantagethatweierother’splanhadalreadybeenaccepted.assoonasprinceandreybegantoenlargeonthedrawbacksofthelatterandtheadvantagesofhisownscheme，princedolgorukovceasedtoattend，andlookedwithoutinterestnotatthemap，butatprinceandrey’sface.

“thereistobeacouncilofwaratkutuzov’sto-night，though；youcanexplainallthatthen，”saiddolgorukov.

“that’swhatiamgoingtodo，”saidprinceandrey，movingawayfromthemap.

“andwhatareyouworryingyourselvesabout，gentlemen？”saidbilibin，whohadtillthenbeenlisteningtotheirtalkwithabeamingsmile，butnowunmistakablyintendedtomakeajoke.“whetherthereisvictoryordefeatto-morrow，thegloryoftherussianarmsissecure.exceptyourkutuzov，there’snotasinglerussianincommandofacolumn.thecommandersare：herrgeneralwimpfen，lecomtedelangeron，leprincedelichtenstein，leprincedehohenloheandprishprshiprsh，orsomesuchpolishname.”

“holdyourtongue，backbiter，”saiddolgorukov.“it’snottrue，therearetworussians：miloradovitchanddohturov，andtherewouldhavebeenathird，countaraktcheev，butforhisweaknerves.”

“mihaililarionovitchhascomeout，ithink，”saidprinceandrey.“goodluckandesstoyou，gentlemen，”headded，andwentout，aftershakinghandswithdolgorukovandbilibin.

onreturninghomeprinceandreycouldnotrefrainfromaskingkutuzov，whosatnearhiminsilence，whathethoughtaboutthecomingbattle.kutuzovlookedsternlyathisadjutant，andafterapause，answered：“ithinkthebattlewillbelost，andisaidsotocounttolstoyandaskedhimtogivethatmessagetothetsar.andwhatdoyousupposewastheanswerhegaveme？‘eh，monchergénéral，jememêlederizetdec？telettes，mêlez-vousdesaffairesdelaguerre.’yes.…that’stheanswerigot！”