Page 1349 - war-and-peace

pressed her lips to his cheek. But she stepped back immedi-
ately. All the force of the tenderness she had been feeling for
him vanished instantly and was replaced by a feeling of hor-
ror at what lay there before her. ‘No, he is no more! He is not,
but here where he was is something unfamiliar and hostile,
some dreadful, terrifying, and repellent mystery!’ And hid-
ing her face in her hands, Princess Mary sank into the arms
of the doctor, who held her up.
In the presence of Tikhon and the doctor the women
washed what had been the prince, tied his head up with a
handkerchief that the mouth should not stiffen while open,
and with another handkerchief tied together the legs that
were already spreading apart. Then they dressed him in uni-
form with his decorations and placed his shriveled little body
on a table. Heaven only knows who arranged all this and
when, but it all got done as if of its own accord. Toward night
candles were burning round his coffin, a pall was spread over
it, the floor was strewn with sprays of juniper, a printed band
was tucked in under his shriveled head, and in a corner of the
room sat a chanter reading the psalms.
Just as horses shy and snort and gather about a dead horse,
so the inmates of the house and strangers crowded into the
drawing room round the coffinthe Marshal, the village Elder,
peasant womenand all with fixed and frightened eyes, cross-
ing themselves, bowed and kissed the old prince’s cold and
stiffened hand.

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