Page 207 - war-and-peace

allowed every softly spoken word to be heard, followed some
twenty men of his suite. These gentlemen talked among
themselves and sometimes laughed. Nearest of all to the
commander in chief walked a handsome adjutant. This was
Prince Bolkonski. Beside him was his comrade Nesvitski,
a tall staff officer, extremely stout, with a kindly, smiling,
handsome face and moist eyes. Nesvitski could hardly keep
from laughter provoked by a swarthy hussar officer who
walked beside him. This hussar, with a grave face and with-
out a smile or a change in the expression of his fixed eyes,
watched the regimental commander’s back and mimicked
his every movement. Each time the commander started and
bent forward, the hussar started and bent forward in ex-
actly the same manner. Nesvitski laughed and nudged the
others to make them look at the wag.
Kutuzov walked slowly and languidly past thousands of
eyes which were starting from their sockets to watch their
chief. On reaching the third company he suddenly stopped.
His suite, not having expected this, involuntarily came clos-
er to him.
‘Ah, Timokhin!’ said he, recognizing the red-nosed cap-
tain who had been reprimanded on account of the blue
greatcoat.
One would have thought it impossible for a man to stretch
himself more than Timokhin had done when he was repri-
manded by the regimental commander, but now that the
commander in chief addressed him he drew himself up to
such an extent that it seemed he could not have sustained it
had the commander in chief continued to look at him, and

207