The convoy stops and looks on in awe as Napoleon’s entourage passes. Behind them, before the convoy begins to move again, Karatáev is apparently executed.
The convoy stops and looks on in awe as Napoleon’s entourage passes. Behind them, before the convoy begins to move again, Karatáev is apparently executed.
Book 14, Chapter 14
The convoy stops and looks on in awe as Napoleon’s entourage passes. Behind them, before the convoy begins to move again, Karatáev is apparently executed.
Summary:
The day after hearing the story, the convoy is passed by the impressive entourage of Napoleon, whose sleek cavalry rode before an elegant carriage drawn by six gray horses, and accompanied by other members of the emperor’s staff. Before the convoy began moving again, Pierre saw Karatáev whom he had not yet seen that morning. On his face, besides the look of joyful emotion it had worn yesterday while telling the tale of the merchant who suffered innocently, there was now an expression of quiet solemnity. Karatáev seems to want to speak to Pierre, but Pierre does not go to him. They hear a shot, and two French soldiers who had been near Karatáev go running by, one with a smoking gun. Behind him, where Karatáev had been sitting, the dog begins to howl. His comrades avoided looking back at the place where the shot had been fired and the dog was howling, just as Pierre did, but there was a set look on all their faces.
quote from the chapter:
Two French soldiers ran past Pierre, one of whom carried a lowered and smoking gun. They both looked pale, and in the expression on their faces-one of them glanced timidly at Pierre-there was something resembling what he had seen on the face of the young soldier at the execution. Pierre looked at the soldier and remembered that, two days before, that man had burned his shirt while drying it at the fire and how they had laughed at him.
Behind him, where Karatáev had been sitting, the dog began to howl. What a stupid beast! Why is it howling? thought Pierre.
His comrades, the prisoner soldiers walking beside him, avoided looking back at the place where the shot had been fired and the dog was howling, just as Pierre did, but there was a set look on all their faces.
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