nt in his
pocket, on seeing a crowd bearing down upon him told his coachman to
stop.

"What people are these?" he shouted to the men, who were moving singly
and timidly in the direction of his trap.

"What people are these?" he shouted again, receiving no answer.

"Your honor..." replied the shopman in the frieze coat, "your honor, in
accord with the proclamation of his highest excellency the count, they
desire to serve, not sparing their lives, and it is not any kind of
riot, but as his highest excellence said..."

"The count has not left, he is here, and an order will be issued
concerning you," said the superintendent of police. "Go on!" he ordered
his coachman.

The crowd halted, pressing around those who had heard what the
superintendent had said, and looking at the departing trap.

The superintendent of police turned round at that moment with a scared
look, said something to his coachman, and his horses increased their
speed.

"It's a fraud, lads! Lead the way to him, himself!" shouted the tall
youth. "Don't let him go, lads! Let him answer us! Keep him!" shouted
different people and the people dashed in pursuit of the trap.

Following the superintendent of police and talking loudly the crowd went
in the direction of the Lubyanka Street.

"There now, the gentry and merchants have gone away and left us to
perish. Do they think we're dogs?" voices in the crowd were heard saying
more and more frequently.

CHAPTER XXIV

On the evening of the first of September, after his interview with
Kutuzov, Count Rostopchin had returned to Moscow mortified and offended
because he had not been invited to attend the council of war, and
because Kutuzov had paid no attention to his offer to take part in the
defense of the city; amazed also at the novel outlook revealed to him
at the camp, which treated the tranquillity of the capital and its
patriotic fervor as not merely secondary but quite irrelevant and
unimportant matters. Distressed, offended, and surprised by all this,
Rostopchin had returned to Moscow. After supper he lay down on a sofa
without undressing, and was awakened soon after midnight by a courier
bringing him a letter from Kutuzov. This letter requested the count to
send police officers to guide the troops through the town, as the army
was retreating to the Ryazan road beyond Moscow. This was not news to
Rostopchin. He had known that Moscow would be abandoned not merely since
his interview the p