,' he says (he was a great sinner),
'but what I am most sorry for is this old man. Don't let him suffer
because of me.' So he confessed and it was all written down and the
papers sent off in due form. The place was a long way off, and while
they were judging, what with one thing and another, filling in the
papers all in due form--the authorities I mean--time passed. The affair
reached the Tsar. After a while the Tsar's decree came: to set the
merchant free and give him a compensation that had been awarded. The
paper arrived and they began to look for the old man. 'Where is the old
man who has been suffering innocently and in vain? A paper has come from
the Tsar!' so they began looking for him," here Karataev's lower jaw
trembled, "but God had already forgiven him--he was dead! That's how it
was, dear fellows!" Karataev concluded and sat for a long time silent,
gazing before him with a smile.

And Pierre's soul was dimly but joyfully filled not by the story itself
but by its mysterious significance: by the rapturous joy that lit up
Karataev's face as he told it, and the mystic significance of that joy.

CHAPTER XIV

"A vos places!" * suddenly cried a voice.

* "To your places."

A pleasant feeling of excitement and an expectation of something
joyful and solemn was aroused among the soldiers of the convoy and the
prisoners. From all sides came shouts of command, and from the left came
smartly dressed cavalrymen on good horses, passing the prisoners at a
trot. The expression on all faces showed the tension people feel at the
approach of those in authority. The prisoners thronged together and were
pushed off the road. The convoy formed up.

"The Emperor! The Emperor! The Marshal! The Duke!" and hardly had the
sleek cavalry passed, before a carriage drawn by six gray horses rattled
by. Pierre caught a glimpse of a man in a three-cornered hat with a
tranquil look on his handsome, plump, white face. It was one of the
marshals. His eye fell on Pierre's large and striking figure, and in
the expression with which he frowned and looked away Pierre thought he
detected sympathy and a desire to conceal that sympathy.

The general in charge of the stores galloped after the carriage with a
red and frightened face, whipping up his skinny horse. Several officers
formed a group and some soldiers crowded round them. Their faces all
looked excited and worried.

"What did he say? What did he say?" Pierre heard them