When Opportunity Knocks During Crisis — War and Peace

At the levee Emperor Francis only looks fixedly into Andrew's face and nods with his long head. Afterward an adjutant says the Emperor desires an audience. Francis receives him standing in the middle of the room, confused and blushing, and asks checklist questions about times, miles, Kutuzov's health, and Schmidt's death without listening to the answers. When Andrew tries to give a reliable account of Durrenstein after five in the afternoon, the Emperor smiles and interrupts. Andrew still receives the Maria Theresa cross and a morning of calls while the court celebrates.

Returning to Bilibin he finds packing in the hall: French marshals took the Thabor Bridge by bluff, waving white handkerchiefs, flattering Auersperg, and silencing a sergeant who saw the trap. The army may be cut off.

Andrew imagines this crisis as his Toulon, the chance to save Kutuzov and leap into fame. Bilibin, as a consistent philosopher, urges him to stay and ride comfortably to Olmutz: either he will not reach the regiment before peace, or he will share defeat and disgrace. Andrew cannot argue. He thinks he is going to save the army. My dear fellow, Bilibin says, you are a hero. Glory and disaster meet in one afternoon.