It
is four o'clock, Philippe! In two hours the Russians will begin to
move. I assure you you will again see the Beresina choked with
corpses. Philippe! think of yourself! You have no horses, you cannot
carry the countess in your arms. Come--come with me!" he said
urgently, pulling de Sucy by the arm.
"My friend! abandon Stephanie!"
De Sucy seized the countess, made her stand upright, shook her with
the roughness of a despairing man, and compelled her to wake up. She
looked at him with fixed, dead eyes.
"You must walk, Stephanie, or we shall all die here."
For all answer the countess tried to drop again upon the snow and
sleep. The aide-de-camp seized a brand from the fire and waved it in
her face.
"We will save her in spite of herself!" cried Philippe, lifting the
countess and placing her in the carriage.
He returned to implore the help of his friend. Together they lifted
the old general, without knowing whether he were dead or alive, and
put him beside his wife. The major then rolled over the men who were
sleeping on his blankets, which he tossed into the carriage, together
with some roasted fragments of his mare.
"What do you mean to do?" asked the aide-de-camp.
"Drag them."
"You are crazy."
"True," said Philippe, crossing his arms in despair.
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