Leo Tolstoy: War and Peace

BOOK ELEVEN: 1812 20. CHAPTER XX (continued)

When with due circumspection Napoleon was informed that Moscow was empty, he looked angrily at his informant, turned away, and silently continued to walk to and fro.

"My carriage!" he said.

He took his seat beside the aide-de-camp on duty and drove into the suburb. "Moscow deserted!" he said to himself. "What an incredible event!"

He did not drive into the town, but put up at an inn in the Dorogomilov suburb.

The coup de theatre had not come off.