The Emperor, surrounded by his suite of officers and courtiers, was riding a bobtailed chestnut mare, a different one from that which he had ridden at the review, and bending to one side he gracefully held a gold lorgnette to his eyes and looked at a soldier who lay prone, with blood on his uncovered head.

The wounded soldier was so dirty, coarse, and revolting that his proximity to the Emperor shocked Rostov.

Rostov saw how the Emperor's rather round shoulders shuddered as if a cold shiver had run down them, how his left foot began convulsively tapping the horse's side with the spur, and how the well-trained horse looked round unconcerned and did not stir.

An adjutant, dismounting, lifted the soldier under the arms to place him on a stretcher that had been brought.

The soldier groaned.