"Tell me, when did the battle begin?" he asked hurriedly.

Prince Andrew replied.

Then followed other questions just as simple: "Was Kutuzov well? When had he left Krems?" and so on.

The Emperor spoke as if his sole aim were to put a given number of questions--the answers to these questions, as was only too evident, did not interest him.

"At what o'clock did the battle begin?" asked the Emperor.