Captain Ramballe
A French officer
BOOK THREE
Book Three, Part Three
Chapter 28
Two Frenchmen enter the house where Pierre is staying in Moscow. The officer interrogates Gerasim while Pierre hides, not wanting to reveal his identity. But when Makar Alexeevich raises the pistol at the officer, Pierre saves the Frenchman’s life. Captain Ramballe calls Pierre a Frenchman and agrees to pardon Makar Alexeevich. He orders up some mutton and plenty of wine.
Chapter 29
Pierre and Ramballe eat and drink, then drink some more. Ramballe is an amiable stranger who tells stories of his romantic conquests. He is irresistible, and he knows it. Pierre is drawn in and forgets his ‘concentrated gloom’: he knows he will not kill Napoleon. As Ramballe talks of his kind of love, something different becomes clear in Pierre’s mind: that he has only loved one woman and that she can never be his. He tells this stranger his whole story, and then they go out into the street. Pierre sees the comet and the first of the fires that will destroy Moscow.
BOOK FOUR
Book Four, Part Four
Chapter 9
After the battle of Krasnoi, the Fifth Company are camped by a wood. Around midnight, Ramballe and his orderly Morel stagger from between the trees. Ramballe is taken to the officers’ hut while a drunk Morel stays with the soldiers to sing songs, eat and watch the stars twinkle in the heavens.