‘You seem to take it to heart,’ observed Nicholas, with a smile.

"Your son," wrote Kutuzov, "fell before my eyes, a standard in his hand and at the head of a regimenthe fell as a hero, worthy of his father and his fatherland. To the great regret of myself and of the whole army it is still uncertain whether he is alive or not. I comfort myself and you with the hope that your son is alive, for otherwise he would have been mentioned among the officers found on the field of battle, a list of whom has been sent me under flag of truce."