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While in the Rostovs' ballroom the sixth anglaise was being

danced, to a tune in which the weary musicians blundered, and

while tired footmen and cooks were getting the supper, Count

Bezukhov had a sixth stroke. The doctors pronounced recovery

impossible. After a mute confession, communion was administered

to the dying man, preparations made for the sacrament of unction,

and in his house there was the bustle and thrill of suspense

usual at such moments. Outside the house, beyond the gates, a

group of undertakers, who hid whenever a carriage drove up,

waited in expectation of an important order for an expensive

funeral. The Military Governor of Moscow, who had been assiduous

in sending aides-de-camp to inquire after the count's health,

came himself that evening to bid a last farewell to the

celebrated grandee of Catherine's court, Count Bezukhov.