1 The commander of the regiment was an elderly, choleric, stout, and thick-set general with grizzled eyebrows and whiskers, and wider from chest to back than across the shoulders.
2 The battalion commander perceived the jovial irony and laughed.
3 On hearing this the regimental commander hung his head, silently shrugged his shoulders, and spread out his arms with a choleric gesture.
4 The regimental commander, going up to the line himself, ordered the soldiers to change into their greatcoats.
5 The regimental commander walked with his jerky steps to the front of the regiment and examined it from a distance.
6 The commander of the company, with his eyes fixed on his superior, pressed two fingers more and more rigidly to his cap, as if in this pressure lay his only hope of salvation.
7 And the commander, turning to look at the adjutant, directed his jerky steps down the line.
8 Thanks to the strictness and assiduity of its commander the regiment, in comparison with others that had reached Braunau at the same time, was in splendid condition.
9 The regimental commander ran forward on each such occasion, fearing to miss a single word of the commander-in-chief's regarding the regiment.
10 This hussar, with a grave face and without a smile or a change in the expression of his fixed eyes, watched the regimental commander's back and mimicked his every movement.
11 Each time the commander started and bent forward, the hussar started and bent forward in exactly the same manner.
12 The regimental commander was afraid he might be blamed for this and did not answer.
13 The shapely figure of the fair-haired soldier, with his clear blue eyes, stepped forward from the ranks, went up to the commander in chief, and presented arms.
14 "I will, your excellency," said Timokhin, showing by his smile that he understood his commander's wish.
15 "Well, that's all right," continued the regimental commander.