Berthier kept his mouth shut, closed his file and tucked it back under his arm and then stared straight ahead, refusing to meet the Emperor’s eyes. Napoleon tilted his head back and stared at the intricate ceiling mouldings, painted with gold leaf. He smiled grimly. He had a fortune in gold in the army’s war chest, enough to buy all the coats and horses he needed. Now the gold would be little more than a burden if the army was forced to retreat through the harsh Russian winter. He leaned forward and looked across at Berthier.

‘Send for my marshals.’

A servant built up the fire before drawing the long curtains across the window and leaving the study. Outside the night was cold and a chilly wind moaned down the streets of Moscow, bringing with it brief squalls of rain that drove those men of the Grand Army still searching for spoils into the shelter of their billets.

Inside the room in the Kremlin, Napoleon faced his marshals, bracing himself to admit the truth.

‘The Tsar does not want peace. He refuses to even contemplate it.’ Napoleon frowned.‘It seems that he will not admit defeat, in spite of all that he has lost.’

‘Why would he?’ asked Davout. ‘Every day that we sit in Moscow and wait on events, his army grows stronger. By now, he will have gathered in men from his garrisons, and from the army that was facing Turkey. Sire, if we are not careful, Moscow will turn from a trophy into a trap.’

‘Then what do you suggest we do?’

‘There’s no question about it. We must retreat, while we still can.’

‘Retreat?’ Ney snorted. ‘When we have won all that we have? Kutusov is still too afraid to fight. That’s why he sits out there and does nothing.’

‘He doesn’t have to do anything,’ Davout replied,‘but sit and wait for the winter to do his work for him. Soon this city will run out of food, and then wood for the fires. We shall have to start eating the horses. When spring comes whatever is left of the Grand Army will not be fit to fight.’

‘Then we don’t stay here,’ Ney responded. ‘If the Tsar won’t sue for peace when we have taken Moscow, then I say we march on St Petersburg instead. Let’s see how reluctant he is to talk when we burn down the most prized of his palaces.’