Chalais was beheaded at Nantes in 1626 for having upheld Gaston of Orleans in his refusal to wed Mademoiselle de Montpensier, and Marshal dOrnano died at Vincennes for having given him bad advice in this matter; while the duelist de Boutteville was put to the torture for having braved the edict against duels.
This was Dolokhov, an officer of the Semenov regiment, a notorious gambler and duelist, who was living with Anatole.
Rostov was talking merrily to his two friends, one of whom was a dashing hussar and the other a notorious duelist and rake, and every now and then he glanced ironically at Pierre, whose preoccupied, absent-minded, and massive figure was a very noticeable one at the dinner.