For Prince Andrei, Paris brought him into the society of younger Russian officers and the diplomats who accompanied the tsar. At an evening soirée he stood with Prince Peter Viazemsky, an intellectual with curls, whiskers, and spectacles. Viazemsky had fought at Borodino but was also a liberal-minded poet. A friend to Princess Zinaida Volkonskaya, Viazemsky was so close to her as to be like a brother. Like Prince Andrei, Viazemsky felt excitement about a new Russia to come now that Napoleon had been defeated. So did the officer Pavel Pestel, who had been wounded at Borodino even more seriously than Prince Andrei had been. Indeed Pestel had been so seriously wounded that it was Field Marshal Kutuzov himself who presented him a sword for valor. Although only a young officer, Pestel was already balding a bit and even in society he still carried the energy of battle with him. He regarded the older and taller Prince Andrei with fixed and adoring eyes for Prince Andrei had freed his serfs years earlier, and Pestel wished such gestures would sweep through Russia.