It was plain that he was lying and only wanted to get more money from the traveler.
"Is this good or bad?" Pierre asked himself.
" It is good for me, bad for another traveler, and for himself it's unavoidable, because he needs money for food; the man said an officer had once given him a thrashing for letting a private traveler have the courier horses.
But the officer thrashed him because he had to get on as quickly as possible.
And I," continued Pierre, "shot Dolokhov because I considered myself injured, and Louis XVI was executed because they considered him a criminal, and a year later they executed those who executed him--also for some reason.