Then there was the congregation in three groups. The
first group--two generals, two colonels, four or five other officers,
the Sisters (Sister K---- bowing and crossing herself incessantly,
Anna Petrovna with her attention obviously on the dinner cooking
behind a tree in the garden, Marie Ivanovna looking lovely and happy
and good), ourselves--Molozov official, Semyonov sarcastic, Nikitin in
a dream, Andrey Vassilievitch busy with his smart uniform, Trenchard
(forgotten his sword, his blue handkerchief protruding from his
pocket) absorbed by the ceremony, myself thinking of Trenchard,
Goga--and the rest. The second group--the singing sanitars, some ten
of them, stout and healthy, singing as Russians do with complete
self-forgetfulness and a rapturous happiness in front of them, a funny
little man with spectacles and a sharp-pointed beard, once a
schoolmaster, now a sanitar, conducting their music with a long bony
finger--all of them chanting the responses with perfect precision and
harmony.
Pages:
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355