"Come away!"
He followed me quietly, bowing very politely to the staring
sisters....
"Go on," I said to Nikolai. "Drive on. No time to waste. We've got
work to do."
On our return we found that the press of work was not as yet severe.
Half the building belonged to us, the remaining half being used by the
officers of the battery. Nikitin had arranged a large room, that must
I think have been a dining-room in happier days, with beds; to the
right was the operating-room, overhead were our bedrooms and the room
where originally I had sat with Marie Ivanovna was a general meeting
place. The officers of the battery, two middle-aged and two very young
indeed, were extremely courteous and begged us to make use of them in
any way possible. They were living in the raggedest fashion, a week's
growth of beard on their chins, their beds unmade, the floor littered
with ends of cigarettes, pieces of paper, journals.
"Been here weeks," they apologetically explained to us. "Come in and
have a meal with us whenever you like.
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