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Show 14 'I‘III'I II,\III{ "It's :1 HIHSI IHH‘IKY "springhoi'e . . . . . I find. IIIICISI VIIY‘I‘HI'IHH‘II \. I SPRING IN THE TRAIN 'II.IIIII1‘.‘II mi" .. I was eoiiipellul by NIH!" llil"\'}H‘v'iviI ~-i‘!i\s' H." :QHWI'V duty to be practical. "You‘ve got your things?" I >1II1I. "Ynii'iw I'uiiiol .‘lell' seat {5" "IVOII. I didn‘t know i I!" >1;iiiiiii« :‘owl. "Where are they 5" I :i\l\wl Irim. Ilewasnot IlIIIII‘HH'v‘\\Ilt‘1‘l‘IIH'Y were. Ilv stood. war iug his hands. whilst the null II sunlight rippled nor his face. I was suddenly ii'i'ilalwl. "Ihit pIease." I said. "thew isn't Illllt‘Il time. I‘Ioiii‘ ol' us men haVe a compartment together. IIH\I >IIH\\‘II11‘\\'III‘I'H your things are and then I‘ll imi'mliim- you." Ill‘ swiawl reluctant to move. as though the spot that he hail vhiiseil was the only safe one in the whole >T:1IIHIII hat I loi'woll him forward, found his Imus. had them plawd in their carriage. then turned to introduce him to his ('HHII‘HHIIHIH . Anna Miliailonia had said to me: "'l‘his detachment will be older than the last. llocioi- Nikitin who‘ll take that: other doctors place. the one who had I'VIIIlHrifi-HIHI Andrey Vassilievitch~you\‘e known him for years. He talks a great deal but he's sympathetic and HIIVII a good business man. He'll be useful. Then tlieies an Englishman ; I don't know much about him, except that he‘s been working for three months at the English llospital. ,llc's not a col" respondent, never written a line in his lite. I only saw him for a moment, but he seemed sympathetic. . . ." Anna Mihailovna, as is well known to all of us, finds every one sympathetic simply be:ause she has so much to do and so many people to see that she has no time to go deeply into things. If you have no time for judging char- acter you must have some good common rule to go by. I 15 had known little Andrey Vassilievitch for some years and had found him tiresome. Finally, I did not, care about the possibility of an Englishman. Perhaps I had wishe d (through pride) to remain the only Englishman in our "Otriad." I had made friends with them all, I was at home with them. Another Englishman might transplant me in thei ' attections. Russians transfer, with the greatest ease, their emotions from one place to another; or he might be a failure and so damage my country's reputation. Some such vain and stupid prejudice I had. I know that I looked upon our new additions with disfavour. There, at any rate, Dr. Nikitin and little Andrey Vassilievitch were, and a strange contrast they made. Nikitin's size would have compelled attention anywhere, even in Russia, which is, of course, a country of big men. It was not only that he was tall and broad; the carriage of his head, the deep blackness of his beard, his eyebrows, his eyes, the sure independence with which he held himself, as thoug h he were inditt‘erent to the whole world (and that I know that he was), must anywhere have made him remarked and remembered. He looked now immensely fine in his uniform, which admirably suited him. He stood, without his greatcoat, his hand on his sword, his eyes half-closed as though he were almost asleep, and a faint half-smile on his face as though he were amused at his thoughts. I remem - ber that my first impression of him was that he was so completely beneath the domination of some idea or remem brance that, at that moment, no human being could touch him. When I took Trenehard up to him I was so conscious of his remoteness that I was embarrassed and apologetic. And if I was aware of Nitikin's remoteness I was equall y conscious of Andrey Vassilievitch's proximity. He was a little man of a round plump figure; he were a little im- |