XII
THE ARRIVAL
The train advanced rapidly.
Sergey Golovin remembered to have spent the summer, some years before, in a little country-house along this very line. He had often travelled the road by day and by night, and knew it well. Closing his eyes, he could fancy himself returning by the last train, after staying out late at night with friends.
"I shall arrive soon," thought he, straightening up: and his eyes met the dark grated window. Around him nothing stirred. Only the Tzigane kept on spitting, and his eyes ran the length of the car, seeming to touch the doors and the soldiers.
"It is cold," said Vasily Kashirin between his thin lips, which seemed frozen.
Tanya Kovalchuk bestirred herself in a maternal fashion:
"Here's a very warm kerchief to wrap around your . . ."
"Neck?" asked Sergey, and he was frightened by his own question.
"What matters it, Vasya? Take it."
"Wrap yourself up. You will be warmer," added Werner.
He turned to Yanson, and asked him tenderly:
