Yes, and so it has gone--in a brutal, beastly way, and
you are always conscious that you belong to the rank and file; they
always make you feel that. Hence you can't realize what an enjoyment it
is to talk a coeur ouvert to such a man as you are."
I had never imagined what kind of a man I was, and consequently I did
not know what answer to make him.
"Will you have your lunch now?" asked Nikita at this juncture,
approaching me unseen in the darkness, and, as I could perceive, vexed
at the presence of a guest. "Nothing but curd dumplings, there's none of
the roast beef left."
"Has the captain had his lunch yet?"
"He went to bed long ago," replied Nikita, gruffly, "According to my
directions, I was to bring you lunch here and your brandy." He muttered
something else discontentedly, and sauntered off to his tent. After
loitering a while longer, he brought us, nevertheless, a lunch-case; he
placed a candle on the lunch-case, and shielded it from the wind with a
sheet of paper. He brought a saucepan, some mustard in a jar, a tin
dipper with a handle, and a bottle of absinthe. After arranging these
things, Nikita lingered around us for some moments, and looked on as
Guskof and I were drinking the liquor, and it was evidently very
distasteful to him.
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