One of them flashed a lantern-light on
the doorway.
"Aha! Sky-larking with the engineers! Ha! Ha! Ha!"
They began chattering among themselves and sang in chorus a ribald
doggerel:
"Once upon a time a wench
Appeared before a judge's bench.."
III
Before he went to bed Agrenev laid out cards to play Patience, ate a
cold supper, stood a long time staring at the light from under Anna's
door, then knocked.
"Come in."
He entered for a moment, and found her sitting at a table with a
book, which she laid down upon an open copybook diary. When, when is
he to know what is written there?
He spoke curtly:
"I go to Moscow the first thing to-morrow on Detachment. Here is some
money for the housekeeping."
"Thanks. When do you return?"
"In a week--that is, Friday next week. Is there anything you need?"
"No thanks." She rose, came close and kissed him on the cheek near
his lips. "A safe journey. Goodbye. Do not waken Asya."
And she turned away, sat down at the table, and took up her book
again.
In the early hours of the morning a horse was yoked, and Agrenev
drove with Bitska over the main road to the station. It was wet. The
sombre figures of workmen were dimly seen through the rain and
darkness, hastening to the factory. The staff drove round in a motor
as the shrill sound of the factory horn split the silence.
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