“There's nothing of importance in them.”
“No. It has not reached the climax. We'll wait for the chapters to follow. Thank you.”
He took my note and put it carefully away with the others, nodded his head and walked away. I remained, meditating, where he left me, until I was disturbed by voice of the nephew.
“My uncle wasn't looking for me, was he?”
“He did not mention your name.”
“Out of gratitude I'll go back and expose myself to the cross fire of the allied fleets in front of Sevastopol. Anyway, this being bossed about by my uncle is not going to last much longer. Then—you'II see!”
With these words he glanced up at me with a merry laugh.
I, on the contrary, had lost all inclination to merriment. Deeply meditative I watched the fine, vigorous young fellow walk away.
When I considered, in cold blood, what I had seen in this short time, the individual peculiarity of each member of the Walter family, their relations to each other, the senseless lack of tact of the husband, the youth and beauty of the wife, the handsome nephew, the scene of the day before in
