MARIE IVANOVNA It was on July 23 that I first entered the Forest of S----.

I did not, I remember, pay the event any especial attention.

I went with Anna Petrovna to the cholera village that is on the outskirts of the forest, and I recollect that we hastened back because that evening we were to celebrate the conclusion of the first six months' work of our Otriad.

Of my entrance into the forest I remember absolutely nothing; it seemed, I suppose, an ordinary enough forest to me.

Of the festivities in the evening I have a very clear recollection.