Here there was now silence, broken only by soldiers who hurried up the road or went in and out at the villa gates.

I felt abandoned.

How was I to discover Nikitin again?
Before what gate had I stood?
I did not know; I seemed to know nothing.
I moved down the road, very miserable and very cold.

I had stupidly left my coat in one of the wagons.

I walked on, my boots knocking against one another, thinking to myself: "If I'm not given something to do very soon I shall be just as I was the other night at Nijnieff--and then I shall suddenly take to my heels down this road as hard as I can go!" It was then that I tumbled straight into the arms of Nikitin, who was standing at the edge of the forest, watching for me.