iedly away again as
though he were ashamed of it. Sometimes, getting out of bed, he would
cry: "Have you heard the latest scandal? About the ammunition in the
Tenth Army! They say--" and then he would forget his washing
altogether. He did not shave his head, as most of us had done, but
allowed his hair to grow very long, and this, of course, was often a
subject of irritation to him. He had also a habit of sitting on his
bed in his nightclothes, yawning and scratching his body all over,
very slowly, with his long (and I'm afraid dirty) finger-nails, for
the space, perhaps, of a quarter of an hour. This I found difficult to
endure. His long white face was always a dirty shade of grey and his
jacket was stained with reminiscences of his meals. His habits at
table were terrible; he was always so deeply interested in what he was
saying that he had not time to close his mouth whilst he was eating,
to ask people to pass him food (he stretched his long dirty hand
across the table) or to pass food to others. He shouted a great deal
and was in a furious passion every five minutes. I also just at this
time found the boy Goga tiresome; the boy had not been taught by his
parents the duty that children owe to their elders and I am inclined
to believe that this duty is almost universally untaught in Russia. To
Goga a General was as nothing, he would contradict our old
white-haired General T----, when he came to dine with us, would
patronise the Colonel and assure the General's aide-de-camp that he
knew better. He would advance his father as a perpetual and faithful
witness to the truth of his statements. "You may say what you like,"
he would cry to myself or a Sister, "but my father knows better than
you do. He has the front seat in the Moscow Opera all through the
season and has been to England three times." Goga also had been once
to England for a week (spent entirely on the Brighton Pier) and he
told me many things. He would forget, for a moment, that I was an
Englishman and would assure me that he knew better than I did. He was
a being with the best heart in the world, but his parents loved him so
much that they had neglected his education.

These things may seem trifling enough, but they had, nevertheless,
their importance. Among the Sisters, Sister K---- was the unpopular
one. I myself must honestly confess that she was a woman ill-suited to
company less worthy than herself. She had an upright virtuous
character but she was nar