if I could help
it. Then Semyonov said:

"Of course I would have to stay."

We went for him then. You should have heard Nikitin! I didn't believe
that he had it in him. Semyonov was quiet, of course, smiling that
beastly smile of his.

Then at last he said:

"Suppose we play for it?"

We agreed. The one who turned up the Ace of Hearts was to stay. You
could have heard a pin drop after that. I have never before felt what
I felt then. If I had to return and leave Semyonov here! They say that
the attack may develop in this direction at any moment. If Semyonov
were to be here and I not.... And yet what was it that I wanted? What
I want is to be close to Marie again, to be there where Semyonov
cannot reach us. I believe that she might always have cared for me if
he had not been there. Whatever death may be, I must _know_.... If
there is nothing more, no matter. If there _is_ something more--then
there is something for her as well as for me and I shall find her, and
I must find her alone. There's nothing left in life now to me save
that. As I sat there looking at the cards I knew all this, knew quite
clearly that I must escape Semyonov. There's no madness in this.
Whilst he is there I'm nothing--but without him, if I were with her
again--I was always beaten easily by anybody but in this at least I
can be strong. I don't hate him but I know that he will always be
first as long as we're together. And we seem to be tied now like dogs
by their tails, tied by our thoughts of Marie....

Well, anyway I turned up the Ace. My heart seemed to jump right upside
down when I saw it. The others said nothing. Only Semyonov at last:

"Well, Mr., if it comes to it we'll have to see that it's necessary
for _two_ of us to be here. It will never do for you and me to be
parted--"

Meanwhile, the firing's very close to-night. They say the Austrians
have taken Vulatch. Shocking, our lack of ammunition.... God! The
heat!

CHAPTER V

THE DOOR CLOSES BEHIND THEM

_Trenchard's Diary. Saturday, August 14th...._

Captain T---- died this afternoon at four-thirty. A considerable shock
to me. He was so young, so strong. They all said that he had a
remarkable future. He had dined with us several times at Mittoevo and
his vitality had always attracted me; vitality restrained and drilled
towards some definite purpose. He might have been a great man.... His
wound in the stomach did not hurt him, I think. He was wonderfully
calm at the