al's words.

"I should think so indeed!" cried the latter. "The court-martial came to
no decision. It was a mysterious, an impossible business, one might say!
Captain Larionoff, commander of the company, had died; his command
was handed over to the prince for the moment. Very well. This soldier,
Kolpakoff, stole some leather from one of his comrades, intending to
sell it, and spent the money on drink. Well! The prince--you understand
that what follows took place in the presence of the sergeant-major, and
a corporal--the prince rated Kolpakoff soundly, and threatened to have
him flogged. Well, Kolpakoff went back to the barracks, lay down on
a camp bedstead, and in a quarter of an hour was dead: you quite
understand? It was, as I said, a strange, almost impossible, affair.
In due course Kolpakoff was buried; the prince wrote his report, the
deceased's name was removed from the roll. All as it should be, is it
not? But exactly three months later at the inspection of the brigade,
the man Kolpakoff was found in the third company of the second battalion
of infantry, Novozemlianski division, just as if nothing had happened!"

"What?" said the prince, much astonished.

"It did not occur--it's a mistake!" said Nina Alexandrovna quickly,
looking, at the prince rather anxiously. "Mon mari se trompe," she
added, speaking in French.

"My dear, 'se trompe' is easily said. Do you remember any case at all
like it? Everybody was at their wits' end. I should be the first to say
'qu'on se trompe,' but unfortunately I was an eye-witness, and was also
on the commission of inquiry. Everything proved that it was really he,
the very same soldier Kolpakoff who had been given the usual military
funeral to the sound of the drum. It is of course a most curious
case--nearly an impossible one. I recognize that... but--"

"Father, your dinner is ready," said Varvara at this point, putting her
head in at the door.

"Very glad, I'm particularly hungry. Yes, yes, a strange
coincidence--almost a psychological--"

"Your soup'll be cold; do come."

"Coming, coming," said the general. "Son of my old friend--" he was
heard muttering as he went down the passage.

"You will have to excuse very much in my husband, if you stay with us,"
said Nina Alexandrovna; "but he will not disturb you often. He dines
alone. Everyone has his little peculiarities, you know, and some people
perhaps have more than those who are most pointed at and laughed at.
One thi