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 dinner to one of their number who was being transferred to Velno; and the dinner had been a long one; there was a good deal of champagne drunk afterwards; and they had gone on gaily to make a night of it. One or two of the married ones had refused, good-naturedly, but had come along all the same, so as to not spoil sport; Garrit had come too, in his genial way. At last, he had decided that that was about enough and that the road which the others were taking was not his road: he was one of you sensible, moderate people, who never went to extremes; he was very fond of his little wife; indeed, he already felt some compunction at the idea of perhaps waking her at that time of night, when he went into the bedroom, after undressing. As a matter of fact, she did wake; but he had at once reassured her with his gruff, good-natured voice and she had gone to sleep again. He had stayed awake a long time, lying there with wide-open eyes, angry at not being able to sleep, at having forgotten how to take a glass of wine with rest. At last, in the small hours, when it was quite light, he had slowly dozed off into a misty dreamland; and gradually the mist had turned into solid landscapes, had become a stack of heavy mountains, which pressed heavily upon his brain until they crumbled down in rocky avalanches.

Now, at last, he shook off the strange heaviness, took his bath; and, when he saw himself naked—