“No, you will not go in early.  I have got leave for you for another day, and I am going to take you for a drive in the morning.  You will be called an hour before sunrise.  Take your breakfast as soon as you are dressed.  Do not wait for me.  I have work to do before I start, and shall breakfast elsewhere.”

As soon as Charlie had breakfasted the next morning, a Cossack told him that the carriage was below, and he followed him to the door where he had entered on the previous evening.  The carriage was a simple one, but the three horses harnessed abreast to it were magnificent animals.  Charlie stood admiring them for some little time.

“I should think,” he said to himself, “the doctor must be a man of large property, and most likely of noble family, who has taken up his profession from pure love of it.  He is evidently full of energy, and has an intense desire to see Russia greater and higher in the rank of nations.  I suppose that, like Kelly, he is one of the principal medical officers in the army.  Certainly he must be a man of considerable influence to obtain my transfer here so easily, and to see that I travelled so comfortably.  I wonder where he is going to take me this morning.”

Four or five minutes later Charlie’s friend appeared at the door.  He was evidently out of temper.  He sprung hastily into the vehicle, as if he had altogether forgotten that he had asked Charlie to accompany him.

Then, as his eye fell on him, he nodded and said briefly, “Jump in.”

A little surprised at the unceremonious address, Charlie sprang into the seat beside him without hesitation, seeing that his companion was evidently so much out of temper that he was not thinking of what he was doing at the moment.  The coachman cracked his whip, and the spirited horses went off, at a rate of speed that threatened danger to persons traversing the narrow streets of the town.  The cracking of the coachman’s whip, and an occasional loud shout and the jangling of the bells, gave, however, sufficient warning of their approach.

Charlie smiled at the alacrity with which every one sprang out of the way, and either leapt into doorways or squeezed themselves against the wall.  He was surprised, however, to see that not only did the townspeople show no resentment, at the reckless pace at which the carriage was driven, but that the soldiers, officers as well as men, cleared out as quickly, and without any expression of indignation or anger.

Indeed, most of them, as soon as they gained a place of safety, saluted his companion.

“These Russians have evidently a higher respect for their doctors than have the Swedes,” he said to himself.  “I am sure that not even the chief surgeon of the army would be treated with anything like the same respect, and, indeed, no one would recognize him at all, if he were not in uniform.”

The doctor seemed to pay no attention to what was passing round him, but was muttering angrily to himself.  It was not until they dashed out into the open country that he seemed to remember Charlie’s presence at his side.