The fact was that it was only now, at the thought that, once seated in the cart, he should enter Sevastopol without dismounting from it, and that no chance occurrence could any longer detain him, that the danger which he was seeking clearly presented itself to him, and he was troubled at the very thought of its nearness. He managed to control himself in some way, and entered the room; but a quarter of an hour elapsed, and still he had not rejoined his brother, so that the latter opened the door at last, in order to call him. The younger Kozeltzoff, in the attitude of a naughty school-boy, was saying something to an officer named P. When his brother opened the door, he became utterly confused. “Immediately. I'll come out in a minute!” he cried, waving his hand at his brother. “Wait for me there, please.” A moment later he emerged, in fact, and approached his brother, with a deep sigh. “Just imagine! I cannot go with you, brother,” he said. “What? What nonsense is this?” “I will tell you the whole truth, Misha! Not one of us has any money, and we are all in debt to that staff-captain whom you saw there. It is horribly mortifying!” The elder brother frowned, and did not break the silence for a long while. “Do you owe much?” he asked, glancing askance at his brother. “A great deal—no, not a great deal; but I am dreadfully ashamed of it. He has paid for me for three stages, and all his sugar is gone, so that I do not know—yes, and we played at preference. I am a little in his debt there, too.” “This is bad, Volodya! Now, what would you have done if you had not met me?” said the elder, sternly, without looking at his brother. “Why, I was thinking, brother, that I should get that travelling-money at Sevastopol, and that I would give him that. Surely, that can be done; and it will be better for me to go with him to-morrow.” The elder brother pulled out his purse, and, with fingers that shook a little, he took out two ten-ruble notes and one for three rubles. “This is all the money I have,” said he. “How much do you owe?” Kozeltzoff did not speak the exact truth when he said that this was all the money he had. He had, besides, four gold pieces sewn into his cuff, in case of an emergency; but he had taken a vow not to touch them. It appeared that Kozeltzoff, what with preference and sugar, was in debt to the amount of eight rubles only. The elder brother gave him this sum, merely remarking that one should not play preference when one had no money. “What did you play for?”