The high road from Tiflis to Vladicaucasus is called the “Military Georgian Road.” The scenery is magnificent but dreadfully wild, and I was awfully frightened to see that we were within a yard of the brinks of horrible precipices. As we got higher up in the mountains the air became so rarified that it was difficult to breathe. Our sledge, drawn by two horses, one in front of the other, dragged on slowly, rising. The blocks of snow that bordered our way formed a prison wall between the road and the world outside. Everything was a sort of wild, white sleepy stillness; no sound arose but the clink of the harness. A large wooden cross rose on the highest point of the road; a flock of black crows flew across the leaden sky, and wheeled about it, croaking piercingly. Everything looked so grey and cold; we found ourselves as in a bewitched icy kingdom in a fairy tale. There was something very awe-inspiring about it all. It was night when we arrived at Vladicaucasus, where we took the train to Kharkoff. CHAPTER XI MARRIAGE I longed for the winter to be over; the days passed slowly, very slowly. I was in very low spirits and wanted Sergy most awfully, my one desire was to see him; I thought of him morning, noon, and night. He had grown so dear to me that I could not do without him. We corresponded regularly and I only lived from letter to letter. Every morning my father entered my room, sat down on the edge of my bed and dropped a letter into my lap. Sergy wrote such delightful epistles which I devoured greedily. In order to cheer me up my parents proposed to take me to Kharkoff, where the governor of the town was to give a couple of grand balls, but I refused outright; what pleasure could I derive from them without Sergy! I no longer knew myself, I was a new creature; Sergy certainly had worked wonders; my craze for pleasure, for excitement, my vanity and coquetry, well, all this was over and done with.