midday
When we , all of us , Marie Ivanovna , Semyonov , Nikitin and the rest , were ready we should move out into the forest , would stand , a vast company , with our dogs and horses ... . Why , it was Trenchard 's dream that I was seeing ! I was merely repeating to myself his own imaginations -- and with that I had suddenly , as though some one had hypnotised me , fallen back into a heavy dreamless sleep . It was already midday when I was wakened by little Andrey Vassilievitch , who , sitting on my bed and evidently in a state of the very greatest excitement , informed me that Dr. Semyonov and the Sisters Marie Ivanovna and Anna Petrovna had arrived from -- , and that we might be off at any moment . I was aware , as he spoke , of a great stir beyond the window and saw , passing up through the valley , a flood of soldiers , infantry , cavalry , kitchens with clumsy black funnels bobbing on their unsteady wheels , cannon , hundreds of carts ; the soldiers came up through our own garden treading down the cabbages , stopping at the well near our door and filling their tin kettles , tramping up the road , spreading , like smoke , in the far distance , up the high road that led into the furthest forest . `` They say -- to-night -- for certain , '' said Andrey Vassilievitch , his fat hand trembling on my bed . He began to talk , his voice shaking with excitement .