The threads gave a little crackling sound as they ripped away and he was left holding two silver-braided rectangles from his tunic and two green ones from his greatcoat.
Alexei looked at them, turned them over in his hands, was about to stuff them into his pocket as souvenirs but thought better of it as being too dangerous, and decided to burn them.
There was no lack of combustible material, even though Malyshev had burned all the documents.
Alexei scooped up a whole sheaf of silk clippings from the floor, pushed them into the stove and lit them.
Once more weird shapes began flickering around the walls and the floor, and for a while longer Madame Anjou's premises brightened fitfully.
In the flames the silver rectangles curled, broke out in bubbles, scorched and then turned to ash . . .
The next most urgent problem now arose in Alexei's mind -what should he do about the door?
Should he leave the latch down, or should he open it?
Suppose one of the volunteers, like Alexei himself, ran here and then found it shut and there was nowhere to shelter?
He unfastened the latch.
Then came another searing thought: his doctor's identity card.
He searched one pocket, then another - no trace of it.
Hell, of course.
He had left it at home. What a disgrace.
Suppose he were stopped and caught.
He was wearing a gray army greatcoat.
If they questioned him and he said he was a doctor, how could he prove it?
Damn his own carelessness.
'Hurry' whispered a voice inside him.
Without stopping to reflect any longer Alexei rushed to the back of the shop by the way Malyshev had gone, through a narrow door into a dim passage, and from there out by the back door into a yard.
Eleven
Obedient to the voice on the telephone, Corporal Nikolka Turbin led his twenty-eight cadets across the City by the route laid down in his order, which ended at a completely deserted crossroads.
Although it was lifeless, it was extremely noisy.
All around-in the sky, echoing from roofs and walls - came the chatter of machine-gun fire.
Obviously the enemy was supposed to be here because it was the final point on their route indicated by the voice on the telephone.
But so far there was no enemy to be seen and Nikolka was slightly put out - what should he do next?
His cadets, a little pale but as brave as their commander, lay down in a firing line on the snowy street and Ivashin the machine-gunner squatted down behind his machine-gun at the kerb of the sidewalk.
Raising their heads, the cadets peered dutifully ahead, wondering what exactly was supposed to happen.
Their leader was thinking so hard that his face grew pinched and turned slightly pale.
He was worried, firstly, by the complete absence at the crossroads of what the voice on the telephone had led him to expect.
Nikolka was supposed to have found here a company of the 3rd Detachment, which he was to 'reinforce'.
Of the company there was not a trace.
Secondly, Nikolka was worried
by the fact that now and again the rattle of machine-gun fire could be heard not only ahead of him but also to his left and even, he noticed uneasily, slightly to his rear.
Thirdly, he was afraid of showing fear and he constantly asked himself:
'Am I afraid?'
'No I'm not', replied a brave voice in his head, and Nikolka felt so proud that he was turning out to be quite brave that he went even paler.
His pride led him on to the thought that if he were killed he would be buried to the strains of a military band.
It would be a simple but moving funeral: the open white silk-lined coffin would move slowly through the streets and in the coffin would lie Corporal Turbin, with a noble expression on his wax-like features. It was a pity that they didn't give medals any longer, because then he would have worn the ribbon and cross of the St George's Cross around his neck.
Old women would be standing at the cemetery gates.
'Who are they burying, my dear?'
'Young Corporal Turbin.'
'Ah, the poor, handsome lad . . .'
And the music.
It is good to die in battle, they say.
He hoped he would feel no pain.
Thoughts of military funerals, bands and medal ribbons proved a slight distraction from the uncomfortable business of waiting for an enemy who obviously had no intention of obeying the voice on the telephone and had no intention of appearing.
'We shall wait here', Nikolka said to his cadets, trying to make his voice sound more confident, although without much success because the whole situation was somehow vaguely wrong, and stupidly so.
Where was the other company?
Where was the enemy?