It's enough to drive you crazy!"
"But is that possible?" quietly spoke the sub-lieutenant, whose
breath had been cut off.
"Well, strike me God! But permit me, young man, by the way! You
understand yourself. I was single, and of course, every man is
liable to sin ... It's different now, of course. I've had myself
written in with the invalids. But from the former days a
remarkable collection has remained to me. Just wait, I'll show it
to you right away. Only, please, be as careful as possible in
looking at it."
Horizon with trepidation looked around to the right and left and
extracted from his pocket a long, narrow little box of morocco, in
the style of those in which playing cards are usually kept, and
extended it to the sub-lieutenant.
"Here you are, have a look. Only, I beg of you, be very careful."
The sub-lieutenant applied himself to picking out, one after the
other, the cards of plain and coloured photography, in which in
all possible aspects was depicted in the most beastly ways, in the
most impossible positions, the external side of love which at
times makes man immeasurably lower and viler than a baboon.
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