It occurred to Orlov that the breeze he had longed for earlier would prove a mixed blessing if it ever arrived, unless it brought some rain to lay the dust. He drew out his watch to confirm his feeling that the afternoon was well advanced and found that he had correctly estimated that they had been on the move for about three hours since the midday halt. Far enough, under the circumstances. This place would do for their overnight stay. The buildings, as they drew near, proved to be a posting inn, consisting of a solid house set back from the road and forming an open square with a row of stables and a large barn. There was a pond to one side and a sheltering clump of trees behind the house. The place looked deserted, with no sign of life at all. There were no chickens in the yard or ducks on the pond. The stable doors hung open, as did the big doors of the barn and an abandoned cart lay with one wheel off by the roadside, partly blocking the highway. Orlov turned into the yard and the carts followed, forming up in a row beside the barn.
