7–13 March 1853

I have not been given the Cross and have been under arrest, thanks to Olifer. Consequently, service in the Caucasus has brought me nothing except difficulties, idleness, and bad acquaintances. I must finish with it as quickly as possible. Have lost all the money I had and am still eighty rubles in debt to Ogolin, six to Yanovich, fifty to Sokovnfn, and seventy-eight to Konstantinov ; in <*11 two hundred and fourteen, and I have spent two hundred and thirty which I owe. It’s bad. That I have not got the Cross grieves me very much. Am even sorry that I did not decline to apply for a commission. Have still three weeks to remain here. Dullness and idleness — from which my habits and the number of people I know make it impossible to escape.