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"That is true," said Annouschka; "but where will you find a slave who is not? My brother gets drunk less than most, and is therefore more to be trusted than the others. Besides, in the position in which we are we must risk something." "You are right," said Vaninka, recovering her usual resolution, which always grew in the presence of danger. "Go and seek your brother."
He knocked a second time, and the young girl, in a perfectly calm voice, asked, "Who is there?" "It is I," said the general, in a voice trembling with emotion. "Annouschka!" said the girl to her foster-sister, who slept in the adjoining room, "open the door to my father. Forgive me, father," she continued; "but Annouschka is dressing, and will be with you in a moment."
"Annouschka," said a voice outside, "knock at this door and ask Gregory if he has not some of our servants with him." Gregory and the two other slaves looked at one another, stupefied: they had recognised Vaninka's voice. As for Ivan, he flung himself back in his chair, balancing himself with marvellous impertinence.
Vaninka was no sooner in her room, with the door once closed, than she tore the flowers from her hair, the necklace from her throat, cut with scissors the corsets which suffocated her, and then, throwing herself on her bed, she gave way to her grief. Annouschka thanked God for this outburst; her mistress's calmness had frightened her more than her despair.
"Let us stay until the house falls in on them, so that we may be certain that not one of them escapes." "Oh, my God!" cried Annouschka, falling on her knees, "have mercy upon my poor brother, for death will hurry him unprepared into Thy presence." "Yes, yes, pray; that is right," said Vaninka. "I wish to destroy their bodies, not their souls."
When they had ceased to be heard, she rushed into Annouschka's room, and both began to pull aside a bundle of linen, thrown down, as if by accident, into the embrasure of a window. Under the linen was a large chest with a spring lock. Annouschka pressed a button, Vaninka raised the lid.
As he spoke these words, the general threw the same scrutinizing glance all round the room, but with the exception of the young girl there was no one there. Annouschka obeyed, and the general followed her out, and, looking eagerly round for the last time, re-entered his daughter's room, and seated himself on the foot of her bed.
He found Vaninka seated, dressed in a white robe, and as she was paler than usual he stopped at the door, for it seemed to him that he was gazing at a marble statue. "Come in," said Vaninka calmly. Foedor approached, drawn by her voice like steel to a magnet. Annouschka shut the door behind him. "Well, and what did my father say?" said Vaninka. Foedor told her all that had happened.
He knocked a second time, and the young girl, in a perfectly calm voice, asked, "Who is there?" "It is I," said the general, in a voice trembling with emotion. "Annouschka!" said the girl to her foster-sister, who slept in the adjoining room, "open the door to my father. Forgive me, father," she continued; "but Annouschka is dressing, and will be with you in a moment."
She then took a flaming brand from the stove and set fire in succession to the four corners of the room. "What are you doing?" said Annouschka, wild with terror, trying to stop her. "I am going to bury our secret in the ashes of this house," answered Vaninka. "But my brother, my poor brother!" said the girl. "Your brother is a wretch who has betrayed me, and we are lost if we do not destroy him."
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