attendants brought a stretcher to the
side of his bed. He was assisted to put on his clothes, and was then
placed on the stretcher and carried away. He was taken through long
passages, up and down stairs, at last into a large room. Here he was
lifted on the stretcher and placed in a chair. Facing him at a table
were nine officers.

"Prisoner," the president said, glancing at a large closely-written
sheet of paper before him, "you are accused of taking part in a Nihilist
conspiracy to murder the Czar."

"I know nothing of any Nihilist conspiracy," Godfrey said. "I was
accidentally in the room with my friends Akim and Petroff when the
police entered."

The president waved his hand impatiently. "That of course," he said.
"Your name is Godfrey Bullen?"

"Yes, sir."

"Born in St. Petersburg, but of English parentage?"

Godfrey bowed his head.

"Three months since you took part in the plot by means of which the
notorious Valerian Ossinsky escaped from the hands of the police, and
you were the accomplice of Sophia Perovskaia in that matter."

"I never heard the name before," Godfrey said.

The president paid no attention, but went on: "You said at the time," he
continued, reading from the notes, "that you did not know the woman who
spoke to you, but it is known that she was an associate of Akim
Soushiloff and Petroff Stepanoff, at whose place you were captured the
other day. There is therefore no doubt that you know her."

"I knew her under another name," Godfrey said; "but if I had been told
she was Sophia Perovskaia, it conveyed nothing to me, for I had never
heard of her."

"You are committing yourself, prisoner," the president said coldly.
"When examined you denied all acquaintance with the woman, and declared
that she was a stranger."

"Excuse me, sir," Godfrey said, "I said it was a masked woman, and that
I did not see her face, which was perfectly true. I admit now that I did
know who she was, but naturally as a gentleman I endeavoured to shield
her in a matter concerning which I believed that she was as innocent as
I was."

A murmur of incredulity ran round the circle of officers.

"A few days after that," the president went on, again reading from his
notes, "you were present with Akim Soushiloff and Petroff Stepanoff at a
supper in a trakir in Ossuloff Street. There were present on that
occasion"--and he read a list of six names--"four of whom have since
been convicted and punished, and two of whom