d perceptibly. She knew nothing of such an
obstacle, and had not expected it. The doctor was too busy to notice
her pallor.

"Very well; I shall write the announcement at once, and send it to the
newspapers. I suppose 'Novoe Vremya' and 'Novosti' will be enough?"

"Do as you think best. Write it here, in my room. Here is everything
you require; pens, paper. Write, and then read it to me. I shall be
back in a moment. I want to put a bandage round my head. It aches so.
Wait for me here." And the general's wife went from the sitting-room
to her bedroom.

"Rita!" she whispered to her faithful maid, who was hurriedly sewing a
mourning gown of crape for her. "Do not let the doctor go till I
return. Do you understand? Do what you please, but do not let him go."
The general's wife slipped from the bedroom into the passage through a
small side door, and disappeared.

The two rooms between hers and the chamber where the dead man lay were
quite empty and nearly dark; there were no candles in them. From the
chamber came the feeble glimmer of the tiny lamps burning before the
icons.[Sacred images.] The tapers were not lit yet, as the deacon had
not yet arrived. He was to come at the same time as the priest and the
coffin. For the moment there was no one near the dead man; in the
anteroom sat the Sister of Mercy.

"You wish to pray?" she asked the general's wife.

"Yes, I shall pray there, in his room."

She slipped past the dead body without looking at it, to the room that
had been the general's bedroom, and closed the door behind her. She
was afraid to lock it, and after all, was it necessary? It would only
take a moment. There it is, the box! She knows it of old! And she
knows its key of old, too; it is not so long since her husband had no
secrets from her.

The key was quickly slipped into the lock, and the lid rose quickly.
The paper? That new, detestable paper, which might deprive her of
everything. Ah! there it is!

To close the lid quickly, and turn the key in the lock; to hide the
keys somewhere; here, between the seat and the back of the sofa, on
which he lay. That's it!

A sigh of relief from fear escaped the beautiful lips of the handsome
woman, lips which were pale through those terrible days. She could
feel secure at last!

She must look at the document, the proof of his cruelty, his
injustice, his stupidity! She must make sure that there was no
mistake! Olga Vseslavovna went up to the window, and taking