ho I
already looked upon as my wife. I kissed the young girl's hand, and left
the room.

"Adieu, Peter Grineff," said Accoulina. "Do not forget us. Except you,
Marie has no support or consolation." Choked by emotion, I did not
reply. Out on the square, I stopped an instant before the gibbet. With
bare head I reverently saluted the loyal dead, and took the road to
Orenbourg, accompanied by Saveliitch, who would not abandon me. Thus
plunged in thought, I walked on. Hearing horses galloping behind me, I
turned my head and saw a Cossack from the fortress leading a horse, and
making signs to me that I should wait. I recognized our Corporal. Having
caught up with us, he dismounted from his own horse, and giving me the
bridle of the other, said: "Our Czar makes you a gift of a horse, and
a pelisse from his own shoulder." To the saddle was tied a sheep-skin
touloup. I put it on, mounted the horse, taking Saveliitch up behind me.
"You see, my lord," said my serf, "that my petition to the bandit was
not useless! And although this old hack and this peasant's touloup are
not worth half what the rascals stole, yet they are better than nothing.
'A worthless dog yields even a handful of hair.'"

X. THE SIEGE.

Approaching Orenbourg, we saw a crowd of convicts, with shaved heads and
faces disfigured by the pincers of the public executioner. At that time
red-hot irons were applied to tear out the nostrils of the condemned.
They were working at the fortifications of the place under the
supervision of the garrison pensioners. Some carried away in
wheel-barrows the rubbish that filled the ditch, others threw up the
earth, while masons were examining and repairing the walls. The sentry
stopped us at the gate and asked for our passports. When the sergeant
heard that we were from Belogorsk he took me at once to the General, who
was in his garden. I found him examining the apple trees, which
autumnal winds had already despoiled of their leaves; assisted by an
old gardener, he covered them carefully with straw. His face expressed
calmness, good humor and health. He seemed very glad to see me, and
questioned me about the terrible events I had witnessed. The old man
heard me attentively, and whilst listening, cut off the dead branches.

"Poor Mironoff!" said he, when I had finished my story; "it is a pity;
he was a brave officer; and Madame Mironoff a kind lady, an expert in
pickling mushrooms. What has become of Marie, the Captain's