The man came back with the water, and I drank greedily, and found my voice, though the words came slowly and clumsily.
"Curiosity to see '_La Mort_,' you mean?"
"No; though I've got pretty close to death," I said, making a feeble pun. (We were, of course, speaking in French.)
"I don't mean death; I mean a woman who is called '_La Mort_.' Her name's Anna Petrovna. She was to have been there. Did you see her? Was she there?"
I forgot my pain for the instant, in the relief that his words conveyed. Surely he would not have put that question to me if she was already a prisoner. Loris must have got away with her, and, for the present, at least, she was safe.
"There was a woman," I confessed. "And that's how I came to be chipped about. They were going to murder her."
"To murder her!" he exclaimed. "Why, she's one of them; the cleverest and most dangerous of the lot! Said to be a wonderfully pretty girl, too. Did you see her?"
"Only for a moment; there wasn't much light. From what I could make out they accused her of treachery, and led her in; she stood with her back against the wall,--she looked quite a girl, with reddish hair. Then the row began. There were only two or three took her part, and I joined in; one can't stand by and see a helpless girl shot or stabbed by a lot of cowardly brutes."
I had found an air of apparent candor serve me before, and guessed it might do so again.
"That's all I remember clearly; we had a lively time for a few minutes, and then some one shouted that the soldiers were coming; and the next I knew I was sitting on the floor, wondering what had happened. I'd been there quite a while when you found me."
"It is marvellous how she always escapes," he said, more to himself than to me. "Still, we've got a good haul this time. Now, how did you get here? Some one must have told you, guided you?"
"Don't be a fool, Wynn; I am asking you for your own sake. If you don't tell me, you'll be made to tell later. You haven't the least idea what you've let yourself in for, man! Come, did not Count Solovieff--you know well who I mean--bring you here?"
"Have it your own way. You will regret your obstinacy later; remember, I have warned you."
"Thanks,--it's good of you, Mirakoff; but I've told you all I mean to tell any one."