together at the
bottom of the staircase, saying nothing, waiting.

In front of them was a motley crowd of Russian officers all talking and
gesticulating together. I came nearer to Vera and at once I said to
myself, "Lawrence is here somewhere." She was standing, her head up,
watching the doors, her eyes glowed with anticipation, her lips were a
little parted. She never moved at all, but was so vital that the rest of
the people seemed dolls beside her. As we came towards them Nina turned
round and spoke to some one, and I saw that it was Semyonov who stood at
the bottom of the staircase, his thick legs apart, stroking his beard
with his hand.

We came forward and Nina began at once--

"Durdles--tell us! What's happened?"

"I don't know," I answered. The lights after the dark and the snow
bewildered me, and the noise and excitement of the Russian officers were
deafening.

Nina went on, her face lit. "Can't you tell us anything? We haven't
heard a word. We came just in an ordinary way about four o'clock. There
wasn't a sound, and then, just as we were sitting down to tea, they all
came bursting in, saying that all the officers were being murdered, and
that Protopopoff was killed, and that--"

"That's true anyway," said a young Russian officer, turning round to us
excitedly. "I had it from a friend of mine who was passing just as they
stuck him in the stomach. He saw it all; they dragged him out of his
house and stuck him in the stomach--"

"They say the Czar's been shot," said another officer, a fat, red-faced
man with very bright red trousers, "and that Rodziancko's formed a
government..."

I heard on every side such words as "People--Rodziancko
--Protopopoff--Freedom," and the officer telling his tale again. "And
they stuck him in the stomach just as he was passing his house..."

Through all this tale Vera never moved. I saw, to my surprise, that
Lawrence was there now, standing near her but never speaking. Semyonov
stood on the stairs watching.

Suddenly I saw that she wanted me.

"Ivan Andreievitch," she said, "will you do something for me?" She spoke
very low, and her eyes did not look at me, but beyond us all out to the
door.

"Certainly," I said.

"Will you keep Alexei Petrovitch here? Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Bohun can
see us home. I don't want him to come with us. Will you ask him to wait
and speak to you?"

I went up to him. "Semyonov," I said, "I want a word with you, if I
may--"

"Certainly,"