letter. I was in no condition
to write to my father, and to calm my mother his letter seemed
sufficient.

From that day, Marie scarcely spoke to me, and even tried to avoid me.
The Commandant's house became insupportable, and I accustomed myself,
little by little, to remain alone in my room. At first Basilia reasoned
with me, but seeing my persistency she let me alone. I saw Ivan Mironoff
only when the service required it. I had but rare interviews with
Alexis, for whom my antipathy increased, because I thought I discovered
in him a secret enmity which confirmed my suspicions. Life became a
burden; I gave myself up to a melancholy which was fed by solitude and
inaction. Love burned on in silence and tortured me, more and more.
I lost all taste for reading and literature; I let myself become
completely depressed; and I feared that I should either become a lunatic
or rush into dissipation, when events occurred that had great influence
on my life and give a strong and healthy tone to my mind.

VI. POUGATCHEFF.

Before beginning the recital of the strange events of which I was
witness, I ought to say a few words about the situation of affairs
toward the end of the year 1773. The rich and vast province of Orenbourg
was inhabited by a number of tribes, half civilized, who had just
recognized the sovereignty of the Russian Czars. Their continual
revolts, their impatience of law and civilized life, their inconstancy
and cruelty, demanded on the part of the government a constant
watchfulness to reduce them to obedience. Fortresses had been erected in
favorable places, and Cossacks, the former possessors of the shores of
the Iaik, in many places formed a part of the garrisons. But these very
Cossacks, who should have guaranteed the peace and security of their
districts, were restless and dangerous subjects of the empire. In 1772
a riot occurred in one of their chief towns. This riot was caused by the
severity of the measures employed by General Traubenberg to bring the
army to obedience. The only result of these measures was the barbarous
murder of Traubenberg, a change of Imperial officers, and in the end, by
force of grape and canister, the suppression of the riot.

This happened shortly before my arrival at the fortress of Belogorsk.
Then all seemed quiet. But the authorities had too easily believed in
the feigned repentance of the rebels, who nursed their hate in silence,
and only awaited a propitious moment to r