then been in good spirits.

What struck Yulia Mihailovna most of all was that he became more silent
and, strange to say, more secretive every day. Yet it was hard to
imagine what he had to hide. It is true that he rarely opposed her and
as a rule followed her lead without question. At her instigation, for
instance, two or three regulations of a risky and hardly legal character
were introduced with the object of strengthening the authority of the
governor. There were several ominous instances of transgressions being
condoned with the same end in view; persons who deserved to be sent to
prison and Siberia were, solely because she insisted, recommended
for promotion. Certain complaints and inquiries were deliberately and
systematically ignored. All this came out later on. Not only did Lembke
sign everything, but he did not even go into the question of the share
taken by his wife in the execution of his duties. On the other hand, he
began at times to be restive about "the most trifling matters," to the
surprise of Yulia Mihailovna. No doubt he felt the need to make up for
the days of suppression by brief moments of mutiny. Unluckily,
Yulia Mihailovna was unable, for all her insight, to understand this
honourable punctiliousness in an honourable character. Alas, she had
no thought to spare for that, and that was the source of many
misunderstandings.

There are some things of which it is not suitable for me to write, and
indeed I am not in a position to do so. It is not my business to discuss
the blunders of administration either, and I prefer to leave out this
administrative aspect of the subject altogether. In the chronicle I have
begun I've set before myself a different task. Moreover a great deal
will be brought to light by the Commission of Inquiry which has just
been appointed for our province; it's only a matter of waiting a little.
Certain explanations, however, cannot be omitted.

But to return to Yulia Mihailovna. The poor lady (I feel very sorry for
her) might have attained all that attracted and allured her (renown and
so on) without any such violent and eccentric actions as she resolved
upon at the very first step. But either from an exaggerated passion for
the romantic or from the frequently blighted hopes of her youth, she
felt suddenly, at the change of her fortunes, that she had become one of
the specially elect, almost God's anointed, "over whom there gleamed a
burning tongue of fire," and this tongue of