remember I seized him by the arm; but he looked quietly and
proudly at me with an air of immense authority.

_"Cher,"_ he pronounced in a voice which quivered on a breaking note, "if
they are dealing with people so unceremoniously before us, in an open
square, what is to be expected from that man, for instance... if he
happens to act on his own authority?"

And shaking with indignation and with an intense desire to defy them, he
pointed a menacing, accusing finger at Flibusterov, who was gazing at us
open-eyed two paces away.

"That man!" cried the latter, blind with rage. "What man? And who are
you?" He stepped up to him, clenching his fist. "Who are you?" he roared
ferociously, hysterically, and desperately. (I must mention that he
knew Stepan Trofimovitch perfectly well by sight.) Another moment and he
would have certainly seized him by the collar; but luckily, hearing him
shout, Lembke turned his head. He gazed intensely but with perplexity
at Stepan Trofimovitch, seeming to consider something, and suddenly
he shook his hand impatiently. Flibusterov was checked. I drew Stepan
Trofimovitch out of the crowd, though perhaps he may have wished to
retreat himself.

"Home, home," I insisted; "it was certainly thanks to Lembke that we
were not beaten."

"Go, my friend; I am to blame for exposing you to this. You have
a future and a career of a sort before you, while I--_mon heure est
sonnee._"

He resolutely mounted the governor's steps. The hall-porter knew me; I
said that we both wanted to see Yulia Mihailovna.

We sat down in the waiting-room and waited. I was unwilling to leave my
friend, but I thought it unnecessary to say anything more to him. He had
the air of a man who had consecrated himself to certain death for the
sake of his country. We sat down, not side by side, but in different
corners--I nearer to the entrance, he at some distance facing me, with
his head bent in thought, leaning lightly on his stick. He held his
wide-brimmed hat in his left hand. We sat like that for ten minutes.

II

Lembke suddenly came in with rapid steps, accompanied by the chief of
police, looked absent-mindedly at us and, taking no notice of us, was
about to pass into his study on the right, but Stepan Trofimovitch stood
before him blocking his way. The tall figure of Stepan Trofimovitch, so
unlike other people, made an impression. Lembke stopped.

"Who is this?" he muttered, puzzled, as if he were questioning the chie