ed
the obstinate general.

"You will go," Matrena replied to him, "by the way I take you."

And she carried him back into the apartment while she said quickly to
Rouletabille:

"Go, little domovoi! And God protect us!"

Rouletabille disappeared at once through the door to the main staircase,
and the group attended by Koupriane, passed through the dressing-room
and the general's chamber, Matrena Petrovna in the lead with her
precious burden. Ivan Petrovitch had his hand already on the famous bolt
which locked the door to the servants' staircase when they all turned at
the sound of a quick step behind them. Rouletabille had returned.

"They are no longer in the drawing-room."

"Not in the drawing-room! Where are they, then?"

Rouletabille pointed to the door they were about to open.

"Perhaps behind that door. Take care!"

All drew back.

"But Ermolai ought to know where they are," exclaimed Koupriane.
"Perhaps they have gone, finding out they were discovered."

"They have assassinated Ermolai."

"Assassinated Ermolai!"

"I have seen his body lying in the middle of the drawing-room as I
leaned over the top of the banister. But they were not in the room, and
I was afraid you would run into them, for they may well be hidden in the
servants' stairway."

"Then open the window, Koupriane, and call your men to deliver us."

"I am quite willing," replied Koupriane coldly, "but it is the signal
for our deaths."

"Well, why do they wait so to make us die?" muttered Feodor
Feodorovitch. "I find them very tedious about it, for myself. What are
you doing, Ivan Petrovitch?"

The spectral figure of Ivan Petrovitch, bent beside the door of the
stairway, seemed to be hearing things the others could not catch, but
which frightened them so that they fled from the general's chamber in
disorder. Ivan Petrovitch was close on them, his eyes almost sticking
from his head, his mouth babbling:

"They are there! They are there!"

Athanase Georgevitch open a window wildly and said:

"I am going to jump."

But Thaddeus Tchitchnikofl' stopped him with a word. "For me, I shall
not leave Feodor Feodorovitch."

Athanase and Ivan both felt ashamed, and trembling, but brave, they
gathered round the general and said, "We will die together, we will die
together. We have lived with Feodor Feodorovitch, and we will die with
him."

"What are they waiting for? What are they waiting for?" grumbled the
general.

Matrena Petrovna'