"She will not go?" said the captain commiseratingly. "And yet, I don't know but what she is right. It is no place for a woman. And perhaps she will change her mind." But Pavlof did not speak, did nothing but stare at him as if he were a ghost. "Take heart, Palma," he growled, in the nearest approach to kindliness which twenty years in the _gendarmerie_ had left him. "Take heart. I will not rest till this matter is righted. It is too damnable! There is some mistake. This is Lieutenant Vinsky, who brings the bad news." But there was more here than Captain Sokolof remotely dreamed of. Paul had put up his hand to the doorpost for support. His head was spinning. The two men at the table and the lights in the room began to swim slowly round and round. The doorpost began to reel on its own account and tried to slip out of his fingers. For the man who sat there hobnobbing with Sokolof--trim, official, booted and belted, perfectly satisfied with himself and his surroundings--was Serge Palma in the flesh, and his bold blue eye had winked encouragingly and admonishingly at Paul the moment he entered the room. "Vodka," said Sokolof, and sprang up and slid a chair under Pavlof, and hastened to bring him brandy in a glass. "It has been too much for him. Damn those--um----" for it is not always wise to express one's feelings concerning one's superiors, even though the grounds be ample. "I am with you, Captain," said Palma heartily. "Petersburg lacks heart, and the Ministry of the Interior is destitute of the most elementary bowels of compassion. If they had to carry out their own instructions they would learn many things they are ignorant of." "It is true," growled Sokolof, but said no more. Even people who agreed with you in their hearts sometimes made the most of one's indiscretions, and reported them behind one's back to one's undoing. "So, Mr. Palma," said Serge, the instant he saw Paul pulling himself together, "Madame is not inclined for Yakutsk?" Paul shook his head vaguely, without looking at him. His brain was in a tangle, but, slowly and confusedly, it was beginning to work again and to piece things together. "It is truly a terrible place for any civilised being to go to," said Serge. "And one cannot be surprised at Madame's hesitation. It is natural. But, after all, a wife's place is by her husband's side. Perhaps, as Captain Sokolof says, she may change her mind before morning. It would be better for her to change it now than when we are gone. It is a bad journey at best, but we would do all in our power to smooth it for her. I think you should talk with her again on the subject, Mr. Palma." "Yes," nodded Pavlof, understanding dimly what was expected of him, "I will talk with her again." "And what, in Heaven's name, are we to do here without you?" said Sokolof. "You must get out a doctor before the summer comes," said Paul dully. "Da! Must! That is all very well, but we are dependent on those----"