“I have been talking with this fellow, M. le Vicomte,” he said, in his deliberate way, “and I find that we may be in some danger. He belongs to the household of the czarevna, and knows a number of the soldiers. A report has spread that the Boyar Ramodanofsky is here, and they confuse this gentleman above stairs with the dead man. They never had any proof of the other’s death, and this man seems to think that they are still thirsty for his blood. Then they have learned that you were a friend of Dr. von Gaden’s, and that it was you who interfered to save mademoiselle.” I put a few questions in Russian to the court usher, and found that Pierrot had not exaggerated. If the rumors were true, the situation was serious; and if it was even suspected that Madame von Gaden was here, it might precipitate an attack more determined than that on the Ramodanofsky house. I was sorely perplexed. It was at best extremely perilous to take the women through the streets, and at that hour, altogether too great a risk. Yet, if the house should be attacked, there would be no way of defending it. My nationality would not save me. I knew that the Danish resident, Butenant von Rosenbusch, had hardly escaped with his life, and he had done nothing to provoke the fury of the mob. If Ramodanofsky’s identity was known, it would ruin rather than help us. However, no remedy suggested itself, and I saw no resource but to abide our fate and hope for the best. Sophia was beginning to gain control, and we could count upon her friendship and that of Galitsyn. Ramodanofsky had told me that a call would be issued for a general council for the purpose of legally electing Ivan and Peter czars of all the Russias, and declaring Sophia Alexeievna regent. This was the beginning, and a vigorous government once organized under the czarevna, I had no doubt that she could control the insurrection, although the indemnity demanded by the Streltsi was likely to impoverish the imperial exchequer. I told Pierrot to secure the house carefully, and use all precaution, and then went to hear tidings of madame’s condition. Mademoiselle Eudoxie came out of the room where they had carried her, and told the boyar and me that she had recovered consciousness, and seemed grateful for their care; clinging to Zénaïde for consolation, since some words of hers had brought the relief of tears to the poor, half-crazed woman.