"It is impossible to break through the crowd and fetch a physician for my sister--she is lost!" Sampso cried out to me wringing her hands, while I vainly strove to make myself heard by the delirious crowd. "I shall try to get out by the window," said Sampso. Saying this the distracted girl rushed into the mortuary chamber, and I, making superhuman efforts to prevent the infuriated soldiers from invading my house in search of the general, for whose blood they thirsted, cried out to them: "Withdraw! Leave me alone in this house of mourning! Justice has been done! Withdraw, comrades, withdraw!" An ever heightening tumult drowned my words. I saw Sampso issuing from your mother's room carrying you, my son, in her arms. She was sobbing aloud and said: "Brother, there is no hope! Ellen is rigid--her heart has stopped beating--she is dead!" "Dead! Oh, dead! Hesus, have pity upon me!" I moaned and leaned against the wall of the vestibule; I felt my strength leaving me. Suddenly, however, a thrill ran through my frame. From mouth to mouth these words began to circulate among the soldiers: "Here is Victoria! Here comes our mother!" As the words were uttered the crowd swayed back from the entrance of my house to make room for my foster-sister. Such was the respect that the august woman inspired in the army, that silence speedily succeeded the tumultuous clamors of the soldiers. They realized the terrible position of that mother, who, attracted by the cries for justice and vengeance uttered against her own son, accused of an infamous crime, approached the scene in all the majesty of her maternal grief. As to me, my heart felt like breaking. Victoria, my foster-sister, the woman in whose behalf my life had been but one continuous day of devotion--Victoria was about to find in my house the corpse of her son, slain by me--by me who knew him since his birth, and who loved him like my own! The thought of fleeing flashed through my mind--I lacked the physical strength. I remained where I was, supporting myself against the wall--distracted--vaguely looking before me, unable to stir. The crowd of soldiers parted; they formed a long passage; and by the light of the moon and the torches I saw Victoria, clad in her long black robe and her little grandson in her arms, advancing slowly. She doubtlessly hoped to soothe the exasperation of the soldiers by presenting the innocent creature to their sight. Tetrik, Captain Marion and several other officers, who had notified Victoria of the tumult and its cause, followed behind her. They seemed to succeed in calming the seething fury of the troops. The silence grew solemn. The Mother of the Camps was only a few steps from my house when Douarnek approached her, and bending his knee said: "Mother, your son has committed a great crime--we pity you from the bottom of our hearts. But you will see to it that justice is rendered us--we demand justice--"