“You assure me--do you mean to say, that she had no accomplices?” said he; “that she was no traitor? But then, am I to understand that she is our own truly born grand-duchess! But is it possible? No, not for one minute can I think it!” Father Peter, with his head bent down, was silent. “No! you make a mistake, that’s all a dream, delirium,” cried out the field-marshal, clutching at the bell rope. “Horses!” he called to the orderly, who at once came in, “I’ll try; time is not yet quite lost. I’ll see for myself.” CHAPTER XXXI. _RELEASE._ “Oh! I myself have sinned against her in my reports,” thought Galitzin, on his way to the fortress. “I fell under the influence of others, hastened on everything without judgment. I grasped at the guessings and conjectures of others!” The ice on the surface of the Neva was still under water, the remains of the previous day’s inundation. The prince’s carriage drove on very slowly, and with difficulty through the pools of water. He did not find the commandant at home. Ever since evening the latter had been in the Ravelin. At the door stood Oushakoff with papers in his hand. He walked up to the prince, and was beginning-- “As your Grace knows, the expenses for this person.…” “Lead me to the captive,” said the prince, addressing the officer on guard, and turning his back on Oushakoff. “Umph! found occupation!--And our sick captive? Is she still conscious?” “She is dying,” answered the officer. Galitzin devoutly crossed himself. On entering the Ravelin, he met Tchernishoff. The prince did not recognise him. The brave, fine, spruce officer, Tchernishoff, who was never once in his life embarrassed by his service, was now quite bewildered and pale as death. “Poor thing!” murmured the field-marshal, following Tchernishoff. “Can it be that she will die? Has the doctor been?” “He has not left her since evening; the agony has already begun, she is quite unconscious. She is raving!” “What does she rave about? Speak, speak!” and the agitated prince leant forward to Tchernishoff. “Were you there? Did you hear her ravings?” “I went in several times,” answered the commandant. “I only heard some unintelligible words, amongst them Orloff … Princess … Gran Dio … Mio caro.…” “And the child?” asked the prince, dashing away a tear. “Is well, your Grace, in the hands of a wet nurse. My wife found a very good one.” “See that everything necessary is found--everything. Do you hear me, sir? everything,” said the prince very seriously and impressively, trying to give his voice a most imperious and commanding tone. “In a Christian manner, do you understand?… In case, here … in secret … you understand me? without any fuss … suffering humanity … a martyr.”