"My husband's, my own, my sister's, my uncle's, and an Englishman's," she answered, colouring a little. "Nevertheless we must do our duty.... Search the house," he repeated. "But you must not go into our bedrooms," she said, her voice rising. "There is nothing for you there. I am sure you will respect our privacy." "Our orders must be obeyed," he answered angrily. "But--" she cried. "Silence, Madame," he said, furiously, staring at her as though she were his personal, deadly enemy. "Very well," said Vera proudly. "Please do as you wish." The officer walked past her with his head up, and the soldiers followed him, their eyes malicious and inquisitive and excited. The sisters stood together waiting. Of course the end had come. They simply stood there fastening their resolution to the extreme moment. "I must go with them," said Vera. She followed them into her bedroom. It was a very little place and they filled it, they looked rather sheepish now, whispering to one another. "What's in there?" said the officer, tapping the cupboard. "Only some clothes," said Vera. "Open it!" he ordered. Then the world did indeed stand still. The clock ceased to tick, the little rumble in the stove was silenced, the shuffling feet of one of the soldiers stayed, the movement of some rustle in the wall paper was held. The world was frozen. "Now I suppose we shall all be shot," was Vera's thought, repeated over and over again with a ludicrous monotony. Then she could see nothing but the little policeman, tumbling out of the cupboard, dishevelled and terrified. Terrified! what that look in his eyes would be! That at any rate she could not face and she turned her head away from them, looking out through the door into the dark little passage. She heard as though from an infinite distance the words: "Well, there's nobody there." She did not believe him of course. He said that whoever he was, to test her, to tempt her to give herself away. But she was too clever for them. She turned back and faced them, and then saw, to the accompaniment of an amazement that seemed like thunder in her ears, that the cupboard was indeed empty. "There is nobody," said the black-bearded soldier. The student looked rather ashamed of himself. The white clothes, the skirts, and the blouses in the cupboard reproached him. "You will of course understand, Madame," he said stiffly, "that the search was inevitable. Regrettable but necessary. I'm sure you will see that for your own satisfaction...." "You are assured now that there is no one here?" Vera interrupted him coldly. "Assured," he answered. But where was the man? She felt as though she were in some fantastic nightmare in which nothing was as it seemed. The cupboard was not a cupboard, the policeman not a policeman.... "There is the kitchen," she said.