One day, about noon, a great noise was heard at the entrance of my cell, the door opened, and a man appeared before me in the undress of a general officer, surrounded by generals and aides-de-camp, all in full uniform, who stood back respectfully in the corridor. The man had a tall figure, grey hair cut like a brush, an oval face without any moustaches, and very piercing eyes: his left sleeve was fastened up to one of the breast buttons of his coat, and the loss of an arm which this indicated convinced me that I now beheld no less a person than the Governor-General of Volhynia, Podolia, and the Ukraine, Prince Bibikov.[3] He took off his cap, pushed the door close, without however shutting it, sat down on the chair, and made me a sign to reseat myself on the mattress from which I had risen. During the conversation which followed he seemed very much annoyed at the bad air of the cell, and turned mechanically to the high window several times, as if to breathe freely. He addressed me in French. ‘You probably guess who I am?’ ‘I believe that I have the honour of speaking to the Governor-General, Prince Bibikov.’ ‘Your name is Piotrowski; you are a native of the Ukraine; you took part in the revolt of 1831, you emigrated to France. You afterwards returned to Kaminieç under the name of Catharo.’ ‘Yes, your Excellency.’ ‘You pretend that your return had no other object than that of revisiting your native land; but when after 1831 the Emperor granted an amnesty, why did you not avail yourself of it?’ ‘I do not wish to say anything that might be displeasing to your Excellency, but at the same time the manner in which this amnesty was drawn up was not of the nature to encourage us. Furthermore, the amnesty only applied to subjects of the kingdom, the inhabitants of the detached and outlying provinces were deprived of it; and to conclude, before asking pardon, one must feel that one has been guilty.’ ‘Who gave you that English passport?’ ‘I found it in the street.’ ‘You spent more than a month in Hungary; you see that I am well informed about you. Why did you go there?’ ‘To make my traces more difficult to follow, and to shorten the journey.’ ‘Oh! but you had some other reasons; you are a member of the Democratic Society.’ ‘I once formed a part of it, but I have withdrawn from it a long time ago.’ ‘You are an emissary of that society?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then in coming here you had no political mission?’ ‘Certainly, I had none.’ ‘Such assertions are not likely to improve your situation; I do not hide from you that it is a very unpleasant one; and only a sincere and complete confession can diminish your troubles, and above all make you worthy of the indulgence of the Emperor. You knew Konarski?’[4] ‘No.’ ‘But you have heard of him?’ ‘Certainly, above all of the tortures inflicted upon him.’