第93章

"You are braver when you kill by an explosion, you know."He regretted bitterly that he had not died the night before in the explosion.He did not feel very brave.He talked to them bravely enough, but he trembled as his time approached.That death horrified him.He tried to keep from looking at the other sack.He took the two ikons, of Saint Luke and of the Virgin, from his pocket and prayed to them.He thought of the Lady in Black and wept.

A voice in the shadows said:

"He is crying, the poor little fellow."

It was Annouclika's voice.

Rouletabille dried his tears and said:

"Messieurs, one of you must have a mother."But all the voices cried:

"No, no, we have mothers no more!"

"They have killed them," cried some."They have sent them to Siberia," cried others.

"Well, I have a mother still," said the poor lad."I will not have the opportunity to embrace her.It is a mother that I lost the day of my birth and that I have found again, but - I suppose it is to be said - on the day of my death.I shall not see her again.Ihave a friend; I shall not see him again either.I have two little ikons here for them, and I am going to write a letter to each of them, if you will permit it.Swear to me that you will see these reach them.""I swear it," said, in French, the voice of Annouchka.

"Thanks, madame, you are kind.And now, messieurs, that is all Iask of you.I know I am here to reply to very grave accusations.

Permit me to say to you at once that I admit them all to he well founded.Consequently, there need be no discussion between us.

I have deserved death and I accept it.So permit me not to concern myself with what will be going on here.I ask of you simply, as a last favor, not to hasten your preparations too much, so that I may be able to finish my letters>"Upon which, satisfied with himself this time, he sat down again and commenced to write rapidly.They left him in peace, as he desired.He did not raise his head once, even at the moment when a murmur louder than usual showed that the hearers regarded Rouletabille's crimes with especial detestation.He had the happiness of having entirely completed his correspond once when they asked him to rise to hear judgment pronounced upon him.The supreme communion that he had just had with his friend Sainclair and with the dear Lady in Black restored all his spirit to him.He listened respectfully to the sentence which condcmned him to death, though he was busy sliding his tongue along the gummed edge of his envelope.

These were the counts on which he was to be hanged:

1.Because he had come to Russia and mixed in affairs that did not concern his nationality, and had done this in spite of warning to remain in France.

2.Because he had not kept the promises of neutrality he freely made to a representative of the Central Revolutionary Committee.

3.For trying to penetrate the mystery of the Trebassof datcha.

4.For having Comrade Matiew whipped and imprisoned by Koupriane.

5.For having denounced to Koupriane the identity of the two "doctors" who had been assigned to kill General Trebassof.

6.For having caused the arrest of Natacha Feodorovna.

It was a list longer than was needed for his doom.Rouletabille kissed his ikons and handed them to Annouchka along with the letters.

Then he declared, with his lips trembling slightly, and a cold sweat on his forehead, that he was ready to submit to his fate.