searched seven times within twenty-four hours, though there was no
evidence whatever that she was connected with the Nihilists; the
whole affair was, in fact, a misunderstanding, as she was perfectly
innocent.

This search in Dmitry Leonoff's house was also a misunderstanding,
and in the dominions of the Czar misunderstandings are of frequent
occurrence.

Leonoff knew himself to be innocent, and he felt no fear, though
considerable annoyance, while the search was prosecuted; he could
hardly believe the evidence of his senses when, without a word of
explanation, he was informed that he must take leave of his wife and
children, and go in charge of the gendarmes to the House of
Preventive Detention.

Being a sensible man, he kept his temper, remarked courteously that
some mistake must have been made, embraced his weeping wife, and
went off passively, while the pristav carried away a bundle of
letters in which I occupied the most prominent place.

Leonoff remained a prisoner only for a few days; there was not a
shred of evidence against him, and, having suffered terrible
anxiety, he was finally released. But Mr. Crichton-Morley's letter
was never restored to him, it remained in the hands of the
authorities, and the night after Leonoff's arrest the pristav, the
procurator, and the gendarmes made their way into the dwelling of
Sigismund Zaluski's uncle, where a similar search was prosecuted.

Sigismund was asleep and dreaming of Gertrude and of his idyllic