"And she, which one of them does she love? It is necessary to tell
me."

"She pretends that she loves Boris, and I believe she does, and yet
she is very friendly with Michael and often she goes into nooks and
corners to chat with him, which makes Boris mad with jealousy. She
has forbidden Boris to speak to her father about their marriage, on
the pretext that she does not wish to leave her father now, while
each day, each minute the general's life is in danger."

"And you, madame - do you love your step-daughter?" brutally
inquired the reporter.

"Yes - sincerely," replied Matrena Petrovna, withdrawing her hand
from those of Rouletabille.

"And she - does she love you?"

"I believe so, monsieur, I believe so sincerely. Yes, she loves me,
and there is not any reason why she should not love me. I believe
- understand me thoroughly, because it comes from my heart - that
we all here in this house love one another. Our friends are old
proved friends. Boris has been orderly to my husband for a very
long time. We do not share any of his too-modern ideas, and there
were many discussions on the duty of soldiers at the time of the
massacres. I reproached him with being as womanish as we were in
going down on his knees to the general behind Natacha and me, when
it became necessary to kill all those poor moujiks of Presnia. It
was not his role. A soldier is a soldier. My husband raised him
roughly and ordered him, for his pains, to march at the head of the