threw herself in her father's arms, weeping, which was natural
enough, and declared that she never would go away from him again.
The general told her how I had managed. Then she pressed me to
her heart, saying that she never would forget such an action, and
that she loved me more than if I were truly her mother. It was all
in vain that during the days following we sought to understand how
the infernal machine had been placed in the bouquet of wild flowers.
Only the general's friends that you saw this evening, Natacha and
I had entered the general's chamber during the day or in the evening.
No servant, no chamber-maid, had been on that floor. In the
day-time as well as all night long that entire floor is closed and
I have the keys. The door of the servants' staircase which opens
onto that floor, directly into the general's chamber, is always
locked and barred on the inside with iron. Natacha and I do the
chamber work. There is no way of taking greater precautions. Three
police agents watched over us night and day. The night of the
bouquet two had spent their time watching around the house, and the
third lay on the sofa in the veranda. Then, too, we found all the
doors and windows of the villa shut tight. In such circumstances
you can judge whether my anguish was not deeper than any I had known
hitherto. Because to whom, henceforth, could we trust ourselves?
what and whom could we believe? what and whom could we watch?
From that day, no other person but Natacha and me have the right to
go to the first floor. The general's chamber was forbidden to his
friends. Anyway, the general improved, and soon had the pleasure
of receiving them himself at his table. I carry the general down
and take him to his room again on my back. I do not wish anyone
to help. I am strong enough for that. I feel that I could carry
him to the end of the world if that would save him. Instead of
three police, we had ten; five outside, five inside. The days went