"Listen, Captain Mironoff," said I to the Commandant, "our duty is to
defend the fortress to our last breath; that is understood, but the
safety of the women must be thought of; send them to a more distant
fortress,--to Orenbourg, if the route be still open."

Mironoff turned to his wife. "You see my dear! indeed it would be
well to send you somewhere farther off until we shall have defeated
the rebels."

"What nonsense!" replied she. "Where is the fortress that balls have
not reached? In what respect is our fortress unsafe? Thank God, we
have lived here twenty and one years. We have seen Bashkirs and
Kirghis; Pougatcheff can not be worse than they."

"My dear, stay if you will, since your faith is so great in our
fortress. But what shall we do with Marie? It will be all well if we
can keep off the robber, or if help reach us in time. If the fortress,
however, be taken--"

Basilia could only stammer a few words, and was silent, choked by
her feelings.

"No, Basilia," continued the Commandant, who remarked that his words
made a deep impression on his wife, perhaps for the first time in his
life, "it is not advisable that Marie stay here. Let us send her to
Orenbourg, to her god-mother's. That is a well-manned fortress, with
stone walls and plenty of cannon. I would advise you to go there
yourself; think what might happen to you were your fortress to be
taken by assault."