Respectfully yours,
LEONID ANDREYEV.



THE SEVEN WHO WERE HANGED



CHAPTER I
AT ONE O'CLOCK, YOUR EXCELLENCY!


As the Minister was a very stout man, inclined to apoplexy, they
feared to arouse in him any dangerous excitement, and it was with
every possible precaution that they informed him that a very serious
attempt upon his life had been planned. When they saw that he received
the news calmly, even with a smile, they gave him, also, the details.
The attempt was to be made on the following day at the time that he
was to start out with his official report; several men, terrorists,
plans had already been betrayed by a provocateur, and who were now
under the vigilant surveillance of detectives, were to meet at one
o'clock in the afternoon in front of his house, and, armed with bombs
and revolvers, were to wait till he came out. There the terrorists
were to be trapped.

"Wait!" muttered the Minister, perplexed. "How did they know that I
was to leave the house at one o'clock in the afternoon with my report,
when I myself learned of it only the day before yesterday?"