'Good-night to your highness,' he gasped out, choking: 'she didn't catch
her fairy prince! What a pity! It wasn't a bad idea in its way! It's a
lesson for the future: not to keep up correspondence! Ho-ho-ho! How
capitally it has all turned out though!' He went out, and all of a
sudden poked his head in at the door. 'Well? I didn't forget you, did I?
Hey? I kept my promise, didn't I? Ho-ho!' The key creaked in the lock. I
breathed freely. I had been afraid he would tie my hands... but they
were my own, they were free! I instantly wrenched the silken cord off my
dressing-gown, made a noose, and was putting it on my neck, but I flung
the cord aside again at once. 'I won't please you!' I said aloud. 'What
madness, really! Can I dispose of my life without Michel's leave, my
life, which I have surrendered into his keeping? No, cruel wretches! No!
You have not won your game yet! He will save me, he will tear me out of
this hell, he... my Michel!'

But then I remembered that he was shut up just as I was, and I flung
myself, face downwards, on my bed, and sobbed... and sobbed.... And only
the thought that my tormentor was perhaps at the door, listening and
triumphing, only that thought forced me to swallow my tears....

I am worn out. I have been writing since morning, and now it is evening;
if once I tear myself from this sheet of paper, I shall not be capable
of taking up the pen again.... I must hasten, hasten to the finish! And
besides, to dwell on the hideous things that followed that dreadful day
is beyond my strength!

Twenty-four hours later I was taken in a closed cart to an isolated hut,
surrounded by peasants, who were to watch me, and kept shut up for six
whole weeks! I was not for one instant alone.... Later on I learnt that