A lady about fifty years of age was seated on a rustic bench. She was dressed in a white morning-dress, a light cap and a mantilla. Her face, full and florid, was expressive of calmness and seriousness. She was the first to speak: "You are evidently a stranger here?"
"That is true, madam. I arrived from the country yesterday."
"You are with your parents?"
"No, madam, alone."
"You are too young to travel alone. Are you here on business?"
"My parents are dead. I came to present a petition to the Empress."
"You are an orphan; you have to complain of injustice, or injury?"
"Madam, I came to ask for a pardon, not justice."
"Permit me a question: Who are you?"
"I am the daughter of Captain Mironoff."
"Of Captain Mironoff? of him who commanded one of the fortresses in the province of Orenbourg?"
"The same, madam."
The lady seemed touched. "Pardon me, I am going to Court. Explain the object of your petition; perhaps I can aid you." Marie took from her pocket a paper which she handed to the lady, who read it attentively. Marie, whose eyes followed every movement of her countenance, was alarmed by the severe expression of face so calm and gracious a moment before.
"You intercede for Grineff?" said the lady, in an icy tone. "The Empress can not pardon him. He went over to the usurper, not as an ignorant believer, but as a depraved and dangerous good-for-nothing."
"It is not true!" exclaimed Marie.
"What! not true?" said the lady, flushing to the eyes.
"Before God, it is not true. I know all. I will tell you all. It was for me only that exposed himself to all these misfortunes. If he did not clear himself before his judges, it was because he would not drag me before the authorities." Marie then related with warmth all that the reader knows.
"Where do you lodge?" asked the lady, when the young girl had finished her recital. Upon hearing that she was staying with the postmaster's wife, she nodded, and said with a smile: "Ah! I know her. Adieu! tell no one of our meeting. I hope you will not have long to wait for the answer to your petition."
She rose and went away by a covered path. Marie went back to Anna's, full of fair hope. The postmaster's wife was surprised that Marie took so early a promenade, which might in Autumn, prove injurious to a young girl's health. She brought the Somovar, and with her cup of tea was going to relate one of her interminable stories, when a carriage with the imperial escutcheon stopped before the door. A lackey, wearing the imperial livery, entered and announced that her Majesty deigned to order to her presence the daughter of Captain Mironoff!