“One possessed!”
“What are the guards about! How has he got in!”
“He ought to be arrested at once, else he will escape; it will be impossible to find him in the crowd.”
At the far end of the Church, where nothing had been either seen or heard, the wildest rumours were spreading.
“A revolt, a revolt!”
“Fire! the altar has caught fire!”
“A man with a knife has been arrested; he wanted to murder the Tsar!”
The alarm increased.
Without paying any attention to what was going on, Peter approached the prelate, kissed the crucifix, and, returning to his place, ordered the speaker of these “frantic words” to be brought before him.