“I should not have the heart to shoot at my own brothers, soldier or officer,” I remarked.
“Eh, you are canting already,” he turned on me. “We know your kind.”
“Taking you all in all,” I declared, “you are no better than the officers of the old régime.”
“Silence!” he commanded angrily.
Petrukhin came in with the committee at that instant.
“I must ask you not to make such an uproar,” he said, turning to Pugatchov, feeling more confident with the committee at his back. “She is in our hands now, and we will do justice. It is for us to decide if she is guilty. Leave her alone.”
There were only ten members of the committee within reach. The other two members were absent and the ten, as they made a quorum, decided to go on with the work.
“Whether you find her guilty or not, I will not let her get out of here alive!” Pugatchov declared. “What am I?” he added. “I am no enemy either.”
However, this threat worked in my favour, as it touched the committee’s pride. They were not to be overridden like that. Pugatchov demanded that I should be searched.
“I am at your disposal,” I said, “but before you proceed further I want to hand over to you this package of money. There are ten thousand roubles in it, sent to me by Princess Tatuieva, my former adjutant, to enable me to take the cure at the springs. I kept this money intact, because I hoped to return it to her upon reaching the Caucasus.”