"What!" he exclaimed in surprise. "Mashinka! Why, what brings you here?"
The girl raised her finger to her lips and glanced timorously round about. Only when she had assured herself that there was no one listening did she begin to speak.
"Oh, my Master!" she exclaimed in a low tone; "have a care! Muffle yourself in your cloak! If you are recognised here you will certainly be taken!"
"Taken!" cried the Captain. "What foolishness is this, Mashinka? Why should any one wish to take me, think you?"
"Why!" echoed the girl. "To make you dig for lead in the Urals, most likely. You are an outlaw!"
"Are you raving, woman?" asked Feodor. "What crime have I committed?"
"That you will soon learn," replied Mashinka. "Last winter did you not shelter Krazinski in your house?"
"Krazinski! Why, he was a dear friend of mine—a brother-in-arms of the old days."
"That may be. But now they say he is a conspirator."
"But what is that to me? I knew nothing of that then. He came to the castle for the hunting, and after having had as much of that as he wanted he went off again. But I see I had better go off to the Court at once and tell them all about the matter."