"Where are you going? The stairs are in flames. The corridor's burning!"
But I'd already left him far behind. I took off my jacket and wrapped it round my head. I don't know how I managed to get to the door of my room. I only remember that when I touched the handle I burnt my fingers.
Try as I might, I couldn't get the door open. The key turned in the lock as usual, but the door resisted.
It was then that I noticed a stout iron bolt, screwed into the door at one end and clamped to the wall at the other.
"So that's it!" I said, "and my window looks on to the ravine of the Melna!"
I didn't even start I understood. I knew what I wanted.
"So you thought, sire, that I should be still in my room! Didn't you, now?"
To come and go was but the work of a minute. When I was at the bottom of the staircase a fearful crash was heard. The upper half of the whole corridor had just collapsed.
When, wild-eyed and scorched, I got back to the Grand Duchess, several groups had already collected in the park. A tall man was standing with her and Hagen. It was the Grand Duke.
"Monsieur Vignerte," he cried rapturously, when he saw me. "Oh, what a weight you've taken off my mind! Have you come from far?"