"I!"
Someone, pushing a way through the audience, was approaching the military tribunal.
A murmur rose from the crowd.
"Silence!" shouted the colonel. He swept the crowd with an angry eye: he threatened.
"I warn you! At the least manifestation, favourable or otherwise, I shall have the room cleared: we are not here to amuse ourselves. I do not authorise anyone, either by gesture or by speech, to comment on what is taking place within these walls."
Having obtained comparative quiet, the colonel looked squarely at the person who had approached the witness-stand and was facing the military tribunal.
This would-be witness was a young woman, elegantly clad. She wore black furs, and a dark veil partially concealing her features, but revealing the strange pallor of her face. The audience, who had a view of the newcomer's back, noted her masses of tawny red hair, set off by a fur toque.
The colonel put her to the question at once.
"You are the person who said 'I'?"
The young woman was greatly moved, but she answered firmly: