Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

34THE HUNCH-BACKED SHOEMAKER

sured to the prisoners an existence of twenty-four hours; this appeared an age in prospect, and the day was always viewed as a fete in the prison.

Such was the life of my mother after the death of her husband. It continued during the last six months of the reign of terror. Considering her connections, her celebrity, and the circumstances of her arrest, it was wonderful that she had escaped the scaffold so long. On three different occasions she was taken from prison to her own house, where her inquisitors examined before her, and questioned her upon every insignificant paper which they could find in the drawers and secretaries; searching every corner of the apartment, and omitting only to examine the sofa, which it was the will of God should be overlooked. It may be readily imagined that my mother's heart would irrepressibly beat every time they approached this spot. She has often told me that she did not dare, in one single instance, to look towards the fatal sofa, and yet that she equally feared her eyes might have the appearance of being too consciously averted.

This was not the only token of protection which God vouchsafed her in her misfortunes. The sentiments of the men on whom her fate depended were softened by an invisible power.

Twelve members of the section superintended the searches. They invariably concluded by subjecting the prisoner to a long and scrutinising inquiry. The first time she was thus questioned, the president of this species of revolutionary jury was a little hunch backed shoemaker, who was as malicious as he was ugly. This man had found in a corner, a shoe, which he pretended wTas made of English leather.