He evidently went to the door and called, and immediately there was a tramp of feet.
"What does this mean, Boolba?"
Malcolm knew the voice—he had heard it before—and his relief was such that all sense of his own danger passed.
"Sophia Kensky," Boolba was speaking now, "you are under arrest by order of the Soviet."
"Arrest!" the word was screamed, "me?"
"You are plotting against the Revolution, and your wickedness has been discovered," said Boolba. "Matinshka! Little mama, it is ordered!"
"You lie! You lie!" she screeched. "You blind devil—I spit on you! You arrest me because you want the aristocrat Irene Yaroslav! Blind pig!"
"Prekanzeno, dushinka! It is ordered, dear little soul," murmured Boolba. "I go back alone—listen! My auto is turning. I go back alone, drushka, and who shall be my eyes now that my little mama is gone?"
They heard the chair pushed back as he rose and the scream and flurry as she leapt at him.
"Keep her away, little comrade," roared Boolba. "Keep her away—I am blind; her father blinded me; keep her away!"
It was Cherry Bim who slipped first from the cupboard.
