The sisters stood
together waiting. Of course the end had come. They simply stood there
fastening their resolution to the extreme moment.
"I must go with them," said Vera. She followed them into her bedroom. It
was a very little place and they filled it, they looked rather sheepish
now, whispering to one another.
"What's in there?" said the officer, tapping the cupboard.
"Only some clothes," said Vera.
"Open it!" he ordered.
Then the world did indeed stand still. The clock ceased to tick, the
little rumble in the stove was silenced, the shuffling feet of one of
the soldiers stayed, the movement of some rustle in the wall paper was
held. The world was frozen.
"Now I suppose we shall all be shot," was Vera's thought, repeated over
and over again with a ludicrous monotony. Then she could see nothing but
the little policeman, tumbling out of the cupboard, dishevelled and
terrified. Terrified! what that look in his eyes would be! That at any
rate she could not face and she turned her head away from them, looking
out through the door into the dark little passage.
She heard as though from an infinite distance the words:
"Well, there's nobody there.
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