Pierre answered that he “was protecting a woman,” and that “to protect a woman who was being insulted was the duty of every man; that⁠ ⁠…” They interrupted him, for this was not to the point. Why was he in the yard of a burning house where witnesses had seen him? He replied that he had gone out to see what was happening in Moscow. Again they interrupted him: they had not asked where he was going, but why he was found near the fire? Who was he? they asked, repeating their first question, which he had declined to answer. Again he replied that he could not answer it.

“Put that down, that’s bad⁠ ⁠… very bad,” sternly remarked the general with the white mustache and red flushed face.

On the fourth day fires broke out on the Zúbovski rampart.