And then?
When things were thus at their blackest they suddenly took an unexpected turn, and the deus ex machina appeared precisely at the right moment, just as if we had all been puppets in a sensation novel.

There was the usual momentary silence, and then, mixed with the sound of an approaching tarantass, a confused murmur: "There he is! He is coming!" The "he" thus vaguely and mysteriously indicated turned out to be an official of the judicial administration, who had reason to visit the village for an entirely different affair.

As soon as he had been told briefly what had happened he took the matter in hand and showed himself equal to the occasion.

Unlike the majority of Russian officials he disliked lengthy procedure, and succeeded in making the case quite clear in a very short time.

There had been, he perceived, no attempt to murder or anything of the kind.