"But the countess is a Russian.

We have been staying two months at her father's place, a hundred miles to the east.

My two youngest children are at home, and two days since a message arrived, saying that one of them was dangerously ill.

We had heard, of course, many tales of the numbers and fierceness of the wolves, but we hoped that, by travelling only by day and with excellent horses, there was not much to fear, especially as we were five armed men.
"We fell in with a few wolves yesterday, but beat them off easily enough.

Last night, we stopped at a little village in the forest.
They certainly made me feel uneasy there, with their tales about the wolves, but there was no help for it.