he went on to tell me a story of how he had been accused, or suspected, of stealing five hundred thousand roubles once, as a young man; and how, the very next day, he had rushed into a burning, blazing house and saved the very count who suspected him, and nina alexandrovna (who was then a young girl), from a fiery death. the count embraced him, and that was how he came to marry nina alexandrovna, he said. as for the money, it was found among the ruins next day in an english iron box with a secret lock; it had got under the floor somehow, and if it had not been for the fire it would never have been found! the whole thing is, of course, an absolute fabrication, though when he spoke of nina alexandrovna he wept!