The officer, having obtained intelligence on the landlord's hiding place, led a troop there, surrounding the house and entering with two constitutional soldiers.
The house was empty. They searched every room but found no one, yet several signs indicated that someone had been there just moments before.
The young man left the two soldiers downstairs and went to the top floor a second time; upon careful observation, he discovered a small door leading to a storeroom or some other small chamber. The door was locked from the inside, and he kicked it open with one move, immediately spotting a tall woman standing inside, quite beautiful. She made no sound and pointed to a man beside her, who was holding an eleven or twelve-year-old girl, nearly unconscious.
This was him and his family. The officer did not know what to do. The tall woman saw this and asked him, "Can you bear to kill them?"
