icts--girls from Prizren, girls
from Bosnia and Dalmatia, as well as Montenegrin girls, were brought
up to Serbism and belief in Holy Russia. Mademoiselle was stout,
ruddy, And amazingly energetic; autocratic, but good-natured. Her
lean, restless-eyed subordinate, Alexandrovna, however, drove the
pupils the way they should go with pitiless severity, and perhaps as
a result the girls of the Institute were all said to leave it
finished intriguers.

The glory of Holy Russia was what Sofia Petrovna lived for. Russia
and England were now united, and she dreamed dreams and saw visions.
Russia's path was clear. Her dominion over all Europe and all Asia
merely a matter of time. Sofia was enchanted. "Ah, my dear! What is
your Empire? Your ambitions are nothing to ours. Nothing, nothing.
Till now you have stood in our path. Now we shall march together.
Russia is God's agent. You will give us your practicalness. We shall
give you our beautiful religion. For at present you know you have
none!" Borne on a wave of enthusiasm, she pressed me to spend Good
Friday and Easter Sunday at the Institute and take part in the
celebrations.

The gathering was very Russian. I was astonished at the difference
made by the Anglo-Russian agreement. Hitherto the Legation had been
distantly polite. Had sometimes asked questions, but never supplied
information. Now nothing could exceed their friendliness. Together
England and Russia were to fight Germany, and I said in vain I had
no wish to. "Your commerce necessitates it," they declared. They
considered Austria's railway scheme to Salonika as a direct insult
"which we shall never permit." About Montenegro they despaired. The
Prince was riding to ruin. All Russians who visited him were pained
to find him surrounded with Austrian Slavs, Gregovitch, Tomanovitch,
Ramadanovitch, even his doctor, Perisitch--all from Austria. The
very servants in the palaces often Austrian or German. The arrests
had been directed by senseless fear; he had alienated the sympathy
of the best in the land; could brook no rival; had quarrelled with
his Petrovitch relations; listened only to flatterers who directed
him against Russia. Finally, they blamed him severely for the
Constitution, which he had promulgated! without consulting Russia..
Even she--Sofia Petrovna--who had given twenty years of her life to
Montenegro and spared no pains; even she was now the victim of
anti-Russian intrigue, and accused of the childish folly