ion to the police decided him to
deposit us at another door. This proved to be really the best house in
town, though it does not grace the printed list. It was on the usual
plan of inns in Russian country towns. There was the large, airy
dining-room, with clean lace curtains, polished floor, and table set
with foliage plants in fancy pots; the bedrooms, with single iron beds,
reservoir washstands, and no bed linen or towels without extra charge.

The next morning we devoted to the few sights of the town. The Kremlin,
on flat ground and not of imposing size, makes very little impression
after the Moscow Kremlin; but its churches exhibit some charming new
fancies in onion-shaped cupolas which we had not noticed elsewhere, and
its cathedral contains frescoes of a novel sort. In subject they are
pretty equally divided between the Song of Solomon and the Ecumenical
Councils, with a certain number of saints, of course, though these are
fewer than usual. The artist was evidently a man who enjoyed rich stuffs
of flowered patterns, and beautiful women.

The Imperial Firearms Factory we did not see. We had omitted to obtain
from the Minister of War that permission without which no foreigner of
either sex can enter, though Russians may do so freely, and we did not
care enough about it to await the reply to a telegram. We contented
ourselves with assuring the officer in charge that we were utter
simpletons in the matter of firearms, afraid of guns even when they were
not loaded,--I presume he did not understand that allusion,--and
that it was pure curiosity of travelers which had led us to invade his
office.

However, there was no dearth of shops where we could inspect all the
wares in metal for which this Russian Birmingham has been celebrated
ever since the industry was founded by men from Holland, in the
sixteenth century. In the matter of _samovars_, especially, there is a
wide range of choice in this cradle of "the portable domestic hearth,"
although there are only two or three among the myriad manufacturers
whose goods are famed for that solidity of brass and tin which insures
against dents, fractures, and poisoning.

During the morning we ordered round a _troika_ from the posting-house.
It did not arrive. Probably it was asleep, like most other things on
that warm day. It was too far off to invite investigation, and sallying
forth after breakfast to hire an _izvostchik_, I became a blessed
windfall to a couple of bored p