e_, my Bob Acres courage began to
ooze.

"Now, I am not going to be rude," I said. "We'll just pretend to be
taking off our wraps until we find whether we can be received. I don't
mind forcing myself on a servant, but I do object to inconveniencing the
master of the house.

"You're weakening," said Jimmie, derisively. "You're scared!"

"I am not," I declared, indignantly. "I am only trying to be polite, and
it's a hard pull, I can tell you, when I want anything as much as I want
to see Tolstoy. If he won't see us after he reads that letter, I can at
least go away knowing that I put forth my best efforts to see him, but
if I had taken a servant's refusal, I should feel myself a coward."

I looked anxiously at my friends for approval. Jimmie and the consul
looked dubious, but Bee and Mrs. Jimmie patted me on the back and said I
had done just right.

While we were engaged in this conversation, and while the man was still
up-stairs, the door from the kitchen burst open, and in came a handsome
young fellow of about eighteen, whistling. Now my brother whistles and
slams doors just like this young Russian. So my understanding of boys
made me feel friendly with this one at once. Seeing us, he stopped and
bowed politely.

"Good morning," I said, cheerfully. "We are Americans, and we have
travelled five thousand miles for the purpose of seeing Count Tolstoy,
and when we got here this morning the servant wouldn't even let us in
until I made him, and we are waiting to see if the count will receive
us."

"Why, I am just sure papa will see you," said the boy in perfect
English. "How disgusting of Dmitri. He is a blockhead, that Dmitri. I
shall tell mamma how he treated you. The idea of leaving you standing
down here while he took your cards up."

"It is partly our fault," I said, defending Dmitri. "We sent him up to
ask."

"Nevertheless, he should have had you wait in the salon. Dmitri is a
fool."

"His manner wasn't very cordial," I admitted, as we followed him
up-stairs and into a large well-furnished, but rather plain, room
containing no ornaments.

"But as I had a letter from the ambassador," I went on, "I felt that I
must at least present it."

The boy turned back, as he started to leave the room, and said:

"Oh! From Mr. White? Your ambassador wrote about you, and also some
friends of ours from Petersburg. Papa has been expecting you this long
time. He would have been so annoyed if he had failed to see you. I'