e visited in their own homes. It is
this visiting work that she hopes most to develop as time goes on. She
is, of course, by Baptism and Confirmation a member of our own Church,
and is full of interest and sympathy towards it, and usually attends the
Abbey service when in London, though she joined the Orthodox Church of
Russia during her married life. This, she told me, was without any
influence being brought to bear upon her, and entirely from conviction
that it was best for her own religious life in her adopted country.

She wore the simple and grey habit of her order, and it was difficult to
realize that she was a princess of the blood, and sister-in-law to the
Emperor himself, as she spoke so simply and humbly about her work, and
what she hoped still with the blessing of GOD to do. She does not cut
herself off, however, from life's ordinary relationships, for when later
at Tsarskoe Selo, I told the Emperor that I had been able to see her and
hear about her work, he said, "She is coming to spend a fortnight with
us this very afternoon."

That is what one meets everywhere in Russia, the unconventional and the
natural. The superior of a new order, which is an entirely fresh
departure, would be expected in any other country to give up everything
else in the way of social and family relationships. But in Russia, if a
perfectly natural thing like a visit to near relations suggests itself
as desirable the visit is duly paid.

It is so always! The splendid and the simple, high rank and humble birth
seem to find themselves close together, the rich and the poor unite so
easily in a common interest. "A gorgeous imperial procession was passing
through the palace hall," writes one who saw it at Tsarskoe Selo as a
specially grand function, "and two or three maid-servants appeared at
the head of a little staircase to look on, wearing print dresses. No one
told them to go away."[9] No one would think of it.

The Emperor loves the simple folk he governs, and showed it plainly
when in the earlier part of his reign he moved freely amongst them,
standing next to peasants and workmen in Moscow, when he stepped into a
church to pray. And after he returned from our own country, from the
marriage of King George, I read the other day, "somebody asked him what
had impressed him most. 'The crowd outside Buckingham Palace waiting to
see Queen Victoria drive out,' he said. 'There they waited, hour after
hour, and at last a little black carri