ns?"

"Those who pass the examinations, I suppose," replied Kochubey, crossing
his legs and glancing round.

"Well, I have Pryanichnikov serving under me, a splendid man, a
priceless man, but he's sixty. Is he to go up for examination?"

"Yes, that's a difficulty, as education is not at all general, but..."

Count Kochubey did not finish. He rose, took Prince Andrew by the arm,
and went to meet a tall, bald, fair man of about forty with a large open
forehead and a long face of unusual and peculiar whiteness, who was
just entering. The newcomer wore a blue swallow-tail coat with a cross
suspended from his neck and a star on his left breast. It was Speranski.
Prince Andrew recognized him at once, and felt a throb within him, as
happens at critical moments of life. Whether it was from respect, envy,
or anticipation, he did not know. Speranski's whole figure was of a
peculiar type that made him easily recognizable. In the society in which
Prince Andrew lived he had never seen anyone who together with awkward
and clumsy gestures possessed such calmness and self-assurance; he
had never seen so resolute yet gentle an expression as that in those
half-closed, rather humid eyes, or so firm a smile that expressed
nothing; nor had he heard such a refined, smooth, soft voice; above all
he had never seen such delicate whiteness of face or hands--hands which
were broad, but very plump, soft, and white. Such whiteness and softness
Prince Andrew had only seen on the faces of soldiers who had been long
in hospital. This was Speranski, Secretary of State, reporter to the
Emperor and his companion at Erfurt, where he had more than once met and
talked with Napoleon.

Speranski did not shift his eyes from one face to another as people
involuntarily do on entering a large company and was in no hurry to
speak. He spoke slowly, with assurance that he would be listened to, and
he looked only at the person with whom he was conversing.

Prince Andrew followed Speranski's every word and movement with
particular attention. As happens to some people, especially to men
who judge those near to them severely, he always on meeting
anyone new--especially anyone whom, like Speranski, he knew by
reputation--expected to discover in him the perfection of human
qualities.

Speranski told Kochubey he was sorry he had been unable to come sooner
as he had been detained at the palace. He did not say that the Emperor
had kept him, and Prince Andrew noticed