said that the government must rest not on
authority but on secure bases. The Emperor said that the fiscal system
must be reorganized and the accounts published," recounted Bitski,
emphasizing certain words and opening his eyes significantly.

"Ah, yes! Today's events mark an epoch, the greatest epoch in our
history," he concluded.

Prince Andrew listened to the account of the opening of the Council of
State, which he had so impatiently awaited and to which he had attached
such importance, and was surprised that this event, now that it had
taken place, did not affect him, and even seemed quite insignificant. He
listened with quiet irony to Bitski's enthusiastic account of it. A very
simple thought occurred to him: "What does it matter to me or to Bitski
what the Emperor was pleased to say at the Council? Can all that make me
any happier or better?"

And this simple reflection suddenly destroyed all the interest Prince
Andrew had felt in the impending reforms. He was going to dine that
evening at Speranski's, "with only a few friends," as the host had said
when inviting him. The prospect of that dinner in the intimate home
circle of the man he so admired had greatly interested Prince
Andrew, especially as he had not yet seen Speranski in his domestic
surroundings, but now he felt disinclined to go to it.

At the appointed hour, however, he entered the modest house Speranski
owned in the Taurida Gardens. In the parqueted dining room this small
house, remarkable for its extreme cleanliness (suggesting that of a
monastery), Prince Andrew, who was rather late, found the friendly
gathering of Speranski's intimate acquaintances already assembled at
five o'clock. There were no ladies present except Speranski's little
daughter (long-faced like her father) and her governess. The other
guests were Gervais, Magnitski, and Stolypin. While still in the
anteroom Prince Andrew heard loud voices and a ringing staccato
laugh--a laugh such as one hears on the stage. Someone--it sounded like
Speranski--was distinctly ejaculating ha-ha-ha. Prince Andrew had never
before heard Speranski's famous laugh, and this ringing, high pitched
laughter from a statesman made a strange impression on him.

He entered the dining room. The whole company were standing between two
windows at a small table laid with hors-d'oeuvres. Speranski, wearing
a gray swallow-tail coat with a star on the breast, and evidently still
the same waistcoat and high white s