face told her
that he had not forgotten the morning's talk, that his decision remained
in force, and only the presence of visitors hindered his speaking of it
to her now.

When they went into the drawing room where coffee was served, the old
men sat together.

Prince Nicholas grew more animated and expressed his views on the
impending war.

He said that our wars with Bonaparte would be disastrous so long as we
sought alliances with the Germans and thrust ourselves into European
affairs, into which we had been drawn by the Peace of Tilsit. "We ought
not to fight either for or against Austria. Our political interests are
all in the East, and in regard to Bonaparte the only thing is to have
an armed frontier and a firm policy, and he will never dare to cross the
Russian frontier, as was the case in 1807!"

"How can we fight the French, Prince?" said Count Rostopchin. "Can we
arm ourselves against our teachers and divinities? Look at our youths,
look at our ladies! The French are our Gods: Paris is our Kingdom of
Heaven."

He began speaking louder, evidently to be heard by everyone.

"French dresses, French ideas, French feelings! There now, you turned
Metivier out by the scruff of his neck because he is a Frenchman and a
scoundrel, but our ladies crawl after him on their knees. I went to
a party last night, and there out of five ladies three were Roman
Catholics and had the Pope's indulgence for doing woolwork on Sundays.
And they themselves sit there nearly naked, like the signboards at our
Public Baths if I may say so. Ah, when one looks at our young people,
Prince, one would like to take Peter the Great's old cudgel out of the
museum and belabor them in the Russian way till all the nonsense jumps
out of them."

All were silent. The old prince looked at Rostopchin with a smile and
wagged his head approvingly.

"Well, good-by, your excellency, keep well!" said Rostopchin, getting up
with characteristic briskness and holding out his hand to the prince.

"Good-by, my dear fellow.... His words are music, I never tire of
hearing him!" said the old prince, keeping hold of the hand and offering
his cheek to be kissed.

Following Rostopchin's example the others also rose.

CHAPTER IV

Princess Mary as she sat listening to the old men's talk and
faultfinding, understood nothing of what she heard; she only wondered
whether the guests had all observed her father's hostile attitude toward
her. She did not