pass from one end of the train to the other. The
second-class have seats arranged in rows like those in a church, and are
not very comfortable for a long journey; but the first-class are more
luxurious: at each end there is a small ante-room, then a saloon with
ottomans round it, and the centre compartment is full of large,
luxurious arm-chairs, far enough apart to allow long-legged men to
stretch their legs to the full. The windows are large, and of plate
glass, which, as Harry observed, would be very convenient if there was
anything to look at out of them. Our friends had arranged themselves in
one of the centre compartments, and the lime of departure was at hand,
when Mr Evergreen made his appearance on the platform in a state of
great agitation, first turning to one moustached fierce-looking
official, then to another, appealing in vain to know, as it appeared,
what had become of parts of his luggage.

"Does any one know the Russian for hat-box?" he exclaimed.
"Hatboxichoff! Hatboxichoff!" he cried in piteous accents. "Dear me,
dear me--there are all my writing things in it, and my letters, and my
money, and my best hat, and my gloves; and I shall be sent to prison as
an impostor, and not be able to appear decent at the coronation, and
have no means of paying my bills, and be starved, and--"

At that moment he caught sight of Cousin Giles' face. His countenance
brightened up. "Oh, Mr Fairman, I am so glad to see you!--can you help
me?" he cried.

Cousin Giles asked to see his luggage ticket, and, finding that the same
number of packages which he possessed in all were marked on it, assured
him that there could be no doubt his hat-box was safe.

Thus assured in his mind, Mr Evergreen took his seat. The ticket is a
long strip of paper, with the names of the chief places on the road
marked on it, and the fares to each of them. The passengers having
taken their places, the military officials waved their hands, and the
long train began to move.

The view as they left the city was not interesting. Some large
red-brick houses appeared above the low huts in the outskirts, with a
large reed-bordered lagoon, and a wide extent of dead level covered with
low shrubs or rank dry grass. The distance to Moscow is about five
hundred versts, nearly four hundred miles, and for the whole of that
distance there is very little improvement towards picturesque beauty.
Now and then, to be sure, they came to woods of birch or f