ria, and when Rezanov declined their hospitality they
dispatched a courier at once to the Governor-General of Irkutsk
acquainting him with the condition of the Chamberlain and of his
imminent arrival. In consequence, when Rezanov drew rein two days
later and looked down upon the city of Irkutsk with its pleasant
squares and great stone buildings beside the shining river, the gilded
domes and crosses of its thirty churches and convents glittering in the
sun, the whole picture beckoning to the delirious brain of the traveler
like some mirage of the desert, his appearance was the signal for a
salute from the fort; and the Governor-General, privy counselor and
senator de Pestel, accompanied by the civil governor, the commandant,
the archbishop, and a military escort, sallied forth and led the guest,
with the formality of officials and the compassionate tenderness of
men, into the capital.

For three weeks longer Rezanov lay in the palace of the Governor.
Between fever and lassitude, his iron will seemed alternately to melt
in the fiery furnace of his body, then, a cooling but still viscous and
formless mass, sink to the utmost depths of his being. But here he had
the best of nursing and attendance, rallied finally and insisted upon
continuing his journey. His doctor made the less demur as the
traveling was far smoother now, in the early days of March, than it
would be a month hence, when the snow was thinner and the sledges were
no longer possible. Nevertheless, he announced his intention to
accompany him as far as Krasnoiarsk, where the Chamberlain could lodge
in the house of the principal magistrate of the place, Counselor
Keller, and, if necessary, be able to command fair nursing and medical
attendance; and to this Rezanov indifferently assented.

The prospect of continuing his journey and the bustle of preparation
raised the spirits of the invalid and gave him a fictitious energy. He
had fought depression and despair in all his conscious moments, never
admitted that the devastation in his body was mortal. With but a
remnant of his former superb strength, and emaciated beyond
recognition, he attended a banquet on the night preceding his
departure, and on the following morning stood up in his sledge and
acknowledged the God-speed of the population of Irkutsk assembled in
the square before the palace of the Governor. All his life he had
excited interest wherever he went, but never to such a degree as on
that last