brandy!"

"I am very much obliged for the offer, but business obliges me to
decline it; good morning, Sir."

"Good morning!" answered the man, slightly moving his hat, in answer to
my salutation.

We separated, as I thought; but I was mistaken. As ill-luck would
have it, I lost my way in endeavouring to return home. While I was
interrogating a French artisan, who seemed in a prodigious hurry, up
comes my inquisitive friend in green again. "Ha! you have lost your way:
I can put you into it better than any man in Petersburg!"

I thought it right to accept the offer; and we moved on side by side. I
now looked pretty attentively at my gentleman. I have said that he was
tall and stout; he was also remarkably well-built, and had a kind of
seaman's ease and freedom of gait and manner. His countenance was very
peculiar; short, firm, and strongly marked; a small, but thick mustachio
covered his upper lip; the rest of his face was shaved. His mouth was
wide, but closed, when silent, with that expression of iron resolution
which no feature _but_ the mouth can convey. His eyes were large,
well-opened, and rather stern; and when, which was often in the course
of conversation, he pushed back his hat from his forehead, the motion
developed two strong deep wrinkles between the eyebrows, which might be
indicative either of thought or of irascibility,--perhaps of both. He
spoke quickly, and with a little occasional embarrassment of voice,
which, however, never communicated itself to his manner. He seemed,
indeed, to have a perfect acquaintance with the mazes of the growing
city; and, every now and then, stopped to say when such a house was
built, whither such a street was to lead, etc. As each of these details
betrayed some great triumph over natural obstacles and sometimes
over national prejudice, I could not help dropping a few enthusiastic
expressions in praise of the genius of the Czar. The man's eyes sparkled
as he heard them.

"It is easy to see," said I, "that you sympathize with me, and that the
admiration of this great man is not confined to Englishmen. How little
in comparison seem all other monarchs!--they ruin kingdoms; the Czar
creates one. The whole history of the world does not afford an instance
of triumphs so vast, so important, so glorious as his have been. How his
subjects should adore him!"

"No," said the stranger, with an altered and thoughtful manner, "it
is not his subjects, but _their posterity_, that wil