THE GRAND DUKE CONSTANTINE AND HIS PRINCESS 



CONSTANTINE was invariably dressed and visible at five in the 

 morning ; so that it was about half past four, that, uncomfortably 

 rousing myself from a sound sleep, 1 dressed and accompanied Sass 

 in his carriage to the JBelvidere. It was a modern, country-gentle- 

 man's-looking villa, within half a mile of the town, and separated 

 from the high road only by the width of its paved court, railed out 

 with palisades and sentinelled by half a dozen soldiers of the regi- 

 ment of Invalids. Every thing around looked cold, stern, and 

 gloomy ; for, though this was the usual hour of the levee, and one 

 officer after another was arriving in order to present himself to the 

 Duke, their demeanor was stiff and silent, and their salutations as 

 cold as those of antagonists at an approaching duel. It was only 

 with a silent smile that congratulations were received, and under 

 their breath that a remark or a joke was ventured to be exchanged. 

 Some half dozen recruits under the command of a scrjeant were 

 arranged like puppets in a corner of the anti-room ready for in- 

 spection ; while, standing here and there, most prim and starched, 

 their hair, mustachios, stocks, and regimentals arranged to the last 

 exactitude of the regulation, were those officers of the different corps 

 stationed in the city who were on duty for the day ; and three or 

 four generals and aides-de-camp of his Imperial Highness moved 

 noiselessly backwards and forwards from the room beyond. At last 

 the folding-doors of the saloon were thrown open every sound was 

 hushed every murmur stilled ; and the Grand Duke himself, ac- 

 companied by those of his staff who were immediately about his per- 

 son, entered the anti-chamber. In person, the Imperial bear was 

 tall and stout, very upright, with large limbs and a pair of broad 

 shoulders, surmounted by as truculent a visage as the imagination 

 could suggest; a deep and overhanging brow, small swinish eyes, 

 a short and upturned nose, through the nostrils of which you might 

 almost look into his brain, a long upper-lip, a thick, heavy, and 

 protruding lower one ; so that when he smoked, the cigar was placed 

 perpendicularly in his mouth; and the whole of these unprepossessing 

 features dashed with the fierce and sullen expression of an untamed 

 hyena, save that he showed no fangs : he might be about fifty years 

 of age ; for his hair was somewhat grizzled. His dress was the 

 simple green uniform of a Russian general, white breeches, and the 

 long boots of our lifeguards. He bowed slightly to the officers in 

 attendance, passed on at once to Sass, and, glancing at me, ad- 

 dressed some remark to him in an under-tone, which was answered 

 after the same fashion. He then strode over to that side of the 

 room where I stood, and, abruptly addressing me in French, 

 asked me with a singular rapidity of utterance, and hardly allowing 

 me to answer the questions he put, Who I was? What were my 



