6

Set a watch, O Lord, before our mouth, and keep the door of our lips, and grant us Thy grace that we may wipe out the stains and insults they have offered to Thy holy altars in the blood of the offenders.'

'Amen,' came from every lip.

'To-morrow,' said Shuiski, posting himself at the door, to each one as he went out; 'to-morrow, at three in the morning, before the Church of St. Vassili.'

LXIV

Then, my lords, I understand you will not give way in this small matter to oblige me. Very well, I will not forget it,' and the Tsar rose angrily from his throne.

'Your Imperial Majesty must not suppose that his councillors offer any opposition. Least of all would Vassili Shuiski presume to pronounce on the delicate question of a lady's dress. Only, the thing involves an old custom. The Russian people will certainly consider the appearance of the Tsarina in a foreign costume-so indecent in their eyes-as in the highest degree offensive.

But let the Tsar decide how far he can afford to set old customs-prejudices-at nought. His councillors dissuade nothing, recommend nothing; they merely state facts and their probable effects on the people.'

'All very fine, all very smooth, Prince Vassili Shuiski,' answered Dmitri. It seems to me, on the contrary, that I get on perfectly with my people, but that my senators are too fond of giving me good advice. What absurdity! to make such a fuss about an affair of clothes- -a girl's clothes!!

'But a girl's clothes may cover a nation's obedience.'

'Have it your own way then, gentlemen, since you will insist upon it. I yield, and the Tsarina shall conform to the old Russian manners and customs. To-day, to-day she shall look like a walking mountain, to please you; but to-morrow she shall please herself, and look like what she chooses.'

And he went out abruptly.

To-morrow!' The boyars looked at each other, but they said nothing.

LXV

The uproarious Soltikoff was in so evil plight after his night's debauch that he was unable to attend the wedding of the Tsar, but sat at home cursing his hard fate and his racking headache in the house of Iwanicki, with whom he was staying, till it was all over. At last his host returned in company with another young Polish grandee, one of Cracow's exquisites, by name Count Stanislas Niemciwicz.

'Well,' asked the invalid as they came in, 'all over? How went the thing?'

Niemciwicz always spoke in a very high sing-song voice.

Oh, my dear Soltikoff,' he replied, 'quite the funniest proceeding! What a thousand pities. you weren't there! The very drollest thing! Poor Marina Mniszek in a sort of bed-quilt, that looked as if it had been smeared with honey and then dipped in pearls. Her face stuck out at the top; and such a singular affair on her head, quite ridiculous!'

'The ceremony go off well?'

'Oh, fairly well, fairly well. The whole business was extremely laughable. No chairs, nothing to sit down on; every one stood up all the time. Most fatiguing ceremony, wasn't it, Iwanicki? I was ready to drop, so down I dropped, and sat on something or other; heard a great noise; people grumbling; found I was sitting on Ivan the Terrible's face, or something of the kind. Most absurd! eh, Iwanicki?'

But Iwanicki, who seemed abstracted, looked very grave.

'Do you notice now, Soltikoff, how serious Iwanicki's got since we saw him last. Quite Russian, I declare. The cold has that sort of effect, I believe. Everybody is very grave here. They don't understand a joke here, these Muscovites. If you had only been there; why, who but a Muscovite would not have laughed to see the Tsar and his bride hoisted about the cathedral by half a dozen venerable boyars, -grey-haired old curmudgeons in long gowns. Yes, the sense of humour is gone among these Muscovites-quite gone. I thought I should split with laughing. Poor Skzyrnowski can

S

not recover; he is doomed. so!'

We all laughed

'Yes, too much, a great deal too much,' observed Iwanicki. 'I thought the people would set upon you.'

'Oh, come! now you really are too severe. We did laugh a little; but how could we help it? The whole thing was so supremely ridiculous!'

'It will be a bad joke for some of us before you've done,' answered Iwanicki.

You don't Now, I do, and

Don't stop too

know this place or these people. I'll give you a piece of advice. long at the ball to-night, and don't roam about the streets after. There's something in the air just now.'

'Dear me, Iwanicki, what a sage you are! The fact is, my dear Soltikoff,' went on the inexhaustible Niemciwicz, as Iwanicki left the room, ‘our friend here is a little out of humour about something. Stands a little on his dignity, and gives a little too much advice.'

Niemciwicz was jealous of Iwanicki, who always outshone him in society at Cracow.

'Well, anyhow, I shan't do much roaming,'