on an expression of indifference, his speech would come of itself in better shape than he could now determine. He felt that the meaning of his speech was so great that every word would have its importance. Meantime, as he listened to the reading of the report, he had a most innocent and inoffensive expression. No one, seeing his white hands, with their swollen veins, his delicate, long fingers doubling up the two ends of the sheet of white paper lying before him, and his expression of weariness, as he sat with head on one side, would have believed it possible that, in a few moments, from his lips would proceed a speech which would raise a terrible tempest, cause the members of the Commission to outdo one another in screaming, and oblige the president to call them to order.
When the report was finished, Alekseï Aleksandrovitch, in his weak, shrill voice, said that he had a few observations to make in regard to the situation of the foreign tribes. Attention was concentrated on him. Alekseï Aleksandrovitch cleared his throat, and, not looking at his adversary, but, as he always did at the beginning of his speeches, addressing the person who sat nearest in front of him, who happened to be a little, meek old man, without the slightest importance in the Commission, began to deliver his views.
When he reached the matter of the fundamental and organic law, his adversary leaped to his feet, and began to reply. Stremof, who was also a member of the Commission, and also touched to the quick, arose to defend himself; and the session proved to be excessively stormy. But Alekseï Aleksandrovitch triumphed, and his proposition was accepted. The three new commissions were appointed, and the next day in a certain Petersburg circle this session formed the staple topic of conversation. Alekseï Aleksandrovitch's success far outstripped his anticipations.
The next morning, which was Tuesday, Alekseï Aleksandrovitch, on awaking, recalled with pleasure his victory of the day before; and he could not repress a smile, although he wanted to appear indifferent, when the di-
