A Passage in the Life of a Maître-d'Armes.
In the year 1824, I arrived at St Petersburg, with the intention of establishing myself as a fencing-master in that capital. Introductions from distinguished individuals in Paris enabled me to make a friend of Count Alexis W.; and that young nobleman was good enough to interest himself warmly in my success. Not content with procuring me several pupils, himself included, he urged me to petition the Emperor for the appointment of fencing-master to a regiment, and offered to give me a letter of recommendation to an aide-de-camp of the Czarewitsch Constantine, who was then at the Castle of Strelna, near St Petersburg.
"If his imperial highness," added the Count, "will write a line in your favour at the end of the petition, you will have an excellent chance of obtaining what you desire. Present yourself boldly, flatter his military pride, and try to gain his good word by the frank and soldierly deportment which has done more for you, with myself and others, than any letters of recommendation."
The morning after receiving this advice, I hired a droschki, and set out for Strelna, taking with me a letter to General Rodna, aide-de-camp of the Czarewitsch; also my petition to the Emperor, which had been drawn up in due form. After driving a couple of hours along a good road, bordered on the left by country mansions and parks, and on the right by plains extending to the Gulf of Finland, I reached the convent of St Sergius, the saint most venerated in Russia after St Alexander Nieuski. Ten minutes afterwards I arrived at the castle, and, after some parley with the sentry, obtained admittance. Some officers, who were lounging about, informed me that the General was occupied with the Czarewitsch. One of them, however, took in my letter, and desired me to wait in a saloon which looked out on a magnificent garden. The same officer speedily returned, and ushered me into the apartments of the Emperor's brother. In one of these, I discovered a man standing with his back to a large fire, and distinguished by the most uncouth and forbidding countenance I ever beheld. Between a pair of prominent cheek-bones that would have graced a Calmuck Tartar, appeared what, in France, we term a nose écrasé, with a pair of upturned nostrils the combined effect of which gave the owner a strong resemblance to a large monkey; nor am I sure whether, in such a comparison, the disadvantage would not have been on the side of the animal. The eyes of the Grand-duke (for he it was) were remarkable for their restlessness. They were small, deep-set, and of a colour which it would be difficult to define. His complexion was a deep unvarying red. The frogs and loops which fastened his dark- green frock across his breast, nearly disappeared beneath a profusion of crosses, decorations, and ribbons of every colour of the rainbow. He was tapping his boot with his riding -whip, and the undried splashes of mud on his pantaloons indicated that he had but recently returned from a ride or a review. At a table near him was seated General Rodna, pen in hand, and apparently writing under his master's dictation.
Not expecting so prompt an introduction, I stopped short on entering the room. The door was scarcely closed when the Czarewitsch, projecting his head without moving his body, and fixing me with his piercing eyes, abruptly enquired,
"What countryman?"
"French, your highness."
"Age?"
"Six-and-twenty."
"Name?"
"G———"
"You want to be fencing-master to a regiment?"
"May it please your highness, such is the object of my ambition."
"Are you a first-rate swordsman?"
"I have fenced in public since my arrival in St Petersburg, and your highness can easily ascertain the opinion of those who were present."
"I heard of you, but you had only second-rate fencers to contend with."
"Which gave them a just claim upon my forbearance, your highness."
"Forbearance?" he repeated, with flashing eyes and a somewhat scornful
