In truth, Prince Olsdorf was not merely a titled husband; he had many other desirable qualities. In the first place, he had a large fortune. His grandfather had been a field-marshal under the Empress Anne, after serving her when she was only Princess of Courland. He had profited by the generosity of his sovereign to enlarge his estates and to construct on the right bank of the River Wandau the Château of Pampeln, which had the reputation of being one of the handsomest noblemen's residences in the country. The prince was an orphan too, which gave occasion to the Countess Barineff to hope that she might have some hand in the direction of her daughter's household. Pierre Olsdorf was permitted then to pay his court, and Lise, although her heart remained unmoved, was touched as well by the discretion as by the gentleness of him who was to be her husband. The prince was of a timid nature, at least as regarded women. Unlike the greater part of the young St. Petersburg nobles, he had not seen much "life." He was not a constant spectator at the Michael Theatre, nor a hanger-on of the ballet. When he quitted the Institute of Nobles, where he had been educated, instead of joining the corps of imperial pages, as most youths of good family did, he took up his residence with his uncle and tutor, Prince Alexis Olsdorf, at Pampeln, an old bachelor who was rather out of sorts with the court. There he indulged his inborn taste for horses and hunting. Only after the death of his relative he used to visit St. Petersburg occasionally, but he never made a long stay there, a free life in the open air seeming to him preferable to any other. He owed his good health to this healthy mode of existence, for, born puny and sickly, he would not have been able to live through the feasts and pleasures in which he must have taken part if he had joined with the young fellows of his rank. Pampeln, on the other hand, had saved him from all excesses. Though of medium height and delicate in look, he was really strong. Bodily exertions had made him indefatigable and of a calm courage full of audacity and coolness. Through his mode of life he had gained premature gravity and the firmness of a middle-aged man. Kind to his servants, he was worshiped by them, and the emancipated cultivators of his estates preserved toward him the respect and obedience of serfs for their lord. He neglected nothing that might conduce to their material well-being or their moral elevation. Unhealthy and cramped dwellings had disappeared from his vast estates, where he had established schools to which he insisted that all children should be sent. There they not only received primary, secular, and religious education, but were also taught French. Everybody, or nearly everybody, for ten leagues around the château spoke the French language.