"There are towns on the road, sire. When I reach a town I will work till I have enough to continue my journey to the next." "That may do as far as Perm," replied the Emperor; "but after that you have the Ural mountains, and you are at the end of Europe. After that nothing but a few scattered villages; no inns upon the road; large rivers without bridges or ferries, and which must be traversed by dangerous fords, whence men and horses are frequently swept away." "Sire, when I reach the rivers they will be frozen; for I am told that in those regions the winter begins earlier than at St Petersburg." "What!" cried the Emperor, astonished, "do you think of setting out now--of performing such a journey in winter?" "It is during the winter that _his_ solitude must be most intolerable." "It is impossible. You must be mad to think of it." "Impossible if your Majesty so wills it. No one can disobey your Majesty." "_I_ shall not prevent it; but surely your own reason, and the immense difficulties of such an undertaking, will." "Sire! I will set out to-morrow." "But if you perish on the road?" "If I perish, sire, he will have lost nothing, for I am neither his mother, his daughter, nor sister, but only his mistress--that is, a woman to whom society gives no rights, and who must consider herself fortunate if the world looks upon her with no harsher feeling than indifference. But if I _am_ able to join him, I shall be _every thing_ to him--mother, sister, family, and friends. We shall be two to suffer instead of one, and that fearful exile will lose half its terrors. You see, sire, I _must_ rejoin him, and that as soon as possible." "You are right," said the Emperor, looking fixedly at her, "and I no longer oppose your departure." He rang; an aide-de-camp appeared. "Is Corporal Ivan in attendance?" "He waits your Majesty's orders." "Let him come in." The aide-de-camp bowed, and disappeared. Two minutes afterwards the door reopened, and Corporal Ivan stepped into the room, then halted, upright and motionless, one hand on the seam of his overalls, the other to the front of his schako. "Draw near," said the Emperor, in a stern voice. The corporal made four paces to the front, and relapsed into his former position. "Nearer!" Four more paces, and Ivan was close to the Emperor's writing-table. "You are Corporal Ivan?" "Yes, sire." "You commanded the escort of the sixth division?" "Yes, sire." "You had orders to allow the prisoners to communicate with no one?" This time the corporal's tongue seemed embarrassed by something, and his affirmative was uttered in a less steady tone than the preceding ones. "Count Alexis W---- was one of the prisoners in your division, and in spite of your orders you allowed him to have two interviews with his mother and sisters. You knew the punishment you exposed yourself to by so doing?" Ivan grew very pale, and was forced to support himself against the table. "Pardon, sire!" gasped he.