"Not only so, Sire, but of one who was betrothed to her in childhood--perhaps your Majesty remembers the story. It was said that they had agreed to annihilate the contract entered into, perhaps, in a moment of conviviality by their respective fathers; but the end of the story is most romantic; the lady sought and found her lover upon the battlefield outside Moscow at the village of Pavlova; there she nursed him back to life, and--at his request, for he believed himself to be dying--actually married him as he lay gasping in a peasants hut." "_Chort Vosmee!_" laughed the Tsar, "that is a good story; what, and they have not disagreed, since he recovered? That kind of marriage might prove a more serious matter than the foolish betrothal contract!" "They seem good friends, Sire, if one may judge from appearances!" said the other. Afterwards Vera, to her astonishment and delight, though perhaps also somewhat to her consternation, was informed by his aide-de-camp that the Tsar would dance with her. She went through the ordeal of that stately quadrille excellently well, however, entertaining and delighting the Tsar with an account of how Sasha had stolen a march upon her by persuading her to marry him as he lay dying--which she did, she explained, to oblige a friend--afterwards recovering when he certainly had no right to do so. "You are caught now, Madame," said the Tsar; "will the caged bird beat herself against the bars of her prison?" "Your Majesty must ask me a year hence," Vera laughed; "at present I am a new toy, and my jailer is content to play with me!" The Tsar laughed again. "By the Saints, Madame, if he should show signs of falling short in his appreciation of his good fortune, you shall tell me and he shall be sent to Siberia. Such a man would deserve his fate." "It may be, your Majesty, that he married me out of patriotic motives in order to prevent my falling into French hands." "Good--good! it was a worthy act and shall be rewarded," said the Tsar, smiling kindly. "Adieu, Madame; we shall meet again I trust." On the following morning Vera received a beautiful present from his Majesty: an order, the collar of St. Anne, commonly known in Russia as "Annooshka na shay". The gold cross attached to the collar was inscribed "For Patriotism". Sasha at the same time obtained, what was at the moment the object of every young Russian officer's ambition, a captain's commission in the new regiment of Imperial Guards lately organised by his Majesty. Not long after this Vera received a letter from Paris. It was brought by hand by a Russian prisoner returning to his native country. The packet contained a gilt-edged card, upon which was printed:-- Mons. le Baron Henri d'Estreville. Madame la Baronne Henri d'Estreville (_née_ Louise Dupré). To which was added, written in a woman's hand:-- "En suite le Capitaine d'infanterie Michel Prevost, qui vous fait part, belle cousine, de sa mort."