Napoleon himself was at Kovno, with about 200,000 troops commanded by Marshals Davoust, Oudinot, Ney, Bessières and Murat. But the detachment of which the conscript Michel Prevost was a member did not join the mighty host until the river Niemen had been crossed, and the dogs of war set at the heels of Alexander and his men. To oppose his great rival the Tsar had, at this moment, but 150,000 troops, under Generals Bagration and Barclay de Tolly, though 200,000 men were elsewhere disposed, to be called up when required. Besides these troops, the Tsar could count upon some 80,000 Cossacks already enrolled and equipped. Beyond and above all these, too, he could rely upon the nation to provide, in the moment of need, an almost unlimited supply of raw material, ready to fight and die with the best in defence of their beloved country. Meanwhile Vera had returned, with the rest of the Embassy, to St. Petersburg, and here, within a very few days, she received a visit from Countess Maximof, Sasha's mother, a middle-aged dame of typical Russian appearance and manners: kindly, gushing, voluble in a mixture of Russian and French, used indiscriminately as the words happened to occur to her. "But, my dear, you are charming, exquisite!" she exclaimed, standing before the girl in an attitude of rapt admiration. "We had heard that you had grown up very beautiful, but this! who would have believed it? And my Sasha absent and unable to see you!" "Is Alexander Petrovitch away then?" asked Vera, embarrassed by the good lady's compliments and wishing the visit over almost before it was begun. "Alas--he is gone to this cruel war, _chérie_, where else? All that is best and most precious of our manhood has gone, and Sasha with the rest. Oh, this Napoleon of yours--though indeed he is no more yours than ours--there is no good thing to be said of him; he is Beelzebub, the prince of the devils!" "I do not defend him," said Vera. "Why should I? I am as good a Russian as the best." "See how ill-natured people are! It is said that you so love the French people that you no longer have a thought for your own folks; some even said that you would remain in Paris throughout the war!" "It is false and very stupid also. Of course I love the French people. We have no quarrel with them, Madame, but with one man only; him whom we must all hold accursed for bringing this wicked war upon us!" "It is true, it is true, _dooshá moyá_! It is the ogre of Europe who would eat up our children, not the people of France. Kiss me, _chérie_, you are beautiful like a morning in summer! Alas! how proud Sasha would have been of you, of his sweet fiancée, could he but have seen you!" "Oh, Madame, Alexander Petrovitch is better employed!" said Vera weakly. "You will scarcely believe how he looked forward to seeing you, _chérie_; assuredly he has not forgotten his precious claims to your heart's preference!" Vera laughed quite unaffectedly.