"Oh, that will be all right," he replied. "They will manage." That was Verestchagin all over. The upshot of it was that I volunteered to look after his interests, and every morning I would go down to the gallery to see if there was anything demanding attention, and the people at the gallery, apparently marvelling at such devotion in a friend, insisted upon addressing me as Madame Verestchagin. Verestchagin was one of the first victims of the Russo-Japanese war. {89} CHAPTER VI THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS I A Pacific Emperor--An Imperial Fault--The Pauper's Funeral--The Emperor's Visit to my Mother--My Dilemma--The Emperor's Kindness--He is Snubbed by an Ingenue--The Emperor's Desire for an Alliance with England--Prince Gortschakoff's Rejoinder--The Slav Ideal--Russia and Constantinople--Bismarck's Admiration--He Discomfits a Member of the Reichstag A noteworthy example of a _rapprochement_ between England, France, and Russia, long before the Triple Entente in politics became an established fact, was the researches undertaken three-quarters of a century ago, by three leading scientific authorities, into the geological features of the Russian Empire. Sir Roderick Murchison, M. de Verneuil and Count Alexander Keyserling were appointed by their respective Governments to make a joint expedition and, as a result of their labours, wrote a book entitled _The Geology of Russia in Europe and the Urals_, which was published by the British Museum in 1845, in two volumes. This was indeed a promising beginning, and may be said to have been the precursor for much co-operation between these nations long before an Entente was within the sphere of practical politics. At any rate, it serves to prove that there is a natural bond of sympathy between the great Allies, and that it is in no sense a question of political expediency. {90}