Among the places worth visiting in the capital is the “nobility’s assemblée,” at the corner of St Michael-street and the square. When I first went to reside in St. Petersburg, these rooms were considered quite the _mode_, but now they are no longer so, for public places soon degenerate in Russia from the _comme il faut_ to the _mauvais genre_; there were given balls and masquerades, at which the imperial family were frequently present; the ladies wore dominoes after midnight, but the gentlemen went unmasked. Any _lady_ could intrigue the Emperor (no gentleman was allowed to do so), who frequently was surrounded by a little gay crowd of _beaux masqués_, entertaining him with all the chit-chat and _conversations légères_ peculiar to the style of such amusements. I was informed that a great many Frenchwomen, even milliners, were furnished with tickets gratis, their gay badinage and cheerful manners serving so much to enliven the company. Among the tales of scandal which, in the absence of politics, shares with actors and actresses the honour of being made the subject of conversation in Russian society, was one which I make no doubt whatever was a positive fact, and, as it is _à propos_ to these _bals masqués_, I will relate it. A lady, the daughter of an old general named B——, was one evening at the masquerade; she intrigued a _personage_ of very high rank, and while so doing was imprudent enough to touch upon some forbidden subject; shortly after she left the assemblée and returned home, perfectly unconscious that orders had been given not to let her out of sight until her name and place of residence had been ascertained. The next morning she was disagreeably surprised by a visit from an officer of the secret police, who politely requested her to accompany him to Count Orloff’s office. Such an invitation was, of course, not to be refused—she went immediately. The gentleman who received her was _aimabilité_ itself; he kindly pointed to a seat that stood near, and blandly proceeded to ask her a few questions concerning the previous evening’s amusement, to all of which the terrified lady tremblingly replied “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” for no equivocation would have availed her in that place. When the interrogation was finished, the chair suddenly sank through the floor, and I am ashamed to say that from the hand of some unseen person below she received a correction such as little boys used formerly to be subjected to from the birch of old-fashioned schoolmasters. I met this lady frequently in company, and knew her sister well. I had the anecdote from an intimate friend of the family, and have not the slightest doubt of its being true.