"Hah, Yourivitch!" said he, taking up a decanter, and applying his somewhat snub nose thereto; "what is this? corn-brandy!" he added, draining a glassful; "as it is good, I must have a glass;" so he took a second of the fiery fluid. "O, now I feel another man, and being another man, require another glass;" so he took a _third_. These additions to the hydromel did not seem to improve his temper, and assuredly I would have preferred to follow the ladies to the drawing-room, than to linger on with him "In after-dinner talk Across the walnuts and the wine," but that I feared to offend the man unnecessarily. "Excuse me," said he, as he lay back in his seat, with his coat unbuttoned, and proceeded, very coolly, to pick his teeth with one of those small cross-hilted daggers, the slender blades of which are about four inches long, and which are worn in secret by so many Russian officers, and are all of the finest steel. After a pause, during which he again dipped his long moustache in the foaming hydromel, he said, "Though Volhonski told me about you, I scarcely expected, Herr Captain, to have found you here _still_." "Where should I have gone--into the hands of the Cossacks, at Baidar?" "Towards Kharkoff, at all events." I coloured at this very pointed remark, as it was to that province in the Ukraine that the Russians had transmitted many of the prisoners taken during the war. "Here I felt myself on a special footing." "How, Herr Captain?" "As the guest of the Volhonskis," said I, sternly. "Though an enemy of Russia?" "Politically or professionally, yes: but I have the honour to be viewed as a friend by the Count, and also by his sister." "Ah, indeed! I have heard as much. The Hospoza Valerie is, you see, beautiful." "Wondrously so," said I, with fervour, glad that I could cordially agree with this odious fellow in one thing at least. "Then beware," said Tolstoff, his face darkening; "for I don't believe that much friendship can subsist between the sexes without its assuming a warmer complexion." "Colonel Tolstoff!" "Besides, the Hospoza Valerie is a coquette--one who would flirt with the tongs, if nothing better were at hand--so don't flatter yourself, Herr Captain." I felt inclined to fling the decanter at his head; for in his tone of mentor he far exceeded even Volhonski. "This is a somewhat offensive way to speak of a noble lady--the sister of your friend," said I. "We shall dismiss that subject; and now for another," said he. "It must be pretty apparent to you, Herr Captain, that you cannot remain here, unparoled, in your present anomalous position." "I quite agree with you, and feel it most keenly; but I gave my parole of honour to Valerie," I added, gaily and unwisely, for again the face of Tolstoff lowered. "To let you remain or go free were treason to Russia and the Czar; you must therefore be sent as a prisoner of war to Kharkoff, and--" "What then?"