His Hour

Then the procession advanced, and she looked at it with growing

amazement. This wonderful nation! so full of superstition and yet of

common sense. It seemed astonishing that grown-up people should

seriously assist at this ceremony of sentiment.

First came the choir-boys with thick coats covering their scarlet

gowns; then a company of singing men; then the priests in their

magnificent robes of gold and silver, and then the Emperor, alone and

bareheaded. Afterward followed the Grand Dukes and the standard of

every guard regiment and finally all the aides-de-camps.

When the Emperor passed she glanced again at the Prince. The setness of

his face had given place to a look of devotion. There was evidently a

great love for his master in his strange soul. When the last figure had

moved beyond the little temple corner, the tension of all was relaxed,

and they stood at ease again, and Gritzko appeared to perceive the

party of ladies, and smiled.

"I am coming to get some hot coffee after lunch, Sonia," he called out.

"I promised Marie."

"Does it not give them cold?" Tamara asked, as she looked at the

Cossacks' almost shaven bare heads. "And they have no great-coats on!

What can they be made of, poor things?"

"They get accustomed to it, and it is not at all cold to-day,

fortunately," Countess Olga said. "They would have their furs on if it

were. Don't you think they are splendid men? I love to see them in

their scarlet; they only wear it on special occasions and when they are

with the Emperor, or at Court balls or birthdays. I am so glad you see

Gritzko in his."

Tamara did not say she had already seen the Prince in the scarlet coat;

none of her new friends were aware that they had met before in Egypt.

All this time the guns were firing, and soon the ceremony of dipping

the cross in the water was over, and the procession started back again.

It was the same as when it came, only the priests were wiping the cross

in a napkin, and presently all passed out of sight toward the palace,

and the three ladies walked quickly back to the waiting sleigh,

half-frozen with cold.

About ten minutes after they had finished lunch, and were sitting at

coffee in Princess Sonia's cosy salon--so fresh and charming and like

an English country house--they heard a good deal of noise in the

passage, and the Prince came in. He was followed by a sturdy boy of

eight, and carried in his arms a tiny girl, whose poor small body

looked wizened, while in her little arms she held a crutch.