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 CHAPTER VIII

after he returned from mass, spent the morning in his room. He had two things to accomplish on this day: first, to receive a deputation of the foreign population which was on its way to Petersburg, and happened just at that time to be at Moscow, and he wanted to instruct them as to what they should say; and then to write to his lawyer, as he had promised.

The deputation, although it had been appointed at Alekseï Aleksandrovitch's invitation, was likely to cause great embarrassment and even to be a source of peril, and Alekseï Aleksandrovitch was very glad to meet it in Moscow. The members of the deputation had not the slightest comprehension of their duties and obligations. They were perfectly persuaded that their work consisted in exposing their needs and explaining the actual state of affairs and asking governmental assistance; and they really could not comprehend that some of their statements and demands gave color to the arguments of the hostile party, and therefore spoiled the whole business.

Alekseï Aleksandrovitch had a long discussion with them, made out a program, from which they were not to deviate on any account in their dealings with the government, and, when they left him, gave them letters of introduction to various persons in Petersburg, so that they might be properly treated. The Countess Lidya Ivanovna would be his principal auxiliary in this matter; she had a specialty for deputations, and knew better than anybody else how to manage them.

When he had finished this business, Alekseï Aleksandrovitch wrote to his lawyer. Without the slightest misgiving, he gave him full power to do as he thought best, and sent three notes from Vronsky to Anna, which he had found in the portfolio. Since Alekseï Aleksandrovitch had left home with the intention of never returning to his family, and since his interview with the lawyer, when he had confided to one person at least his intentions,