Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/127

Rh found myself at the foot of a wall, which formed the flank of a bastion. It is in a fortress then that I am to be shut up, thought I. I was conducted along this wall, then through a spacious court, opposite a lighted stair-case. Everything seemed to be in great motion. Civil and military officers, attired in beautiful pelisses, were ascending and descending. I was ordered at first to pass by another way, but they soon made me retrace my steps, and mount that stair-case. I entered a large room filled with people, where I perceived Fischer, and this circumstance restored my courage; perhaps we shall be together, thought I, and the prison will appear to us less horrible. After having waited a quarter of an hour, we saw a man six feet high enter, in a purple velvet court-dress, with two ribbons on it, from the left and right shoulder a profusion of orders, cuffs of the finest lace, a cue, and large boots lined with fur. Notwithstanding all this magnificence, a barbarous pride and rudeness appeared in his features and manners. This was