Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/239

Rh feeling and sympathizing man. We stopped before the house where Mostowski, Zakrzewski, and his friend Sokolnicki were imprisoned. What an interview! We remained for a long time in each other's arms, shedding tears, sobbing, and unable to utter a single word. I found them changed, Mostowski particularly was much thinner; and they found me look ten years older. Makarow, before leaving, told us that the very same evening we were to take the oath of allegiance to the Emperor in the presence of Samoilow.

When we were relieved from the oppressive emotion of tenderness and joy, my friends communicated to me the following particulars about the death of the Empress. She had spent the night, as usual, with Zubow, rose on the 16th November, in good health and high spirits, took two large cups of coffee, and joked for some time with her chamber-maid. When she began to write, she felt it necessary to go to her closet. This was about seven o'clock in the morning. The ministers arrived soon after with their portfolios to