Page:Maud, Renée - One year at the Russian court 1904-1905.djvu/128

102 most primitive kind, consisting of a horrible little cheap stove placed at the end of every carriage, near the corridor by the exit, and all stuffed with birch wood. A pipe ran the length of the carriage, which was thus warmed.

When we arrived at Petrograd the thermometer was more than ten degrees Réaumur below zero; so cold was it that, when opening one's mouth to speak, it seemed as though one had been stabbed to the heels by cold steel.

The cold is doubly increased by the wind—and at Petrograd it nearly always blows hard—tearing with violence along the canals which traverse the town in all directions.

As at Tiflis many friends and relations had come to the station with flowers and bonbons; it is a charming custom, I think. Among them was Uncle Cherwachidze, who in spite of his wish to join us in the Caucasus, which he adores, had been unable to do so on account of his important duties at the Court. Some years before, the younger brother of the Emperor, Grand Duke George, had come to the Caucasus on account of his health, being consumptive, and one day, on his return from a motor drive with my uncle, he died in the latter's arms. It is since that time that the Empress-Dowager has shown my uncle so great an attachment and friendship that she cannot bear to be separated from him for long.

I brought back from the Caucasus a memory that was sunny and full of gratitude for the charming welcome that I found there. My aunt often