Page:The Tsar's Window.djvu/97

 "They are obliged to speak it well," returned Alice, "it is used so much at court. The most wonderful thing about the Russians is, that they speak so many languages well. German, English, French, and Russian are considered only ordinary accomplishments."

"I don't understand how they can do it," I sighed.

"Poor Dorris!" laughed Alice. "Languages always troubled you more than any other study; and I fear your French would have been no better than your German, if you had not been educated by a French governess."

"It is a singular fact," I owned humbly, "that when I can read a language perfectly well, my tongue refuses to speak it. How unfortunate I should be, if I had not been taught French in my childhood!"

"It is time to start for the palace!" Alice exclaimed, and we hurried down to the carriage.

The occasion which called us to the Winter Palace was the baptism of the young Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovitch, son of the Tsarevitch, in which ceremony our cards of invitation indicated that we were to assist.

The day was perfect,—bright sunshine, the thermometer ten degrees above zero. I have to go through with a sum in arithmetic every time I look at the thermometer. To translate Réaumer into Fahrenheit is something which requires a talent for numbers.

Punctually at ten o'clock in the morning, the procession started from the Tsarevitch's palace. First, one hundred of the Emperor's bodyguard,—two platoons of them, stretching from one side of the street to the other. Behind them rode a solitary officer, and next