of the pause to tell his father quietly that he had sent that morning a
letter to St. Petersburg resigning his commission in the Guards.

"The old prince remained silent. He thought that he ought to have been
consulted. His son was also ordnance officer to the Emperor and he
knew that the Tsar would never forget this appearance of defection in a
Polish noble. In a discontented tone he pointed out to his son that as
it was he had an unlimited leave. The right thing would have been to
keep quiet. They had too much tact at Court to recall a man of his
name. Or at worst some distant mission might have been asked for--to the
Caucasus for instance--away from this unhappy struggle which was wrong
in principle and therefore destined to fail.

"'Presently you shall find yourself without any interest in life and
with no occupation. And you shall need something to occupy you, my poor
boy. You have acted rashly, I fear.'

"Prince Roman murmured.

"'I thought it better.'

"His father faltered under his steady gaze.

"'Well, well--perhaps! But as ordnance officer to the Emperor and in
favour with all the Imperial family....'

"'Those people had never been heard of when our house was already
illustrious,' the young man let fall disdainfully.

"This was the sort of remark to which the old prince was sensible.