known better, had said that this would be sufficient, and had even
prepared the form, on their stamped paper, for our signature. Ten days
elapsed; no letters came. Then the form was returned, with orders to get
our signatures certified to by the chief of police or the police captain
of our district! When we recovered from our momentary vexation, we
perceived that this was an excellent safeguard. I set out for the house
of the chief of police.

His orderly said he was not at home, but would be there at eleven
o'clock. I took a little look into the church,--my infallible receipt
for employing spare moments profitably, which has taught me many things.
At eleven o'clock the chief was still "not at home." I decided that this
was in an "official" sense only, when I caught sight of a woman
surveying me cautiously through the crack of the opposite door to the
antechamber. I immediately jumped to the conclusion that a woman calling
upon a chief of police was regarded as a suspicious character; and
rightly, after various shooting incidents in St. Petersburg. My
suspicions were confirmed by my memory of the fact that I had been told
that the prefect of St. Petersburg was "not at home" in business hours,
though his gray lambskin cap--the only one in town--was lying before
me at the time. But I also recollected that when I had made use of that
cap as a desk, on which to write my request, to the horror of the
orderly, and had gone home, the prefect had sent a gendarme to do what I
wanted. Accordingly, I told this orderly my business in a loud, clear
voice. The crack of the door widened as I proceeded, and at my last word
I was invited into the chief's study by the orderly, who had been
signaled to.

The chief turned out to be a polished and amiable baron, with a German
name, who was eager to render any service, but who had never come into