At that moment. General Kissoff, who had just re-entered, quickly
approached the officer of chasseurs.

"Well?" asked the latter abruptly, as he had done the former time.

"Telegrams pass Tomsk no longer, sire."

"A courier this moment!"

The officer left the hall and entered a large antechamber adjoining.
It was a cabinet with plain oak furniture, situated in an angle of
the New Palace. Several pictures, amongst others some by Horace Vernet,
hung on the wall.

The officer hastily opened a window, as if he felt the want
of air, and stepped out on a balcony to breathe the pure
atmosphere of a lovely July night. Beneath his eyes,
bathed in moonlight, lay a fortified inclosure, from which
rose two cathedrals, three palaces, and an arsenal.
Around this inclosure could be seen three distinct towns:
Kitai-Gorod, Beloi-Gorod, Zemlianai-Gorod--European, Tartar,
and Chinese quarters of great extent, commanded by towers,
belfries, minarets, and the cupolas of three hundred churches,
with green domes, surmounted by the silver cross.
A little winding river, here and there reflected the rays
of the moon.

This river was the Moskowa; the town Moscow; the fortified inclosure
the Kremlin; and the officer of chasseurs of the guard, who, with folded