all day long with carriages.

"Good morning, my dear cousin," was the greeting of one guest in
particular as he entered the room and kissed Grandmamma's hand, He was
a man of seventy, with a stately figure clad in a military uniform and
adorned with large epaulettes, an embroidered collar, and a white cross
round the neck. His face, with its quiet and open expression, as well
as the simplicity and ease of his manners, greatly pleased me, for, in
spite of the thin half-circle of hair which was all that was now left
to him, and the want of teeth disclosed by the set of his upper lip, his
face was a remarkably handsome one.

Thanks to his fine character, handsome exterior, remarkable valour,
influential relatives, and, above all, good fortune, Prince, Ivan
Ivanovitch had early made himself a career. As that career progressed,
his ambition had met with a success which left nothing more to be sought
for in that direction. From his earliest youth upward he had prepared
himself to fill the exalted station in the world to which fate actually
called him later; wherefore, although in his prosperous life (as in the
lives of all) there had been failures, misfortunes, and cares, he had
never lost his quietness of character, his elevated tone of thought, or
his peculiarly moral, religious bent of mind. Consequently, though he
had won the universal esteem of his fellows, he had done so less through
his important position than through his perseverance and integrity.
While not of specially distinguished intellect, the eminence of his
station (whence he could afford to look down upon all petty questions)
had caused him to adopt high points of view. Though in reality he was
kind and sympathetic, in manner he appeared cold and haughty--probably
for the reason that he had forever to be on his guard against the
endless claims and petitions of people who wished to profit through