early friendship, to the general, hoping that, owing to his being a
favourite with Paul I, he would be able to procure a lieutenancy in a
regiment for him. The general immediately replied to the count that his
son should find a second father in himself; but when this comforting
message arrived, Romayloff was no more, and Foedor himself received the
letter and carried it back with him to the general, when he went to tell
him of his loss and to claim the promised protection. So great was the
general's despatch, that Paul I, at his request, granted the young man a
sub-lieutenancy in the Semonowskoi regiment, so that Foedor entered on
his duties the very next day after his arrival in St. Petersburg.

Although the young man had only passed through the general's house on his
way to the barracks, which were situated in the Litenoi quarter, he had
remained there long enough for him to have seen Vaninka, and she had
produced a great impression upon him. Foedor had arrived with his heart
full of primitive and noble feelings; his gratitude to his protector, who
had opened a career for him, was profound, and extended to all his
family. These feelings caused him perhaps to have an exaggerated idea of
the beauty of the young girl who was presented to him as a sister, and
who, in spite of this title, received him with the frigidity and hauteur
of a queen. Nevertheless, her appearance, in spite of her cool and
freezing manner, had left a lasting impression upon the young man's
heart, and his arrival in St. Petersburg had been marked by feelings till
then never experienced before in his life.

As for Vaninka, she had hardly noticed Foedor; for what was a young
sub-lieutenant, without fortune or prospects, to her? What she dreamed
of was some princely alliance, that would make her one of the most
powerful ladies in Russia, and unless he could realise some dream of the
Arabian Nights, Foedor could not offer her such a future.