Now that we have introduced our readers to some of the characters in this
history, we must make them better acquainted with those who have made
their appearance, and must introduce those who are still behind the
curtain.

General Count Tchermayloff, as we have said, after having been governor
of one of the most important towns in the environs of Pultava, had been
recalled to St. Petersburg by the Emperor Paul, who honoured him with his
particular friendship. The general was a widower, with one daughter, who
had inherited her mother's fortune, beauty, and pride. Vaninka's mother
claimed descent from one of the chieftains of the Tartar race, who had
invaded Russia, under the leadership of D'Gengis, in the thirteenth
century. Vaninka's naturally haughty disposition had been fostered by
the education she had received. His wife being dead, and not having time
to look after his daughter's education himself, General Tchermayloff had
procured an English governess for her. This lady, instead of suppressing
her pupil's scornful propensities, had encouraged them, by filling her
head with those aristocratic ideas which have made the English
aristocracy the proudest in the world. Amongst the different studies to
which Vaninka devoted herself, there was one in which she was specially
interested, and that one was, if one may so call it, the science of her
own rank. She knew exactly the relative degree of nobility and power of
all the Russian noble families--those that were a grade above her own,
and those of whom she took precedence. She could give each person the
title which belonged to their respective rank, no easy thing to do in
Russia, and she had the greatest contempt for all those who were below
the rank of excellency. As for serfs and slaves, for her they did not
exist: they were mere bearded animals, far below her horse or her dog in
the sentiments which they inspired in her; and she would not for one