n, while
the remaining thirty-one had their sentence commuted to banishment. My
friend's name was, God be thanked! among the latter.

On reading this announcement, I rushed into the street, and ran, without
once stopping, until I reached the house of his beloved Louise. Of her,
for the present, it will be sufficient to say, that she was a young,
lovely, and intelligent Frenchwoman, whose sister I had known in Paris,
and to whose patronage, from her position as a first-rate _modiste_ in
St Petersburg, I was much indebted. Between this truly amiable woman and
the Count had for some years existed an attachment, not hallowed,
indeed, by the church, but so long and deeply-rooted in the hearts of
both, and so dignified by their mutual constancy and worth, as to have
won the sympathies even of the Count's mother and sisters. To return,
however, to Louise, whom I found with a copy of the _Gazette_ in her
hand, and bathed in tears, but they were tears of joy--

"He is saved!" cried she, on seeing me enter; "thank God and the
Emperor!"

The first moment of joy over, Louise's thoughts turned to the mother and
sisters of her lover. She calculated that the _Gazette_ would only leave
St Petersburg by the post of that night, and that by sending off an
express immediately the news might reach Moscow twelve hours sooner. She
asked me if I knew a trusty messenger, who could start without delay to
bear the glad tidings to the Count's family. I had a Russian servant, an
intelligent active fellow, and I offered his services, which she
accepted with delight. The only difficulty was the passport, and through
the kindness of the ex-chief of police, Monsieur de Gorgoli, it was
procured in half an hour. At the expiration of that time the courier set
off, with a thousand rubles in his pocket for travelling expenses.

He arrived at Moscow fourteen hours before the post; fourteen hours of
mortal anxiety saved to the Count's mother and sisters.

The letter he brought back, was one of those that seem written with a
feather plucked from an angel's wing. The old Countess called Louise her
daughter, and the young girls named her their sister. They entreated
that, when the day was known on which the prisoners were to set off for
their banishment, a courier might be despatched to Moscow with the news.
I accordingly told my servant to hold himself in readiness to start, to
his no small satisfaction; for the Count's mother had given him a
thousand rubl