y clasped in the arms of the Countess and her daughters. My
turn came, and she held out her hand. I made a motion to assist her into
the carriage. "Well," said she, astonished, "don't you bid me farewell?"

"Why should I?"

"I am going to set off."

"So am I."

"You!"

"Certainly. You recollect the Persian fable--the pebble that was not the
rose, but had caught some of its fragrance by living near it."

"Well?"

"Well, I have caught some of your devotedness, and I shall go with you
to Tobolsk. I will deliver you safe and sound to the Count, and then
come back again."

Louise looked me earnestly in the face. "I have no right," said she, "to
prevent your doing a good action--come."

The Countess and her daughters were in tears. "My child! my child!"
cried Louise, who had remained firm up to this moment, but burst into a
passion of weeping as she clasped her infant for the last time in her
arms.

"Adieu! Adieu!" The whip cracked; the wheels rattled over the pavement.
We were off to Siberia. On we went, day and night. Pokrow, Vladimir,
Nijni-Novogorod, Casan. "_Pascare! Pascare!_" Quicker! Quicker! was
Ivan's cry to each new postilion. The snow had not yet begun to fall,
and he was anxious, if possible, to cross the Ural mountains before it
set in. The immense plains between Moscow and Perm were traversed with
tremendous rapidity. On reaching the latter place, Louise was so much
exhausted that I told Ivan we must halt one night. He hesitated a
moment, then looking at the sky, which was dark and lowering, "It will
be as well," said he; "we must soon have snow, and it is better it
should fall before than during our journey." The next morning his
prediction was verified. There were two feet of snow in the streets of
Perm.

Ivan now wished to remain till the cold increased, so that the snow
might become hard, and the rivers frozen. But all his arguments could
only induce Louise to wait two days. On the third morning we set off,
leaving our carriage, and packed into a sort of small vehicle without
springs, called a _telegue_.

On reaching the foot of the Ural mountains, the cold had so much
increased that it became advisable to substitute a sledge for our
wheels. We stopped at a miserable village, composed of a score of
hovels, in order to effect this exchange, and entered a wretched hut,
which did duty both as posting-house and as the only inn in the place.
Eight or nine men, carriers by trade, were crowded rou