to
the new Russian Embassy about to proceed to Paris.

To Paris! to the home of Valerie de la Motte! The order agitated him to
the profoundest depths of his being. He would have declined the honor
about to be thrust upon him, could he have done so with propriety; but he
could not, so there was no alternative but to kiss his sovereign's hand,
express his sense of gratitude, and obey.

The embassy left St. Petersburg for the French capital almost
immediately.

On the arrival at Paris they were established in the splendid Maison
Francoise in the Champs Elysees.

As soon as he was at leisure, the Count de Volaski drove to the Rue
Faubourg St. Honore, and to the Hotel de la Motte. He found the house
shut up, and upon inquiry of a gend'arme, learned, with more surprise
than regret, that the Baron and Baroness de la Motte had both been dead
for some months; the baron, who was a free liver, had been suddenly
stricken down by apoplexy, and the baroness, whose health had long been
feeble, could not rally from the shock, but soon followed her husband.

"And,--where is their daughter, Madame la Duchesse d'Hereward?"
hesitatingly inquired the Count de Volaski.

The gend'arme could not tell; he did not know; but supposed that she was
living with her husband, Monsieur le Duc, on his estates in England.

No, clearly the gend'arme did not know; for, in fact, the Duke and
the Duchess of Hereward were at that time living very quietly in the
closed-up house at which the count and the gend'arme stood gazing while
they talked.

Count de Volaski re-entered his carriage and returned to the Maison
Francoise in time to attend the official reception of the embassy by the
citizen-king at the Tuileries.

After the act of national and official etiquette, the embassy were free
to enter into the social festivities of the gayest capital in the world.

Among other entertainments, a great diplomatic dinner was given at the
English Legation, then the magnificent Hotel Borghese, once the residence
of the beautiful Princess Pauline Bonaparte, but now the seat of the
British Embassy. Among the invited guests were the Russian minister and
his Secretary of Legation, Count de Volaski.

The count came late and found the splendid drawing-room honored with a
small, but brilliant, company of ladies and gentlemen, the former among
the most celebrated beauties, the latter the most distinguished statesmen
of Europe.

Nearly every one in the room were s