day they obtained tickets of admission
to the Imperial Palaces in the Kremlin, through a gentleman to whom
Cousin Giles had letters. They were accompanied in their visit by some
French friends of his. They were first shown the private rooms of the
Emperor and Empress, which had just been refurnished for their reception
after the coronation. All these rooms were on the ground floor. In the
centre of each was a large square pillar, supporting the storey above.
These pillars, with several screens and curtains in each room, made them
appear small and positively cosy, such as may be found in the house of
moderate size belonging to any lady or gentleman of somewhat luxurious
habits. English people would probably have chosen a more airy situation
for their private abode than the ground floor; but from the lowness of
these rooms they are more easily warmed in winter, and from their being
vaulted they are cooler in summer. After visiting the private rooms,
their guide conducted them up-stairs, when they passed through several
fine halls, similar in grandeur to those in the Hermitage at Saint
Petersburg, and along galleries filled with pictures of very doubtful
merit.

Through an opening in the new palace they walked into one of the old
palaces called the Granovitaya Palata. The second floor is occupied
entirely by the coronation hall of the Emperors. It is a low, vaulted
chamber, the arches resting on a huge square pillar in the centre. Here
the Emperor, clothed in royal robes, for the first time after his
coronation, sits in state, surrounded by his nobles, eating his dinner.

"Ah, I see emperors have to eat like other people," observed Harry when
he was told this. "I wonder, now, what the new Emperor will have for
dinner."

By far the most interesting building in the Kremlin is the ancient
palace of the Czars, called the Terema. It is complete as a residence
in itself, but the halls and sleeping-rooms are remarkably small
compared to those of the huge modern edifice by its side. The walls
from top to bottom are covered with the most strange arabesque devices
which imagination could design--birds, beasts, and fish, interwoven with
leaves and sea-weed of every description. In each room a different tint
predominates, although the same style of ornament is carried throughout,
and the same colours are to be found in each. Thus there is the green
room, the blue room, and the yellow room, and many other coloured room