ths,
when he fell, pierced by the daggers of assassins, in the centre of the
very fortress he had fancied would prove his security.

The Hermitage having been thoroughly lionised under the auspices of the
polite colonel, the party steered a course across the bridge of boats to
the Exchange, a large building with a fine portico and a flight of steps
facing the river, on the north side, at the eastern end of Vasili
Ostrof, and with a fine open space before it. It was presented by the
late Emperor to the mercantile community of Saint Petersburg, whom he
wished especially to conciliate. In front stand two granite columns,
decorated with the prows of ships cast in metal. On a close examination
of the building, our friends discovered that it was covered with stucco,
which in many places was already crumbling away, as is the case with
many other edifices of high and low degree in this rapidly constructed
city. Cousin Giles and his friends were hesitating about entering when
they were overtaken by Mr Henshaw.

"Come in," said he. "The merchants here are happy to see strangers;
they will not knock your hat over your eyes, as the frequenters of
Change Alley are wont to do to intruders."

They followed their friend, and found themselves in a vast hall full of
long blue or green-coated gentry, with flowing beards and low-crowned
hats, intermingled with others in modern European costume--some looking
round in expectation of a correspondent, others in earnest conversation
in knots of twos or threes, busily engaged in buying or selling, a word
deciding the fate of hundreds of fat oxen now feeding securely in their
native pastures, or of thousands of tall trees growing in the primeval
forest thousands of versts away. They were much struck by observing an
altar on one side of the entrance, with candles burning on it, and the
picture of a saint, black, as usual, and in a golden habit, before which
the native merchants bowed and crossed themselves as they passed onward
to transact their affairs. Here were collected representatives of all
nations, and from every part of Russia--a strange medley of
physiognomies, tongues, and costumes; but so habitual has become to them
a modulated tone of voice, that, in spite of the hundreds speaking at
once, a gentle murmur alone is heard through the hall.

Among the foreigners the Germans probably preponderate, but the English
hold a very high position: in no community abroad are British merch