eyes clear and,
at first view, extraordinarily naive, the eyes of an infant. True, at
the moment Rouletabille's expression hardly suggested any superhuman
profundity of thought, for, left in view of a table, spread with
hors-d'oeuvres, the young man appeared solely occupied in digging out
with a spoon all the caviare that remained in the jars. Matrena noted
the rosy freshness of his cheeks, the absence of down on his lip and not
a hint of beard, the thick hair, with the curl over the forehead. Ah,
that forehead--the forehead was curious, with great over-hanging cranial
lumps which moved above the deep arcade of the eye-sockets while the
mouth was busy--well, one would have said that Rouletabille had not
eaten for a week. He was demolishing a great slice of Volgan sturgeon,
contemplating at the same time with immense interest a salad of creamed
cucumbers, when Matrena Petrovna appeared.

He wished to excuse himself at once and spoke with his mouth full.

"I beg your pardon, madame, but the Czar forgot to invite me to
breakfast."

Madame Matrena smiled and gave him a hearty handshake as she urged him
to be seated.

"You have seen His Majesty?"

"I come from him, madame. It is to Madame Trebassof that I have the
honor of speaking?"

"Yes. And you are Monsieur--?"

"Joseph Rouletabille, madame. I do not add, 'At your service--because
I do not know about that yet. That is what I said just now to His
Majesty."

"Then?" asked Madame Matrena, rather amused by the tone the conversation
had taken and the slightly flurried air of Rouletabille.

"Why, then, I am a reporter, you see. That is what I said at once to my
editor in Paris, 'I am not going to take part in revolutionary affairs
that do not concern my country,' to which my editor replied, 'You do
not have to take part. You must go to Russia to make an inquiry into
the present status of the different parties. You will commence by
interviewing the Emperor.' I said, 'Well, then, here goes,' and took the
train."

"And you have interviewed the Emperor?"

"Oh, yes, that has not been difficult. I expected to arrive direct
at St. Petersburg, but at Krasnoie-Coelo the train stopped and the
grand-marshal of the court came to me and asked me to follow him. It
was very flattering. Twenty minutes later I was before His Majesty. He
awaited me! I understood at once that this was obviously for something
out of the ordinary."

"And what did he say to you?"

"He is a man o