,
with an expression of, if anything, increased dryness, he again asked
me to wait. Soon a third visitor arrived who, like myself, had come on
business (he was an Austrian of some sort); and as soon as ever he had
stated his errand he was conducted upstairs! This made me very angry. I
rose, approached the sacristan, and told him that, since Monsignor was
receiving callers, his lordship might just as well finish off my affair
as well. Upon this the sacristan shrunk back in astonishment. It simply
passed his understanding that any insignificant Russian should dare to
compare himself with other visitors of Monsignor's! In a tone of the
utmost effrontery, as though he were delighted to have a chance of
insulting me, he looked me up and down, and then said: "Do you suppose
that Monsignor is going to put aside his coffee for YOU?" But I only
cried the louder: "Let me tell you that I am going to SPIT into that
coffee! Yes, and if you do not get me my passport visaed this very
minute, I shall take it to Monsignor myself."

"What? While he is engaged with a Cardinal?" screeched the sacristan,
again shrinking back in horror. Then, rushing to the door, he spread
out his arms as though he would rather die than let me enter.

Thereupon I declared that I was a heretic and a barbarian--"Je suis
heretique et barbare," I said, "and that these archbishops and
cardinals and monsignors, and the rest of them, meant nothing at all to
me. In a word, I showed him that I was not going to give way. He looked
at me with an air of infinite resentment. Then he snatched up my
passport, and departed with it upstairs. A minute later the passport
had been visaed! Here it is now, if you care to see it,"--and I pulled
out the document, and exhibited the Roman visa.

"But--" the General began.

"What really saved you was the fact that you proclaimed yourself a
heretic and a barbarian," remarked the Frenchman with a smile. "Cela
n'etait pas si bete."

"But is that how Russian subjects ought to be treated? Why, when they
settle here they dare not utter even a word--they are ready even to
deny the fact that they are Russians! At all events, at my hotel in
Paris I received far more attention from the company after I had told
them about the fracas with the sacristan. A fat Polish nobleman, who
had been the most offensive of all who were present at the table
d'hote, at once went upstairs, while some of the Frenchmen were simply
disgusted when I told them