CHAPTER III

The Russian frontier--Frontier police--Disappointment at aspect of Petrograd--Lord and Lady Dufferin--The British Embassy--St. Isaac's Cathedral--Beauty of Russian Church-music--The Russian language--The delightful "Blue-stockings" of Petrograd--Princess Chateau--Pleasant Russian Society--The Secret Police--The Countess's hurried journey--The Yacht Club--Russians really Orientals--Their limitations--The "Intelligenzia"--My Nihilist friends--Their lack of constructive power--Easter Mass at St. Isaac's--Two comical incidents--The Easter supper--The red-bearded young Priest--An Empire built on shifting sand