“God only grant that Prince Kutuzov may take the control of things into his own hands,” said Anna Pavlovna, “and not permit any one to put a spoke in his wheel.”

Prince Vassily knew at once who was meant. He whispered, “I know for a fact that Kutuzov made it an express condition that the Tsarevitch should not be with the army. Vous savez ce qu’il a dit à l’Empereur.” And Prince Vassily repeated the words said to have been spoken by Kutuzov to the Tsar: “ ‘I can neither punish him if he does wrong, nor reward him if he does well.’ Oh! he’s a shrewd fellow, Prince Kutuzov. I have known him a long while.”

“They do say,” observed the “man of great abilities,” who had not acquired a courtier’s tact, “that his excellency even made it an express condition that the Emperor himself should not be with the army.”

He had hardly uttered the words when Anna Pavlovna and Prince Vassily simultaneously turned their backs on him, and looked mournfully at one another, with a sigh at his naïveté.