CHAPTER II.
A WINTER AT ST. PETERSBURG.
Pierre Olsdorf was perhaps, of all the candidates for her hand, the only one that the beautiful Lise Barineff had remarked, not that she found him in any way better than the other young men received by her mother, but simply because the countess, in accord with General Podoi, seized every occasion to sing the praises of this suitor, who was exactly the son-in-law that the ambition of the ex-comedienne had pictured.
In truth, Prince Olsdorf was not merely a titled husband; he had many other desirable qualities. In the first place, he had a large fortune. His grandfather had been a field-marshal under the Empress Anne, after serving her when she was only Princess of Courland. He had profited by the generosity of his sovereign to enlarge his estates and to construct on the right bank of the River Wandau the Château of Pampeln, which had the reputation of being one of the handsomest noblemen's residences in the country. The prince was an orphan too, which gave occasion to the Countess Barineff to hope that she might have some hand in the direction of her daughter's household.
Pierre Olsdorf was permitted then to pay his court, and Lise, although her heart remained unmoved, was touched as well by the discretion as by the gentleness of him who was to be her husband.
The prince was of a timid nature, at least as regarded women. Unlike the greater part of the young St. Petersburg nobles, he had not seen much "life." He was not a constant spectator at the Michael Theatre, nor a hanger-on of the ballet. When he quitted the Institute of Nobles, where he had been educated, instead of joining the corps of imperial pages, as most youths of good family did, he took up his residence with his uncle and tutor, Prince Alexis Olsdorf, at Pampeln, an old bachelor who was rather out of sorts with the court. There he indulged his inborn taste for horses and hunting. Only after the death of his relative he used to visit St. Petersburg occasionally, but he never made a long stay there, a free life in the open air seeming to him preferable to any other.
He owed his good health to this healthy mode of existence, for, born puny and sickly, he would not have been able to live through the feasts and pleasures in which he must have taken part if he had joined with the young fellows of his rank. Pampeln, on the other hand, had saved him from all excesses.
Though of medium height and delicate in look, he was really strong. Bodily exertions had made him indefatigable and of a calm courage full of audacity and coolness. Through his mode of life he had gained premature gravity and the firmness of a middle-aged man. Kind to his servants, he was worshiped by them, and the emancipated cultivators of his estates preserved toward him the respect and obedience of serfs for their lord. He neglected nothing that might conduce to their material well-being or their moral elevation. Unhealthy and cramped dwellings had disappeared from his vast estates, where he had established schools to which he insisted that all children should be sent. There they not only received primary, secular, and religious education, but were also taught French. Everybody, or nearly everybody, for ten leagues around the château spoke the French language.
It is easy to believe, then, that the prince lived from choice in Courland, and it was precisely his liking for the active and honorable life he led there that made him think one day of taking a wife. The hospitality of the Olsdorfs was a tradition. He told his wish to General Podoi, who had been one of his father's friends, and the middle-aged lover of the Countess Barineff naturally thought at once of making Lise the mistress of Pampeln.
She was, he thought, just the wife for Peter the Silent, as he liked to call his young friend. Lise was serious, well-taught, and not given to frivolity, as most of the young girls of the Russian nobility were. He spoke of her to the prince, who came to St. Petersburg. After meeting the daughter of the Countess Barineff two or three times, being struck by her beauty and the look of distinction about her, he was soon convinced that he could make no better choice. He asked for her hand, and, as we have seen, he was accepted.
The aim of the ex-comedienne having been thus far attained, things followed their regular course. Though he held no post at the court, Prince Olsdorf, through deference and in accordance with tradition, asked for the approval of the emperor to his marriage. The consent was readily given, and Pierre hastened to hand over his mansion at St. Petersburg, deserted for so many years, to the upholsterers. At this time the countess won a second victory. Sure of her exquisite taste, the prince begged her to take the matter in hand, so that nothing was done in the house of the future bride and bridegroom except by her orders. Her satisfaction while she was thus engaged was troubled only by a letter that she received from Paris in reply to that which she had addressed to her old comrade, Dumesnil.