"I refused them, because I had reserved them for another. I wish to give them as a dowry to your daughter."
The astonishment of the boyard was great He attempted to speak.
"Silence! I have attached to the grant one condition," said the Czar.
"Your Majesty will order nothing contrary to my conscience and the honor of my house. I humbly ask, then...."
"The condition is, that your daughter shall receive her husband at my hands."
"I have sworn upon the tomb of my wife," responded the boyard, after a pause, "that my daughter shall espouse him only whom she herself freely chooses. But, she is still a child,... and in ten years...."
"Indeed," interrupted the Emperor, whose countenance was sorrowful, "if your daughter should not accept him whom I would propose, the lands will yet belong to her; are you content now?"
"And the rank, the condition of the parties?"
"A single word from our gracious sovereign, is at any time sufficient to destroy all inequalities of rank," said one of the guests.