We went round all the world and returned more satisfied than ever with our capital. I feel like an escaped prisoner.
A few days after our arrival, my husband presented to the Emperor a deputation composed of representatives of different tribes inhabiting Oriental Siberia, who offered to His Majesty, according to custom, a silver dish with “Bread and Salt” and beautiful sable-skins. The corridors in the Grand Hôtel, where we had taken an apartment, were crowded with people wanting to get a glimpse of the deputies. One of them, Tifountai, one of the richest Chinese merchants of Khabarovsk, who had prominent oriental ideas about women when passing through Paris, led a dissipated life in the Great Babylon, that went on for a week, and did not arrive in time for the presentation. The representatives of different countries began to arrive at St. Petersburg on their way to Moscow, where the Coronation of Nicolas II. was to take place. One of the first arrivals was the Ambassador of the Chinese Emperor, the famous Li Hung Chang who had been treacherously wounded in Japan. Notwithstanding his eighty-two years, he looks very alert and vigilant. My husband had an interview with the old diplomatist, after which he presented his suite to him. According to Chinese etiquette the mandarin addressed to everyone two stereotype questions translated by his dragoman into French: “What is your name,” and “How old are you?” Henritzi, the youngest of Sergy’s aide-de-camps, who was of German origin and spoke his national tongue better than French, when answering to the last questions, said that he was twenty-four years old, German-fashion: “Quatre-vingt,” vier und zwanzig, which means eighty-four in French. The dragoman casting an astonished glance at the young octogenarian, translated his answer to the letter. The old mandarin never winced, and rising from his seat, bowed low to the “Ninon de l’Encles” of the unfair sex. (I beg your pardon, gentlemen!) In China old age is greatly venerated. If you wish to make a Chinaman perfectly happy, all you need to say is “How old you look!” When the reception was over, Li Hung Chang remitted to my husband the Chinese order of the “Double Dragon,” bearing the imprinted inscription “Before this the lion will grow pale and the tiger mute.”
Little by little, St. Petersburg was getting empty. The railway-line to Moscow, notwithstanding its twenty-four trains a day, could hardly supply all the passengers proceeding to the old capital; they had to book their places a month beforehand.
A great many crowned heads had gathered in Moscow. Amongst the European guests there were several exotic personages who had come from Siam, Japan and other distant countries.
In the beginning of May Sergy went to Moscow to be present at the Coronation, which was to take place on the 15th May. That day at ten o’clock in the morning all the church-bells in St. Petersburg began ringing, and at noon volleys of artillery announced the beginning of the ceremony in the Kremlin, and at the end of the ceremony the Coronation was made known by a salute and one-hundred-and-one cannon shots.
I learned from the papers that during the festivals there occurred a terrible accident at Moscow, which claimed some thousand victims, and darkened the Coronation of Nicolas II. On the 19th May, a colossal festival was organised for the populace on the Khodinka-Field. Long tables with all sorts of refreshment were laid on the brink of an enormous ditch. Towards two o’clock in the afternoon about 6000 persons hurried to the spot where free dinners were distributed. Tumultuous crowds continued to arrive unceasingly. The first arrivals couldn’t resist the great pressure of the oncomers, and fell headlong into the ditch. The catastrophe took place in twenty times less than it takes to describe it.
The moment of our departure for Khabarovsk approached. It was decided at first that Sergy would go alone. He promised to come back to St. Petersburg in six months’ time. I dreaded the moment of his departure, and the moment was not far off. No! I could not bear to part with Sergy. I always yielded to impulse under any circumstances. I told him that nothing should induce me to stay away, and that I would follow him a second time to the end of the world. But Sergy absolutely refused to hear of it. His opposition made me only the more distinctly determined to have my own way. I simply didn’t know what “No” meant, and Sergy consented after a good deal of coaxing to take me with him.
The Serebriakoffs could not accompany us. The Colonel was promoted to the grade of general, and had received a new appointment at Moscow. I was awfully sorry to part with Mrs. Serebriakoff with whom I had gone through many hardships during our first tour around the world.
We have engaged a young lady to hold the position of companion, Maria Michaelovna Titoff by name. She is a very gay and lively girl, who will help to make my life at Khabarovsk a little more cheery. Mr. Shaniavski, Mr. Scherbina and Henritzi accompany us on our journey.