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In all the interviews I had had with the czar during the many months of

my association with him he had inning, which was that we should meet on the

basis of friends and equals Whenever ere alone together he

coet that ere other than two friends ere

enjoying an opportunity for a chat with each other, and as at such

times we invariably conversed in French, he always insisted that I

should address him by the simple term "monsieur" When the prince was

with us, as was nearly always the case, the degree of fah hardly perceptibly modified, and I must say that I had

learned to enjoy such occasions exceedingly

For Alexander I had begun to feel a sincere affection I doubt if there

was any other hly as I did

During these faether he had toldhimself, his ideas, and his hopes; and these

confidences had revealed the real man--that is, the man behind the

czar--to me, and I knew that of the thousands of crimes attributed to

hie until it was too late for

him to interfere, or too impolitic for him to do so Intellectually, he

was not preponderant; indeed he was rather deficient in this respect;

but he was naturally a kindly disposed h more than half of it, he proved that fact to

the people It was just before the ti

that he allowed himself to fall more and more into the power of the

nobles who in reality ruled the empire, and who do so still Easily