" "Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Buonapartes.

But I warn you, if you don't tell me that this means war, if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist--I really believe he is Antichrist--I will have nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend, no longer my 'faithful slave,' as you call yourself! But how do you do? I see I have frightened you--sit down and tell me all the news.

" It was in July, 1805, and the speaker was the well-known Anna Pavlovna Scherer, maid of honor and favorite of the Empress Marya Fedorovna.

With these words she greeted Prince Vasili Kuragin, a man of high rank and importance, who was the first to arrive at her reception.