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"Well, I will read them, then!" Bagration seemed to say, and,

fixing his weary eyes on the paper, began to read them with a

fixed and serious expression. But the author himself took the

verses and began reading them aloud. Bagration bowed his head and

listened:

Bring glory then to Alexander's reign And on the throne our Titus

shield. A dreaded foe be thou, kindhearted as a man, A Rhipheus

at home, a Caesar in the field! E'en fortunate Napoleon Knows by

experience, now, Bagration, And dare not Herculean Russians

trouble...

But before he had finished reading, a stentorian major-domo

announced that dinner was ready! The door opened, and from the

dining room came the resounding strains of the polonaise:

Conquest's joyful thunder waken, Triumph, valiant Russians,

now!...