पृष्ठ 895 / 2288

On Monday there was the usual sitting of the Commission of the

2nd of June. Alexey Alexandrovitch walked into the hall where the

sitting was held, greeted the members and the president, as

usual, and sat down in his place, putting his hand on the papers

laid ready before him. Among these papers lay the necessary

evidence and a rough outline of the speech he intended to make.

But he did not really need these documents. He remembered every

point, and did not think it necessary to go over in his memory

what he would say. He knew that when the time came, and when he

saw his enemy facing him, and studiously endeavoring to assume an

expression of indifference, his speech would flow of itself

better than he could prepare it now. He felt that the import of

his speech was of such magnitude that every word of it would have

weight. Meantime, as he listened to the usual report, he had the

most innocent and inoffensive air.