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For more than a week preparations were being made, rough drafts

of letters to Nicholas from all the household were written and

copied out, while under the supervision of the countess and the

solicitude of the count, money and all things necessary for the

uniform and equipment of the newly commissioned officer were

collected. Anna Mikhaylovna, practical woman that she was, had

even managed by favor with army authorities to secure

advantageous means of communication for herself and her son. She

had opportunities of sending her letters to the Grand Duke

Constantine Pavlovich, who commanded the Guards. The Rostovs

supposed that The Russian Guards, Abroad, was quite a definite

address, and that if a letter reached the Grand Duke in command

of the Guards there was no reason why it should not reach the

Pavlograd regiment, which was presumably somewhere in the same

neighborhood.