Without waiting for the solemn entry of the em-
TRAVE?TY.269
peror into Moscow, I shall leave in two days' time for Petersburg.
Here end the chapters that were written by the traveller in the form of letters to his friends: the relation which follows completes his recollections: it was written at various places, commencing at Petersburg, in 1839, afterwards being continued in Germany, and more recently at Paris.
270
ARREST OF M. PERNET.
CHAR XXXVI
RETURN FROM MOSCOW TO PETERSBURG.—HISTORY OF M. PERNET, A FRENCH PRISONER IN RUSSIA. —HIS ARREST. —CONDUCT OF
HIS FELLOW TRAVELLER.THE FRENCH CONSUL AT MOSCOW.
EFFECTS OF IMAGINATION. ADVICE OF A RUSSIANGREAT
NOVGOROD.SOUVENIRS OF IVAN IV. ARRIVAL AT PETERS
BURG.— M. DE BARANTE. — SEQUEL OF THE HISTORY OF M.
PERNET. INTERIOR OF A MOSCOW PRISON. A VISIT TO COL-
PINA. — ORIGIN OF THE LAVAL FAMILY IN RUSSIA. — THF. ACADEMY OF PAINTING. —THE ARTS IN RUSSIA.—M. BRULOW. — INFLUENCE OF THE NORTH UPON THE ARTS. —MADEMOISELLE
TAGLIONI AT PETERSBURG. — ABOLITION OF THE UNIATES.
SUPERIORITY OF A REPRESENTATIVE FORM OF GOVERNMENT.
DEPARTURE FROM RUSSIA. THE FEELINGS OF THE AUTHOR.
—A SINCERE LETTER.— REASONS FOR NOT RETURNING THROUGH POLAND.
At the moment I was about to quit Moscow, a singular circumstance attracted all my attention, and obliged me to delay my departure.
I had ordered post-horses at seven o'clock in the morning: to my great surprise my valet-de-chambre awoke me at four, and on my asking the cause of this unnecessary hurry, he answered that he did not like to delay informing me of a fact which he had just learnt, and which appeared to him veiy serious. The following is the sum of what he related.
A Frenchman, whose name is M. Louis Pernet, and who arrived a few days ago in Moscow, where he lodged at a public hotel, has been arrested in the middle of the night — this very night, — and, after being deprived of his papers, has been taken to the
ARREST OF M. PERNET.271
city prison, and there placed in a cell. Such is the
account which the waiter at our inn gave to my ser
vant, who, after many questions, further learnt that
M. Pernet is a young man about twenty-six years
old, and of feeble frame, which redoubles the fears
that are entertained for him ; that he passed through
Moscow last year, when he stayed at the house of a
Russian friend, who afterwards took him into the
country. This Riissian is now absent, and the unfor
tunate prisoner has no other acquaintance here except
another Frenchman, a M. R, in whose com
pany, it is said, he has been travelling from the north
of Russia, This M. Rlodged in the same hotel
with the prisoner. His name struck me the moment
I heard it, for it is the same as that of the dark man
with whom I dined a few days before at the house of
the governor of Nijni. The reader may recollect that
his physiognomy had been to me a subject for medi
tation. Again to stumble upon this personage, in
connection with the event of the night, appeared
to me quite a circumstance for a novel, and I could
scarcely believe what I heard : nevertheless I imme
diately rose, and sought the waiter myself, to hear
from his own lips the version of the story, and to
ascertain beyond doubt the correctness of the name
of M. R, whose identity I was particularly de
sirous of ascertaining. The waiter told me, that
having been sent on an errand by a foreigner about
to leave Moscow, he was at Ivopp's hotel at the mo
ment when the police left it, and he added that M.
Kopp had related to him the affair, which he re
counted in words that exactly accorded with the
statement of Antonio.
272 CONDUCT OF HIS FELLOW TRAVELLER.
As soon as I was dressed, I repaired to M. E,,
and found, true enough, that it was the bronze-com-plexioned man of Nijni. The only difference was, that at Moseow he had an agitated air, very different from his former immobility. I found him out of bed ; we reeognised each other in a moment; but when I told him the objeet of my very early morning call, he appeared embarrassed.
' It is true that I have travelled,' he said, ' with M. Pernet, but it was by mere chance ; we met at Archangel, and from thence have proceeded in company : he has a very poor constitution, and his weak health gave me much uneasiness during the journey: I rendered him the sendees that humanity ealled for, but nothing more; I am not one of his friends ; I know nothing of him.'
' I know still less of him,' I replied; ' but we are all three Frenchmen, and we owe eaeh other mutual aid in a eountry where our liberty and our life may be menaced any moment by a power which eannot be seen till it strikes.'
' Perhaps M. Pernet,' replied M. R, ' has
got himself into this serape by some imprudence. A stranger as well as he is, and without credit, what can I do ? If he is innocent, the arrest will be followed by no serious consequenees ; if he is culpable, he will have to submit to the punishment. I ean do nothing for him, I owe him nothing ; and I advise you, sir, to be yourself very
