“We had the ordeal of the custom-house to pass again; but once passed, and told that we were free to go on, it was like going into a clear atmosphere from a fog.  We crossed the custom-house threshold into another room, and we found ourselves in Russia, and in an excellent, well-furnished, and cheery restaurant.  We lost the German smoke and the German beer; we found hot coffee and clean table-cloths.

“We did not return to our dusty, red-velvet palace, but we entered a clean, comfortable compartment, with easy sofas, for the night.  We started again for St. Petersburg; we were now four days from London.  I will omit the details of a break-down that night, and another change of cars.  We had some sleep, and awoke in the morning to enjoy Russia.

“And, first, of Russian railroads.  When the railroads of Russia were planned, the Emperor Nicholas allowed a large sum of money for the building.  The engineer showed him his plan.  The road wound by slight curves from one town to another.  This did not suit the emperor at all.  He took his ruler, put it down upon the table, and said:  ’I choose to have my roads run so.’  Of course the engineer assented—­he had his large fund granted; a straight road was much cheaper to build than a curved one.  As a consequence, he built and furnished an excellent road.

“At every ‘verst,’ which is not quite a mile, a small house is placed at the roadside, on which, in very large figures, the number of versts from St. Petersburg is told.  The train runs very smoothly and very slowly; twenty miles an hour is about the rate.  Of course the journey seemed long.  For a large part of the way it was an uninhabited, level plain; so green, however, that it seemed like travelling on prairies.  Occasionally we passed a dreary little village of small huts, and as we neared St. Petersburg we passed larger and better built towns, which the dome of some cathedral lighted up for miles.

“The road was enlivened, too, by another peculiarity.  The restaurants were all adorned by flags of all colors, and festooned by vines.  At one place the green arches ran across the road, and we passed under a bower of evergreens.  I accepted this, at first, as a Russian peculiarity, and was surprised that so much attention was paid to travellers; but I learned that it was not for us at all.  The Duke of Edinboro’ had passed over the road a few days before, on his way to St. Petersburg, for his betrothal to the only daughter of the czar, and the decorations were for him; and so we felt that we were of the party, although we had not been asked.

“We approached St. Petersburg just at night, and caught the play of the sunlight on the domes.  It is a city of domes—­blue domes, green domes, white domes, and, above all, the golden dome of the Cathedral of St. Isaac’s.

“It is almost never a single dome.  St. Isaac’s central, gilded dome looms up above its fellow domes, but four smaller ones surround it.