At this moment there was a knock at the door, and the servant entered, bringing in a quantity of linen and underclothing of all kinds, which he laid down on the bed with the words,—­

“With the countess’s compliments.”

“Hurrah!” shouted Dick.  “The countess is a brick.  This is something like.  Now for a big wash, Jack, and a clean white shirt.  We shan’t know ourselves.  Here is a brush, too.  We shall be able to make our uniforms presentable.”

It was nearly an hour before the boys again joined the ladies, looking, it must be owned, a great deal more like British officers and gentlemen than when they left the room.  They were both good-looking lads, and the Russian girls were struck with their bright and cheerful faces.

Dick hastened to express their warm thanks to the countess for the welcome supply of clothes, and said that Jack and himself were ashamed indeed at not only trespassing on their hospitality, but being obliged to rely upon their wardrobe.

As Dick had carefully thought out this little speech, translated it into French, and said it over half-a-dozen times, he was able to make himself understood, utterly defective as were his grammar and pronunciation.

Katinka explained that the clothes had belonged to her brother, who was now a lieutenant in a regiment stationed in Poland, and that they had long been outgrown; he being now, as she signified by holding up her hand, over six feet in height.

A quarter of an hour later the dinner was announced, and the countess in a stately way took Dick’s arm, and Jack, not without blushing, offered his to the eldest of the girls.  The dinner was, in the boys’ eyes, magnificent.  Several domestics stood behind the chairs and anticipated their wants.  The girls continued their Russian lessons by telling them the names of everything on the table, and making them repeat them after them, and there was so much laughter and merriment, that long as the meal was, it was by no means formal or ceremonious.  They learnt that the Count Preskoff was absent at some estates in the north of Russia, and that he was not likely to return for some little time.

After dinner Dick asked Katinka to tell the countess that they did not wish to be troublesome, and that they would be out and about the place, and would not intrude upon them except when they wished to have them.  The countess replied through her daughter that they would be always glad to have them in the room.

“You will really be a great amusement to us.  We were very dull before, and instead of being a trouble, as Count Smerskoff no doubt intended when he quartered you upon us, you will make a very pleasant break.  It is dreadfully dull here now,” she said.  “There is no longer any gayety, many of our neighbors are away, and nobody talks of anything but that horrid war.  Count Smerskoff is almost the only person we see, and,” and she shrugged her pretty shoulders, “he’s worse than nothing.  And now, mamma says, would you like to ride or to go out in a sledge?  If you would like some shooting, there is plenty in the neighborhood.  But of course for that you will want a whole day, and it must be arranged beforehand.  I wish my brother Orloff had been at home.  He could have looked after you nicely.”