“I am stationed in Poland,” he said, “and I have never been in Moscow before.  I am come on a pilgrimage to the Holy City, but everything is so dear here that I must deny myself the pleasure of visiting many of the shrines in the neighborhood.  It is a great happiness to me to be present thus at the mass in my own pravoslavny church, and in Moscow.”

“But there are Orthodox churches in Poland, surely,” I said.

“Yes,” he replied, “there are a few; and I go whenever I get a chance.”

“What do you do when you have not the chance?”

“I go to whatever church there is,—­the Roman Catholic, the Lutheran, the Synagogue.”

“Is that allowed?” I asked.  I knew very well that Russians attend Roman Catholic and Protestant churches when abroad, as a matter of course, though I had not before heard of the Synagogue in the list, and I wished to hear what the earnest old colonel would say.

“Why not? why should n’t I?” he replied.  “We all go to church to worship God and to pray to Him.  Does it matter about the form or the language?  A man has as much as he can do to be a Christian and an honest man,—­ which are two very different things nowadays, apparently,—­without troubling himself about those petty details.”

It is almost superfluous to say that we swore friendship with the colonel on the spot, on those foundations.  Our acquaintance ended with our long talk there in the cathedral, since we could not well stop in Poland to accept the delightful old officer’s invitation to visit him and his wife.  But the friendship remains, I hope.

When he left us, a young fellow about seventeen years of age, who had been standing near us and listening to the last part of our conversation with an air of profound and respectful interest which obviated all trace of impertinence, stepped up and said:—­

“May I have the pleasure of showing you about the cathedral?  You seem to appreciate our Russian ways and thoughts.  I have taken a good deal of interest in studying the history and antiquities of my native city, and I may be able to point out a few things to you here.”

He was a pleasant-faced young fellow, with modest, engaging manners; a student in one of the government institutions, it appeared.  He looked very cool and comfortable in a suit of coarse gray linen.  He proved to be an admirable cicerone, and we let him escort us about for the pleasure of listening, though we had seen everything many times already.  I commented on his knowledge, and on the evident pride which he took in his country, and especially in his church, remarking that he seemed to be very well informed on many points concerning the latter, and able to explain the reasons for things in an unusual way.