“I carried you in my arms as a baby,” he observed.

“Really?” asked the prince. “Why, it’s twenty years since my father died.”

“Yes, yes⁠—twenty years and three months. We were educated together; I went straight into the army, and he⁠—”

“My father went into the army, too. He was a sublieutenant in the Vasiliefsky regiment.”

“No, sir⁠—in the Bielomirsky; he changed into the latter shortly before his death. I was at his bedside when he died, and gave him my blessing for eternity. Your mother⁠—” The general paused, as though overcome with emotion.

“She died a few months later, from a cold,” said the prince.