“What is that, mon cher ami ?” asked the countess, who had finished her tea and evidently needed a pretext for being angry after her meal. “What are you saying about the government? I don’t understand.”

“Well, you know, Maman ,” Nikoláy interposed, knowing how to translate things into his mother’s language, “Prince Alexander Nikoláevich Golítsyn has founded a society and in consequence has great influence, they say.”

“Arakchéev and Golítsyn,” incautiously remarked Pierre, “are now the whole government! And what a government! They see treason everywhere and are afraid of everything.”