BACK TO RUSSIA
It’s such great news that Sergy was bringing to me! He has received a
leave of eight months. We are going to spend the winter at St. Petersburg
and make a trip abroad in the summer. I felt nearly crazy with joy! I am
so happy to cast off the trammels of a Governor General’s wife and live
for some time as a simple mortal. I should have liked to say good-bye to
Khabarovsk for ever!
December 19th.—We took this morning a special train to Vladivostock and
are on our way for a third voyage round the world. About three hundred
persons were assembled at the station to wish us a happy and safe
journey. The train slowly moved away, followed by loud cheers. Leaning
out of the window I sent my smiles to everyone.
There is a terrible frost outside, but our carriage is well heated and
we do not feel the cold at all. There is a silver plate on the door
of my saloon, engraved with large letters with the announcement that
the Oussouri railway was founded by His Imperial Highness the Heir to
the Throne on the 19th May, 1891, and underneath was the following
inscription: “His Excellence General Doukhovskoy, Governor-General of the
Amour Provinces, has opened, on the 27th August, 1897, the railway-line
between Khabarovsk and Vladivostock.”
At the station a deputation of Cossacks offered “Bread and Salt” to my
husband on a napkin on which was embroidered: “God save thee on the
seas.”