Platoff was afraid to present himself before the eyes of the Emperor,
because Nikolai Pavlovitch was a terribly remarkable man, with a
long memory--he never forgot anything. Platoff knew that he would,
infallibly, question him about the flea. And so he, who feared no
enemy in all the world, lost his courage there. He entered the palace
with the casket, and slily thrust it behind the stove in the hall.
Having thus concealed the casket, Platoff presented himself before the
Emperor in his study, and began, with all possible speed, to report the
internecine conversation of the Cossacks on the quiet Don. He reasoned
thus: that he would engage the Emperor's attention in this manner,
and then, if the Emperor himself remembered and mentioned the flea,
it would be necessary to hand it over and answer for it; but if the
Emperor should not refer to it, then he would hold his own tongue: he
would order the valet attached to the study to put the casket away out
of sight, and would confine the left-handed Tula man in a casemate of
the fortress for an indefinite period, and allow him to sit there until
he was needed.
But the Emperor Nikolai Pavlovitch had forgotten nothing, and Platoff
had barely terminated his internecine conversations, when he
immediately inquired: "Well, and how have my Tula artisans justified
themselves against the English nymfozoria?"
"The nymfozoria, Your Majesty," says he, "is still in the same space,
and I have brought it back, for the Tula artisans could make nothing
more marvellous."
The Emperor replied: "Thou art a valiant old man, but that which thou
hast just reported to me cannot be."
Platoff began to assure him, and related the whole course of the
matter; and when he had reached the point where the men of Tula
entreated him that the flea might be shown to the Emperor, Nikolai
Pavlovitch slapped him on the back and said: "Give it here! I know that
my own people cannot deceive me. Something beyond comprehension has
been done here."