Siberia and the exile system . condition that he ordered the immediate arrest of thecontractor who had undertaken to keep it in repair, anddirected that he be held in prison to await an Frost and I agreed that it was a proper case for theexercise of despotic power. We arrived in Krasnoyarsk late on the evening of Wed-nesday, September 2d, after a journey from Tomsk of 370miles, which had occupied a little more than five days ofincessant travel. An abundant supper and a good nightsrest in a small hotel near the post-station restored our tiredbodies to something like their norm
Siberia and the exile system . condition that he ordered the immediate arrest of thecontractor who had undertaken to keep it in repair, anddirected that he be held in prison to await an Frost and I agreed that it was a proper case for theexercise of despotic power. We arrived in Krasnoyarsk late on the evening of Wed-nesday, September 2d, after a journey from Tomsk of 370miles, which had occupied a little more than five days ofincessant travel. An abundant supper and a good nightsrest in a small hotel near the post-station restored our tiredbodies to something like their normal condition, and Thurs-day afternoon we changed om- travel-stained clothing andcalled upon Mr. Leo Petrovitch Kuznetsof, a wealthy gold-mining proprietor to whom we had brought a letter of in-troduction from St. Petersburg. We little anticipated the 358 SIBEEIA luxurious comfort of the house and the delightful socialntiuosphero of the home circle to which this letter wouldadmit us. The servant who came to the door in response. to our ring showed us into one of the most beautiful andtastefully furnished drawing-rooms that we had seen inRussia. It was fully fifty feet in length by thirty-five feetin width and twenty feet high; its inlaid floor of polishedoak was hidden here and there by soft oriental rugs; palms,luxuriant ferns, and pots of blossoming plants occupied THE GREAT SIBERIAN ROAD 359 the lower portions of the high, richly curtained windows;the apparent size of the spacious apartment was increasedby long pier-glasses interposed between the masses ofgreenery and flowers; a cheerful fire of birch wood wasburning in an open fireplace under a massive mantel ofcarved marble; cabinets of polished cherry, filled with rareold china, delicate ivory carvings, bronze Buddhist idols,and all sorts of bric-a-brac, stood here and there againstthe walls; large oil-paintings by well-known Russian,French, and English artists occupied places of honor atthe ends of the room; and at our ri
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