Speranski

“Then this rascal, this Speranski, tells the truth after all?” said the Emperor.

When the repast was fully over, Speranski, pouring out a glass of Tokay from a bottle which bore the impress of the Black Eagle of the House of Hapsburg, and which had evidently been arrested on its road to the Emperor’s table, ordered one of the pedlars to give him the papers, “which,” said he, with a smile, “that Turkish courier mislaid where he slept last night.”

That Speranski too, who had the impudence to lecture me in my bonds?” asked the Emperor, with a smile.

Speranski never makes his appearance unless something is in the wind.”

Speranski took the pipe, but, at his first experiment, he found the neck obstructed.