French, Italian, Prussian, and Swiss, most of whom I knew, but there were no ladies.
Soon after we had started the captain of the steamer came to me and said, speaking in French, "Mademoiselle, to-day is the fête-day of our Grand Duke Constantine—with your permission the Bishop of ——— will celebrate it, and we shall be happy if you will assist at the service." Immediately afterward, four Greek priests in black robes came in and spread "a fair linen cloth " over a table at the end of the saloon, and placed on it a quaint old Byzantine picture, representing some sacred subject. The nimbus round the head of the principal figure was of gilt metal, and there were several precious stones introduced in the clasps and decorations of the dresses. The priests handled this picture with great reverence. They propped it up carefully, and placed in front of it a silver basin, filled with holy water, and three large silver candlesticks, in which gilt and ornamented wax-candles were fixed and lighted. The captain and officers in full uniform, the sailors, the steward and waiters, and the first-class passengers stood in a group together, at the lower end of the saloon, facing the impromptu altar. Then a Russian bishop and an archdeacon entered. They were powerful and earnest-looking men, and were robed as gorgeously as if they were about to celebrate service in a cathedral.
They each had long brown wavy hair, which was parted in the middle, and hung down in front, so as to unite with their mustaches and their thick beards. They kneeled down side by side in front of the picture with their heads uncovered. One of the attendant priests placed a large missal before the bishop, who read the prayers and the Gospel and Epistle for the day in the Russian language; then a second priest prepared a censer and swung it, while the archdeacon chanted a litany. He commenced softly and plaintively in a minor key, but suddenly changed the melody to one of a more cheerful but very simple measure, and the concluding portions were like shouts of joy and
