Russia is not a country, but a harsh trial, where every free thought and every independent heart is ruthlessly suppressed. The Third Bureau, the shadow of this Empire, reflects perfectly the essence of the Tsar—a monarch afraid of the truth.
—Alexander Ivanovich Herzen
Alexander Dumas sat on the sofa with a smiling face, listening to Herzen recount the story of Napoleon's expedition to Russia.
Although he loved those grand war epics in his youth, for some reason, since reaching his thirties, he has grown increasingly fond of stories akin to trivial matters outside the annals of war.
Perhaps because he had participated in France's July Revolution and experienced the riotous night of London's Parliamentary Reform, Alexander Dumas finally began to see himself clearly. Though epic as it might be, he found it unlikely his name would be recorded in such places.
