Old Letter

Written as disaster unfolds, this letter describes the knyaz's death under murky circumstances

and warns that death approaches everyone. The author, Damyan, urges the recipient to pack only small valuables,

dress plainly, ride out of the mansion immediately, and meet him at the bridge by the Northern Cleft so they can flee together

to some distant, undecided place. In a painful postscript he insists their father must be left behind,

as his condition would doom any escape attempt.