"Sophia Paulovna Eczardy" is an absorbing historical work by American novelist and editor Henry Harland.
Excerpt
"I did not have to wait very long, and then of course I saw that he corresponded in no particular with my pre-conception, being neither roly poly nor bland of countenance nor fiercely mustachioed. But I saw also and instantly that he was a vast improvement upon it. He looked precisely as though he had stepped out of a French vaudeville. Indeed, if an accurate portrait of him had been shown to me beforehand I could never have believed that it represented a real-man in real life. I should have taken for granted that it was either a fancy sketch, or a caricature, or a bit from the theatre."