The Daughter of an Empress

It was the day after the court ball. Princess Elizabeth was in her

dressing-room, and occupied in enveloping herself in a very charming and

seductive neglige. She was to-day in very good humor, very happy

and free from care, for Alexis Razumovsky had, with the most solemn

asserverations, assured her of his truth and devotion, and Elizabeth had

been soothed and reconciled by his glowing language. It was for him that

she wished to appear especially attractive to-day, that Alexis, by the

sight of her, might be made utterly to forget the Countess Eleonore

Lapuschkin. In these coquettish efforts of her vanity she had utterly

forgotten all the plans and projects of her friends and adherents;

she thought no more of becoming empress, but she would be the queen of

beauty, and in that realm she would reign alone with an absolute sway.

A servant announced Lestocq.

A cloud of displeasure lowered on the brow of the princess. Startled

from her sweet dreams by this name, she now for the first time

recollected the fatal conversation she had had on the previous evening

with the regent. In her love and jealousy she had totally forgotten the

occurrence, but now that she was reminded of it, she felt her head throb

with anxiety and terror.

Dismissing her attendants with an imperious nod, she hastened to meet

the entering physician.

"Lestocq," said she, "it is well you have come at this moment, else,

perhaps, I might have forgotten to say to you that it is all over with

the conjuration spun and woven by you and the French marquis. We must

give it up, for the affair is more dangerous than you think it, and

I may say that you have reason to be thankful to me for having, by my

foresight and intrepidity, saved you from the torture, and a possible

transportation to Siberia. Ah, it is very cold in Siberia, my dear

Lestocq, and you will do well silently and discreetly to build a warm

nest here, instead of inventing ambitious projects dangerous to all of

us."

"And whence do you foresee danger, princess?" asked Lestocq.

"The regent knows all! She knows our plans and combinations. In a word,

she knows that we conspire, and that you are the principal agent in the

conspiracy."

"Then I am lost!" sighed Lestocq, gliding down upon a chair.

"No, not quite," said Elizabeth, with a smile, "for I have saved you.

Ah, I should never have believed that the playing of comedy was so

easy, but I tell you I have played one in a masterly manner. Fear was my

teacher; it taught me to appear so innocent, to implore so affectingly,

that Anna herself was touched. Ah, and I wept whole streams of tears, I

tell you. That quite disarmed the regent. But you must bear the blame if

my eyes to-day are yet red with weeping, and not so brilliant as usual."