The Daughter of an Empress

And Princess Elizabeth ran to the toilet-table to examine critically her

face in the glass.

"Yes, indeed," she cried, with a sort of terror, "it is as I feared. My

eyes are quite dull. Lestocq, you must give me a means, a quick and sure

means, to restore their brightness."

Thus speaking, Elizabeth looked constantly in the glass, full of care

and anxiety about her eyes.

"I shall appear less beautiful to him to-day," she murmured; "he will,

in thought, compare me with Eleonore Lapuschkin, and find her handsomer

than I. Lestocq, Lestocq!" she then called aloud, impatiently stamping

with her little foot, "I tell you that you must immediately prescribe a

remedy that will restore the brilliancy of my eyes."

"Princess," said Lestocq, with solemnity, "I beseech you for a moment

to forget your incomparable beauty and the unequalled brilliancy of your

eyes. Be not only a woman, but be, as you can, the great czar's great

daughter. Princess, the question here is not only of the diminished

brilliancy of your eyes, but of a real danger with which you are

threatened. Be merciful, be gracious, and relate to me the exact words

of your yesterday's conversation with the regent."

The princess looked up from her mirror, and turned her head toward

Lestocq.

"Ah, I forgot," she carelessly said, "you are not merely my physician,

but also a revolutionist, and that is of much greater importance to

you."

"The question is of your head, princess, and as a true physician I would

help you to preserve it. Therefore, dearest princess, I beseech you,

repeat to me that conversation with the regent."

"Will you then immediately give me a recipe for my eyes?"

"Yes, I will."

"Well, listen, then."

And the princess repeated, word for word, to the breathless Lestocq, her

conversation with Anna Leopoldowna. Lestocq listened to her with

most intense interest, taking a piece of paper from the table and

mechanically writing some unmeaning lines upon it with an appearance of

heedlessness. Perhaps it was this mechanical occupation that enabled him

to remain so calm and circumspect. During the narration of the

princess his features again assumed their expression of firmness and

determination; his eyes again flashed, and around his mouth played a

saucy, scornful smile, such as was usually seen there when, conscious of

his superiority, he had formed a bold resolution.

"This good regent has executed a stroke of policy for which Ostermann

will never forgive her," said he, after the princess had finished

her narration. "She should have kept silence and appeared

unconstrained--then we should have been lost; but now it is she."

"No," exclaimed the princess, with generous emotion, "the regent has

chosen precisely the best means for disarming us! She has manifested

a noble confidence in me, she has discredited the whisperings of her

minister and counsellors, and instead of destroying me, as she should

have done, she has warned me with the kindness and affection of a

sister. I shall never forget that, Lestocq; I shall ever be grateful for

that! Henceforth the Regent or Empress Anna Leopoldowna shall have no

truer or more obedient subject than I, the Princess Elizabeth!"