Night had come. The lights in palaces and houses were gradually
extinguished. St. Petersburg began to sleep, or at least to give itself
the appearance of sleeping. The regent, Anna Leopoldowna, also,
had already dismissed her household and withdrawn into her private
apartments.
It was a fine starlight night. Anna leaned upon the window-frame,
thoughtfully and dreamily glancing up at the heavens. Her eyes gradually
filled with tears, which slowly rolled down her cheeks and fell upon her
hands. She was startled by the falling of these warm, glowing drops. She
was thinking of Lynar, of the distant, warmly-desired one, to whom she
would gladly have devoted her whole existence, but to whom she could
belong only through falsehood. She thought it would be nobler and
greater to renounce him, that her love might be consecrated by her
abnegation, while actually devoting her life to the duties enjoined
by the laws and the Church. But these thoughts filled her bosom with a
nameless sorrow, and it was involuntarily that she wept.
“No,” she murmured low, “I cannot make this sacrifice; I cannot make
an offering of my love to my virtue; for this bugbear of a compulsory
marriage I cannot give up a love which God Himself has inspired in my
heart. Then let it be so! Let the world judge and the priests condemn
me. I will not sacrifice my love to a prejudice. I know that this is
sinful, but God will have compassion on the sinner who has no other
happiness on earth than this only one--a love that controls her whole
being. And if this sin must be punished, oh, my Maker, I pray you to
pardon him, and let the punishment fall on me alone!”
Thus speaking, she raised her arms and directed her eyes toward the
heavens in fervent prayer. Suddenly a brilliant light flashed through
the air--a star had shot from its sphere, and, after a short course, had
become extinguished.
“That bodes misfortune,” said Anna, with a shudder, her head sinking
upon her breast.
At this moment there was a loud knocking at her door, and Prince Ulrich,
Anna’s husband, earnestly demanded admission.
Anna hastened to open, asking with surprise the cause of his unusual
visit.
“Anna,” said the prince, hastily entering, “I come to warn you once
more. Again has a warning letter been mysteriously conveyed to me. I
have just found it upon my night-table. See for yourself. It implores
us to be on our guard. It informs us that we are threatened with a
frightful danger, that Elizabeth conspires, and that we are lost if we
do not instantly take preventive measures.”
Anna read the warning letter, and then smilingly gave it back to her
husband.
“Always the same old song, the same croaking of the toad,” said
she. “Count Ostermann has taken it into his head that Elizabeth is
conspiring, and doubtless all these warning letters come from him. Read
them no more in future, my husband, and now let us retire to rest.”
“And what if it were, nevertheless, true,” said the prince,
pressingly--“if we are really threatened with a great danger? A word
from you can turn it away. Let us, therefore, be careful! Remember your
son, Anna--_his_ life is also threatened! Protect him, mother of the
emperor! Allow me, the generalissimo of your forces, to take measures
of precaution! Let me establish patrols, and cause a regiment, for whose
fidelity I can be answerable, to guard the entrances of the palace!”
Anna smilingly shook her head. “No,” said she, “nothing of all that
shall be done! Such precautions manifest suspicion, and would wound
the feelings of this good Elizabeth. She is innocent, believe me. I
yesterday sharply observed her, and she came out from the trial pure. It
would be ignoble to distrust her now. Moreover, she has my princely word
that I will always listen only to herself, and believe no one but her.
In the morning I will go to her and show her this letter, that she may
have an opportunity to justify herself.”
“You therefore consider her wholly innocent?” asked the prince, with a
sigh.
“Yes, perfectly innocent. Her firm demeanor, her asseverations, her
tears, have convinced me that it was unjust in us to believe the hateful
rumors that had spread concerning her. Let us therefore retire in peace
and quiet. No danger threatens us from Elizabeth!”
There was something convincing and tranquillizing in Anna’s immovable
conviction; the prince felt his inability to oppose her, and was ashamed
of his feminine fears in the face of her masculine intrepidity.
With a sigh he took his leave and returned to his own room. At the door
he turned once again.
“Anna,” said he, with solemnity, “you have decided upon our destiny,
and God grant that it may eventuate happily! But should it be otherwise,
should the monstrous and terrible break in upon you, then, at least,
remember this hour, in which I warned you, and confess that I am free
from all blame!”
Without awaiting an answer, with a drooping head and deep sigh, the
prince left the room.
Anna looked after him with a compassionate smile.
“Poor prince!” she murmured low, “he is always so timid and trembling;
that indicates unhappiness! He loves me, and I cannot force my heart
to return the feeling. Poor prince, it must be very sad to love and be
unloved!”
With a sigh she closed the door through which her husband had passed.
“I will now sleep,” said she. “Yes, sleep! Possibly Heaven may send me a
pleasant dream, and I may see my Lynar! But no, I must first go to Ivan,
to ascertain whether his slumber is tranquil.”
With hasty steps she repaired to the adjacent chamber, which was that of
the young emperor.
There all was still. Before the door opening upon the corridor she heard
the regular step of the soldier on guard. The waiters upon the emperor
were slumbering upon mattresses around him. It was a picture of profound
tranquillity.
With light steps Anna approached the cradle of her son, and, bending
down over him, regarded him with tender maternal glances, while his
still and peaceful slumber seemed to touch her heart with a sweet
emotion.
“Sleep, my dear child, my charming little emperor,” she
murmured--“sleep, and in your dreams may you play with angels as
beautiful as yourself!”
Bending again over the cradle, she breathed a light kiss upon the rosy
lips of her child, and then noiselessly returned to her own chamber.
“And now,” said she, drawing a long breath, “now will I, also, sleep and
dream! Good-night, my beloved; good-night, Lynar!”
With a happy smile she reclined upon her couch, and soon slumbered.
At this moment the clock in the next chamber struck the twelfth hour.
Slowly and solemnly resounded the tones of the striking clocks that
announced the midnight.
At this same hour a lively movement commenced in the palace of the
Princess Elizabeth. Lights were seen glancing from window to window,
hurrying shadows were seen coming and going in the rooms, every thing
there announced an activity unusual for the hour, and certainly it was a
signal good fortune for Elizabeth that Anna had forbidden her husband’s
sending a patrol through the streets. One single patrol passing the
palace might have frustrated the whole conspiracy!
But the streets were perfectly quiet; nowhere was a sentinel or watchman
to be seen.
The slight creaking and whizzing of a sledge upon the crackling snow was
now heard; it came nearer and nearer, and then there was a knocking
at the palace gate. The porter opened, and two sledges drove into the
court.
The first, with a rich covering and magnificent ornaments, was empty.
But Lestocq was seen to spring out of the second, and hurriedly enter
the palace.
Elizabeth, splendidly dressed, sparkling with brilliants, was waiting
in her small reception-room. No one but Alexis Razumovsky was with her.
Neither of them spoke, and their visages plainly discovered that they
were in a state of painfully uncomfortable suspense.
Elizabeth was pale and had a convulsive twitching about her mouth, her
form trembled feverishly, and she was obliged to cling to Razumovsky, to
prevent falling.
“Did you hear the opening of the court-yard gate?” she breathed low.
“Lestocq is not yet here, and it is past midnight. Certainly he is
arrested, all is discovered, and we are lost! I am fearfully anxious,
Alexis; I already seem to feel the sword at my throat. Ah, hear you not
steps in the corridor? They come this way. They are my pursuers. They
come to conduct me to the scaffold! Save me, Alexis, save me!”
And with a shrill cry of anguish the princess clung to the neck of her
favorite.
The door was now hastily opened, and upon the threshold appeared Lestocq
and Woronzow.
“Princess Elizabeth!” exclaimed Lestocq, with solemnity, “I have come
for you. The throne awaits its empress!”
“Up, Princess Elizabeth,” said Alexis, “take courage, my fair empress,
give us an example of spirit and resolution!”
The princess slowly raised her pale face from Razumovsky’s shoulder, and
looking around with timid glances, faintly said: “I suffer fearfully!
This anguish will kill me! My destiny is so cruel, I am so tormented.
Why must I be an empress?”
“That you may be no nun,” laconically responded Lestocq.
“And to become the greatest and loftiest woman in the world!” said
Woronzow.
“To raise to your own elevation the man you love,” whispered Alexis.
With a glance of tenderness, Elizabeth nodded to him.
“Yes,” said she, “for your sake, my Alexis, I will become an empress!
Come, let us go. But where is Grunstein?”
“With his faithful followers he awaits us before the casern of his
regiment. We go there first.”
“Then let us go!” said Elizabeth, striding forward. But she stopped on
seeing that Alexis followed with the other two.
“No,” said she, “you must not go with us, Alexis. If I am to have
courage to act and speak, I must know that you are not mingled in the
strife--I must not have to tremble for your life! No, no, only when
I know that you are concealed and in safety, can I have courage to
struggle for an imperial crown. Promise me, therefore, Alexis, that you
will quietly remain here until I send a messenger for you!”
Razumovsky begged and implored in vain--in vain he knelt before her, and
covered her hands with tears and kisses.
Elizabeth remained inflexible, and, as Alexis yet persisted in his
prayers, she earnestly and proudly said: “Alexis Razumovsky, I command
you to remain here. You will obey the first command of your empress!”
“I will remain,” sighed Alexis, “and the world will point the finger of
scorn at me, calling me a coward!”
“And I will compel the world to honor you as a king!” said Elizabeth,
with tenderness, beckoning to Lestocq and Woronzow to follow her from
the room.
Silently they hastened down the stairs--silently was Elizabeth handed
into her sledge, while Lestocq and Woronzow took their places in the
second.
“Forward!” thundered Lestocq’s powerful voice, and the train rushed
through the dark and deserted streets.
St. Petersburg slept. No one appeared at the darkened windows of the
silent palaces, no one boded that a new empress was passing through
the streets,--an empress, who at this time had but two subjects in her
train!
They had now reached the casern of the Peobrajensky regiment. There they
halted. In the open door stands Grunstein with his thirty recruits.
They silently approached the sledge of the princess and prostrated
themselves before her.
“Hail to our empress!” whispered Grunstein low, and as low was it
repeated by the soldiers.
“Let us enter the casern, call the soldiers, and awaken the officers;
I myself will address them!” said Elizabeth, alighting from her sledge.
She was now full of courage and resolution. In the face of danger now no
longer to be avoided, she had suddenly steeled her heart; her father’s
spirit was awakened in her.
With a firm step she entered the casern; the conspirators had already
raised an alarm there, and the suddenly aroused soldiers rushed from
all the corridors, with wonder and admiration staring at this noble
and beautiful woman who, radiant in the splendor of her beauty, and
sparkling with jewels, stood in their midst.
“Soldiers,” cried Elizabeth, with a firm voice, “I come to implore your
support in my attempt to obtain justice in the realm of my father! I am
the daughter of the great Emperor Peter, the rightful heir to the throne
of Russia, and I claim what is mine! I will no longer suffer a German
princess to give laws to you, my beloved brethren and countrymen! Follow
me, therefore, and let us drive away these foreign intruders who have
usurped the throne of your lawful sovereign!”
“All hail, Elizabeth, our empress!” cried the conspirators, prostrating
themselves.
Surprised, benumbed, and overpowered, the others made no opposition.
Miserable slaves, they were accustomed to obey whoever dared assume the
command over them,--and they therefore submitted. Falling upon their
knees, they took the oath of allegiance to the new empress!
Elizabeth was now the empress of three hundred soldiers.
“Up, now, my friends, to the palace of the czar, where these usurpers
dwell and inflict upon you the shame of calling a cradled infant your
emperor. Come, and let us punish them for this insult, by thrusting them
from their usurped power!”
“We will follow our empress in life and death!” cried the soldiers.
They therefore started again, and once more hastened through the silent
streets until, at length, they reached the imperial palace, where dwelt
the Emperor Ivan with his parents.
Elizabeth, with her confidential partisans in four sledges, had hastened
on in advance of the others. With renewed courage they approached the
principal entrance of the palace.
The guard took to their arms, and the drummer was preparing to beat an
alarm, when a single blow of Lestocq’s fist broke through the skin of
the drum.
The terrified drummer fell, and over his body passed the band of
conspirators, Elizabeth at their head.
No one ventured to oppose them; the slaves fell upon their knees in
homage to her who announced herself as their mistress and empress!
Thus meeting with universal submission and obedience, they approached
the wing of the palace occupied by the Emperor Ivan and his mother the
regent. Here is stationed an officer of the guard. He alone ventures
defiance to the intruders. He meets them with his sword drawn, and
swears to strike down the first person who attempts to enter the
corridor.
“Unhappy man, what is it you dare!” said Lestocq, boldly advancing. “You
are guilty of high-treason. Fall upon your knees and implore pardon of
your empress, Elizabeth!”
The officer shrank bank in terror. It was an empress who stood before
him, and he had dared to defy her!
Begging forgiveness and mercy, he dropped his sword and fell upon his
knees. The Russian slave was awakened in him, and he bent before the one
who had the power to command.
Unobstructed, retained by no one, Elizabeth and her followers now strode
through the corridor leading to the private apartments of the regent.
Sentinels were placed at every door, with strict commands to strike down
any one who should dare to oppose them.
In this manner they reached the anteroom of the regent’s chamber.
Elizabeth had not the courage to go any farther. She hesitatingly
stopped. A deep shame and repentance came over her when she thought of
the noble confidence Anna had shown, and which she was now on the point
of repaying with the blackest treason.
Lestocq, whose sharp, observing glances constantly rested upon her,
divined her thoughts and the cause of her irresolution. He privately
whispered some words to Grunstein, who, with thirty grenadiers,
immediately approached the door of Anna’s sleeping-room.
With a single push the door was forced, and with a wild cry the soldiers
rushed to the couch upon which Anna Leopoldowna was reposing.
With a cry of anguish Anna springs up from her slumber, and shudderingly
stares at the soldiers by whom she is encompassed, who, with rough
voices, command her to rise and follow them. They scarcely give her time
to put on a robe, and encase her little feet in shoes.
But Anna has become perfectly calm and self-possessed. She knows she is
lost, and, too proud to weep or complain, she finds in herself courage
to be tranquil.
“I beg only to be allowed to speak to Elizabeth,” said she, aloud. “I
will do all you command me. I will follow you wherever you wish, only
let me first see your empress, Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth, leaning against the door-post, had heard these words;
yielding to an involuntary impulse of her heart, she pushed open the
door and appeared upon the threshold of Anna Leopoldowna’s chamber.
On perceiving her, a faint smile passed over Anna’s features.
“Ah, come you thus to me, Elizabeth?” she said, reproachfully, with a
proud glance at the princess.
Elizabeth could not support that glance. She cast down her eyes, and
again Anna Leopoldowna smiled. She was conquered, but before her,
blushing with shame, stood her momentarily subdued conqueror. But
Anna now remembered her son, and, folding her hands, she said, in an
imploring tone:
“Elizabeth, kill not my son! Have compassion upon him!”
Elizabeth turned away with a shudder, she felt her heart rent, she had
not strength for an answer.
Lestocq beckoned the soldiers, and commanded them to remove the
traitress, Anna Leopoldowna.
Thirty warriors took possession of the regent, who calmly and proudly
submitted herself to them and suffered herself to be led away.
In the corridor they encountered another troop of soldiers, who were
escorting the regent’s husband, Prince Ulrich of Brunswick, and Anna’s
favorite, Julia von Mengden.
“Anna!” sorrowfully exclaimed the prince, “oh, had you but listened to
my warning! Why did I not, in spite of your commands, what I ought to
have done? I alone am to blame for this sad misfortune.”
“It is no one’s fault but mine,” calmly responded Anna. “Pardon me, my
husband, pardon me, Julia.”
And so they descended to the sledges in waiting below. They placed the
prince in one, and the regent, with Julia, in the other.
“Ah,” said Julia, throwing her arms around Anna’s neck, “we shall at
least suffer together.”
Anna reclined her head upon her friend’s shoulder.
“God is just and good,” said she. “He punishes me for my criminal love,
and mercifully spares the object of my affections. I thank God for my
sufferings. Julia, should you one day be liberated and allowed to see
him again, then bear to him my warmest greetings; then tell him that I
shall love him eternally, and that my last sigh shall be a prayer for
his happiness. I shall never see him again. Bear to him my blessing,
Julia!”
Julia dissolved in tears, and, clinging to her friend, she sobbed: “No,
no, they will not dare to kill you.”
“Then they will condemn me to a life-long imprisonment,” calmly
responded Anna.
“No, no, your head is sacred, and so is your freedom. They dare not
attack either.”
“Nothing is sacred in Russia,” laconically responded Anna.
The sledges stopped at the palace of the Princess Elizabeth. Hardly two
hours had passed since Elizabeth, in those same sledges, had left her
palace as a poor, trembling princess; and now, as reigning empress, she
sent them back to the dethroned regent.
The latter entered the palace of the princess as a prisoner, while
Elizabeth, as empress, took possession of the palace of the czars.