mess of the Lancers of the Guard, where he declared that he had spent a
most pleasant evening. He drove in a motor-car back to Tsarskoye Selo in
a very enjoyable frame of mind, which did not require the encouragement
of his aide-de-camp, who sat next to him, to become a boisterous one.
Lots of champagne had been drunk during the meal, and even after, and
when some one in the gay assembly had ventured to say that the only pity
of the whole thing was that no representatives of the fair sex had been
invited to enliven the party with their presence, Nicholas II. had
heartily echoed the regret expressed by the officer in question. Orloff,
when alone with the Sovereign, had very cleverly turned the conversation
into the same channel, and at last had wormed out of his Imperial Master
the confession that he was very unhappy at the extreme coldness of
character of his Consort, whose beauty he admired just as much as on the
day he had married her. The Colonel, upon this, had ventured to express
the conviction that this coldness was only assumed, and proceeded
perhaps from jealousy more than from anything else. When at last
Tsarskoye Selo was reached, instead of accompanying Nicholas to his own
apartments, as it was part of his duties to do, he brought him to the
door of the Empress’s room, which he opened and closed upon him.
The next day a pale and haggard woman appeared in Anna Wyrubewa’s house,
coming to seek consolation in what she considered an overwhelming
misfortune, and while she was sobbing out the agony of her soul with her
head hidden in her friend’s lap, a strong man who had borne many a
misfortune without flinching, and who had stood calm and unmoved while
his heart had been breaking, was sitting alone in his room, his head
hidden in his hands, and hot tears dropping one by one between his
fingers on the table over which he was leaning, in his overwhelming
despair.
XII
LOVED AT LAST
After a storm there comes, generally, so they say, at least, a great
calm. And in a certain sense this happened in regard to the troubled
mind of the Empress Alexandra. As time went on, she recognized the value
of the good advice which she had received from Madame Wyrubewa as well
as from Colonel Orloff. Her relations with the Czar, which had been more
than strained for long months, became gradually better when she could at
last tell him that she had once again, and this time without any
mistake, the hope of giving him the Heir for which they had been
longing. She saw his former confidence in her return, together with his
affection; an affection to which she did not perhaps respond, but which
she nevertheless appreciated, perhaps because she was told she ought to
do so.
The fact was that her two friends were doing their best to get her to
take a healthier view of her own position than had been the case until
then. Intrigues at the Court were getting worse and worse, as the
various events which finally brought about the Japanese war were slowly
unfolding themselves, and it became every day more important for the
security of the Empress that she should not disinterest herself from all
that was going on around her, as had been her wont, since she had
allowed disappointment and sorrow to overpower her.
It was an anxious and a critical time for the dynasty as well as for the
country that was coming on, and Anna Wyrubewa with her clear mind was
very well aware that such was the case. She used to hear all the gossip
in the various circles of St. Petersburg society, and she knew very well
that a war was wished for by the enemies of the existing order of
things. They saw in it the possibility of overthrowing the dynasty, as
the mistakes inevitable in dealing with such a corrupt administration as
the Russian one would appear in a new, bold light before the horrified
eyes of the public. She was also perfectly aware of the growing
unpopularity of Nicholas II., and of the way in which he was daily
losing what still remained of the former short-lived affection his
subjects had felt for him. She would have liked the Empress to assert
herself, and to claim as her right to be initiated in what was going on
in the domain of public affairs, but it was still too early for
Alexandra to avail herself of this advice. The Czarina did not feel sure
of her ground as yet, and she only replied to her friend’s adjurations
that, if she were lucky enough to give birth to a son, she would follow
her advice to the letter; in the mean while she felt afraid of being
snubbed by the Emperor, who, though he treated her with far more
consideration than he had done for a long time, still kept her in total
ignorance of all questions relating to the affairs of the State. On the
other hand, he did not hesitate to discuss them with his mother, the
Dowager Empress, and even occasionally with his sisters and his
brother-in-law, the Grand-Duke Alexander Michaylovitch, who had always
been his great friend and favorite.
The delicate condition of health of Alexandra Feodorowna furnished her
with the pretext she required to isolate herself more than ever from her
family, and she used to spend long hours with Madame Wyrubewa in the
latter’s small house, and whenever she went there she met, as if
accidentally, Colonel Orloff, whose faithful, devoted eyes followed her
with a love which she could not have helped noticing, even if she had
not been aware of its existence. She was a woman gifted with a very pure
mind, given to idealize the people she cared for and her own feelings in
regard to them. She soon grew to think of the young officer as of a
kind of guardian angel sent by Providence to help her in the various
difficulties of her daily existence, and with a selfishness almost
touching in its unconsciousness she took to confiding to him her various
doubts and perplexities, and to initiate him into all the details of her
married life, together with the constant disgust and struggles which
attended it, not suspecting that by doing so she was breaking the heart
of this one faithful friend who had sacrificed himself so entirely to
her welfare.
In the mean while events had been rapidly unfolding themselves. The war
with Japan had begun and was progressing, together with its long series
of appalling disasters coming one on top of the other. Mukden had been
fought, the _Pétropawlosk_ had gone down in the waves of the Pacific,
with brave Admiral Makharoff and its whole crew of officers and men, and
the catastrophe of Tsu Shima had also taken place. These had been met by
the utter indifference of Nicholas II., who had not even thought it
worth while to interrupt the game of tennis he had been playing when the
telegram with the news of this unprecedented misfortune had been brought
to him. In the interior of the country trouble was also brewing. The
Grand-Duke Sergius, the uncle of the Czar and the husband of the
Empress’s eldest sister, Elisabeth, had fallen under the bomb of an
assassin in Moscow, and the famous Minister of the Interior, Von
Plehwe, whose very name was a horror to all the liberal elements in the
land, had met with the same fate.
It was evident that grave events were at hand, and that unless something
was attempted to meet them the very foundations of the Throne might come
to be shaken by this rising tide of discontent which threatened to
engulf the dynasty in its waves. It was high time something were done,
and that some one should interfere to save Nicholas II. from impending
calamity. Who could do so better than his wife and the mother of his
children? Thus reasoned Anna Wyrubewa, and it was also what her friend,
Colonel Orloff, thought; but that was not at all what was wished by the
various other forces at work trying to dictate to the weak-minded Czar
the conduct he ought to hold in the presence of these unexpected
difficulties with which he found himself confronted, to his dismay and
surprise. There had got about among the public an inkling as to the
possibility of the Empress becoming all at once a factor to be reckoned
with in the general situation. Immediately the efforts of all her
enemies became concentrated on that one point--how best to eliminate
this new element, which they understood but too well would necessarily
counteract their own influence.
A careful watch was set on the person and the conduct of the young
Sovereign. It did not bring any of the hoped-for results, because both
Anna Wyrubewa and Colonel Orloff were prudent people, who contrived to
arrange matters in such a way, that no one suspected they used to see
Alexandra Feodorowna every day, and who had persuaded the latter to
resort to all kinds of precautions whenever she visited her friend.
One day, however, an officer who was serving in that very same regiment
of Lancers to which Colonel Orloff belonged made a playful remark to the
effect that he was believed to be a favorite with the lovely and cold
Czarina, who had never hitherto allowed her glances to fall on any man
whatsoever. The young Colonel became immediately alarmed, the more so
that he could not discover the source whence this piece of gossip had
arisen. He sought Madame Wyrubewa and told her that he had made up his
mind to ask to be transferred to a regiment at the front, so as to put a
quick end to any possible unpleasantness. She heartily agreed with him
in the opinion that this was the best thing he could do, for the sake of
everybody, and especially for that of the Empress.
The latter had to be told of Orloff’s resolution. But when he broke to
her his intention to request the favor of risking his life in distant
Manchuria, she gave way to a fit of despair that absolutely frightened
her two devoted friends, and implored him not to leave her, at least not
until her child had been born, saying with sobs and tears that she would
never be able to undergo the trial which awaited her if she did not know
that he was there, as near to her as possible, and that she could see
him after all was over, to wish her joy, if the expected babe were a
son, and to comfort her if it turned out to be another girl, the one
thing which she feared above all others.
At first the Colonel protested. He tried to explain to the despairing
and over-excited woman that it was for her sake he wished to go away, at
least for a while, and that it cost him more than he could say to come
to such a resolution, but that he loved her far too much to let her run
any risk. The Empress would not listen to anything, and at last she told
him that if he went away she would consider it as a proof that he did
not love her, and that all he had said to her had been nothing but empty
phrases, such as no doubt he had repeated already to many more women
than he even cared to remember. Orloff was stung to the quick, but he
remained, nevertheless, firm until Alexandra Feodorowna exclaimed that
unless he promised her to remain by her side she would make a scandal
and depart for Darmstadt, whether the Emperor allowed her to do so or
not. Man-like, he yielded, without suspecting whither this weakness was
to lead him sooner than he could imagine.
While this drama was going on in the pretty little house whither Anna
Wyrubewa received the Empress of All the Russias, unknown to the rest of
the world, so she believed, at least, speculations were rife as to the
eventual sex of the child expected by the Czar and Czarina. Everybody,
with few exceptions, hoped that it would be another daughter, none more
ardently than the Dowager Empress, who would have infinitely preferred
the Throne passing to her youngest son than to any boy born to a
daughter-in-law whom she made no secret of disliking, and whom she
distrusted even more than she disliked. She realized very well that
Alexandra Feodorowna, if she was the mother of an Heir to the Imperial
Crown, would become a most important personage in the State, as well as
in the eyes of her husband. This was not to be desired, in view of her
strong German sympathies, which she had lately exhibited more than she
had ever dared to do before.
The French alliance was very popular at the time I am talking about, and
the Empress was considered as its principal and most bitter adversary.
This was one more reason for not wishing her to acquire suddenly an
importance that had never been awarded to her by the nation since she
had become its Sovereign.
For months this kind of thing went on. Alexandra Feodorowna knew herself
to be watched with anything but kind eyes, and this consciousness of the
ill-will of which she was the object added to her anxiety and moral
sufferings. As the weary months dragged on, she thought more and more of
Orloff, and suddenly she realized that she loved him more than any one
in the world, and she began to understand all that she must have cost
him, in pain and vain regret.
But for her, at least, consolation was at hand. One July morning the
Imperial Family were called together with the principal Court and State
functionaries in all haste to Peterhof. The long-expected event was at
hand, and a few hours would decide as to the future of the Romanoff
dynasty. People with anxious faces thronged the vast halls of the
Palace, waiting for news which seemed to be very long in coming.
At last, just as the clock struck noon, a doctor entered the room, and
told the assistants that Nicholas II. was the father of a son.
There was one person present who listened to this announcement with an
impassible face but with a breaking heart, and who could barely find
sufficient strength to reach the little cottage where Anna Wyrubewa was
sitting pale and anxious, in expectation of--she did not know well
herself what. When she saw Colonel Orloff she extended toward him her
two hands in a gesture of passionate greeting. But what was her surprise
to see him fall on the sofa beside her and bury his head in the silk
cushions, with such sobs as rarely shake the frame of a strong man. He
had had the courage to sacrifice his personal happiness at the shrine of
the woman whom he adored with such religious fervor, but it was more
than he could bear to find how thoroughly this sacrifice had been
accepted by Providence, and for just a few minutes he had hated this
new-born child, whom he knew but too well was going to usurp the place
he had hoped to keep forever in the heart and the affections of
Alexandra Feodorowna.
XIII
HE DIED TO SAVE HER HONOR
The christening of the little Grand-Duke Alexis was solemnized with
great pomp at Peterhof, and there is no doubt but that the position of
his mother became, after his birth, quite different from what it had
been before this much-wished-for baby had appeared. For one thing, the
talk of a divorce between her and the Czar, which had been so frequently
indulged in, came to an end, and it was felt, even by the most bitter
enemies of the Empress, that it would be waste of time to think about
the possibility of its ever taking place.
Nicholas II., in his joy at having at last an Heir, seemed to have
returned to his former allegiance in regard to his wife, and he began to
confide in her far more than he had done formerly, even consulting her
on different occasions. She was the mother of the future Sovereign, and
as such entitled to a consideration a childless Empress Dowager could
never aspire to in the case of widowhood. It became, therefore,
necessary to initiate her in matters concerning the government of the
country, and the Czar did this the more willingly that at heart he
distrusted his brother, and his numerous uncles and cousins, and feared
that in case he died before the small Cesarewitsch had reached his
majority the interests of the latter would not be looked after as well
as would be necessary, unless his mother were there to protect them.
Alexandra Feodorowna, on the other hand, urged by her two friends,
Madame Wyrubewa and Colonel Orloff, began to show far more interest in
public affairs than she had ever done since her marriage, and she tried
to establish between herself and her husband more intimate relations
than she had cared to do formerly, when she used to spend her days
lamenting over sorrows, imaginary most of the time, but sufficiently
acute to render her intensely miserable. Her son became the principal
preoccupation of her existence, and she would not intrust his care to
any one, but transformed herself into his nurse, governess, and constant
attendant, forgetting everything else, even the care of her daughters,
in her nervous solicitude for him. Unfortunately the child was born
excessively delicate, and had a curious and rare disease, a weakness of
the blood-vessels, which were affected in such a way that he was
attacked with hemorrhage at the slightest touch; the smallest of knocks
or wounds would endanger his life. He might bleed to death from an
ordinary bruise. An unfortunate accident which occurred when he was two
years old, and which brought about a rupture that necessitated an
operation from which he recovered only by a kind of miracle, only
aggravated the chronic ailment with which he was afflicted.
One may imagine how terrible this state of things proved for the
Empress, who very stupidly, as it seemed to some people, applied herself
to hide from the public the state of physical health of her son, which
had, among other results, that of people supposing him to be even more
dangerously ill than was the case. The truth was that Alexandra feared
that if it were known the boy was afflicted with an incurable disease,
it might add to her own unpopularity. Her friends hoped that she might
bear another son in time, but after the birth of Alexis she never had
any more hopes of maternity, and so there remained nothing else to do
but to try and rear this weak, frail, and puny infant, in whom were
centered all the future hopes of the proud Romanoff dynasty.
Anna Wyrubewa did her best to comfort the sorrowing mother, and both she
and Colonel Orloff agreed that the only thing to do in order to turn her
thoughts into another channel than that of her child’s state of health,
over which she brooded until she had become absolutely morbid in her
constant preoccupation of the painful subject, was to speak to her of
the necessity of becoming the Czar’s principal adviser and counselor.
They tried to induce her to assert herself in the interest of Alexis,
who they assured her would one day outgrow his native weakness and
require her help in the numerous duties entailed upon him by his
position as Heir to the Throne. In a certain sense they succeeded, and
the Empress began to develop an independence of opinions and views in
which she had never dared to indulge before. Ministers were surprised to
hear the Czar say to them, when they pressed him for a reply to some
decision or order they presented to him for confirmation, that he first
wished to discuss the subject with his wife. Somehow there arose among
the public, and especially among the Imperial Family, an impression that
Alexandra had at last completely subjugated her husband, and that she
was henceforward a factor to be reckoned with in every important State
affair which might arise in regard to foreign or home politics.
Of course people did not like it. One had been used for such a long time
to consider the Czarina as a nonentity that it seemed a strange thing to
have suddenly to take her into account; one began to wonder what could
have brought about such an unexpected change in her whole conduct and
demeanor. Maternal love was not sufficient to explain it, and the cause
of it had to be looked for elsewhere, and one fine day her constant
intercourse with Anna Wyrubewa was noticed. Once people were started on
that path, there was but one step to take--to try and find out whether
or not these suspicions were founded on anything tangible. Some
inquisitive persons took to watching the actions of Anna Wyrubewa, and
they were not long in discovering that her house served as a
meeting-place for several people in whom Alexandra Feodorowna was
interested, among others Colonel Orloff, whose hopeless passion for his
Sovereign had been already suspected at different times.
Foremost among these voluntary observators, not to give them another
name, figured members of the Imperial Family who had never taken kindly
to the Consort of Nicholas II., and who hated the idea of her becoming a
power in the State. They tried to find out something to her detriment,
and who also attempted to enroll among their number the Dowager-Empress
Marie, who, however, refused to listen to them, and whose affection for
her eldest son induced her to make an effort to warn her daughter-in-law
of the dangers which were threatening her. But the young Czarina would
not hear anything, and haughtily refused the hand that was extended to
her in sincere friendship. She snubbed Marie Feodorowna in such a manner
that the latter, wounded to the quick in finding her good intentions
misunderstood, swore that she would never again attempt to come to the
help of a person who was so prejudiced against her.
In the mean while, ignorant of the conspiracy which was being engineered
against her, Alexandra continued to spend her afternoons with Madame
Wyrubewa, often taking her little boy with her. The two women watched
the child sleeping in his cradle, and often Colonel Orloff shared their
vigil with a bleeding heart, the baby reminding him of all that he had
suffered for the sake of its mother, but with the consciousness of
having done his duty to both. But one day rumors again reached his ears
that his name had once more become associated with that of the Empress.
This time he made up his mind to go away definitely, no matter how much
she might ask him to stay. He realized, if neither she nor Anna Wyrubewa
did so, that the position was becoming threatening, and that he ought to
put an end to it in some way or other. Unfortunately, when he came to
this conclusion it was already too late.
Madame Wyrubewa’s husband was a naval officer, not gifted with a
superabundance of brains, but honest in his way, and incapable of
intrigues of any kind. He had troubled very little about his wife, and
was perhaps the only man in St. Petersburg and in Tsarskoye Selo who was
not aware of the high favor in which she stood with the Empress. His
duties generally kept him far from his home most of the year, and when
he was there he rarely troubled Anna with his presence. But he was known
to be of a violent disposition, and as a fellow who would not suffer any
stain to rest upon his honor. It was of this man that the enemies of
Alexandra Feodorowna determined to make use in order to ruin her.
Anonymous letters were sent to him accusing his wife of carrying on a
guilty intrigue with Colonel Orloff, intrigue which he was assured the
Empress knew and favored. He was advised to return home unexpectedly any
afternoon between four and five o’clock, when he would find proofs of
the information vouchsafed to him by his unknown friend. The young man,
instead of putting these denunciations in the fire, became so enraged
that he determined to follow the advice of his anonymous correspondent.
After having advised Anna that he was going away on a few days’ cruise,
he waited until the hour that had been indicated to him, and boldly
walked back to his house.
He was met at the door by the Cossack in personal attendance on the
Empress, who informed him that he could not get in. Wyrubew protested,
and was quietly told that the Sovereign was visiting his wife, and that
according to etiquette no one could be allowed to enter a place where
she was unless by her special permission. The officer became furious,
brushed the Cossack aside, and penetrated into the sitting-room, after
having noticed that a military overcoat was hanging in his hall. He
found the apartment empty, but in the adjoining one, which was Anna’s
boudoir, he could hear voices, one of which was distinctly masculine. He
did not hesitate, but made his way inside, to find that his wife was not
there, but that the Empress, pale and lovely, was standing by the
mantelpiece, while Colonel Orloff, on his knees before her, was kissing
passionately the hem of her skirt.
Alexandra Feodorowna gave one cry, which echoed through the whole
building and brought Madame Wyrubewa to her help. Wyrubew himself
remained silent and dazed by the unexpected sight. The only one not to
lose presence of mind was Colonel Orloff, who, starting to his feet,
went up to the intruder with the stern words:
“You are going to give me your word of honor to remain silent.”
Wyrubew passed his hand over his eyes. He could hardly believe his own
senses, and the terrible idea crossed his mind that his wife had been
helping the Czarina in an amorous intrigue, and that very probably he
would have to pay the penalty for this piece of complaisance, which he
did not in the least care to do. He thought that insolence was the best
way to get out of an impossible position with flying colors, and so he
simply sneered in the face of Orloff, with the remark:
“Not I. If you have chosen to abuse my confidence, together with my
wife, you cannot expect me to help you in your villainy.”
Anna rushed to the Empress and took her in her arms, trying to lead her
out of the room. Orloff made a movement forward as if he wanted to
strangle Wyrubew; then he contained himself and said in a low voice:
“You know that you are not speaking the truth. Once more I implore you
not to mention to any one what has taken place here, and I give you my
word of honor to meet you whenever and wherever you like.”