The Daughter of an Empress

by L. Mühlbach

  THE COURT BALL

  Some hours later the _elite_ of the higher Russian nobility wereassembled in the magnificent halls of the regent. Princes and counts,generals and diplomatists, beautiful women and blooming maidens, allmoved in a confused intermixture, jesting and laughing with each other.They were all very gay on this evening, as the regent had herself setthe example. With the most unconstrained cheerfulness, radiant with joy,did she wander through the rooms, dispensing smiles and agreeable wordsamong all whom she approached. She bore in her bosom the glowing andcherished letter of her lover, and at its lightest rustling she seemedto feel the immediate presence of the writer. That was the secret of hergayety and her joyous smiles. People, perhaps, knew not this secret, butthey saw its effects, and, as the all-powerful regent deigned this dayto be cheerful and smiling, it was natural for this host of slavishnobility, who breathe nothing but the air of the court, to adopt forthis evening's motto, "Gayety and smiles."

  As we have said, only smiling lips and faces beaming with joy were tobe seen; all breathed pleasure and enjoyment, all jested and laughed;it seemed as if all care and sorrow had fled from this happy, selectcircle, to give place to the delights of life. They had, with submissivehumility, repressed all discontent and disaffection, all envyings andenmities; they chatted and laughed, while every one knew or suspectedthat they were standing on a volcano, whose overwhelming eruptions mightbe expected at any moment, and yet every one feigned the most perfectinnocence and unconstraint. The ladies scrutinized each other'smagnificent and costly toilets, jesting and exchanging amorous glanceswith the gentlemen displaying orders and diamond crosses.

  A movement suddenly arose in the rooms, the crowd divided andrespectfully withdrew to the sides, and through the rows of smiling,humbly bowing courtiers passed the Princess Elizabeth, followed by herchamberlain Woronzow, her private secretary Alexis Razumovsky, andher physician Lestocq, in the splendor of her beauty and grace, allkindness, all smiles. She was to-day wonderfully charming in hergold-spangled lace dress, which flowed like a breath over herunder-dress of heavy white satin. Her widely-bared, full and luxuriantshoulders were partially covered by a costly lace mantelet, the presentof the French queen, and her long, floating ringlets were surmounted bya wreath of white roses such as only Parisian artistic skill could offerin such perfect imitation of nature. Thus enveloped as it were in a veilof white mist and floating vapors, Elizabeth's beauty appeared only themore full and voluptuous. She looked like a purple rose standingout from a cloud of fluttering snow-flakes, wonderfully charming,wonderfully seductive. Princess Elizabeth was fully conscious of theimpression she made, and this internal satisfaction manifested itselfin a sweet smile which increased the charm of her appearance. With prideand pleasure she enjoyed the triumph of being the fairest of all thebeauties present, and this triumph contented her heart.

  The princess now approached her cousin, the Regent Anna, who came fromthe adjoining room to meet and welcome her, and for one short moment thecourtiers forgot her smiles and her inoffensiveness. All eyes werewith the most intense anxiety directed toward those two women; allconversation, jesting, and laughing were at once suspended. There wasa deep pause, all breathing was smothered, all feared that theloud beating of their hearts might betray them and cause them to besuspected.

  The two princesses now approached each other--Princess Elizabeth wouldhave bent a knee to the regent--Anna, with charming kindness, raisingand kissing her, tenderly reproached her for coming so late.

  "I feared coming too early," said Elizabeth, pressing the regent's handto her lips, "for I doubted whether my fair cousin would find time tobestow a friendly word upon her poor relation, Princess Elizabeth!"

  "How could Elizabeth fear that, when she knows I love her like asister?" tenderly asked the regent, and, taking the arm of the princess,she made with her a round through the rooms.

  Now again came life and movement in this lately so silent and anxiouslyexpectant assemblage; they now knew how they were to deport themselves:Princess Elizabeth was in the good graces of the regent, and thereforethey could receive her polite greetings with the most reverentialthankfulness; they could approach her and admire her beauty withoutincurring suspicion. The stereotyped smile had reappeared upon allfaces, cheerful and lively conversation was again resumed, and whereverthe two arm-in-arm wandering princesses appeared, they were greeted withendless shouts of ecstasy.

  As we have said, it was a gay and very splendid festival. Onlyoccasionally did something like a dark shadow pass through the rooms;only here and there did the chattering guests forget their wontedsmiles; only occasionally did the mask of cheerfulness fall from manya face, discovering serious, anxious features, and suspicious, lurkingglances. Every one felt that a catastrophe was impending, but, as no onecould know its result in advance, all wished to keep as clear of it aspossible, and seem perfectly unconscious and unaffected by these things.As they could not foresee which party would triumph, they found itadvisable to join neither while awaiting coming events, after which theywould hail as lords and masters those who might succeed in attaining topower.

  For the present, Anna Leopoldowna was the ruler, and, as they wereher subjects, they must in humble submission pay homage to her; butElizabeth might become empress, and therefore they must likewise payhomage to her, with a prudent avoidance of the too much, which mightcause them to be suspected in case the regent should still continue inpower.

  These were the dangerous rocks between which this proud and elegantassemblage had to find their winding way, and they did it with smilesand outward ease, with open admiration of both princesses, before whomthey bowed to the ground with slavish submission.

  But suddenly something like a panic-terror, like an unnatural awe, flewthrough all these splendid halls; the smiles were arrested on all faces,the harmless jests on all lips; the pallor of beautiful women becamevisible through their paint, and generals staggered to and fro as if athunderbolt had fallen. As if touched by a magic wand, every one stoodmotionless like statues modelled in clay, no one daring to speak to hisneighbor or make a sign to a friend. They would not see, they would nothear, they only wished to seem to be indifferent and unobserving.

  As we said, a panic-terror pervaded the halls, and like anevil-announcing night-spectre passed over the heads of the stiffened,lifeless crowd the dismal rumor--"The regent and the princess are atvariance; the regent is speaking to her with vehemence, and the princessweeps!"

  This certainly was a terrible announcement. But if the regent was angry,it must be because she knew of the intrigues and machinations of theprincess, and knowing them she could counteract and nullify them;consequently the plans of the princess were upset, Anna Leopoldownawould remain ruler, and her son Ivan the Czar of all the Russias.

  Now the touch, the vicinity of Elizabeth's friends became anevil-breathing pest, a death-bringing terror; they anxiously avoidedthe vicinity of Lestocq, they crowded back from Woronzow and Razumovsky,whom they had before sought with every demonstration of friendliness;they even avoided looking at the French ambassador; for, if the regentknew all, she must know of the intimate relations of Lestocq with theMarquis de la Chetardie, and he was therefore doomed like the otherthree.

  And moreover, this pernicious rumor had not lied; the two princesseswere at this moment no longer so tender and friendly disposed as shortlybefore.

  They had long wandered through the halls, confidingly chatting andsmiling, and Anna, leaning upon Elizabeth's arm--Anna who this daysaw every thing _couleur de rose_--felt a sort of disquiet that peopleshould suspect her who was walking by her side with such innocent candorand unconstraint, seeming not to have the least presentiment of the darkcloud gathering over her head.

  "She is inconsiderate," thought the regent; "she allows herself to becarried away by her temperament, and behind her inclination and herweakness for handsome grenadiers and soldiers, her enemies seek todiscover an insidious and well-considered conspiracy; this is cruel andunjust! This good Elizabeth must be warned,
that she may become morecautious, and give her numerous enemies no occasion for suspecting her.Poor innocent child, so gay and ingenuous, she plays with roses underwhich serpents lie concealed! It is my duty to warn her, and I will."

  Wholly penetrated with this noble and generous resolution, the regentdrew her cousin Elizabeth into the little boudoir which lay at the endof the hall, offering a convenient resting-place for a confidentialconversation.

  But at this moment Anna's eyes fell upon the lace mantelet of theprincess, and quite involuntarily came to her mind the warning words ofOstermann, who had said to her: "The French ambassador, by command ofhis government, provides the princess not only with money, but alsowith the newest modes and most costly stuffs." This lace mantelet couldsurely only come from Paris; nothing similar to it had been seen in St.Petersburg; it certainly required especial sources and especial meansfor the procurement of such a rare and magnificent exemplar.

  A cloud drew over the regent's brow, and in a rather sharp and cuttingtone she said; "One question, princess! How came you by this admirablelace veil, the like of which I have not seen here in St. Petersburg?"

  While putting this question, the regent's eyes were fixed with apiercing, interrogating expression upon the face of the princess: shewished to observe the slightest shrinking, the least movement of herfeatures.

  But Elizabeth was prepared for the question; she had already consideredher answer with the marquis and Lestocq. Her features therefore betrayednot the least disturbance or disquiet; raising her bright and childlikeeyes, she said, with an unconstrained smile: "You wonder, do you not,how I came by this costly ornament? Ah, I have for the last eight daysrejoiced in the expectation of surprising you to-day with the sight ofit!"

  "But you have not yet told me whence you have these costly laces?" askedthe regent in a sharper tone.

  "It is a wager I have won of the good Marquis de la Chetardie," saidElizabeth, without embarrassment, "and your highness must confess thatthis French ambassador has paid his wager with much taste."

  The regent had constantly become more serious and gloomy. A dark,fatal suspicion for a moment overclouded her soul, and in her usuallyunsuspicious mind arose the questions: "What if Ostermann was right,if Elizabeth is really conspiring, and the French ambassador is herconfederate?"

  "And what, if one may ask, was the subject of the wager?" she asked,with the tone of an inquisitor.

  "Ah, this good marquis," said the princess, laughing, "had never yetexperienced the rigor of a Russian winter, and he would not believe thatour Neva with its rushing streams and rapid current would in winter bechanged into a very commodious highway. I wagered that I would convincehim of the fact, and be the first to cross it on the ice; he would notbelieve me, and declared that I should lack the courage. Well, of courseI did it, and won my wager!"

  The regent had not turned her eyes from the princess while she wasthus speaking. This serene calmness, this unembarrassed childishness,completely disarmed her. The dark suspicion vanished from her mind;Anna breathed freer, and laid her hand upon her heart as if she wouldrestrain its violent beating. The letter of Lynar slightly rustled underher hand.

  A ray of sunshine became visible in Anna's face; she thought of herbeloved; she felt his presence, and immediately all the vapors ofmistrust were scattered--Anna feared no more, she suspected no more, sheagain became cheerful and happy--for she thought of her distant lover,his affectionate words rested upon her bosom--how, therefore, could shefeel anger?

  She only now recollected that she had intended to warn Elizabeth. Shetherefore threw her arms around the neck of the princess, and, sittingwith her upon the divan, said: "Do you know, Elizabeth, that you havemany enemies at my court, and that they would excite my suspicionsagainst you?"

  "Ah, I may well believe they would be glad to do so, but they cannot,"said Elizabeth, laughing; "I am a foolish, trifling woman, who,unfortunately for them, do nothing to my enemies that can render mesuspected, as, in reality, I do nothing at all. I am indolent, Anna,very indolent; you ought to have raised me better, my dear lady regent!"

  And with an amiable roguishness Elizabeth kissed the tips of Anna'sfingers.

  "No, no, be serious for once," said Anna; "laugh not, Elizabeth, butlisten to me!"

  And she related to the listening princess how people came from all sidesto warn her; that she was told of secret meetings which Lestocq, inElizabeth's name, held with the French ambassador, and that the objectof these meetings was the removal of the regent and her son, and theelevation of Elizabeth to the imperial throne.

  Elizabeth remained perfectly cheerful, perfectly unembarrassed, and evenlaughingly exclaimed--"What a silly story!"

  "I believe nothing of it," said Anna, "but at last my ministers willcompel me to imprison Lestocq and bring him to trial, in order to getthe truth out of him."

  "Ah, they will torture him, and yet he is innocent!" cried Elizabeth,bursting into tears. And, clasping the regent's neck, she anxiouslyexclaimed: "Ah, Anna, dear Anna, save me from my enemies! Let them notsteal away my friends and ruin me! They would also torture me and sendme to Siberia; Anna, my friend, my sovereign, save me! You alone can doit, for you know me, and know that I am innocent! The idea that I shouldconspire against you, against you whom I love, and to whom, uponthe sacred books of our religion, I have sworn eternal fidelity anddevotion! Anna, Anna, I swear to you by the soul of my father, I aminnocent, as also is my friend. Lestocq has never passed the thresholdof the French ambassador's hotel! Oh, dear, dear Anna, have mercy on me,and do not permit them to torture me and wrench my poor members!"

  With a loud cry of anguish, with streaming tears, pale and trembling,Elizabeth sank down at the regent's feet.

  It was this cry of anguish that rang through the hall, and spreadeverywhere astonishment and consternation. And this shrieking,and weeping, and trembling, was no mask, but truth. Elizabeth wasfrightened, she wept and trembled from fear, but she had sufficientpresence of mind not to betray herself in words. It was fear even thatgave her that presence of mind and enabled her to play her part in amanner so masterly that the regent was completely deceived. Taking theprincess in her arms, she pressed her to her bosom, at the same timeendeavoring to reassure and console her with tender and affectionatewords, with reiterated promises of her protection and her love.

  But it was a long time before the trembling and weeping princesscould be tranquillized--before she could be made to believe Anna'sasseverations that she had always loved and never mistrusted her.

  "What most deeply saddens me," said Elizabeth, with feeling, "is theidea that you, my Anna, could believe these calumnies, and suppose mecapable of such black treason. Ah, I should be as bad as Judas Iscariotcould I betray my noble and generous mistress."

  Tears of emotion stood in Anna's eyes. She impressed a tender kiss uponElizabeth's lips, and with her own hand wiped the tears from the cheeksof the princess.

  "Weep no more, Elizabeth," she tenderly said--"nay, I beg of you, weepno more. It is indeed all right and good between us, and no cloud shalldisturb our love or our mutual confidence. Come, let us smile and becheerful again, that this listening and curious court may know nothingof your tears. They would make a prodigious affair of it, and we willnot give them occasion to say we have been at variance."

  "No, they shall all see that I love, that I adore you," said Elizabeth,covering Anna's hand with kisses.

  "They shall see that we love each other," said Anna, taking the arm ofthe princess. "Be of good cheer, my friend, and take my imperial wordfor it that I, whatever people may say of you, will believe no one butyourself; that I will truly inform you of all calumnies, and give youan opportunity to disarm your enemies and defend yourself. Now come, andlet us make another tour through the halls."

  Arm in arm the two princesses returned to the nearest hall. This wasempty, no one daring to remain there lest they might incur the blame ofhaving overheard and understood some word of the princesses, and thusacquired a knowledge of their private conv
ersation. People had thereforewithdrawn to the more distant rooms, where they still preserved abreathless silence.

  Suddenly the two princesses, arm in arm, again appeared in the halls,pleasantly conversing, and instantly the scene was again changed, asif by the stroke of a magic wand. The chilling silence melted into anagreeable smile, and all recovered their breaths and former joviality.

  All was again sunshine and pleasure, for the princesses were againthere, and the princesses smiled--must they not laugh and be besidethemselves with joy?

  Elizabeth's tender glances sought her friend, the handsome AlexisRazumovsky. Suddenly her brow as darkened and her cheeks paled, for shesaw him and saw that his eyes did not seek hers!

  He stood leaning against a pillar, his eyes fixed upon a lady who hadjust then entered the hall, and whose wonderful beauty had everywherecalled forth a murmur of astonishment and admiration. This lady was theCountess Lapuschkin, the wife of the commissary-general of marine, fromwhose family came the first wife of Czar Peter the Great, the beautifulEudoxia Lapuschkin.

  Eleonore Lapuschkin was more beautiful than Eudoxia. An infinite magicof youth and loveliness, of purity and energy, was shed over her regularfeatures. She had the traits of a Hebe, and the form of a Juno. When shesmiled and displayed her dazzlingly white teeth, she was irresistiblycharming. When, in a serious mood, she raised her large dark eyes,full of nobleness and spirit, then might people fall at her feet withadoration. Countess Lapuschkin had often been compared and equalledto the Princess Elizabeth, and yet nothing could be more dissimilar orincomparable than these two beauties. Elizabeth's was wholly earthly,voluptuous, glowing with youth and love, but Eleonore's was chasteand sublime, pure and maidenly. Elizabeth allured to love, Eleonore toadoration.

  The princess had long hated the young Countess Eleonore Lapuschkin,and considered her as a rival; but that this rival should now gain aninterest in the heart of her favorite, that filled Elizabeth's soulwith anger and agitation, that caused her eyes to flash and her blood toboil.

  Staringly as Alexis Razumovsky's eyes were fixed upon the countess, she,unconscious of this double observation, stood cheerful and unembarrassedin the circle of her admiring friends and adorers.

  Anna Leopoldowna followed the glance of the princess, and, observingthe beautiful Lapuschkin, said, without thinking of Elizabeth's verysusceptible vanity:

  "Leonore Lapuschkin is an admirably beautiful woman, is she not? Inever saw a handsomer one. To look at her is like a morning dream;her appearance diffuses light and splendor. Do you not find it so,Elizabeth?"

  "Oh, yes, I find it so," said Elizabeth, with a constrained smile. "Sheis the handsomest woman in your realm."

  "Yourself excepted, Elizabeth," kindly subjoined the regent.

  "Oh, no, she is handsomer than I!" murmured Elizabeth.

  Poor Leonore! In this moment hath the princess pronounced your sentenceof condemnation, and in her heart subscribed the stern order for yourexecution.

  A longer view of this triumph of the countess became insufferable;alleging a sudden attack of illness, she immediately took leave of theregent, and ordered her carriage.

  Tears of anger and love stood in her eyes as Razumovsky approached toaid her in entering it. Hurling away his hand, she entered the carriagewithout assistance.

  "And may I not accompany you in the carriage as usual?" asked Alexis,with tenderness in his tone.

  "No," she curtly said, "go back into the hall, and again admire thehandsomest woman in the empire!"

  Then, jealousy getting the better of anger, she beckoned to Alexis, whowas about departing in sadness, and commanded him to enter the carriagewithout delay.

  As soon as the carriage door was closed, with an angry movement sheseized both of Razumovsky's hands.

  "Look at me," said she--"look me directly in the eye, and then tell me,is Eleonore Lapuschkin handsomer than I?"