by Mór Jókai
CHAPTER XLV
THE HERALD
The science was not then discovered by which man can compel lightning toconvey his messages, and by means of which any linen-draper nowadays canflash to the other half of the world the news that a son is born to him,or extend an invitation to his partner at the other end of the kingdomto attend the christening next day.
At that period it took eight days before so important a matter as thedeath of Czar Alexander could be transmitted, by means of the fleetestUkraine pony and its rider, from the remote end of the Russian dominionswhere it had occurred to the capital. The first messenger bringing thenews of the Czar's recovery, in fact, arrived before the second. He wasspurred by the good tidings; sorrow went a more leaden pace.
Upon the arrival of the good news, ten members of the imperial house ofRomanoff--the eleventh, Grand Duke Michael, being then at Warsaw withthe Grand Duke Constantine--assembled to early mass in the chapel of theWinter Palace, the highest ecclesiastical dignitary being the celebrant.The chapel was crowded with high officials, magnates, and officers ofrank. The choir intoned the collect, "God preserve the Czar!"
As the protopope was in the act of opening the jewelled book upon thealtar, and with trembling voice was about to begin intoning the prayerfor the Czar's recovery, suddenly, in the devotional stillness, a harshvoice, like the sharp stroke of a bell, called out:
"He is dead already!"
The terrified congregation mechanically made a passage for thenew-comer, whose light-green beshmet was streaming with the mud of manya Russian province--the black mud of the Nogai steppes, the yellow mudof Moscow, the chalky clay of Novgorod, and the greeny slime ofCzarskoje Zelo. In his hand the messenger held a letter, with which hepressed forward through the throng direct to the Grand Duke Nicholas. Itwas the Czarina's letter to the Dowager Czarina.
The Grand Duke, taking the letter, opened it himself.
Then, hurriedly going up to the protopope, whispered something in hisear. Upon which the protopope, covering the crucifix he held in his handwith crape, advanced to the Czarina Marie, saying:
"Thy son is dead!"
And, the choir breaking off their _Te Deum_, in another minute theburial hymn mournfully resounded through the chapel:
"Lord! send him eternal peace!"
The service which had begun as a _Te Deum_ had ended as a requiem.