Part 13 (1/2)
The regent had constantly become more serious and gloomy. A dark, fatal suspicion for a moment overclouded her soul, and in her usually unsuspicious mind arose the questions: ”What if Ostermann was right, if Elizabeth is really conspiring, and the French amba.s.sador is her confederate?”
”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 yet experienced the rigor of a Russian winter, and he would not believe that our Neva with its rus.h.i.+ng streams and rapid current would in winter be changed into a very commodious highway. I wagered that I would convince him of the fact, and be the first to cross it on the ice; he would not believe me, and declared that I should lack the courage. Well, of course I did it, and won my wager!”
The regent had not turned her eyes from the princess while she was thus speaking. This serene calmness, this unembarra.s.sed childishness, completely disarmed her. The dark suspicion vanished from her mind; Anna breathed freer, and laid her hand upon her heart as if she would restrain its violent beating. The letter of Lynar slightly rustled under her hand.
A ray of suns.h.i.+ne became visible in Anna's face; she thought of her beloved; she felt his presence, and immediately all the vapors of mistrust were scattered--Anna feared no more, she suspected no more, she again became cheerful and happy--for she thought of her distant lover, his affectionate words rested upon her bosom--how, therefore, could she feel anger?
She only now recollected that she had intended to warn Elizabeth. She therefore threw her arms around the neck of the princess, and, sitting with her upon the divan, said: ”Do you know, Elizabeth, that you have many enemies at my court, and that they would excite my suspicions against 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 me suspected, 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's fingers.
”No, no, be serious for once,” said Anna; ”laugh not, Elizabeth, but listen to me!”
And she related to the listening princess how people came from all sides to warn her; that she was told of secret meetings which Lestocq, in Elizabeth's name, held with the French amba.s.sador, and that the object of these meetings was the removal of the regent and her son, and the elevation of Elizabeth to the imperial throne.
Elizabeth remained perfectly cheerful, perfectly unembarra.s.sed, and even laughingly exclaimed--”What a silly story!”
”I believe nothing of it,” said Anna, ”but at last my ministers will compel me to imprison Lestocq and bring him to trial, in order to get the 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 anxiously exclaimed: ”Ah, Anna, dear Anna, save me from my enemies! Let them not steal away my friends and ruin me! They would also torture me and send me to Siberia; Anna, my friend, my sovereign, save me! You alone can do it, for you know me, and know that I am innocent! The idea that I should conspire against you, against you whom I love, and to whom, upon the sacred books of our religion, I have sworn eternal fidelity and devotion! Anna, Anna, I swear to you by the soul of my father, I am innocent, as also is my friend. Lestocq has never pa.s.sed the threshold of the French amba.s.sador'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 spread everywhere astonishment and consternation. And this shrieking, and weeping, and trembling, was no mask, but truth. Elizabeth was frightened, she wept and trembled from fear, but she had sufficient presence of mind not to betray herself in words. It was fear even that gave her that presence of mind and enabled her to play her part in a manner so masterly that the regent was completely deceived. Taking the princess in her arms, she pressed her to her bosom, at the same time endeavoring to rea.s.sure and console her with tender and affectionate words, with reiterated promises of her protection and her love.
But it was a long time before the trembling and weeping princess could be tranquillized--before she could be made to believe Anna's a.s.severations that she had always loved and never mistrusted her.
”What most deeply saddens me,” said Elizabeth, with feeling, ”is the idea that you, my Anna, could believe these calumnies, and suppose me capable of such black treason. Ah, I should be as bad as Judas Iscariot could I betray my n.o.ble and generous mistress.”
Tears of emotion stood in Anna's eyes. She impressed a tender kiss upon Elizabeth's lips, and with her own hand wiped the tears from the cheeks of the princess.
”Weep no more, Elizabeth,” she tenderly said--”nay, I beg of you, weep no more. It is indeed all right and good between us, and no cloud shall disturb our love or our mutual confidence. Come, let us smile and be cheerful again, that this listening and curious court may know nothing of your tears. They would make a prodigious affair of it, and we will not 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 of the princess. ”Be of good cheer, my friend, and take my imperial word for it that I, whatever people may say of you, will believe no one but yourself; that I will truly inform you of all calumnies, and give you an opportunity to disarm your enemies and defend yourself. Now come, and let us make another tour through the halls.”
Arm in arm the two princesses returned to the nearest hall. This was empty, no one daring to remain there lest they might incur the blame of having overheard and understood some word of the princesses, and thus acquired a knowledge of their private conversation. People had therefore withdrawn to the more distant rooms, where they still preserved a breathless silence.
Suddenly the two princesses, arm in arm, again appeared in the halls, pleasantly conversing, and instantly the scene was again changed, as if by the stroke of a magic wand. The chilling silence melted into an agreeable smile, and all recovered their breaths and former joviality.
All was again suns.h.i.+ne and pleasure, for the princesses were again there, and the princesses smiled--must they not laugh and be beside themselves with joy?