by L. Mühlbach
THE WARNING
The 4th of December, the day of the court-ball, to which Elizabeth hadlooked forward with a longing heart because of her anxiety to displayat court her new Parisian dresses, at length had come. A most activemovement prevailed in the palace of the regent. The lord-marshal andthe chamberlains on service passed up and down through the rooms,overlooking with sharp eyes the various ornaments, festoons, garlands,and draperies, to make sure that all was splendid, and tasteful, andmagnificent.
Anna Leopoldowna troubled herself very little about these busy movementsin her palace. She was in her boudoir, delightedly reading a letter fromher distant lover, which had just been received under Julia's address.She had already read this letter several times, but ever recommencedit, and ever found some new word, some new phrase that proved to her theglowing love of her absent friend.
"Ah, he still loves me," murmured she, pressing the letter to her lips;"he really loves me, and this short separation will not estrange hisheart, but cause it to glow with warmer passion! Oh, what a happinesswill it be when he again returns! And he will return! Yes, he will bewith me again on the 18th of December, and, animated by his glances,I shall for the first time appear in all the splendor of an imperialcrown. Ah, they have no presentiment, my councillors and ministers, thatI have selected the 18th of December for the ceremony precisely becauseit is the birthday of my beloved! He will know it, he will understandwhy his Anna has chosen this particular day, and he will thank mewith one of those proud and glowing glances which always made my hearttremulous with overpowering happiness. Oh, my Lynar, what a blessedmoment will be that when I see you again!"
A slight knock at the door interrupted the imaginings of the princess.It was Julia von Mengden, who came to announce the old Count Ostermann.
"And is it for him that you disturb my delightful solitude?" asked theprincess, somewhat reproachfully. "Is this Count Ostermann, isthis whole miserable realm of so much importance to me as the sweetcontemplation of a letter from my friend? When I am reading his letterit seems to me that my beloved himself is at my side, and therefore youmust clearly see that I cannot receive Count Ostermann, as Lynar is withme!"
"Put your letter and your lover in your bosom," said Julia, with alaugh; "he will be very happy there, and then you can receive theold count without betraying your lover's presence! The count has sopressingly begged for an audience that I finally promised to intercedewith you for him."
"Ah, this eternal business!" angrily exclaimed the princess. "They willnever let me have any peace; they harass me the whole day. Even now,when it is time to be making my toilet for the ball--even now I must betormented with affairs of state."
"Shall I, then, send away Count Ostermann?" sulkily asked Julia.
"That I may, consequently, for the whole evening see you with adissatisfied face? No, let him come; but forget not that I submit tothis annoyance only to please you."
With a grateful smile, Julia kissed the regent's hand, and then hastenedto bear to Count Ostermann the favorable answer.
In a few minutes, Count Ostermann, painfully supporting himself upon twocrutches, entered the regent's cabinet.
Anna Leopoldowna received him, sitting in an armchair, and listlesslyrummaging in a band-box filled with various articles of dress andembroidery, which had just been brought to her.
"Well," said she, raising her eyes for a moment to glance at Ostermann,"you come at a very inconvenient hour, Herr Minister Count Ostermann.You see that I am already occupied with my toilet, and am endeavoring tofind a suitable head-dress. Will you aid me in the choice, sir count?"
Ostermann had until now, painfully and with many suppressed groans,sustained himself upon his feet; at a silent nod from the princess heglided down into a chair, and staring at Anna with his piercing andwonderfully-flashing eyes, he said:
"You highness would select a head-dress? Well, as you ask my advice inthe matter, I will give it; choose a head-dress so firm and solid as toprove a fortification for the defence of your head. Choose a head-dressthat will protect you against conspiracies and revolutions, againstfalse friends and smiling enemies! Choose a head-dress that will keepyour head upon your shoulders!"
"Count Ostermann speaks in riddles," said Anna, smiling, and at the sametime arranging a wreath of artificial roses. "Or no, it was not CountOstermann, but a toad singing his hoarse song. Drive away that toad,Ostermann, it is broad day--why, then, have we the croaking of suchnight-birds?"
"Listen to the croaking of this toad," anxiously responded the oldman. "Believe me, princess, when the toads croak in broad daylight, itbetokens an approaching misfortune. Let it warn you, Madame RegentAnna! You have called me a toad--very well, toads always have correctlyprophesied misfortune, and if they can never avert it, it is becauseotherwise people will not listen to such oracular voices of all-wiseNature! Let me be your toad, your highness, and listen to me! I foreseemisfortune for you. Believe my prophecy, and that misfortune may yetbe averted. Mark the signs by which fate would warn you! Did you notyesterday see Elizabeth driving through the streets, chatting andjesting with the soldiers, who crowded around her sledge? Have you notheard how the grenadiers of the Preobrajensky regiment shouted afterher? Has it not been told you that Lestocq holds secret intercourse withthe French ambassador, and know you not that Lestocq is the confidentialservant of the princess? Guard yourself against Princess Elizabeth, yourhighness!"
"Are you in earnest?" smilingly asked Anna, drawing her silvertoilet-glass nearer to her person, and placing a bouquet of flowers inher hair to examine its effect in the glass.
"Oh, Heavens!" cried Count Ostermann, "you adorn yourself with flowers,while I am telling you that you are threatened with a conspiracy!"
"A conspiracy!" laughed the regent, "and Princess Elizabeth to be at thehead of it! Believe me, you overwise men, with all your wisdom, neverlearn rightly to understand women. I, however, am a woman, and Iunderstand Elizabeth. You think that when she kindly chats with thesoldiers, and admits the handsome stately grenadiers into her house, itis done for the purpose of conspiring with them. Go to, Count Ostermann,you are very innocent. Princess Elizabeth has but one passion, but itis not the desire of ruling; and when she chats with handsome men, shespeaks not of conspiracy, believe me." And, laughing, the regent essayeda new head-dress.
"And how do you explain the secret meetings of Lestocq and the Marquisde la Chetardie?" asked Ostermann, with painfully-suppressed agitation.
"Explain? Why should I seek an explanation for things that do not at allinterest me? What is it to me what the surgeon Lestocq has to do withthe constantly-ailing French ambassador? Or do you think I shouldtrouble myself about the _lavements_ administered to an ambassador by asurgeon?"
"Well, then, your highness will allow me to explain their meetings froma less medical point of view? France is your enemy, France meditatesyour destruction, and the Marquis de la Chetardie is exciting theprincess and Lestocq to an insurrection."
"And to what end, if I may be allowed to ask?" scornfully inquired Anna.
"France, struggling with internal and foreign enemies, at war withAustria, involved in disputes with Holland and Spain, France would wishat any price to see the Russian government so occupied with her owndomestic difficulties as to have no time to devote to internationalaffairs. She would provide you with plenty of occupation at home, thatyou may not actively interfere with the affairs of the rest of theworld. That is the shrewd policy of France, and it would fill me withadmiration were it not fraught with the most terrible danger to us. TheMarquis de la Chetardie has it in charge to bring about a revolutionhere at any price, and as an expert diplomatist, he very wellcomprehends that Princess Elizabeth is the best means he can employ forthat purpose; for she, as the daughter of Czar Peter, has the sympathiesof the old Russians in her favor, and they will flock to her with shoutsof joy whenever she may announce to the people that she is ready todrive the foreign rulers from Russia!"
"Ah, our good Russians," laughingly exclaimed
the regent, "they shoutonly for those who make them drunk, and for that the poor princess lacksthe means!"
"The Marquis de la Chetardie has, in the name of his king, offered heran unlimited credit, and she is already provided with almost a millionof silver rubles."
"You have a reason for every thing," laughed the regent. "The princessis poor; let the French ambassador quickly provide her with hismillions. The good princess, I wish she had these millions, and then shecould indulge her love of ornaments and magnificent dresses."
"The marquis has brought her rich dresses and stuffs from Paris," saidOstermann, laconically.
The regent burst into a clear, ringing laugh.
"The marquis is a real _deus ex machina_," exclaimed she. "Wherever youneed him, he appears and helps you out of your trouble. But seriously,my dear count, let it now suffice with these gloomy suspicions. They arealready commencing the dance-music, and you will put me out of tune withyour croaking. A ball, my dear count, requires that one should be in andnot out of tune, and you are pursuing the best course to frighten thesmiles from my lips."
"Oh, could I but do that!" cried Ostermann, wringing his hands--"could Ibut cry in your ear with a voice of thunder: 'Princess, awake from thisslumber of indifference, force yourself to act, save your son, yourhusband, your friends; for we are all, all lost with you!'"
"Oh, speaking of my son," smilingly interposed the regent, "you must seea splendid present which the Emperor Ivan has this day received."
With this she took from a carton a small child's dress, embroidered withgold and sparkling with brilliants, which she handed to the count.
"Only look at this splendor," said she. "The ladies of Moscow haveembroidered this for the young emperor, and it has to-day been presentedby a deputation. Will not the little emperor make a magnificentappearance in this brilliant dress?"
Count Ostermann did not answer immediately. His face had assumed a verypainful expression, and deep signs escaped his agitated breast. Slowlyrising from his seat, with a sad glance at the princess, he said:
"I see that your destruction is inevitable, and I cannot save you; youwill be ruined, and we all with you. Well, I am an old man, and Ipardon your highness, for you act not thus from an evil disposition, butbecause you have a noble and confiding heart. Believe me, generosityand confidence are the worst failings with which a man can be taintedin this world--failings which always insure destruction, and have onlymockery and derision for an epitaph. You are no longer to be helped,duchess. You are on the borders of an abyss, into which you willsmilingly plunge, dragging us all after you. Well, peace be with you!My sufferings have lately been so great, that I can only thank you forfurnishing me with the means of quickly ending them! Madame, we shallmeet again on the scaffold, or in Siberia! Until then, farewell!"
And, without waiting for an answer from the regent, the old man,groaning, tottered out of the room.
"Thank Heaven that he is gone!" said Anna, drawing a long breath whenthe door closed behind him. "This old ghost-seer has tormented me formonths with his strange vagaries, which weigh upon his soul like thenightmare! Happily, thy letter, my beloved, has filled my whole heartwith the ecstasy of joy, else would his dark and foolish prophecies besufficient to sadden me."
Thus speaking, the princess again drew Count Lynar's letter from herbosom and pressed it to her lips. Then she called her women to dress herfor the ball.
