All was again sunshine and pleasure, for the princesses were again
there, and the princesses smiled--must they not laugh and be beside
themselves with joy?
Elizabeth's tender glances sought her friend, the handsome Alexis
Razumovsky. Suddenly her brow as darkened and her cheeks paled, for she
saw him and saw that his eyes did not seek hers!
He stood leaning against a pillar, his eyes fixed upon a lady who had
just then entered the hall, and whose wonderful beauty had everywhere
called forth a murmur of astonishment and admiration. This lady was the
Countess Lapuschkin, the wife of the commissary-general of marine, from
whose family came the first wife of Czar Peter the Great, the beautiful
Eudoxia Lapuschkin.
Eleonore Lapuschkin was more beautiful than Eudoxia. An infinite magic
of youth and loveliness, of purity and energy, was shed over her regular
features. She had the traits of a Hebe, and the form of a Juno. When she
smiled and displayed her dazzlingly white teeth, she was irresistibly
charming. When, in a serious mood, she raised her large dark eyes,
full of nobleness and spirit, then might people fall at her feet with
adoration. Countess Lapuschkin had often been compared and equalled
to the Princess Elizabeth, and yet nothing could be more dissimilar or
incomparable than these two beauties. Elizabeth's was wholly earthly,
voluptuous, glowing with youth and love, but Eleonore's was chaste
and sublime, pure and maidenly. Elizabeth allured to love, Eleonore to
adoration.
The princess had long hated the young Countess Eleonore Lapuschkin,
and considered her as a rival; but that this rival should now gain an
interest in the heart of her favorite, that filled Elizabeth's soul
with anger and agitation, that caused her eyes to flash and her blood to
boil.
Staringly as Alexis Razumovsky's eyes were fixed upon the countess, she,
unconscious of this double observation, stood cheerful and unembarrassed
in the circle of her admiring friends and adorers.
Anna Leopoldowna followed the glance of the princess, and, observing
the beautiful Lapuschkin, said, without thinking of Elizabeth's very
susceptible vanity: "Leonore Lapuschkin is an admirably beautiful woman, is she not? I
never 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. "She
is 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 sentence
of condemnation, and in her heart subscribed the stern order for your
execution.
A longer view of this triumph of the countess became insufferable;
alleging a sudden attack of illness, she immediately took leave of the
regent, and ordered her carriage.