"No," frowardly responded the young man, "I sing no more, when my
princess no longer listens!"
"There, see the ungrateful man," said the princess, with a charming
smile--"he was occupying all my thoughts, and yet he dares complain! You
are a malefactor deserving punishment. Come here to me, Alexis; kneel,
kiss my hand, and beg for pardon, you calumniator!"
"That is a punishment for which angels might be grateful!" responded
Alexis Razumovsky, kneeling to the princess and pressing her hand to his
burning lips. "Ah, that I might oftener incur such punishment!"
"Do you then prefer punishment to reward?" asked Elizabeth, tenderly
bending down to him and looking deep into his eyes.
"She loves him!" whispered Grunstein to the chamberlain Woronzow. "She
certainly loves him!"
Elizabeth's fine ear caught these words, and, slowly turning her head,
she slightly nodded. "Yes," said she, "Grunstein is right--she loves
him! Congratulate me, therefore, my friends, that the desert void in my
heart is at length filled--congratulate me for loving him. Ah, nothing
is sweeter, holier, or more precious than love; and I can tell you that
we women are happy only when we are under the influence of that divine
passion. Congratulate me, then, my friends, for, thank God, I am in
love! Now, Alexis, what have you to say?"
"There are no words to express such a happiness," cried Alexis, pressing
the feet of the princess to his bosom.
"Happiness, then, strikes you dumb," laughed the princess, "and will not
allow you to say that you love me? Such are all you men. You envelope
yourselves with a convenient silence, and would make us poor women
believe the superabundance of feeling deprives you of utterance."
At this moment the door was softly opened, and a lackey, who made his
appearance at the threshold, beckoned to Woronzow.
"What is it, Woronzow?" asked the princess, while, wholly unembarrassed
by the presence of the lackey, she played with the profuse dark locks of
the kneeling Razumovsky.
"An invitation from the Regent Anna to a court-ball, which is to take
place fourteen days hence," said Woronzow.
"Ah, our good cousin is, then, so gracious as to remember us," cried
the princess, with a somewhat clouded brow. "It will certainly be a very
magnificent festival, as we are invited so many days in advance. How sad
that I cannot have the pleasure of being present!"
"And why not, if one may be allowed to ask, princess?" asked Woronzow.
"Why?" sighed Elizabeth. "Ask my waiting-woman; she will tell you that
the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of the great Czar Peter, has not
one single robe splendid enough to render her presentable, without
mortification, at a court-ball of the regent."
"Whatever robe you may wear," passionately interposed Alexis, "you will
still be resplendent, for your beauty will impart a divine halo to any
dress!"