"Name your request once more, I have forgotten it!" said Elizabeth with

vehemence.

Alexis Razumovsky fell upon his knees before her, and, imploringly

raising his hands, said: "Elizabeth, my empress, have compassion for my care and anxiety on your

account; leave me not to tremble for your safety! Grant me the happiness

of seeing you unthreatened and free from danger in your greatness

and splendor! Oh, Elizabeth, listen to the prayer of your faithful

servant--let not this Anna Leopoldowna pass the boundary of your

realm--let not your most deadly enemy escape!"

"Oh, grant his prayer," cried Lestocq, kneeling beside Alexis; "there

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is wisdom in his words; listen to him rather than to the too great

generosity of your own heart! Let not your enemies escape, but seize

them while they are yet in your power!"

"Elizabeth, greatest and fairest woman on earth," implored Alexis, "have

compassion for my anxiety; I shall never laugh again, never be cheerful,

if you allow these your most dangerous enemies to withdraw themselves

from your power!"

Elizabeth bent down to him with a smile of tenderness, and laid her left

hand upon his locks, while with her right she gently raised his head to

herself.

"Love you me, then, so very much, my Alexis," she asked, "that you

suffer with anxiety for my safety? Ah, that makes me happy--that fills

my whole heart with joy! Only look at him, Lestocq; see how beautiful

he is, and then say whether one can refuse the prayer of those heavenly

eyes, those pleading lips?"

"You will, then, grant my prayer?" exultingly asked Alexis.

"Well, yes," tenderly responded she, "since there is no other means of

rendering you again cheerful and happy, I must, indeed, consent to the

fulfilment of your wishes, and not let my enemies quit the country if it

be yet possible to retain them."

"They have proceeded by slow marches, and can hardly now have arrived

in Riga, where they are to rest several days," said Lestocq. "There

will consequently be time for a courier yet to reach them with your

counter-order."

"And he must be dispatched immediately!" said Alexis, pressing the hand

of the empress to his lips. "In this hour will my kind and gracious

empress sign the command for the arrest of Anna Leopoldowna, her

husband, and her son!"

"Already another signature!" sighed Elizabeth. "How you annoy me with

this eternal signing and countersigning! Will it, then, never have an

end? I already begin to hate my name, because of being compelled so

often to write it under your musty old documents. Why did the emperor,

my dear deceased father, give me so long a name!--a shorter one would

now relieve me of half my labor!"

But in spite of her lamentings, Elizabeth nevertheless, a quarter of an

hour later, subscribed the order to arrest the regent, her husband, and

son, and shut them up, preliminarily, in the citadel of Riga.




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