And Princess Elizabeth ran to the toilet-table to examine critically her
face in the glass.
"Yes, indeed," she cried, with a sort of terror, "it is as I feared. My
eyes are quite dull. Lestocq, you must give me a means, a quick and sure
means, to restore their brightness."
Thus speaking, Elizabeth looked constantly in the glass, full of care
and anxiety about her eyes.
"I shall appear less beautiful to him to-day," she murmured; "he will,
in thought, compare me with Eleonore Lapuschkin, and find her handsomer
than I. Lestocq, Lestocq!" she then called aloud, impatiently stamping
with her little foot, "I tell you that you must immediately prescribe a
remedy that will restore the brilliancy of my eyes."
"Princess," said Lestocq, with solemnity, "I beseech you for a moment
to forget your incomparable beauty and the unequalled brilliancy of your
eyes. Be not only a woman, but be, as you can, the great czar's great
daughter. Princess, the question here is not only of the diminished
brilliancy of your eyes, but of a real danger with which you are
threatened. Be merciful, be gracious, and relate to me the exact words
of your yesterday's conversation with the regent."
The princess looked up from her mirror, and turned her head toward
Lestocq.
"Ah, I forgot," she carelessly said, "you are not merely my physician,
but also a revolutionist, and that is of much greater importance to
you."
"The question is of your head, princess, and as a true physician I would
help you to preserve it. Therefore, dearest princess, I beseech you,
repeat to me that conversation with the regent."
"Will you then immediately give me a recipe for my eyes?"
"Yes, I will."
"Well, listen, then."
And the princess repeated, word for word, to the breathless Lestocq, her
conversation with Anna Leopoldowna. Lestocq listened to her with
most intense interest, taking a piece of paper from the table and
mechanically writing some unmeaning lines upon it with an appearance of
heedlessness. Perhaps it was this mechanical occupation that enabled him
to remain so calm and circumspect. During the narration of the
princess his features again assumed their expression of firmness and
determination; his eyes again flashed, and around his mouth played a
saucy, scornful smile, such as was usually seen there when, conscious of
his superiority, he had formed a bold resolution.
"This good regent has executed a stroke of policy for which Ostermann
will never forgive her," said he, after the princess had finished
her narration. "She should have kept silence and appeared
unconstrained--then we should have been lost; but now it is she."
"No," exclaimed the princess, with generous emotion, "the regent has
chosen precisely the best means for disarming us! She has manifested
a noble confidence in me, she has discredited the whisperings of her
minister and counsellors, and instead of destroying me, as she should
have done, she has warned me with the kindness and affection of a
sister. I shall never forget that, Lestocq; I shall ever be grateful for
that! Henceforth the Regent or Empress Anna Leopoldowna shall have no
truer or more obedient subject than I, the Princess Elizabeth!"