You are the Queen of France, and as such I bend before you;
but Princess Elizabeth is the queen of beauty, and as such I adore
her!'"
Princess Elizabeth smiled, and with harmless unconstraint chatted yet a
long time with the shrewd and versatile ambassador of the French king.
"I have yet one more request to make," said the marquis, when about to
take leave. "But it is a request that no one but yourself must hear,
princess!"
Elizabeth signed to her friends to withdraw into the open anteroom.
"Well, marquis," she then said with some curiosity, "let me now hear
what else you have to ask."
"My king and master has learned with regret that the noble Princess
Elizabeth is not surrounded with that wealth and splendor which is her
due as the daughter of the great emperor and the rightful heir to the
Russian throne. My king begs the favor of being allowed to make good the
delinquency toward you of the present Russian regency, and that he may
have the pleasure of providing you with the means necessary to enable
you to establish a court suitable to your birth and position. I am
provided with sufficient funds for these purposes. You have only to send
me by your physician in ordinary, Lestocq, a quittance signed by you,
and any sum you may require will be immediately paid!"
"Oh," said the princess, with emotion, "I shall never be able
sufficiently to testify my gratitude to the generous King of France.
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