That is all!"
And the princess, letting her head glide upon Razumovsky's shoulder, as
if exhausted by this long speech, closed her fatigued eyelids.
"Ah, if Czar Peter, your great father, could hear you," sadly said
Lestocq, "he would spurn you for such pusillanimity, princess."
"It is, therefore, fortunate for me that he is dead," said the princess,
with a smile. "And now, my dear Lestocq, if you know nothing further,
let this suffice you: I tell you, once for all, that I have no desire
for this imperial throne. I would crown my head with roses and myrtles,
but not with that golden circle which would crush me to the earth.
Therefore, trouble me no more on this subject. Be content with what
I am, and if you cannot, well--then I must be reconciled to being
abandoned by you!"
"I will never desert you, even if I must follow you to suffering and
death!" exclaimed Alexis Razumovsky, casting himself at the feet of the
princess.
"We will remain true and faithful to you unto death!" cried Woronzow and
Grunstein.
"Well, and you alone remain silent, Lestocq?" asked the princess, with
tears in her eyes.
"I have not yet come to the end of my bad news," said Lestocq, with a
clouded brow.
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