Elizabeth remained perfectly cheerful, perfectly unembarrassed, and even
laughingly exclaimed--"What a silly story!"
"I believe nothing of it," said Anna, "but at last my ministers will
compel me to imprison Lestocq and bring him to trial, in order to get
the truth out of him."
"Ah, they will torture him, and yet he is innocent!" cried Elizabeth,
bursting into tears. And, clasping the regent's neck, she anxiously
exclaimed: "Ah, Anna, dear Anna, save me from my enemies! Let them not
steal away my friends and ruin me! They would also torture me and send
me to Siberia; Anna, my friend, my sovereign, save me! You alone can do
it, for you know me, and know that I am innocent! The idea that I should
conspire against you, against you whom I love, and to whom, upon
the sacred books of our religion, I have sworn eternal fidelity and
devotion! Anna, Anna, I swear to you by the soul of my father, I am
innocent, as also is my friend. Lestocq has never passed the threshold
of the French ambassador's hotel! Oh, dear, dear Anna, have mercy on me,
and do not permit them to torture me and wrench my poor members!"
With a loud cry of anguish, with streaming tears, pale and trembling,
Elizabeth sank down at the regent's feet.
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