"
"It is no one's fault but mine," calmly responded Anna. "Pardon me, my
husband, pardon me, Julia."
And so they descended to the sledges in waiting below. They placed the
prince in one, and the regent, with Julia, in the other.
"Ah," said Julia, throwing her arms around Anna's neck, "we shall at
least suffer together."
Anna reclined her head upon her friend's shoulder.
"God is just and good," said she. "He punishes me for my criminal love,
and mercifully spares the object of my affections. I thank God for my
sufferings. Julia, should you one day be liberated and allowed to see
him again, then bear to him my warmest greetings; then tell him that I
shall love him eternally, and that my last sigh shall be a prayer for
his happiness. I shall never see him again. Bear to him my blessing,
Julia!"
Julia dissolved in tears, and, clinging to her friend, she sobbed: "No,
no, they will not dare to kill you."
"Then they will condemn me to a life-long imprisonment," calmly
responded Anna.
"No, no, your head is sacred, and so is your freedom. They dare not
attack either."
"Nothing is sacred in Russia," laconically responded Anna.
The sledges stopped at the palace of the Princess Elizabeth.
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