The soldiers surrounded the sledges
in close ranks; no one was allowed a glimpse at those who alighted from
them.
But these extra precautions of the soldiery were unnecessary, as nobody
wished to see the unfortunate objects. Every one timidly glanced aside,
that they might not, by looking at the poor creatures, bring themselves
into suspicion of favoring men suffering under the displeasure of the
government. But though they looked not at them, every one knew who they
were; though they dared not speak to each other, every one tremblingly
said to himself: "There go Munnich and Ostermann to their trials!"
Munnich and Ostermann, the faithful servants of Peter the
Great--Munnich, whom Prince Eugene called "his beloved pupil;"
Ostermann, of whom the dying Czar Peter said he had never caught him in
a fault; that he was the only honest statesman in Russia--Munnich and
Ostermann, those two great statesmen to whom Russia was chiefly indebted
for what civilization and cultivation she had acquired, were now accused
of high-treason, and sent for trial before a commission commanded to
find them guilty and to punish them. They were to be put out of the way
because they were feared, and to be feared was held as a crime deserving
death!
Firm and outrageous stood they before their judges.
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