In this hour old
Ostermann had shaken off his illness and thrown away the shield of his
physical sufferings! He would not intrench himself behind his age and
his sickness; he would be a man, and boldly offer his unprotected breast
to the murderous weapons of his enemies!
For, that he was lost he knew! A single glance at his judges made
him certain of it, and from this moment his features wore a calm and
contemptuous smile, an unchangeable expression of scorn. With an ironic
curiosity he followed his judges through the labyrinth of artfully
contrived captious questions by which they hoped to entangle him;
occasionally he gave himself, as it were for his own amusement, the
appearance of voluntarily being caught in their nets, until he finally
by a side spring tore their whole web to pieces and laughingly derided
his judges for not being able to convict him!
He was accused of having, by his cabals alone, after the death of
Catharine, effected the elevation to the throne of Anna, Duchess of
Courland. And yet they very well knew that precisely at that time
Ostermann had for weeks pretended to be suffering from illness, for
the very purpose of avoiding any intermingling with state affairs.
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