For a moment Anna was overpowered by this unexpected horror; then she
calmly rose erect, and pressed her son more closely to her bosom.
"We are all lost," whispered she, "prisoners forever! Poor child--poor,
unhappy husband!"
"Despair not," said Prince Ulrich, "all may yet turn out well! Who knows
how soon aid may reach us!"
Anna lightly shook her head, and thinking of the last words of her
friend, she murmured low: "Punishment passes, but love remains!"
THE PALACE OF THE EMPRESS
The new empress, Elizabeth, had rewarded and punished, and with that
thought she had finished her imperial labors and forever dismissed all
her difficulties.
"I have shaken off my imperial burdens," said she to her friends;
"let us now begin to enjoy the imperial pleasures. Ah! we shall lead
a pleasant life in this splendid palace. My first law is this: No one
shall speak to me of government business or state affairs. I will have
nothing to do with such things, do you hear! For what purpose do I have
my ministers and my council? Go you with such wearisome questions to my
grand chancellor, Tscherkaskoy, and my minister, Bestuscheff; they shall
govern for me. I can demand that of them, as I pay them for it.
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