But as all remained silent, and as neither God nor man, nor yet the
empress, had mercy upon her, a wild rage took possession of Eleonore's
soul.
Raising her eyes toward heaven with flaming glances, she exclaimed:
"Woe to this merciless Elizabeth! Woe to this woman who has no
compassion for another woman! What she now does to me, do Thou also to
her, my God and Lord! Grant that she be flayed as she has now flayed
me! Grant her a daughter, and let that daughter before her mother's eyes
suffer what I now suffer, O my God! Woe to Elizabeth, and woe to you,
ye cowardly slaves, who can look on and see a woman flayed and tortured!
Shame and perdition to Russia and its Empress Elizabeth!"
These were Eleonore's last words. With a wild rage her executioners
seized her for the purpose of tearing out her tongue. And when that was
accomplished, and her husband and son had suffered a similar martyrdom,
all three were placed upon a _kibitka_, to be conveyed to Siberia.
Eleonore could no longer speak with her tongue, but her eyes spoke,
and those eyes continued to repeat the prayer for vengeance she had
addressed to Heaven: "Grant to this Empress Elizabeth a daughter, and
let that daughter's sufferings be like mine.
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