n receiving the orders of the new empress and being
forcibly separated from the woman who had ruined him.

A day had changed the fate of an empire. Within little more than six
months from his accession the czar had been hurled from his throne and
his wife had taken his place. Peter was sent under guard to Ropcha, a
lonely spot about twenty miles away, there to stay until accommodations
could be prepared for him in the strong fortress of Schluesselburg.

He was never to reach the latter place. He had abdicated on July 14. On
July 18 Alexis Orlof, covered with sweat and dust, burst into the
dressing-room of the empress. He had a startling story to tell. He had
ridden full speed from Ropcha with the news of the death of Peter III.

The story was that the czar had been found dead in his room. That was
doubtless the case, but that he had been murdered no one had a shadow of
doubt. Yet no one knew, and no one knows to this day, just what had
taken place. Stories of his having been poisoned and strangled have been
told, not without warrant. A detailed account is given of poison being
forced upon him by the Orlofs, who are said to have, on the poison
failing to act, strangled him in a revolting manner by their own hands.
Though this story lacks proof, the body was quite black. "Blood oozed
through the pores, and even through the gloves which covered the hands."
Those who kissed the corpse came away with swollen lips.

That Peter was murdered is almost certain; but that Catharine had
anything to do with it is not so sure. It may have been done by the
conspirators to prevent any reversal of the revolution. Prison-walls
have hidden many a dark event; and we only know that the czar was dead
and Catharine on the throne.

_A STRUGGLE FOR A THRONE._

While the armies of Catharine II. were threatening with destruction the
empire of Turkey, and her diplomats were deciding what part of
dismembered Poland should fall to her share, her throne itself was put
in danger of destruction by an aspirant who arose in the east and for
two years kept Russia from end to end in a state of dire alarm. The
summary manner in which Peter III. had been removed from the throne was
not relished by the people. Numerous small revolts broke out, which were
successively put down. St. Petersburg accepted Catharine, but Moscow did
not, and on her visits to the latter city the political atmosphere
proved so frigid that she was glad to get back to the m