prisoner is Marpha, the lady of Novogorod, who, by her courage and her
wealth, had laboured to preserve its independence.

"Here the Great Prince rapped with his staff at a grating; at the
knock there looked out an old roman, who was fervently praying on her
knees. She was dressed in a much-worn high cap, and in a short veil,
poor, but white as new-fallen snow; her silver hair streamed over a
threadbare mantle: it was easy to guess that this was no common woman.
Her features were very regular, in her dim eyes was expressed
intellect, and a kind of stern greatness of soul. She looked proudly
and steadily at the Great Prince.

"'For whom wert thou praying, Marphousha?' asked the sovereign.

"'For whom but for the dead!' she sullenly replied.

"'But for whom in particular, if I may make bold to ask?'

"'Ask concerning that of my child, thou son of a dog--of him who was
called thy brother, whom thou murderedst--of Novgorod, which thou
hast drowned in blood, and covered with ashes!'

"'O, ho, ho!... Thou hast not forgotten thy folly, then--Lady of
Novgorod the Great.'

"'I was such once, my fair lord!'

"At these words she arose.

"'Wilt thou not think again?'

"'Of what?... I said that I was praying for the dead. Thy Moscow,
with all its hovels, can twice a-year be laid in ashes, and twice
built up again. The Tartar hath held it two ages in slavery.... It
pined, it pined away and yet it remains whole. It hath but changed
one bondage for another. But once destroy the queen--Novgorod the
Great--and Novgorod the Great will perish for ever.'

"'How canst thou tell that?'

"'Can ye raise up a city of hewn stone in a hundred years?'

"'I will raise one in a dozen.'

"'Ay, but this is not in the fairy tale, where 'tis done as soon as
said. Call together the Hanse traders whom thou hast driven away.'

"'Ha, hucksteress! thou mournest for the traders more than for
Novgorod itself.'

"'By my huckstering she grew not poor, but rich.'

"'Let me but jingle a piece of money, and straight will fly the
merchants from all corners of the world, greedy for my grosches.'

"'Recall the chief citizens whom thou hast exiled to thy towns.'

"'Cheats, knaves, rebels! they are not worth this!'

"'When was power in the wrong? Where is the water of life that can
revive those thou hast slain? Even if thou couldst do all this,
liberty, liberty would