fter his triumph at
Azof, he sent orders that the Tsaritsa must not be at the palace upon
his return, and soon thereafter she was separated from her child
Alexis, placed in a monastery, and finally divorced. At the surrender
of Marienburg in Livonia (1702) there was among the captives the family
of a Lutheran pastor named Glueck. Catherine, a young girl of sixteen,
a servant in the family, had just married a Swedish soldier, who was
killed the following day in battle. We would have to look far for a
more romantic story than that of this Protestant waiting-maid.
Menschikof, Peter's great general, was attracted by her beauty and took
the young girl under his protection. But when the Tsar was also
fascinated by her artless simplicity, she was transferred to his more
distinguished protection. Little did Catherine think when weeping for
her Swedish lover in Pastor Glueck's kitchen that she was on her way to
the throne of Russia. But such was her destiny. She did not know how
to write her name, but she knew something which served her better. She
knew how to establish an influence possessed by no one else over the
strange husband to whom in 1707 she was secretly married.

CHAPTER XVI

RUSSIA KNOUTED INTO CIVILIZATION--PETER DEAD

While Peter was absorbing more territory on the Baltic, and while he
was with frenzied haste building his new city, Charles XII. was still
hiding in Poland. The Turks were burning with desire to recapture
Azof, and the Khan of Tartary had his own revenges and reprisals at
heart urging him on; so, at the instigation of Charles and the Khan,
the Sultan declared war against Russia in 1710.

It seemed to the Russian people like a revival of their ancient glories
when their Tsar, with a great army, was following in the footsteps of
the Grand Princes to free the Slav race from its old infidel enemies.
Catherine, from whom Peter would not be separated, was to be his
companion in the campaign. But the enterprise, so fascinating in
prospect, was attended with unexpected disaster and suffering; and the
climax was finally reached when Peter was lying ill in his tent, with
an army of only 24,000 men about to face one of over 200,000--Tatars
and Turks--commanded by skilled generals, adherents of Charles XII.
This was probably the darkest hour in Peter's career. The work of his
life was about to be overthrown; it seemed as if a miracle could not
save him. Someone suggested that the cupidity of