nd who had no other way of entertaining her
than teaching her to march in military fashion, and stand as a sentinel
at his door!

Wounded in her inmost being and her feminine honor, tired of the eternal
pin-prickings with which Elizabeth tormented her, Catharine retreated
into her most retired apartment, there in quiet to reflect upon her
dishonorable greatness, and yearningly to dream of a splendid future.
"For the future," said she, with sparkling eyes to her confidante,
Princess Daschkow, "the future is mine, they cannot deprive me of it.
For that I labor and think and study. Ah, when _my_ future shall have
become the present, then will I encircle my brows with a splendid
imperial diadem, and astonish you with all my greatness and
magnificence."

"But you forget your husband!" smilingly interposed Princess Daschkow.
"He will a little obscure the splendor of your imperial crown, as he
will always be the first in the realm. He is the all-powerful emperor,
and you will be powerless, although an empress!"

Catharine proudly tossed her head, and her eyes flashed.

"I shall one day remember all the mortifications he has inflicted upon
me," said she, "and an hour will come when I shall have a reckoning with
him, and full retribution! Ah, talk not to me of my husband--Russian
emperors have never been immortal, and why should he be so?"

"Catharine!" exclaimed the Princess Daschkow, turning pale, "you cannot
think--"

"I think," interposed Catharine, with an unnatural smile, "I think the
Russian emperors are not immortal, and that this good Empress Elizabeth
is very fortunate in having no emperor who presumes to stand over her
and have a will more potent than her own!"

"Ah, Elizabeth has no will at all!" laughingly responded the princess.

"But I shall have a will!" said Catharine, proudly.

The Princess Daschkow had spoken the truth. Elizabeth had no longer
any will; she let Bestuscheff govern, and was herself ruled by Alexis
Razumovsky, the field-marshal, her husband. She did whatever these two
required, willingly yielding to them in all cases demanding no personal
effort on her part. On this point only had she a will of her own, which
she carried through with an iron hand.

"I have not become empress that I might labor, but that I might amuse
myself," said she. "I have not set the crown upon my head for the
purpose of governing, but for the purpose of enjoying life. Spare me,
therefore, the labor of signing yo