amous slander!" Paul
stared at him with haggard eyes, and then, pressing his hand,
declared, "What I have just told you is the truth."

I am firmly persuaded that Alexander knew nothing of the attempt to be
made upon his father's life. If all the facts I was acquainted with at
the time were not enough, I have conviction from proof afforded by
that Prince's well-known character. Alexander I. had a noble,
magnanimous heart; not only was he always God-fearing, but he was so
honest that even in politics was he never known to resort to guile or
deceit. Very well, then--on hearing that Paul was no more his despair
was so intense that no one who went near him could doubt his innocence
of the murder. The wiliest of men could not have summoned up all the
tears he shed. In the first hours of his grief he refused to be
Emperor, and I know for certain that his wife Elisabeth threw herself
on her knees before him, imploring him to take the reins of
government. He then went to his mother, the Empress, who called to him
as soon as she set eyes upon him from afar: "Go away! Go away! I see
you all covered with your father's blood!" Alexander raised his
tearful eyes to Heaven and said, in accents coming from the soul, "I
take God to witness, mother, that I did not order this awful crime to
be done!" These few words bore such a thorough stamp of truth that the
Empress consented to listen to him, and when she learned how the
conspirators had cheated her son in the carrying out of their
enterprise, she fell at his feet with, "Then I bow to my Emperor!"
Alexander lifted her up, knelt before her in turn, took her in his
arms and bestowed every mark of respect and affection upon her. Nor
did he ever give the lie to this affection. So long as he lived never
did the Emperor Alexander refuse his mother anything, and his respect
toward her was so great that he insisted on maintaining all the
honours of court etiquette for her. Thus she always took precedence
before the Empress Elisabeth.

Paul's death occasioned none of the upheavals which too often follow
upon the departure of a ruler. All those who had participated in his
favour continued to keep the emoluments they owed to his patronage.
His valet Kutaisoff, that barber whom he made so rich, whom he had
decorated with the highest orders in Russia, remained peacefully in
the enjoyment of his master's benefactions. If there was no change in
the lot of Paul's friends, it was otherwise with his v