sia so great and happy; he
had explained to her how Count Paulo Rasczinsky had flown with her
on the day of her mother's death, in order to preserve her from the
pursuits of her mother's successor, the cunning and cruel Peter III.,
and to insure to her the realm at a later period. He had then spoken to
her of Catharine, who had forcibly possessed herself of the throne of
her unworthy husband, and taken the reins of government into her own
hands. He had spoken to her of Catharine's cruelty and despotic tyranny;
he had told her that all Russia groaned under the oppression of this
foreigner, and that a universal cry was heard through the whole realm,
of lamentation and longing, a cry for her, the Russian princess,
the grand-daughter of Peter the Great, the daughter of the beloved
Elizabeth.

"You are called for by all these millions of your oppressed subjects
now trodden in the dust," said he; "toward you they stretch forth their
trembling hands, from you they expect relief and consolation, from you
they expect happiness!"

"And I will bring them happiness," exclaimed Natalie, with emotion. "I
will dry the tears of misery and console the suffering. Oh, my people
shall love me as my mother once did!"

"The noblest of the land have pledged their property and their lives to
give you back to your people," said Orloff; "we have solemnly sworn it
upon the altar of God, and for the attainment of this end no one of us
will shun want or death, treason or revolt. Look at me, Natalie! I stand
before you a traitor to this empress, to whom I have sworn faith and
obedience; she has heaped favors upon me, and at one time I was
even passionately devoted to her! But Count Paulo awoke me from that
intoxication; he roused me from the condition of a favorite of the
empress; he taught me to see the cruel, bloodthirsty empress in her true
form; he spoke to me of your sacred rights, and when I recognized
and comprehended them, I collected myself, vowed myself your knight,
devoting myself to the defence of your rights, and swore to leave no
artifices, no dissimulation, nor even treason itself, unessayed for the
promotion of this great, this sublime object! Princess Natalie, for your
sake I have become a traitor! The admiral of the Russian fleet, he whom
the world calls the favorite of the empress, Count Alexis Orloff, lies
at your feet and swears to you eternal faith, devotion, and adoration!"

"Alexis Orloff!" she joyfully exclaimed, "at len