gth, then, I have a name
by which I can call you! Alexis, was not that the name of my father? Oh,
that is a good omen! You bear the name of my father, whom my mother so
dearly loved!"

"And whom the empress, impelled by love, raised to the position of her
husband," whispered Orloff, bending nearer to her and pressing her hand
to his bosom. "Could you, indeed, love as warmly and devotedly as your
mother loved her Alexis?"

The young maiden blushed and trembled, but a sweet smile played upon her
lips, and although she cast down her eyes and did not look at him, yet
Count Orloff saw that he had given no offence, and might venture still
further.

He gently encircled her delicate form with his arm, and, inclining his
mouth so close to her ear that she felt his hot breath upon her cheek,
whispered: "Will Natalie love her Alexis as Elizabeth loved Alexis
Razumovsky? Ah, you know not how boundlessly, how immeasurably I love
you! Yes, immeasurably, Natalie. You are my happiness, my life, my
future. Command me, rule me, make of me a traitor, a murderer! I will do
whatever you command; at your desire I could even murder my own father!
Only tell me, Natalie, that you do not hate me; tell me that my love
will not be rejected by you; that this passion, under which I almost
succumb, has found an echo in your heart, and that you will one day say
to me, as Elizabeth said to your father, 'Alexis, I love you, and will
therefore make you my husband!' You are silent, Natalie; have you no
word of sympathy, of compassion for me! Ah, I offer up all to you, and
you--"

He could proceed no further; he saw her turn toward him; he suddenly
felt a glowing kiss upon his lips, and then, springing up from her seat,
she fled through the rooms like a frightened roe, and took refuge in her
boudoir, which she locked behind her.

Orloff glanced after her with a triumphant smile. "She is mine," thought
he; "I am here living through a charming romance, and Catharine will be
satisfied with me!"

Yes, she was his; she now knew that she loved him, and with joyful
ecstasy she took this new and delightful feeling to her heart; she
welcomed it as the joy-promising dawn of a new day, a precious new life.
She permitted this feeling to stream through her whole being, her whole
soul; she made it a worship for her whole existence.

"You see," she said to Marianne, "so had I dreamed the man whom I should
one day love. So brave, so proud, so beautiful. Ah, it is