n from the
wall of the imperial palace upon the soldiers' pikes below, which the men
held up for the purpose of receiving them.

Peter was at this time with his mother in the palace. Natalia was
exceedingly alarmed, not for herself, but for her son. As soon as the
revolution broke out she made her escape from the palace, and set out
with Peter in her arms to fly to a celebrated family retreat of the
emperor's, called the Monastery of the Trinity. This monastery was a
sort of country palace of the Czar's, which, besides being a pleasant
rural retreat, was also, from its religious character, a sanctuary where
fugitives seeking refuge in it might, under all ordinary circumstances,
feel themselves beyond the reach of violence and of every species of
hostile molestation.

Natalia fled with Peter and a few attendants to this refuge, hotly
pursued, however, all the way by a body of the Guards. If the fugitives
had been overtaken on the way, both mother and son would doubtless have
been cut to pieces without mercy. As it was, they very narrowly escaped,
for when Natalia arrived at the convent the soldiers were close upon her.
Two of them followed her in before the doors could be closed. Natalia
rushed into the church, which formed the centre of the convent inclosure,
and took refuge with her child at the foot of the altar. The soldiers
pursued her there, brandishing their swords, and were apparently on the
point of striking the fatal blow; but the sacredness of the place seemed
to arrest them at the last moment, and, after pausing an instant with
their uplifted swords in their hands, and uttering imprecations against
their victims for having thus escaped them, they sullenly retired.

In the mean time the commotion in the city went on, and for several days
no one could foresee how it would end. At length a sort of compromise
was effected, and it was agreed by the two parties that John should be
proclaimed Czar, not alone, but in conjunction with his brother Peter,
the regency to remain for the present, as it had been, in the hands of
Sophia. Thus Sophia really gained all her ends; for the retaining of
Peter's name, as nominally Czar in conjunction with his brother, was of
no consequence, since her party had proved itself the strongest in the
struggle, and all the real power remained in her hands. She had obtained
this triumph mainly through Couvansky and the Guards; and now, having
accomplished her purposes by means