as convinced, was
sure. She accordingly determined that Peter should die.

The commander-in-chief of the Guards at this time was a man named
Theodore Thekelavitaw. He had been raised to this exalted post by
Sophia herself on the death of Couvansky. She had selected him for
this office with special reference to his subserviency to her
interests. She determined now, accordingly, to confide to him the
execution of her scheme for the assassination of Peter.

When Sophia proposed her plan to Prince Galitzin, he was at first
strongly opposed to it, on account of the desperate danger which would
attend such an undertaking. But she urged upon him so earnestly the
necessity of the case, representing to him that unless some very
decisive measures were adopted, not only would she herself soon be
deposed from power, but that he and all his family and friends would be
involved in the same common ruin, he at length reluctantly consented.

The plan was at last fully matured. Thekelavitaw, the commander of the
Guards, selected six hundred men to go with him to Obrogensko. They
were to go in the night, the plan being to seize Peter in his bed.
When the appointed night arrived, the commander marshaled his men and
gave them their instructions, and the whole body set out upon their
march to Obrogensko with every prospect of successfully accomplishing
the undertaking.

But the whole plan was defeated in a very remarkable manner. While the
commander was giving his instructions to the men, two of the soldiers,
shocked with the idea of being made the instruments of such a crime,
stole away unobserved in the darkness, and ran with all possible speed
to Obrogensko to warn Peter of his danger. Peter leaped from his bed
in consternation, and immediately sent to the apartments where his
uncles, the brothers of his mother, were lodging, to summon them to
come to him. When they came, a hurried consultation was held. There
was some doubt in the minds of Peter's uncles whether the story which
the soldiers told was to be believed. They thought it could not
possibly be true that so atrocious a crime could be contemplated by
Sophia. Accordingly, before taking any measures for sending Peter and
his family away, they determined to send messengers toward the city to
ascertain whether any detachment of Guards was really coming toward
Obrogensko.

These messengers set off at once; but, before they had reached half way
to Moscow, they met The