ood that he had fallen into disgrace--not
that he had committed any error or crime. It was only that Count
Orloff was handsomer and more amiable than himself, or at least
that he seemed so to the empress. Therefore Feodor's presence was
inconvenient to her; for at that time in the commencement of her
reign, Catharine had still some modesty left, and the place of
favorite had not yet become an official position at court, but only a
public secret. As yet, she avoided bringing the discharged favorite in
contact with the newly appointed one, and therefore Feodor had to be
removed before Count Alexis Orloff could enter on his duties.

Prince Feodor Stratimojeff crushed the perfumed imperial note in his
hand, and muttered through his set teeth: "She has sacrificed me to
an Orloff! She wishes to send me away, that she may more securely play
this new farce of love. Very well; I will go, but not to return to be
deceived anew by her vows of love and glances of favor. No! let this
breach be eternal. Catharine shall feel that, although an empress, she
is a woman whom I despise. Therefore let there be no word of farewell,
not even the smallest request. She bids me go, and I go. And would it
not seem as if Fate pointed out to me the way I am to go? Is it not
a strange chance that Catharine should choose me for this mission to
Germany?"

It was indeed a singular accident that the empress unintentionally
should have sent back her discharged favorite to the only woman whom
he had ever loved. He was sent as ambassador extraordinary to Berlin,
to press more urgently her claims on a Prussian banker, to bring up
before the Prussian department for foreign affairs the merchant John
Gotzkowsky with regard to her demand for two millions of dollars;
and, in case he refused to pay it, to try in a diplomatic way whether
Prussia could not he induced to support this demand of the empress,
and procure immediate payment.

This was the mission which Catharine had confided to Prince
Stratimojeff, who, when he determined to undertake it, said to
himself: "I will take vengeance on this proud woman who thinks to
cast me off like a toy of which she has tired; I will show her that
my heart is unmoved by her infidelity; I will present to her my young
wife, whose beauty, youth, and innocence will cause her to blush for
shame."

Never had he been so fascinating and lively, so brilliant and
sparkling with wit, as on the evening preceding his departure. His