bition. I have overthrown my husband, be- | earrings in his thick ears, stood gravely the cause I must." The Princess gave her a look full of meaning. "And yet," continued the Empress, without noticing her," and yet every day threatens me with new evil omens! As I, in the Imperial ermine, made my festive entrance into Moscow, hardly one single shout of joy has greeted me. The people stood silent in the streets and gazed, astonished at the display. The Guards repent their action, and this ambitious priesthood which I oppose with the weapons of the age, set up against me this bugbear, this simple Prince Ivan! But this bugbear unfortunately has blood in its veins, and I shall be forced to shed this blood." lean Tartar with bronze features, and long, black moustache. Above the yellow, bald head of the Kalmuck looked the noble features and bold eyes of the Cossacks. Serfs, farmers, mighty magnates, soldiers, Jews, Lipowaners, Jesuits. A wonderful antechamber. In the midst stood a young officer, slender, well-formed, with the pale dreamy face and large quiet eyes of a fanatic. "Lieutenant Mirowitsch of Smolensk regiment," cried the official chamberlain. A few moments more, and the young officer stood before his Empress. She wore over the black dress which swelled out rustling over the wide hoop-skirt, the broad blue band of some Order; in the "But how?" asked the Princess with a high white toupet a small Imperial apple charming naivete. "How?" the Empress repeated, lost in thought. "How? that is it. On ermine every spot of blood shows so horribly plain, I dare not shed any fresh blood." "Is it necessary?" laughingly said the little Princess, playing with the lace border of her mistress' morning-dress. "You will put him to death in some amiable way without making any show." The Empress arose, walked to the window and remained silent. "There are moments, my child," said she. after a pause, " when Sovereignty makes me weary and comfortless." Princess Daschkow remained silent and motionless. made of a single diamond with the Greek cross; the attribute of sovereignty. But the young officer saw only the beautiful form and the luxuriant locks which fell down around the crowned head; he saw for the first time the most beautiful woman of his country, who, well-pleased and gracious, examined him from head to foot, as she would a slave. He knelt and delivered his petition. "Arise!" "I do homage to the beautiful woman,' said the officer modestly, "from the monarch I demand my rights." Thus saying, he arose and looked fearlessly in Catharine's eyes, over which the haughty brows slightly "And what is the worst, Orlow has become contracted. tedious to me." The "little" Catharine looked up astonished at the "great" Catharine; then the loveliest, sauciest smile played around the corners of her mouth. "Now we will make our toilets," exclaimed the Empress laughing, " and then mount our horse and show our face to our faithful people." III. The Empress gave audience in her summer palace. "What is your name?" "In regiment Smolensk." Again the haughty brow frowned. "Now, what do you wish?" "First of all, to ask a question of your Majesty." "Well, this audience is at least original. Ask then, Lieutenant what is your name?" "Mirowitsch." "Lieutenant Mirowitsch, you amuse me.” Mirowitsch clenched his teeth, while his Two-quarters of the world had sent some of their strangest types to her reception rooms. By the side of the fat merchant of Novgorod, with his full beard and large gold | face flushed deeply. "Now, ask! I command it." "Can you bear the truth, your Majesty?" The Nero-like brows quickly contracted, but even in the next moment the beautiful eyes of the monarch rested with interest on the young officer. "Now a question to you, Lieutenant what is the name?" "Mirowitsch." The young officer threw himself at her feet and two tears fell on her hands. "You are a child, Lieutenant!" cried Catharine surprised. "Read Voltaire-and wait in the city for my decision. Do you understand, Mirowitsch ?" Confused, he pressed the little warm hand of the Empress once more to his lips, and once again. Then he arose and rushed out "Lieutenant Mirowitsch, are you fond of of the cabinet. reading?" "Passionately, your Majesty." "You read romances, I observe; your fancy is thus inclined, your tone. Now I also for a long time have read romances. Read good books, Mirowitsch, at all events, Voltaire. I am just reading his history of Peter the Great, and intend to publish the letters of this monarch in which he portrays himself. Do you know what pleases me best of all in his character? That upon himpassionate as he was the truth always produced its full effect." "Your Majesty!" "Now, tell me what you'wish." "I am a native of Ukraine, your Majesty; the son of a proud, free people, the grandson of that Mirowitsch who fought with Mazeppa, whose name lives in the Cossacks' songs. He, like many of his people, atoned for his desertion from the Czar, by the loss of his estates. Here I stand, as his grandchild, your Majesty, with a great and noble name, poor and needy, and plead for my rights. In vain have I sought for this right in all official places and courts of justice of this realm. Then I thought, the most exalted heart in this empire must also be the best and the most just; and now I stand before your Majesty and beg you to revoke the decree of arbitrary power and reinstate me in the possessions of my fathers." The Empress smiled. "You have read altogether too many romances, Mirowitsch," said she with the good-naturedness of the lioness. "Your rights shall be examined into, much as I allow myself to doubt in the same. But trust in my favor and-read good books." The large eyes of the poor Ukrainer looked up feverishly at the Empress; he bowed and made a movement towards the door. "Kiss my hand, Mirowitsch." Catharine II. looked down for a moment, smiling, then rang a bell and summoned the Minister of Police. "Take notice-" the officer drew out his memorandum book. "Mirowitsch, Lieutenant in regiment Smolensk." More than a week had passed since the audience of the young officer; still he waited for an answer to his petition. One evening, returned home from a walk he found an ele gant billet lying on the floor of his room, evidently having been thrown in through the open window. The address was to him; an unfamiliar handwriting, the small, irregular characters made by a woman's hand. It contained the following lines: "MY FRIEND: -You expect a decision from the Empress as to your fate! You can wait long. The Empress is good-natured but-forgetful. In order to gain anything at this Court you need protection-the protection of a woman; for the women rule in St. Petersburg. I will be your protectress. If you have the courage, let yourself be found to-night when the clock strikes eleven before the church of Kasan. There you will meet a carriage. Your eyes will be bound, hands and feet confined. Let all this be done; ask no questions; do not resist. A sweet reward. awaits you. A FRIEND." Mirowitsch took counsel with himself; he | you, Mirowitsch." She leaned on his shoulformed and rejected a dozen resolutions. der and threw her arms around his neck. The hand of the clock at last decided him; Mirowitsch felt his heart beat quicker, he he threw on his cloak, pressed his hat deep clasped the hand of the mysterious friend, over his forehead and left the house. The carried it to his lips and said almost with a night was starless and gloomy. A thick fog feeling of shame, "Forgive me, that I can. enveloped the church of Kasan. not speak of love to you, Madam, that I beg you to dismiss me immediately. You challenged my courage, and thus forced me to appear before you, but I cannot love you. My avowal cannot wound you, for I do not know you, nor have I seen your features-" "You shall see them As Mirowitsch approached the gateway, a dark-colored carriage emerged almost ghostly out of the fog, the black horses stamped the ground impatiently. Two men masked received him, silently laid light fetters on hands and feet, and bound his eyes with a white cloth. This kind of adventures was so common in Petersburg in the time of female government under the three Empresses - Anna, Elizabeth, Catharine-that a passer-by would scarcely have been surprised at the mysterious procedure. But no one passed by. Mirowitsch was lifted into the carriage, the door was locked, and they rode off at a furious pace. As the carriage stopped, Mirowitsch again felt the ground under his feet; a sharp, cutting air blew around him; he was evidently in an open place. He was led up broad stairs, through a corridor, then a succession of rooms. Now he was alone. A glimmer of light penetrated through the cloth. Yet a moment, and a pleasant feminine voice said, "Do not be anxious, Mirowitsch, you are in good hands." A woman's dress rustled, two tender hands exerted themselves to loosen the knots of the cloth, the bandage fell. He saw himself in a small room, furnished with Oriental luxury; and as he turned his head, he beheld a lady, short, slender in figure, in a dark dress, with a black velvet mask before her face. "Patience! I must first free you from your manacles." She took off the chains from his hands. "Now loosen the rest of your fetters yourself." Mirowitsch obeyed. A little trembling hand clasped his and drew him to an otto man. "Pardon my oddness," said the masked lady, "but a cavalier should bear with something from his lady. I have important reasons for surrounding myself with mysteries, but nothing shall hinder me from approaching you, loving you, calling you mine. I love "For heaven's sake, no, no." The lady answered with an arch smile, and removed her mask. It was to him a strange, but charming little face, with large, dark eyes, lovely lips. "Now, do I not please you?" Mirowitsch threw himself at the feet of the charming woman. "Scorn me, Madam; for you deserve that one should adore you, should be willing to die for you, but my heart forbids me to love you, my honor, to deceive you." "You love?" cried the fair lady, surprised. "Yes, Madam,” replied Mirowitsch as he 66 have “O, Madam, you are beautiful, you are high in rank, when you love, love happily. Can you understand a love like mine, a love without happiness, without hope, a love which is terrified at itself?" "I understand you. You love a woman who seems to you unattainable. Foolish child, who tells you that for love anything is unattainable? It would then be the Holy Madonna of Kasan." "It amounts to nearly the same, Madam." "You love—"exclaimed the lady with animation. "My Empress. The subject, his monarch; the slave, his mistress." At this moment, the curtain enclosing the window-recess from ceiling to floor, shook. "That, to be sure, is bad," said the lady; "but I have a kind heart. I will help you as much as I can. I have a friend, Mirowitsch, who has the same figure as the Empress-" “No, Madam, you do not understand me. I implore you, dismiss me,” cried Mirowitsch. "Only see her once - she is entirely according to your taste. There she is." The curtain parted, and a tall, voluptuouslooking woman in a heavy blue silk dress, which finely displayed her magnificent form, with a black velvet mask before her face, approached the astonished officer. At a sign from her, the friend left the apartment, at the same time she moved towards the divan and with a gesture invited Mirowitsch to seat himself beside her. The young officer's heart stood still. This woman had something in her appearance which fascinated him, something imperious in her demeanor which perfectly subjected him. Folding her arms on her breast and looking at him for a time, she laughingly asked in a voice which thrilled through him, "Would you be able to love me, Mirowitsch?" in her entrancing beauty; but he sank down before her and concealed his face on the ground. ར. In the Pavilion of Gatschina, sat Catharine II. and Princess Daschкow in confidential conversation. The Empress had come on horseback; she wore high, men's boots from Taffian, as they are worn by the wives of Russian farmers and merchants when in full state-dress; a man's dark overcoat such as were worn by the fashionable ladies of the time, and a little three-cornered hat with waving white feathers. Impatiently she struck the heel of her boot with her ridingwhip, arose from time to time, and threw herself again, ill-humored, on the pillows of the ottoman. The Princess looked at her curiously; suddenly a subtle smile played around her lips. "You laugh at me, Catinka," said the Empress, “what is it?” "You are very much in love." "I own it; very much in love, in a truly un-imperial way. But it is not that alone. Mirowitsch loves me.” The two women were silent for a time. The Empress listened. "Hark! Was not that the sound of a horse's feet?" "No" He sprang up, and walked up and down stepping up to the window to conceal her the room. 66 Compose yourself. It is said that the Empress is much inclined to the tender passion and loves gallant adventures. Perhaps you will find favor in her eyes." Mirowitsch remained standing, and gazed almost terrified at the mask. "I believe you would be frightened before your good fortune.” He withdrew a step, pale even to his lips, and trembling through his whole body. For the first time he had recognized her voice. "Have you the courage to love your Empress?" she exclaimed, tearing away the mask from her face. Catharine II. stood before him, imperious embarrassment. "You do not know?" "One thing only, I know," began the fair despot gravely; "commonplace it must not "Your love has a fearful logic." Catharine II. walked up and down, with her hands crossed behind her, her head sunk. "He will become inconvenient to me-he loves me he is passionate, high-spirited-he will make scenes' compromise me" "And become tedious to you," added the Princess. "Perhaps that too. What then to do with him? He must be removed · - but how?" The beautiful woman meditated coldly and quietly over her lover's fate as over a State business. "His fanaticism could perhaps be useful to me. Wait only." She stood still, and folded her arms on her breast. Suddenly a fearful smile spread over her stern features. "What a thought!" she cried. "I have it! What do you say to that?". her voice sank to a whisper-"if I should use this Mirowitsch in order to free myself A few days after, Princess Daschkow appeared in the cabinet of the Empress. "It is quite time to carry out your plans," said she excited," Ivan must die. You know the power which the priests have over the people. Your reforms endanger this power, and to-day, still in full force it turns against you. They call you a foreigner, a reformer, who violates the old rights, the old customs, the old belief; and in opposition to you, they name the rightful heir, Ivan, Czar of Russia by the testament of Empress Anna. "Curses on them!" cried the Empress, stamping violently. THE JOURNEY OF A SUNBEAM. BY MRS. C. A. RILEY. A sunbeam stole through the woods one day It crept to a hollow, cold and wet, And hidden incense filled the air. It kissed a rose bud's peeping flush Smiling, it touched a baby's hair, And, lingering, crowned his hair snow white, THE POETRY OF DISCORD. THE BY MRS. H. G. PERRY. HE poetry of discord! is there any such thing, or is it only a myth of an imaginative brain? All nature is full of the poetic spirit; animate or inanimate, it is all permeated with that subtile essence from which radiates a halo of light, even in the darkness, and which flings a glow of beauty over all deformity. The heavenly bodies which tread in rhythmic measure their appointed course, "Forever singing as they shine;" old ocean in all its conditions of placid beauty or terrific unrest; the hoary mountains in their immovable grandeur, and the little hills, suncrowned and verdurous; plains and valleys, rivers and brooks, all, all, are full of the poetry of sound or motion. Few persons are disposed to question the presence of the poetic spirit in nature's harmonies; the glo "You must sacrifice Mirowitsch; your rious sunshine, the soft moonlight, the gently love to your greatness." "Who tells you that I love Mirowitsch?" exclaimed Catharine. "A plaything! But I shall cry when I have broken it." (To be concluded.) falling rain, the refreshing dews, the lifegiving air, the cooling breeze and the light zephyr, bearing fragrance to the senses. the human soul revels in the inspiration of such accordant scenes. 0, |