The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1882-04-27
A RUSSIAN ROMANCE.
HOW GUARDsMAN BECAME THE HUSBAND
OF AN EMPRESS.

Il
| OF AN EMPRESS.
It was the day on which Catherine,
| placing herself at the head of 1900 SOL
diers of the Ismailoffsky Guards and ad-
| ding to her many irfdelities the crime of
rebellion, had marched to the church of
Kasan and forced the Archbishop of
Novgorod to crown her Empress of all
the Russias. This took place at in the
| morning. At noon of the same day
Catherine, in the flush of her youth and
beauty-for the favored mortals who be.
held her seem to have carried away in
their imaginations vision of grace and
loveliness that never left them; and even
old and cold chroniclers efloresce into the
language of the lover when they venture
to speak of the charm of her presence
at noon Catherine again appeared before
her enthusiastic subjects, dressed in the
uniform of an officer of the guards, her
long and beautiful chestnut hair spread
out as a sail on the air as she rode thro'
the streets. sitting astride her white
horse, to the ground where she was to
review her troops before marching against
her husband. There was one article of
adornment wanting to complete her mil
itary attire: she had no plume in her hat.
A young officer rode up, and, pointing
out the omission, offered his own. 1t
was accepted with that grace and bright
ness which Catherine in her early years
possessed above measure and of which
even the corpulence and clumsiness of
her physique in ripper years did not alto
gether rob her. Potemkin's horse, it is
said, accustomed to form into squadron,
persistently refused to respond to its III
der's efforts to retire from the imperial
party. Her Majesty smiled on his con-
fusion and helplessness, entered into
conversation with him, asked him about
his family, and soon after appointed him
to the post of Gentleman of the Bed
chamber with an annual pension of 2, 900
roubles. Of daring ambition, gifted
with an arIful and insinuating manner,
and an Imagination fertile in devices to
accomplish the ends his intelligence had
set before him, he resolved to oust Greg
ory Orlof from the seat in the Empress
affections which he had obtained while
she was yet Grand Duchess.
The brothers Orloff had furnished the
brain and nerve of the revolution, so that
Catherine, besides being linked to the
elder of them by the ties of love or lust,
was bound to him by gratitude, and
though she silently resented his imperi-
| BUSINESS, yet she lacked at this period of
her career the courage to risk rupture
with the man and husbands murderer
whose boldness had placed her on the
throne. At the private evening parties
at the palace, where Catherine laid aside
the sovereign and became the simple re-
fined lady, banishing the formalities of
courts and substituting the freedom of
home life, Potemkin was frequent guest.
He imagined that ne saw in GATHERINGS
| movements evidence of desire to linger
near him and to select him from among
the company for special marks of friend
illness and sweeter smile. He began to
assume the airs, the sigh, and the alb
straction of an unconfessed lover, there
by provoking the enmity and dislike Of
Prince Orloff, who resolved to punish
him for his audacity while he still wore
the mask of cordiality. An opportunity
soon offered which, though it humbIed
Potemkin, invested him with new in.
terest in the eyes of the Empress. A
little friendly banter passed between the
pro-husband IN posse and the one IN esse.
The chaff grew bitterer and more per-
sonal, till Potemkin forgot the respect
due to his superior in rank, who chastised
him for his insolence and destroyed the
sight of one of his eyes. This revealed
to Catherine Potemkin's love for her,
She saw in him one who suffered for her
| sake, and her feelings were tenderly af-
fected toward him. The young mans
| devices to make Catherine capitulate to
him would have done credit to an expe-
rienced actor. He moved about the pal
ace blighted being. His natural gay
ETY. forsook him; he was seldom seen to
smile, and when he did the smile was
heartrending. Every sentence he uttered
wound up with sigh. Able to endure
the agony of unrequited love no longer,
| he fed the court, and caused it to be ru-
| mored abroad that he was about to shut
himself up in convent Catherine made
| inquiries about his absence, and learned
that his unfortunate passion had driven
him to despair. ard that he had fled to
| where he could not see the object of it in
the hope that he might soon conquer it.
81 never thought" said she, ''that he
| would take it so much to heart; I thought
had given him all the hope and encour-
agement could" This speech was duly
reported to the would-be monk; he re-
doubled his distress; he actually entered
a convent and put on clerical attire, de-
claring his intention to take holy orders
and think of the earth and her daughters
no more. Every fiber of emotion in
GATHERINGS nature was moved; she dis
patched Countess Bruce to invite Potem-
kin back to court, and, without positively
promising too much, to inspire him with
the hope that his love would yet be
crowned. Potemkin quickly threw off