The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-01

property of considerable extent. II was In the
same twcivemonth that The Mons AFFAIR came 10
an end. after having lasted some five years. IL
happened that tho Saxon envoy, RoniRseck. was
accidentally drowned. and In his pockets wcro
found certain notes, the handwriting and style
OF which were easily recognized by Peter. lie
lost his temper. the Domicella Monsiana went to
prison. and only got out by dint Of urgent
prayers and cunning wiles. On recovering her
liberty she was forced to content herself with
becoming tho mistress OF Keysorling. the Prus-
sian envoy. who ultimately married her. Peter
kept his grudge against her for years, but nj
though Peter was n rancorous. he was by no
means an inconsolablo, lover. Mcnshikof. who
took Le!ort's place in tho Cars intimate circle.
was as skiiful ne his predecessor In supplying his
master with consolation. Like Jefort, Menshikof
had his own female following. which in.
cluded his two sisters, whom he had
caused to DO placed in the household Of
Peters favoritc sister, tho Czarevna Nathalia,
and two young ladies, Daria and Barbara
Arseniof, who also belonged to the Czarevna's
court, which bore n strong resemblance to n
harein. A daughter Of the TolstoY family com.
pletcd the group. and, about 1903, appeared n
sixth recruit calling herself Catherine Troubat-
shot. who was to take q place apart In the SOW
ereiRn's life and give n quite unexpected turn to
tho hitherto trivial history OF his love affairs.
To her story we shall como presently. Just at
this timo Menshikof took her for his mistress.
while at tho same time he made love TO Daria
Arsrnief. whose sister. Barbara, had attracted
Peters attention. Menshikof's plan was to
make Barbara Czarina. and thus himself become
the Cars brother-in.lnw. With this object he
gave himself much trouble about the education
Of the new .avorite. FOR heavens sake" he
wrote to DRria, induce your sister to study both
Russian and German closely; she has no time
TO lose.' A French observer. Villevois. describes
Barbara as n plain woman, full of wit and as
spiteful as she was clever. He thus recounts
the beginning OF her intercourse with the Gar:
Peter. who was dining with her and her COM
panions, thus addressed her: Thou art so
ugly. my poor Barbara, that I do not believe
any ono has ever thought OF making love to you.
But strange exploits are those which please me
best, and l will not have thee die without hav-
ing known the delights OF love-" and forthwith
he suited tho action to tho words. which wero
much coarser than those here substituted. Tho
extraordinarily loose morals OF the Cars circle
render this story entirely credible. Mr.. Wallis
zewski indicates. az clearly ms he decently can.
the ambiguous nature Of the intercourse be-
tween these lovers and their nistresses, the
strange confusion and community of sentiments
and intimate relations. Potter and Menshikof
pcrpetually appear as taking one another's
place, ana cumulatlnS rights Whlch might
have been supposed to DO the exclusive
property OF one or the other. During their abb
sences this mixed condition OF things WIS kept
up by collective messages. which carried tender
recollcctions and endearirg words pcll nell from
one group to tho other. In l7O6. however, Petcr,
when Mt Kief, compelled Mcnshikof to keep his
promise OF marriage to Daria Arsenief. having
decided. on his own part, to carry out ct some
future date his own promise to Catherine Trou-
batshof. who already had horne him two chill
dren. When the ceremony was over the COM
mon treasure WAS divided. Peter took his way
back to St. Petersburg with Catherine AMI
with Anisin TolstoI. Menshikof was left at Kief
with his wife and his sister-in-law. Barbara.