The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-03-05

l anu oCitoddi NOidptoatS NAtiSh ANNSSAes had before known. but a true daughter of Peter the Great At night, accom- panied only by her three friends-Les- tocq, Woronzow and Characteristic went to the barracks of a regiment whose officers had already been tam pered with. and harangued the troops, who enthusiastically declared for her. Alexis attempted to follow her from her palace upon the dangerous enter prise. But she said to him; No, you must not go. If l am to have courage to act and speak l must know that you are not mingled in the strife-I must not tremble for your life.' Alexis i'm plored and begged in vain. She would not move until he had promised to re- main where he was until she sent a messenger for him.
 At the head of the regiment which her French-supplied gold. her personal charms and the intrigues of her friends mad seduced from it's allegiance to the Regent, E1izabeth went to the imperial palace. Taken entirely by surprise the guards at the palace offered only faint resistance. and at the high words and majestic looks of Elizabeth. who bade them kneel and salute their empress they ended by acclaiming her and join ing her side. The Regent Anna, her husband and the infant Ivan were seiz- ed in tlreir beds and placed in cap tivity. In two hours after Elizabeth had left her palace a messenger came to tell Alexis. the beautiful singer, that hot r,da htc attendance in the palace of the Cars
 Thus did Elizabeth of Russia come to the throne of her father, and she gave to her empire twenty years which are glorious in their annals of success full foreign wars and domestic progress Successful as was her reign, she was yet upon the throne, sceptred barbar- ian, cruel. dissolute. coarse. a true daughter of Peter. Alexis. of course was raised by her to the highest honors To him she remained steadfast to the end, and him she secretly married At one time her lovers thoughts went straying for the beautiful Eleonore Lapuschkin-and the Empress had the lady flogged to death. Elizabeth stood grimly looking on at the execution and the unhappy woman, raising her hands to Heaven, prayed that the Elm press might have a daughter and that that daughter might suffer what she was suffering now. It was an i'm precation rather than a prayer, and ever afterward 1t haunted Elizabeth.
 So when a daughter was born to her and Alexis she established her with d nurse and a few confidential attendants in a villa outside the city, a villa to which no one was admitted but upon the order of the Empress and a villa often visited by herself and Alexis On these visits they were generally accompanied by the Count Paul Rasczinsky, one of the few who knew the secret of the child Natalie's existence. Thus by Keeping the fact of her daughters existence a se- cret and by bringing her up in seclu- sion, she hoped to avoid the curse which Leonore Lapuschkin had called down upon her head
 Come Alexis,' said the Empress one day, I've will go to the villa and take dinner there. Say to the major domo that we have gone to Peterhof. Then no one will be surprised that we make a short stop at my little villa in passing Or rather they will know nothing about it. Rasczinsky may precede and an- nounce us.' When Elizabeth told the Count to go on ahead and announce her coming, he replied: Your majesty for gets that in order to penetrate into this enchanted castle your written command is required" True" answered the Elm press, and, seizing a pen and paper. she wrote, "The Count Rasczinsky may be admitted signing 1t and affxing her seal. You may retain this paper" she said, fit Is good for all time. I trust you will never betray my Natalie"
 Now at length the time came when Elizabeth must die. AS her moment of dissolution approached her bedside was deserted by all except Alexis Where were they, the counts barons, field mar shals and privy councillors, whom she had raised from nothing to the first po- sitions in the realm? They had hastened thence for the preservation of their ill., gotten wealth. to crawl in the dust be- fore her successor and nephew, Peter Ulrich of Holstein, son of an elder daugh- ter of Peter the Great. Yes. one other than Alexis was in the death room of the Empress when her life left her body Count Paul Rasczinsky.
 l A little later a foam uncovered steed stood before the villa where lived the daugh- | ter of an empress, and from it dismount- ed horseman who knocked at the closed door. To the porter who looked out the horseman showed the written order of Elizabeth for his admission The porter opened the door. and with a loud cry of 'Nataliel Natalia"' the Count Ras- czinsky rushed into the hall of the house. | Issuing from the villa the Count mount ed again. Like a wind he swept over the plain--but not toward St. Petersburg nor toward the city where the people were saluting their new emperor. Away, away, away he fled, his steed bleeding from the spurs of the rider and as the | lifts the mantle that enwraps him like a cloud, and under that mantle is seen an angel face, the smile of little girl. Two tender, childish arms clasp the form of the Count, and a slight, eish form tremblingly reposeS against the Counts breast. Thpswas Natalie, the daughter of an Ennpress, borne away beyond the Russifn border out of reach of those who wG.h seek her blood should knowledge | o1 her existence come to their ears
 fWhen Elizabeth had given the Count
 he paper which procured him free ad- 3nission into the villa where Natalie was