The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1934-11-23

unthinkable and the consequences
might fall terribly upon him.
TIL gladly take the chances there,
chances which your fears exaggerate,
my Catherine. Do you think I can en-
dure the thought of your bearing these
infamies until you die"
A curious smile took shape on her
lips. THAT will not happen"
mot happen? If he is what he is
whilst awe of the Empress restraints
him, what will he become when he is
Emperor and holds the whip? And that
will happen soon."
II have provided"
Something in her calm and in the in
scrutability of her smile almost made
him afraid.
1T is a great secret, Stanislas. I tell
you of it so as to quiet your fears. The
Chancellor Bestucheff cares no more
about a drunken imbecile for his mas
ter than I care about him for a hus-
band. There is an understanding be-
tween us. Bestucheff will contrive to
obtain the signature of the Empress
to a decree giving me joint sovereignty
with Peter. He will not be quite master
then"
Her tone betrayed something of that
spirit which had been tempered by suf-
fering as steel is tempered by fire.
She was now a very different person
from the gentle, awed little German
princess of the insignificant house of
Z~erbst-Anhalt, who had been summon
ed more than 10 years ago to Russia
by the Empress Elizabeth.
: The prospect of becoming the bride Of
her Imperial Majesty's nephew and
heir, that other German of the house
of Holstein, had seemed a dazzling one
until she beheld the crapulous degen-
ate she wa doomed to marry.
He hated her for an intelligence that
made him recognize her superiority;
yet in doubt or difficulty he would fly
to her whimpering for advice. Her
shrewd wit had led him to nickname
her Madame La Resource - Madam
Resourceful.
Life would have been impossible if
her fresh young beauty and the grace
of a mind she steadily cultivated had
not created for her a court within the
! court. In this she found some compen-
sation for what she was called upon to
endure as wife and mother. The En-
press, in her concern for the rearing OF
the heir to the throne, allowed Gather
inc the barest access to her son, the
! Tsarevitch Paul, born in 1854, after
nine years of unhappy wedlock.
But the real compensation was not
hers until Stanislas Poniatowsk made
. his appearance at St. Petersburg in an
: am~bassadorial capacity. He was y at
the time, a nephew Of the Czartoryskls
the most powerful house in Poland. he
was handsome, travelled. accomplished
enriched in nature by the Italian ano
l Jewish blood in his veins. The fine
, correctness of his conduct distinguished
{ him in a court where so much coarse
ness was discernible under the super
{ ficial glitter.
Sir Charles Hamburg Williams en-
trusted Poniatowski with the task O.
' winning the Grand Duchess to thell
common pro-Prussian policy and the
I relations thus begun assumed present.!
such a character that all she had en-
D dured here in Russia seemed but 6
little price to pay for the happiness
$ which at last she had found. She hae
been radiant, gay and sparkling as new
er before. And if the reason for th1
l was suspected, yet there was no flag
rant scandal until now, when the cour
= was agog with the tale of that nigh
e scene at Oranienbaum.
$50 you see, my dear" she endet
wistfully, deeply though I love you
I must remain to drink the wine tina
3 mas been poured for me-"