Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1934-11-24

Frussian discipline with it's dreadfu
floggings
CafheFmes estrangement from him
/ had long since become 50 compieta ehal
4 ne had no suspicion that she was again
about 20 become 3 mother, fact which
Only By agonies az tight Iacing did she
succeed IA eoncealing Ia public So well
did she eonkrive that. when she was
delivered Of 8 son. not even her inti-
mate Princess Dashko1g suspected e.
any more than she suspected the extent
Of GATHERINGS relations with Orioff.
And yea between the stoiid guardsman
and the Princess there was already a
sort Of collaboration.
The Princess labored ia court circles
for a revolution that should dethrone
Peter IN favor Of the Tsarevitch Paul,
now years old, with Catherine IS re-
gent. Orloff, laboring similarly with
his brothers among the already dissatis-
fled Guards, took no account Of the
Tsarevitch.
Catherine listened to them. pondered
and postponed. Thus until June Of the
year i762, when ct the banquet to cele-
brate the treaty Of peace with Prussia
Peter stung her by an intolerabls pub
tic insult.
When the Emperor, at the head Of
the great table, gave the toast to the
Imperial family, Catherine alone re-
manned seated Because his befuddled
wits could not realize the propriety Of
this in a member of that same Imperial
family, he coarsely apostrophized her
as an imbecile before the 400 guests
who made up that brave company
She bore II with q smile ON her lips
and he'll In her heart
And there was more 10 follow. When
the Emepror rose from the table, he
was heard to order Bariatinslry 10 place
the Empress under arrest, and only the
firm Intervention Of Prince George Of
Holstein averted so scandalous q con-
clusion to the feast.
Nor was even that the end, as she
learned later from Orloff when, with
the Princess Dashkoff, he sought her
In her apartment
"Win you strike whilst you are free2
You have barely escaped tonight. Eliza
beth Vorontsoff win see that you don't
escape again. She is determined to be
Empress"
While Catherine hesitated to believe
so much. the stolid Gregory added what
was necessary.
who is the father OF the Tsare-
vitch7" he asked, much as he might /
have asked who was her dressmaker
While the Princess recoiled in horror,
Catherine merely laughed.
Il have thought that it might be the
Emperor
Orloff explained himself. IF that Is /
so, then his Imperial Majesty Is a liar
as well as an idiot. BE swore Just now
TO Prince George that before he packs
you off to cloister and sends the Tsar- /
evitch to rot in Loenigsberg, he'll have
you paraded through the streets with q
placard on your breast, Mother Of the
Bastard
She laughed no longer. She was on
her feet, white and tense, her breath
coming in sobs.
els that his mind2 And not only my
self but my son to feel his cruelty.
have been too patient. We must cut the
cable"
She flung her arms in gesture
Of appeal Il am In your hands, my
friends
The Princess thanked heaven. The
Orloffs had no misgivings, having no
Imagination, and fortunately the En-
perOr was not prompt to execute his
threat Banquets and fireworks occu-
pied his next two days, and on the
third, the gath Of June, he went off
With the Verontsoff to Oranienbaum,
Catherine meanwhile to Pc
,erhof.
He might have fulfilled his evil in
,entions concerning her before her
friends could mature their ludicrous
conspiracy II a chance betrayal Of their
activities had not cut the ground from
1nder their feet.
Gregory at the time was paymaster
# the Guards. The office supplied an |
opportunity. He plunged his hands ra- I
her deeply into the regimental CASH
,ox for the means to corrupt the men.
If the officers. in the main, he had (
made sure already.
When discovery overlook them, any I
'ut the Orloffs would have decamped !
It once. accounting themselves lost. !
instead, IN their rashness, they struck
he iron, although IL was still cold.
The hurIy Alexis drove away In the
lawn 70 Peterhof. Thrusting aside at
endants, he marched without cere- !
nony into her Maiesty's bedroom, and
ore apart the curtains Of her massive
iIden bed. =
TITS time to get up. We shall have
0 proclaim you sc once"
That Is all that he thought It neces-
airy to say. He was no more loquacious !
han his brother. 9
She sat up. startled, drawing q finn Q
y night-raiI over her lovely breast.
~Proclaimed2 At onces But -"
he interrupted her. He remembered
1nething 'sPassek has betrayed him Y
III. He's been arrested. There Is no Z
me TO lose We must CO. u
He displayed no more excitement L
nan II he had been summoning her 10 II
realfast. Y
She dressed hurriedly, and they set g
Ut. taking with them her Majesty's
aiting woman and her French hair Il
resser, Michel. At three miles from q
Petersburg Catherine puna met by VI