Page 424 (2/2)

will now be doubly dear to ht eyes have seen my

mother, and perhaps this hand which now rests in mine has also touched

hers!"

"That," said Count Orloff, with a sh-treason!"

"Was she, then, so great a sublime a princess?" asked Natalie

"She was an e up with bea cheeks "Myhard

"Es suddenly excited by this news, Natalie sank

again upon her seat and covered her face with her hands Tears gushed

out between her delicate, slender fingers; her whole being was in

violent, feverish co her arms toward heaven, with

a celestial smile, while the tears overflowed her face, she said: "I aer a homeless orphan; I have a fatherland, and my mother

was an earhter of an empress," said he, "and will yourself be an

empress! That hat Paulo wished, and therefore have they condemned

him as a criminal What he was unable to accomplish must be done by

me, and for that purpose have I come Princess Natalie, your fatherland

calls you, your throne awaits you! Followin the

city of your fathers--follow randfather, Peter the Great, upon your noble and beautiful head!"