Thus again did Mazeppa reveal himself. A terrible hater, indeed! Nevertheless, as I have since thought, his quick wit saved us that day from the fate of Falbofsky and of many others mistaken by the Streltsi for Naryshkins.
Wise folks declare that the real secret of the rising of the Streltsi was the rivalry between the two factions represented by the families of the two wives of the Tsar Alexis—the Miloslavskys and the Naryshkins. It is natural that the Miloslavskys, relations of Ivan, the incompetent prince, and of Sophia, the princess upon whom Mazeppa had set ambitious eyes, should have desired that their own nominee should sit in the highest place, rather than a younger prince of the Naryshkin faction, and it is said that the Miloslavskys it was who aroused the Streltsi, by foolish reports, to wage war upon their rivals and to murder all upon whom they could lay hands that were of Naryshkin blood.
The upshot of the Streltsi rising was, shortly, this: that Ivan and Peter became joint Tsars, in name, under the Regency of Sophia, in whom was vested the real power, the elder Tsar being both sickly and incompetent, and the younger—though a child of spirit and showing promise of character even at this early time—a mere fledgling of ten years.
This was a victory for the Miloslavskys, of course, for Sophia was the daughter of the Tsar Alexis by his first wife, the Miloslavsky princess, and the incompetent Ivan was her full brother.
I saw the princess now for the first time, and was not greatly charmed by her appearance. She was stunted and squat in form, sickly in complexion, and far from attractive in feature and expression. She smiled very kindly upon Mazeppa, who assumed his most winning air. But whatever Mazeppa may have thought or hoped, it appeared to me that his ambitions in this direction must be doomed to disappointment; for the lady—it seemed to me—was already provided with a lover, one Galitsin, who never left her side and who frowned at Mazeppa’s advances as though he would have no poacher upon his domain. Moreover, Mazeppa was as yet as far as ever from the Hetmanship, and what possible chance should he have of securing a Tsar’s daughter for bride unless he were already the elected chief of the Cossack tribes? Add to this, that the lady was now Regent, and it will be seen that Mazeppa’s chances were slight indeed. I said as much to Mazeppa, who laughed and replied that Galitsin was welcome to the princess.
‘I am Galitsin’s lover no less than hers!’ he said. ‘Politically I am deeply in love with both, and there my love ends.’
CHAPTER VII
I had several opportunities of seeing the two young Tsars, as well as the Regent, at this time. The contrast between the elder and younger sovereign was almost incredible—Ivan, the elder, a puny, unwholesome, puffy, sickly-looking lad of some fifteen years, timid and inclined to weep when spoken to, glad to retire from the public eye; Peter, the younger, upright, and very tall for his age—he was scarcely more than ten, indeed, but he was already taller than his brother—fearless, dominant, gazing round with the proud and defiant air of the lion, answering boldly and with dignity both to the questions which were addressed to himself and also those to which Ivan should have replied. For when Ivan was addressed he would flush and hesitate and look as though he must presently burst into tears. Then he would glance at his brother, and the child Peter would speak for him, unless indeed the Regent were present, in which case she would reply for both.
The two princes occupied a double throne, which consisted of two chairs separated by a space of a foot or two, which space was covered or veiled by a silken screen, behind which sat and listened, and sometimes prompted, the Regent Sophia.
I soon conversed with the little Tsar Peter, whose frank manner captivated me. Seeing that I was a Cossack officer, he questioned me closely as to the feats of horsemanship for which our tribes are famous, bidding me describe some of these, which, to the best of my power, I did.