Anna didn't know what to make of it, and as for me, my tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth.
The impudent fellow seems to have misinterpreted our silence, for, brazen like the Duc de Richelieu, who boasted of sleeping in the beds of queens, he continued:
"Catharine the Great, too, knew what love was. One fine afternoon when she wasn't a day older than you, Imperial Highness, she looked out of the window of her room at Castle Peterhof. In the garden below a sentinel, very handsome, very Herculean, very brave, was pacing up and down. Catharine, then Imperial Grand-duchess and only just married, made a sign to the soldier. The giant, abandoning his rifle, jumped below the window and Catharine jumped onto his shoulders from the second story.
"That's real love," concluded the Baron.
Anna got frightened and fled down the avenue, but I had the weakness to remain at the Baron's side until we reached the palace.
Alas, Frederick Augustus wasn't as good a talker as the Baron.
FREDERICK AUGUSTUS, REIGNING KING OF SAXONY
Louise's Ex-Husband