“Perhaps not at all,—perhaps very much. At all events, it will relieve your mind to unburden it of sorrow, if any weighs upon it.”
“You may be right,” said Heinrich, after a pause. “At all events, it will do no harm. You must know, then, that I have been foolish enough to fall in love with the superintendent’s daughter, who favors my suit. But because I am not wealthy, and am only a workman” (the young man emphasized the last words in a bitter tone), “her father rejects my suit.”
“But how if you occupied as high a position as himself?”
“Oh! then there would be nothing to fear.”
“Listen, then, in your turn. I may help you to what you seek. Did you ever hear of Russia?”
“I have,” said Heinrich. “It is a great country, but a barbarous one.”
“That is true; at least, it is not so far advanced as its neighbors. But, if I live to accomplish all my plans, it shall yet equal any of them.”
“You! Who, then, are you?” exclaimed the young man, in astonishment at such language from such a source.
“I am Peter, the reigning czar,” said the Russian, composedly. “I could trust no one but myself to carry out a plan I had formed for supplying the chief defect of Russia,—an efficient navy. Accordingly, I have entered myself here as a common workman. I have gained what I sought; I have made myself familiar with the construction of vessels; and I shall, after a brief visit to England, return to my kingdom, and take measures to build a fleet. I have thought of you as one competent to superintend their building. You shall have a handsome salary, and I will confer upon you an order of nobility.”