"Have I your permission to go to him?"
The empress nodded, and Potemkin, drawing the key from his pocket, unlocked the door and disappeared. Catharine locked after him, and heaving a bitter sigh, said: "No more hope of rescue! He rules over me like irresistible destiny!"
In a few moments Potemkin returned with the paper. Catharine having looked over it, returned it with a smile.
"I thank the King of Prussia for this," said she, gently, "for my last hours will no longer be embittered by anxiety for your safety, Alexandrowitsch. Preserve this paper with care."
Potemkin took it from her hand and tore it to pieces.
"Are you mad?" cried Catharine, "that you tear this promise of protection from Paul?"
"When Catharine dies, I no longer desire to live, and I hope that Paul may release me of life at once—I shall die rejoicing."
"Oh, Gregory," exclaimed Catharine, again moved to tears, "I shall never forget these words! You have sacrificed much for me, and you shall have princely reward; on my word you shall! Let the grand duke be careful to utter no inconsiderate words, for the steppes of Siberia are as accessible to the prince as to the peasant; and every traitor, were he the heir of the crown itself, is amenable to justice before me! And Panin, with his eternal pratings of honesty and frankness, let him, too, beware, for he wavers on the edge of a precipice!" "And Prussia?" asked Potemkin, with a significant smile.
Catharine smiled in return. "I cannot chide HIM, Potemkin, for he would have befriended YOU."
"And the treaty? Do you intend to renew it with this wise, far-seeing prince?"