“Bah! for that very reason!” said Munnich, with a cruel laugh. “He has carried his head high long enough; now he may learn to bow.”
“But that will be a continual torment!” exclaimed the Duke of Brunswick.
“On, has he not tormented us?” angrily responded Munnich. “We need reprisals.”
“How strange and horrible!” said Anna Leopoldowna, shuddering; “this man is now standing here clothed with unlimited power, and we are already holding in our hands the plan of his prison!”
“Yes, yes, and with this plan in his pocket will Count Munnich now go to dine with Biron and enjoy his hospitality!” laughingly exclaimed Ostermann. “Ah, that must make the dinner particularly piquant! How agreeable it must be to press the regent’s hand, and at the same time feel the rustling in your pocket of the paper upon which you have drawn the plan of his Siberian prison! But you are in the right. The regent has deeply offended you. How could he dare refuse to make you his generalissimo?”
“Ah, it is not for that,” said Munnich with embarrassment; and, seeking to give the conversation a different turn, he continued—“ah, see, Count Ostermann, what a terrible animal is crawling there upon your dress!”
“Policy, nothing but policy,” tranquilly responded Ostermann, while the princess turned away with an expression of repugnance.
“Well,” cried the prince, laughing, “explain to us, Count Ostermann, what those disgusting insects have to do with policy or politics?”
“We are all four Germans,” said Ostermann, “and consequently are all familiar with the common saying, ‘Tell me the company you keep, and I will tell you what you are!’ I have always kept that in mind since I have been in Russia; and to make this good people forget that I am a foreigner, I have taken particular pains to furnish myself with a supply of their dirt and of these delicate insects. If any one asks me who I am, I show him these creatures with whom I associate, and he immediately concludes that I am a Russian.”
Ostermann joined in the laugh that followed this explanation, but suddenly he uttered a piercing cry, and sank down upon a chair.