On the next day the Russian fleet weighed anchor for St. Petersburg! Proudly sailed the admiral’s ship in advance of the others, and soon became invisible in the horizon.
On the shore stood Count Alexis Orloff, and, as he saw the ships sailing past, with a savage smile he muttered: “It is accomplished! my beautiful empress will be satisfied with me!”
CONCLUSION
She was satisfied, the great, the sublime empress—satisfied with the work Alexis Orloff had accomplished, and with the manner in which it was done.
In the presence of her confidential friends she permitted Orloff’s messenger, Joseph Ribas, to relate to her all the particulars of the affair from the commencement to the end, and to the narrator she nodded her approval with a fell smile.
“Yes,” said she to Gregory Orloff, “we understand women’s hearts, and therefore sent Alexis to entrap her. A handsome man is the best jailer for a woman, from whom she never runs away.” And bending nearer to Gregory’s ear, she whispered: “I, myself, your empress, am almost your prisoner, you wicked, handsome man!”
And ravished by the beauty of Gregory Orloff, the third in the ranks of her recognized favorites, the empress leaned upon his arm, whispering words of tenderness in his ear.
“And what does your sublime majesty decide upon respecting the prisoner?” humbly asked Joseph Ribas.
“Oh, I had almost forgotten her,” said the empress, with indifference. “She is, then, yet living, this so-called daughter of Elizabeth?”