“Then they will condemn me to a life-long imprisonment,” calmly responded Anna.
“No, no, your head is sacred, and so is your freedom. They dare not attack either.”
“Nothing is sacred in Russia,” laconically responded Anna.
The sledges stopped at the palace of the Princess Elizabeth. Hardly two hours had passed since Elizabeth, in those same sledges, had left her palace as a poor, trembling princess; and now, as reigning empress, she sent them back to the dethroned regent.
The latter entered the palace of the princess as a prisoner, while Elizabeth, as empress, took possession of the palace of the czars.
THE SLEEP OF INNOCENCE
Anna Leopoldowna had hardly left the room in which she had been surprised and captured, when Lestocq turned to Grunstein with a new order.
“Now,” said he, in an undertone to him—“now hasten to seize the emperor. This little Ivan must be annihilated.”
Elizabeth had overheard these words, and remembering Anna’s last prayer, she exclaimed with vehemence: