“I mean Prince Basil Galitsyn,” he said; “he is still a young man, but a born leader.”
“All his attachment is for the Miloslavsky party though,” I replied.
“Ay, he is for the Miloslavskys. In fact, there is a strong friendship between him and the Czarevna Sophia; for all that, he may yet be called to the helm, for who knows what will come?”
“You know the young czar,” I said; “what do you think of him?”
“Peter Alexeivitch is still a child,” Von Gaden replied slowly; “but I have observed him closely, for in him, I know, we see Russia’s future ruler, whoever reigns during his minority. His succession seems beyond dispute, in the long run. He is neither like his amiable father, Alexis, nor like the late czar, Feodor. He is a young barbarian,—fierce, cruel, daring. The boy is different from other boys. I think that Russia has much to fear, and more to hope, from that young Tartar.”
I laughed. “It is well that these walls are without ears,” I said, “else what treason would this sound in Moscow!”
“Ay, treason, always treason!” returned Von Gaden, bitterly. “If I cure the czar, I am a magician; if I fail to cure him, I am a poisoner. It is, therefore, only a choice of evils.”
He stooped down and stirred the fire, the red light glowing on his features. I had put aside my cloak and was standing watching him. He laid down the poker and looked up.
“Be seated,” he said, courteously, signing to me to take the only chair in the room, while he sat down opposite, on a crooked-legged stool. “I dare say you think I have forgotten Ramodanofsky, but I have not. It is an evil story, and I have never told it; but it is borne in upon me that I may not have long to live, and I do not care to die with that secret in my bosom,—although I have many others,” he added, smiling. He was leaning a little forward, his clasped hands resting heavily on his knees, his back being to the light, and only the red glow of the fire illumining his features.
“Your profession makes you a natural repository of secrets,” I replied. “My own nature is too careless for such a work as yours; I should bungle both with my patients and their confidences.”