"'Lady, have I a rival?'
"Olinska answered not, and arose to leave the apartment, when Praxin quickly intercepted her, and fell upon his knees.
"'Olinska, you shall not leave me thus!' he exclaimed, in tones hoarse with excitement. 'If love will not incline you to accept me, let ambition do it. I have the power to place you on the throne of Russia, if you but say the word; your own countrymen, the refugees from Sweden, and twenty thousand discontented serfs will rise at my bidding; the navy is mine, and, by a wave of the hand, I can become an Emperor.'
"With a look of the most unmitigated disdain, the lady regarded the supplicant at her feet.
"'I will not parley longer with a traitor,' she said, in tones so cold and piercing that he involuntarily recoiled from her, and she walked from the apartment with a queenly air.
"'I'll be revenged for this,' muttered the discarded suitor, as, with a frowning brow, he took his departure.
"Then forth sprang Orloff from his place of concealment, with a smile of no ordinary magnitude distorting his little face.
"'Good! and now for the Countess!' he exclaimed, following the Admiral.
"Meanwhile, Nicholas had wandered about the city in a most pitiable state of apprehension, and was about to rush madly to the hotel of the Countess, when he beheld the dwarf hastening toward him, carrying a letter at arm's length.