CHAPTER XIX.

THE INTRIGUE.

"For once when Arthur, walking all alone,
Vext at a rumour rife about the queen,
Had met her, Vivien, being greeted fair,
Would fain have wrought upon his cloudy mood,
With reverent eyes, mock-loyal shaken voice,
And flutter'd adoration, and at last

With dark sweet hint of some who prized him more
Than who should prize him most."

TENNYSON: Idylls of the King.

ALEXANDER could speak far more freely to Anna. If you had seen them as they talked together, you would have said that there was far more confidence between them than between husband and wife. Well, it could not be denied that the bewitching Princess Donskaya was a favourite with the Emperor. He was a great admirer of beauty; and all acknowledged that Anna was handsome. Still, you may be surprised that such a character should have pleased a man like Alexander. No need for wonder: the Emperor had but little insight into character. He was naturally open and trustful. It is true, he became more distrustful in his latter years. But that was simply because he had been so often deceived.

His distrust did not in the least add to his power of discrimination. His doubts rested as often on the wrong man as on the right. At the very time that he distrusted some worthy people who were too true to humour all his fancies, he trusted the unworthy who adapted themselves to his prejudices and his whims. It was altogether a matter of hap-hazard.

Again, you must not forget that I was not at his elbow to warn him against Anna, as I have warned you. It is a common mistake among readers of history to fancy that the characters described must have appeared in the same light to the men and women among whom they lived as they do to themselves. In reading a scene in a drama or a novel, representing a crafty fellow hoodwinking an honest man, we are apt to look down on the dupe, and cry: "What a simpleton!" Have not you and I said so even in scenes from "Othello ?" Do you think Othello would have done what he did, if he had known Iago as you and I know him? The villain only let him see just so much of him as he wished. With the clue which I have given you, you know Anna's character as Alexander could not. To him she was simply a remarkably winning, hand

some, and clever woman. But there was more than this; because Anna had taken great care to adapt herself to the Emperor's prejudices, and even to his beliefs. I have said she was a first-rate actress; and she had studied Alexander as a great actor might study Hamlet or Lear. She knew his weak points thoroughly. Above all, she had taken account of his "pious" leanings; had sternly drilled herself to the religious views which he held and the religious language which he used. She could talk piously; could use his "cant," as she called it, though she had not depth enough to know that it was reality to him. So that to Alexander she seemed, not only a remarkably handsome and noble woman; but a wonderfully pious dévote, who could enter into his holiest feelings, and his deepest views.

So the Emperor and the Princess Donskaya entered into what seemed a confidential talk. They were far enough from the rest not to be overheard; but the Empress could not help remarking the warmth of her husband's manner, and contrasting it with the stiffness and coldness of his demeanour to herself. She was not jealous: the day for jealousy had long gone by. But she was pained nevertheless.

After a few remarks which no way concern our history, Anna adroitly brought in a subject which lay just then very near her heart: Count Golovin, the chief of the secret police. An intrigue had been formed against the count, chiefly by great noblemen, whose misdeeds he had checked. Their aim was to drive him out of office. Anna had entered heart and soul into the intrigue. She herself had been unpleasantly curbed more than once by the count, and had vowed to have her revenge. And so Captain Maleenovsky's hopes of being righted with Count Golovin's help hung in the balance during the talk which was going on. Anna managed her part of the talk very cleverly. Knowing Alexander's humane disposition, she spoke chiefly of what she called. Count Golovin's "cruelty:" how his very name was a "terror" to men; how he was commonly called "the terrible Count Golovin." Some truth in that, as in most lies. But not the whole truth: only a half-truth. The whole truth would have run thus: "a terror to evil-doers, and a praise to them that do well."

The Emperor was grieved and shocked. He did not know Count Golovin well; had seen

Alex

him seldom. But, from what little he had seen of him, he did not judge very favourably of the man. Why disguise the truth? Count Golovin was too truthful and manly to adapt himself to Alexander's weaknesses and whims. Whenever he met the Emperor, he had so many stern and painful truths to tell that he had no time to waste in pleasing talk. ander thought Golovin decidedly too stern. So different from himself in that respect! But, then, Alexander, ostrich-like, was hiding his head in the bush, to shut out the evils around him, while Count Golovin was manfully grappling with them. Still it was due to a public servant not to listen lightly to frivolous charges. "Are you sure about it ?" asked the Emperor.

"I am quite sure," answered Anna glibly. "Alas, one hears of it from too many quarters; and of late the public voice has rung too frequently with the terror of his name."

Princess Donskaya spoke with an air of assurance which went far to set all Majesty's doubts at rest. He could only say, in a helpless sort of way:

"It is strange that I have heard nothing about it before."