By Neva's waters

On a cold January night in the first year of the nineteenth century, a state ball, given by command of the fair young queen, Louisa, was held in the Royal Palace at Berlin.

For a moment Ouvaroff fastened his gaze upon the card which he so held as to be seen by none but himself; then, raising his eyes, he looked at Wilfrid. There was a sudden coldne...

A winter night, frosty and still. The northern stars, set in a sky of steely blue, twinkled over a plain of frozen snow—a plain so vast that its visible border touched the horiz...

“And you’ll not get up till after ten?” pleaded Boris. “The boyarine must not know that I have broken my word. And I must keep your yamchik out of the way till she has taken her...

It was with considerable mortification that Wilfrid heard this news. It had been his intention to secrete himself at some loophole of observation in order to watch the departure...

On the fifth morning after leaving Gora, Wilfrid and his yamchik were speeding over a landscape that presented to the eye little more than a vast expanse of virgin white, sparkl...

“Why should I run?” demanded Wilfrid haughtily. He received no answer. Benningsen, holding his cloak over his face as if to prevent recognition, was running down a side street a...

He was a man close upon his sixtieth year, with silver hair and a dignified presence. His countenance expressed mildness and amiability, rather than force of character or diplom...

While Wilfrid was thinking that if Pauline’s ways with Ouvaroff were as fascinating as her ways with him, it was no wonder that the poor Prince’s head was turned, the maid Vera,...

The handsome stone bridges that now span that broad river were non-existent in the early years of the nineteenth century, the present Troitzkoi Bridge being then represented by...

Dear to her father’s heart was the Franco-Russian Alliance, and yet she, his daughter and _confidante_, had been secretly working to bring it to nought; and all to no purpose, s...

“What are we to do now?” asked Pauline of Wilfrid, when, as their carriage drew near to the Imperial Square, they found approach to the Winter Palace impossible by reason of the...

As they advanced, one by one, Alexander with gracious air bade each continue in the exercise of his office. When, however, Baranoff approached, the Czar’s countenance underwent...

On the second night after the death of the Czar Paul, it happened that Wilfrid was sitting over a newspaper in his private room at the Hôtel d’Angleterre, when a sound caused hi...

The Duchess, as if claiming precedence, was the first to enter, and Wilfrid noticed that as she passed the threshold she looked downwards, seemingly careful as to where she step...

It was a usage of the Russian Ministry, in 1801 at least, for each member to present himself at the Winter Palace once a week on a stated day for the purpose of reporting on the...

On the day following the dismissal of the Pahlen Ministry Wilfrid received a visit at his hotel from Pauline; a welcome visit, for he was not so foolishly enamoured of the Grand...

The night, long-looked for, had come, and Wilfrid, throwing a cloak over his fancy costume, was driven off in a covered carriage to the French Embassy, in fulfilment of a promis...

“No; it was for a wronged and widowed empress,” replied the Duchess, feigning not to see his meaning. “Lord Courtenay, the Empress is unspeakably grateful for your good work. Th...

Now when one gentleman comes upon another in the act of kissing a lady, politeness suggests immediate retirement on the part of the first. But this was a course the intruder did...

The unmasking of the guests was followed by a simultaneous movement toward the supper-tables, set forth in an adjoining room, a room scarcely inferior in size and grandeur to th...

Having no very high opinion of the Czar’s honour, Wilfrid considered it advisable to have a friendly witness to see fair play. But who would care to be his companion in a ventur...

It was past five o’clock when Wilfrid sprang from the coach on the Viborg Road and disappeared down the narrow path that wound through a forest of pines, while the vehicle conti...

“I have tasted nothing all the day,” said Pauline, “I could not eat while you were fasting; but now, if you will give me your arm, Lord Courtenay, you shall conduct me to a cham...

When Wilfrid saw the Princess manifesting every sign of death, there came over him that strange feeling that often follows a fall from a great height, a numbing of the limbs and...

“Has no recollection whatever of the event. Her mind is a complete blank as to her past: cannot recall the name of a friend or the name of any place where she has dwelt.”

While Pauline was absent on her mission to St. Petersburg Wilfrid was spending a pleasant time with the Princess, who, avowing herself to be quite well again, refused in defianc...

This month had been a time of the purest happiness both to Marie and to Wilfrid. Their intercourse was not confined to the walls of the castle; they went out daily, keeping, for...

Wilfrid and his Princess occupied their favourite seat by the Fairies’ Mirror. Marie was musing upon her kinsfolk—she supposed she had such—and, with a mind dominated by her lov...

The door by which Wilfrid and Marie had entered was not the only one giving access to the room; at the opposite end was a second, partly open, and along the corridor leading to...

More dead than alive the Czarina leaned against the side of the alcove, her eyes set with a dreadful stare upon the face of the man whom she could not think of as her husband. T...

“Is this a conspiracy to mock me, or is it really the truth? I cannot—I _cannot_ believe it. It is so strange that I—that I should be—Ah! would to heaven that I were not! What d...

For three hours the unconscious Czarina lay as one dead; then life began slowly to return, news received with feelings of intense relief by Wilfrid and Ouvaroff, who, seated by...