The Shadow of Tyburn Tree

'Gregory knew well enough, but he had the sense to keep his mouth shut. In fact, when the Princess Dashkof sounded him, as just the type of bold bravo who would be required if any sword-play was needed to carry through the conspiracy, she was unaware that Katinka had ever set eyes on him. Actually he had been her favourite lover in secret for some months, and he was shrewd enough to see that if she did not get rid of her husband he would eventually screw up the courage to get rid of her.'

'Moreover,' Natalia put in, 'Gregory also knew that once Peter was out of the way he would be able to come out into the open. And you Orlofs have never been slow at seeing where your best interests lay.'

'True enough!' cried the Count. 'But the little Dashkof was the prime mover in the affair, inspired by the virulent hatred she bore her own sister, Elizaveta Romanovna. The Dashkof was no more than eighteen then, yet so great was her talent for intrigue that she won over to her project, in turn, the Hetman Cyril Razumofsky, Count Nikita Panin and Prince Volkonsky, the major-general commanding the Brigade of Guards. Katinka pretended afterwards that she knew nothing of all this, and 'tis certain that none of these folk were fully aware of the game the others were playing; but 'tis my opinion that she directed the whole business through the Dashkof and, towards the end, my brother.'

'Towards the end, too, the conspirators surely met,' Natalia inter­posed again, 'and in the presence of the Empress. Have I not heard that there was a violent altercation in which the Dashkof and Gregory vowed that once Peter was deposed Katinka must be enthroned as supreme ruler; whereas Nikita Panin stood firmly by his contention that she should act only as Regent for her son, Paul Petrovitch; believ­ing that his post as governor to the boy would then assure him first place in the Empire?'

Orlof tipped the other half of the bottle of brandy into his goblet, and nodded. 'Aye, and it looked as if a deadlock had been reached; but the Dashkoff was persuaded to save the situation by her con­fidential secretary, an ambitious Piedmontese named Odart, whom she used as her go-between in the affair. By the grace of St. Nicholas, Panin had fallen in love with her during these secret negotiations. As he had been her mother's lover she believed herself his own daughter; so she was, at first, loath to give way to him. But Odart overcame her scruples, and on Katinka promising that Panin should be her prin­cipal Minister, between them, the two women brought him to heel.'

Roger was no puritan himself and accepted the low morality of the age as natural; but even he was shocked by these disclosures which make it ever more apparent that, compared with the licence that reigned in London and Paris, the Court of St. Petersburg was a positive sink of iniquity.

'Yet the time wasted over this wrangle was near our undoing,' Orlof continued. 'Peter had succeeded to the throne on the 5th of January, 1762, and it was now the first week in July. The breach between the royal couple had reached such dimensions that Peter had banished Katinka from the city with orders to live at Peterhof until his further pleasure; and we feared that any day Elizaveta Romanovna might pre­vail upon him to have her cast into a fortress. My brother, myself, our friend Bibekof and a Lieutenant Passick had steadily been gaining adherents to the plot in the regiments of Guards; but not all of them were trustworthy. So many people were now involved that talk became inevitable. Frederick of Prussia got to hear that there was something in the wind and sent Peter a warning by Baron Goltz. Fortunately Peter was too drunk or lazy to bother about it; but another warning reached him through a French architect named Valois. As a result, Teplof, the Councillor of State, who was one of our number, was arrested.'

Orlof paused dramatically, then he gave a great guffaw of laughter. 'Would you believe it, that fool of a Czar had not the sense to put Teplof, to the question, so our necks were saved. But we were near undone again. This time by a soldier, one of Passick's people,' who inadvertently gave away our intentions to his Captain. It was nine o'clock at night. Passick was arrested and thrown into a cell; but, realising the desperateness of the situation he managed to get a message out which reached Princess Dashkoff, urging us to act before morning.'

Again Orlof paused, then went on more quickly. 'Panin came in to keep an assignation with her just as she received the message. His courage did not prove equal to the occasion and. he begged her to await events. Scorning his counsels she changed into man's attire, sent a message to my brother and met him at the Green Bridge over the Moika. Gregory returned to the barracks to prepare the soldiers and to myself allotted the perilous task of going to fetch the Empress.

'She was then living retired in a small summer house called Mon-plaisir on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, at the extremity of the Peterhof gardens. As her lover, Gregory, had the key to it, and on his giving it to me with directions how to find the place, I took two soldiers and we set off hell-for-leather.

'It was two o'clock in the morning before we reached the Peterhof, and I had the devil's own ado to find Katinka's retreat. Knowing nothing of what had passed in the capital, she had long since retired and was sound asleep. Shaking her awake I told her that if she valued her life she had not a moment to lose and must follow me.

'Katinka never lacked for courage, and although she had never set eyes on me before, within five minutes she was up and dressed. Meanwhile my two men had harnessed horses to a coach that the far-sighted little Dashkof had stabled in an outhouse nearby for just such an emergency. No sooner was Katinka in it than I climbed on the box and took the reins myself.

'Stomach of St. Nicholas! How I drove those horsesl Everything depended on Katinka arriving in the Residence and being acclaimed by the guards before our intentions were discovered. But we had twenty-five verststo cover and I overdid the part of Jehu. While we still had a good part of the way to go, the poor beasts foundered and died in their tracks.

'There was nought for it but to walk, and being this season of the year it was as light as day. Poor Katinka feared that at any moment some of Peter's officers might come galloping up on their way to arrest her at Peterhof, and recognising her there upon the road, seize her person. Then, after a while, we met a market-cart. Dispossessing the peasant of it, I put her in it, and on we went again. As we neared the city we suddenly saw a carriage approaching us at full gallop. For a few moments our hearts were in our mouths; but it was Gregory, who had set out to discover what had caused the delay in Katinka's arrival. He paused to shout to her that they only awaited her coming, then turned about and galloped off to prepare for her reception. At last, near dead with suspense and excitement, at seven o'clock in the morning, we entered the city.

'I drove Katinka straight to the quarters of the Ismailofsky guards, and she earned her crown that day—the 9th of July of glorious

memory. Despite her exhausting experiences of the night she addressed the half-clad men with splendid fire and courage; telling them that being in peril of her life she cast herself on their protection. The sight of her beauty and distress melted the hearts of those rough soldiers as nought else could have done. The Chaplain of the regiment fetched the crucifix from the altar of the chapel and everyone of them swore to die in her defence.

'By that time the Simeonofsky and Pr6baginsky guards had heard the news and also declared for her; while Razumofsky, Volkonsky, Stroganof and others had arrived to form a brilliant company about her person. We all proceeded to the church of Kazan. The Archbishop of Novgorod had already been warned and came out with all his priests to receive her. At the high altar he placed the Imperial crown upon her head and proclaimed her Sovereign of All the Russias.

'She then repaired to the old Palace of the Empress Elizabeth. There Panin brought her son to her, for 'twas on the excuse of assuring the succession to little Paul Petrovitch that the revolution had been carried through. She took him out on to the balcony and showed him to the people, whose plaudits redoubled in the behef that they were acclaiming their future Emperor. We had put it about the city that Peter had planned to put them both to death that very day, and 'twas that which raised so great an indignation among the populace as to counteract all thoughts of resistance. By nightfall of that glorious day we had fifteen thousand picked troops sworn to obey Katinka and the whole city was in our hands with not one drop of blood spilled.'

As Orlof paused, at last, and took another gulp of brandy, Roger asked: 'What part did Prince Potemkin play in these stirring events?'

The High Admiral shrugged his massive shoulders. 'None, worth the telling. He was but an ensign in the horseguards at the time, and if you have heard his name mentioned in connection with the coup d'etat'twas but as the result of an incident that has been made too much of since. When we had made certain of the city Katinka dressed herself in the uniform of a guards officer and rode out to review the troops. One-eye was sharp enough to notice that she had no plume in her hat, so he galloped up and offered her his; but for the next eight years she scarce looked at him again.'

'And what of the Czar Peter, all this time?'