CHAPTER VI
OLD AGE
Prince Ghedimin was dining that day with his wife. Both he and the Princess studiously avoided mention of the affair which so abruptly ended the hunt. Yet it was unlikely that the news of it should not have spread throughout the city. The police alone appeared ignorant of it, the shot stag remaining on the spot where it fell. Was it the intention to remove it at nightfall, when no one could see who took it away?
"Shall I meet you at the opera to-night?" asked the Princess.
"I am not sure if I can be there."
"It would be a pity to remain away. Fraulein Ilmarine sings in the _Secret Marriage_ for the last time this season. She will have a great ovation."
The Princess firmly believed that Zeneida would be hissed off the stage; and what could be better than that the Prince should have the pleasure of witnessing her humiliation from his wife"s box?
"I am awfully sorry that I cannot engage to be there, my dear. As you are aware, it is my night to visit my grandmother, and when once I am there the dear old lady is sure not to let me come away. She has so much to ask about every one, and at the stroke of midnight she will expect me to take the organ in the chapel adjoining the apartment and sing through the penitential ma.s.s; and I cannot refuse her. But if you wish that we should spend the evening together, why not come with me?"
"Oh, many thanks. I do not sing in ma.s.ses."
"But you have not once been to see the grandmother since our marriage."
"I think you know that I shrink from dead people."
"But the poor old soul is still living."
"So much the worse--a living death! It makes me shudder to look at a mummy, and to think that some day I too shall appear like one!"
"Ah, well! A pleasant evening to you, my love."
"Edifying devotions, your Excellency."
The Prince withdrew. The Princess sent her dwarf after him, that--hidden among the orange-trees in the conservatory--he might find out whether the Prince had actually gone to his grandmother"s apartments, and how long he stayed there.
Ivan Maximovitch Ghedimin really did pa.s.s through the corridor into his grandmother"s apartments. The old lady inhabited the central block of the palace, its windows, on both sides, looking on to the court-yard.
It is twenty years since Anna Feodorovna has left her apartments. Even in the sultry summer heat, a time when all the aristocrats of the capital take refuge in the islands of the Neva, she pa.s.ses it among her fur-hung walls.
Since the spring of 1804, when she had a critical nervous illness, she has spent her days in a wheel-chair, the being wheeled from the dinner to the card-table and back again her only exercise. She dreads fresh air.
At first she had some society. Three old ladies of her own age used to come to play whist and gossip with her. Gradually they left off coming; first one, then two, at length all three. No one dared to tell her that they were dead; she was told that they found it difficult to mount the stairs. Since then she had played her game of whist alone.
The old lady still wears the old-fashioned cotton costume which was so fashionable in 1803, when the Czar Alexander had forbidden the importation of foreign woollen stuffs. She thinks that every lady in society still wears it, and with it a cap and feather, closely resembling a turban.
It is now twelve years since the last of her contemporaries visited her.
All have now been gathered to their fathers. But Anna Feodorovna must not know this. All are living, and on every great occasion send her their messages and congratulations, exchange consecrated cakes with her, and colored Easter eggs; and on Easter morning she always finds on her table their illuminated visiting-cards, with the inscription in letters of gold, "Christos wosskresz."
History for her has stopped with the signing of peace between the Emperors Napoleon I. and Alexander I.; and the appointment, at that date, by the Czar, of her only son, Maxim Wa.s.silovitch, to the command of the new Georgian regiment of Lancers. Georgia had just been incorporated into Russia, and Anna Feodorovna tells proudly to this day how, on one occasion, she had the honor of a conversation with Heraclius, the deposed Emperor of Georgia; how her beloved son, Maxim, brought his Majesty up to her, and although she did not understand what he said to her--for his ex-Majesty only spoke Persian, which was not at all like either Russian or French--they had had a most interesting conversation.
From that period in history it had been the endeavor of the family that no rumors of the world and its events should disturb the quiet of that revered member. A daily paper was published separately for her, from which every war detail was scrupulously expunged. The reigning sovereigns did nothing in the world but give or take a princess in marriage, magnanimously yield each other territory, distinguish their generals for no reason whatever; and, that the century might not pa.s.s over without some blood-shedding, the unbelievers on the far-off island of Tenedos were occasionally slaughtered; a revolt of the Kurds on the boundaries of Persia would be suppressed from time to time; or Belgrade be conquered by Csernyi-Gyurka. Anna Feodorovna knew nothing of the terrible French invasion, nor of the burning of Moscow; nor that her only son, Maxim, had fallen in the battle of Borodino. Her paper, on the contrary, stated that Maxim Wa.s.silovitch had been appointed Governor of Georgia, and had at once proceeded there without furlough. From that time news had regularly come to her from him, and he had sent letters, which her man-servant was obliged to read to her, for her eyes were not capable now of deciphering handwriting. The good son who never forgot his old mother! Her man-servant, faithful Ihnasko, is everything to her--cook, house-maid, reader. He, too, must be some seventy-five years old; thus fifteen years younger than his mistress. No other serving-man would have held on as he had done, no other have submitted to put a seal to his lips, and have observed silence as to all that was pa.s.sing without. Even among us men there are few Ihnaskos. And on a fete day, such as this, it is especially difficult, when Anna Feodorovna does not play cards--for card-playing is sinful--and there being no whist, she questions the more.
Fortunately for her she has a good appet.i.te, and can enjoy all the varieties of cakes sent her by "her friends" on this last Maslica day.
"Ihnasko, I cannot believe that Sofia Ivanovna prepared these cakes herself. She always stones the raisins so carefully. Try this one."
"You are right, your Highness. But then the poor lady"s eyesight is not so good as it was."
"Oh yes; she grows old, like me. Reason enough to see nothing."
(The main reason, however, is that six feet of earth lie between her and the world.)
"And the little princess, and the brunette countess, have they sent their usual congratulations to-day? And the Lieutenant-General"s wife, who is so hard of hearing?"
"The cards are all laid on the silver table, your Highness."
"And you have acknowledged them in the customary manner?"
"At once, your Highness."
"You should have written in very large characters to the Lieutenant-General"s lady, for she is so hard of hearing. Has the old beggar-woman come for the warm clothing? Was she glad to have it? Did she not prophesy good luck for this year? Is it not to be a comet year?
Ah, there is no chance of that! Have you taken the grand d.u.c.h.esses their bouquets?"
"I took them. They return their thanks."
"Are neither of them married yet? Dear me! They must be of marriageable age now."
(Both are long married--in their girlhood--to the white bridegroom, Death; but no one has ever told Anna Feodorovna this.)
"How is the old man?"
"As usual."
"Does he make use of the Elizabeth pills I sent him against gout?"
"Constantly."
"Can he sleep at night?"
"Sometimes, yes; sometimes, no."
"Does he not grumble when it is new moon, or the wind blows?"
"At times. But he soon calms down."
"Of course, he always has that horrid pipe in his mouth, and sits in clouds of smoke like a charcoal-burner."
"What else should he do?"