gether under the double responsibility of
guiding the affairs of Russia and directing
the education of the future emperor. Ivan's
mother saw the chance of asserting her
rights which the weakness of the duke
afforded to her. She was a resolute woman;
and she seized her opportunity by banishing
Biren to Siberia, and taking his place as
Regent of the Empire and guardian of her
infant son.

Such was the result, thus far, of the great
scramble for the crown which began with
the death of the son of Peter the Great.
Such was the position of affairs in Russia at
the time when the revolution broke out.

Through all the contentions which
distracted the country, the Princess Elizabeth
lived in the retirement of her own palace,
waiting secretly, patiently, and vigilantly for
the fit opportunity of asserting her rights.
She was, in every sense of the word, a
remarkable woman, and she numbered two
remarkable men among the adherents of her
cause. One was the French ambassador at
the Court of Russia, the Marquis de la
Chétardie. The other was the surgeon of
Elizabeth's household, a German, named
Lestoc. The Frenchman had money to
spend; the German had brains to plot. Both
were men of tried courage and resolute will;
and both were destined to take the foremost
places in the coming struggle. It is certainly
not the least curious circumstance in the
extraordinary revolution which we are now
about to describe, that it was planned and
carried out by two foreigners. In the
struggle for the Russian throne, the natives
of the Russian soil were used only as instruments
to be handled and directed at the
pleasure of the French ambassador and the
German surgeon.

The Marquis and Lestoc, watching the
signs of the times, arrived at the conclusion
that the period of the banishment of the
Duke de Biren and of the assumption of the
supreme power by the mother of Ivan, was
also the period for effecting the revolution
which was to place the Princess Elizabeth on
the throne of her ancestors. The dissatisfaction
in Russia had, by this time, spread
widely among all classes. The people chafed
under a despotism inflicted on them by
foreigners. The native nobility felt outraged
by their exclusion from privileges which had
been conceded to their order under former
reigns, before the aliens from Courland had
seized on the reins of power. The army was
for the most part to be depended on to
answer any bold appeal that might be made
to it, in favour of the daughter of Peter the
Great. With these chances in their favour,
the Frenchman and the German set
themselves to the work of organising the scattered
elements of discontent. The Marquis opened
his well-filled purse; and Surgeon Lestoc
prowled about the city and the palace with
watchful eyes, with persuasive tongue, with
delicately-bribing hands. The great point to
be achieved was to tamper successfully with
the regiment on duty at the palace; and
this was skilfully and quickly accomplished
by Lestoc. In the course of a few days only,
he contrived to make sure of all the considerable
officers of the regiment, and of certain
picked men from the ranks besides. On
counting heads, the members of the military
conspiracy thus organised came to thirty-three.
Exactly the same number of men had
once plotted the overthrow of Julius Cæsar,
and had succeeded in the attempt.

Matters had proceeded thus far when the
suspicions of the Duchess Regent (that being
the title which Ivan's mother had now
assumed) were suddenly excited, without the
slightest apparent cause to arouse them.
Nothing dangerous had been openly
attempted as yet, and not one of the conspirators
had betrayed the secret. Nevertheless
the Duchess Regent began to doubt; and, one
morning, she astonished and alarmed the
marquis and Lestoc by sending, without any
previous warning, for the Princess Elizabeth,
and by addressing a series of searching
questions to her at a private interview.
Fortunately for the success of the plot, the
daughter of Peter the Great was more than
a match for the Duchess Regent. From first
to last Elizabeth proved herself equal to the
dangerous situation in which she was placed.
The Duchess discovered nothing; and the
heads of the thirty-three conspirators
remained safe on their shoulders.

This piece of good fortune operated on the
cunning and resolute Lestoc as a warning to
make haste. Between the danger of waiting
to mature the conspiracy, and the risk of
letting it break out abruptly before the
organisation of it was complete, he chose the
latter alternative. The Marquis agreed with
him that it was best to venture everything,
before there was time for the suspicions of the
Duchess to be renewed; and the Princess
Elizabeth, on her part, was perfectly ready
to be guided by the advice of her two trusty
adherents. The fifteenth of January, seventeen
hundred and forty-one, had been the
day originally fixed for the breaking out of
the revolution. Lestoc now advanced the
period for making the great attempt by nine
days. On the night of the sixth of January
the Duchess Regent and the Princess Elizabeth
were to change places, and the throne of
Russia was to become once more the inheritance
of the family of Peter the Great.

Between nine and ten o'clock, on the night
of the sixth, Surgeon Lestoc strolled out,
with careless serenity on his face, and
devouring anxiety at his heart, to play his
accustomed game of billiards at a French
coffee-house. The stakes were ten ducats, and
Lestoc did not play quite so well as usual that
evening. When the clock of the coffee-house
struck ten, he stopped in the middle of the
game, and drew out his watch.