On the Red Staircase

s standing on the balcony, in front of the Church of the Savior, looking down upon the dense mass of people below in the Grand Square of the Krenilin at Moscow. A purpose was pulsing in the keen face, and he was measuring his audience, weighing too, perhaps, the peril and the cost. They were still every eye was fixed on the tall figure in the magnificent pontificals of the Greek Church every ear strained to catch his first word. It was the climax of the day, the chief act in the great drama. He raised his hand, with a majestic gesture, over the people. Hear ye, voters of the Moscovite State, he cried, in a loud voice, to which of the two princes do you give the rule 8 ON THE RED STAIRCASE. For a moment after he ceased speaking, the silence remained unbroken then a hoarse murmur rose on the outskirts of the crowd, amid the rabble, and rolled on, gaining strength, until it was an articulate shout. Peter Alexeivitch Peter Alexeivitch Yet here and there in the multitude, the first-born was remembered in a shrill cry, - Ivan Alexeivitch But the dissenting voices were lost in the . volume of sound. The nobles on the balcony were watching the patriarch. There was an expression almost of triumph on his features, as his eyes swept over the shouting throng. Again he held up his hand, and the noisy acclamations subsided, as the waves of the Red Sea before the rod of Moses. To which of the two princes do you give the rule he repeated, and this time there was the thrill of strong emotion in his voice. Peter Alexeivitch Peter Alexeivitch l 1 The Czar Alexis was twice married. His first wife, the Princess Marie Miloslavsky, had thirteen children, but several of them died in infancy. The only two boys that survived her were Feodor, who succeeded his father, and Ivan, who was half blind, had an impediment in his speech, and was almost an imbecile. There were six daughters. The second wife of Alexis was Natalia Naryshkin, the daughter of Kirill Naryshkin. She gave birth to a son, who was baptized Peter and who was destined to be the great czar. When the story be THE RABBLE ELECT A CZAR. 9 The lesson was learned, and the shout rose until it echoed from every tower and dome of the Kremlin. The canaiZZe was rampant all the smothered rebellion in the heart of the city was seething there. The discontent of the Streltsi, the old and unhealed sore of the Dissent, the suffering of the serfs, - a hundred impulses and miseries surged in the hearts of the shouters, swayed, for the moment, by political intrigue, answering readily, as the populace will, to the most skillful manipulator. The patriarch smiled, and stretched out his hands with a gesture of benediction... --This text refers to the Paperback edition.