ON THE RED STAIRCASE [Illustration: _THE KREMLIN._] ON THE RED STAIRCASE BY M. IMLAY TAYLOR SECOND EDITION. CHICAGO A. C. McCLURG AND COMPANY 1897 COPYRIGHT BY A. C. McCLURG AND CO. A.D. 1896. _All rights reserved._ CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. THE RABBLE ELECT A CZAR 9 II. MADEMOISELLE’S GLOVE 22 III. THE STORY OF CAIN 33 IV. THE SHADOWS ON THE WALL 47 V. ZÉNAÏDE 56 VI. A KITCHEN FEUD 67 VII. A CZAR’S FUNERAL 79 VIII. THE ASSASSIN 91 IX. SOPHIA ALEXEIEVNA 103 X. THE PACKET 115 XI. THE RESCUE 127 XII. PRAVEZH 140 XIII. PRINCE BASIL GALITSYN 151 XIV. MADEMOISELLE EUDOXIE’S WINDOW 161 XV. THE FLIGHT 174 XVI. THE AUDIENCE-CHAMBER 187 XVII. THE SECRET STAIRCASE 199 XVIII. FEODOR SERGHEIEVITCH RAMODANOFSKY 212 XIX. POLOTSKY 223 XX. A FRIENDLY CUP 235 XXI. THE PRISONER 246 XXII. BAFFLED 258 XXIII. HOMYAK 269 XXIV. THE RED STAIRCASE 285 XXV. IN THE FACE OF DEATH 294 XXVI. LOVE AND FIRE 308 XXVII. MICHAEL’S REVENGE 318 XXVIII. MADAME VON GADEN 330 XXIX. A DESPERATE DEFENSE 340 XXX. A SOLEMN BETROTHAL 346 ON THE RED STAIRCASE. CHAPTER I. THE RABBLE ELECT A CZAR. THE Patriarch Joachim was 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 Kremlin 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?” I could not restrain a smile. I had been long enough about the Russian court to know how fierce was the undercurrent, how intense the resentment felt against the family of the dowager czarina.