“Ah! from water to water,” said Ekaterina jokingly. “Welcome back to your native land. We shall soon be ready.” Having wrapped Mimi up warmly and put her in the basket, the empress dried her hands, and remarked:-- “As you see, friends first of all!” She took a seat, pointed out a chair to Orloff, and began questioning him about his journeys, about Italy, and the Turkish affairs. “But, oh! Batiushka Alexis Gregorevitch, you oversalted, oversalted it,” said the empress, producing her snuff-box, and slowly taking a pinch. “In what, your Majesty?” “In that certain little affair,” smilingly answered Ekaterina, menacing him with her finger. Orloff noticed the smile, but at the same time, in that very same joke, he noticed a well-known--to him--bad sign. The round, strong chin of Ekaterina trembled slightly. “In what? Matoushka Tzaritza, and in what is my crime?” he asked, stammering. “_Comment donc, Monsieur?_ Yes, really oversalted it,” continued Ekaterina, slowly taking another pinch from her snuff-box. At this, Orloff, like a child, lost all self-possession; his eyes wandered timorously round the room. “You know; our captive,” said the empress,--“Oh, I suppose you’ve heard it; she’ll soon be two.…” The athlete Orloff knew not what to do in his confusion. “I am lost, completely lost!” thought he; and his disgrace, his downfall arose before his eyes. “Mercy, oh God!” “But that we may arrange, matters may be mended,” continued Ekaterina. “You might go to Petersburg, see the captive. To celebrate the peace, you have returned to her as her bridegroom.” Orloff knit his brows, bent one knee to the ground, kissed the hand that was held out to him, and silently left the room. At the door, he regained his self-composure. “Well! what! the empress! What did she say?” asked the courtiers. “I have been honoured with a special invitation to the fêtes,” answered the count, “and now I am going to Petersburg to arrange my brother’s affairs.” Count Orloff tried to seem very elated, very proud.… He understood that it was better for him to make haste. It was clear that the empress was not joking. Under pretence of an interview with his brother, he hastened the preparations for his journey, and was soon on his way to Petersburg. CHAPTER XXI. _ORLOFF AND THE PRINCESS._ Worn out with her long sea voyage and imprisonment, the captive dragged on a miserable existence in the fortress. An acute fever, a sharp cough, accompanied by frequent hemorrhage, had developed into rapid consumption. The frequent visits and questions of the field-marshal Galitzin always threw the Princess into fits of passion. “What right have you to treat me like this?” she would say in an imperative voice. “What reason have I given for such treatment?” “Written orders from a higher power--the will of the empress!” answered, panting and puffing, the secretary, Oushakoff.