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The tzarina almost overwhelmed the orphan before she dismissed her. That same day Marya hastened back to my father's house in the country, without even having the curiosity to see the sights of Petersburg. I was released from captivity at the end of the year 1774, and, as it happened, I was present in Moscow when Pugatchéf was executed in the following year.
"You are very young to travel by yourself. You have come on business?" "Yes, madame. I have come to present a petition to the tzarina." "You are an orphan. It is some injustice or wrong you complain of? What is your name?" "I am the daughter of Captain Mironoff, and it is for mercy I have come to ask." "Captain Mironoff? He commanded one of the forts in the Orenburg district?" "Yes, madame."
Mariana, who had been liberated from prison, was let into the secret, and willing to ascend again to the grandeur from which she had fallen, entered with cordial coöperation into this new intrigue. The widowed tzarina and the Polish adventurer contrived their first meeting in the presence of a large concourse of nobles and citizens.
When she began she looked kind and interested, but all at once her face changed, and Marya, who followed with her eyes her every movement, was alarmed by the hard expression of the face lately so calm and gracious. "You plead for Grineff," said the lady, in an icy tone. "The Tzarina cannot grant him grace.
"I know," said she, "you are not rich, but I owe a debt to the daughter of Captain Mironoff. Be easy about your future." After overwhelming the poor orphan with caresses, the Tzarina dismissed her, and Marya started the same day for my father's country house, without having even had the curiosity to take a look at Petersburg.
After the usual compliments he announced to him that the suspicions which had arisen of my participation in the plots of the rebels had been proved to be but too well founded, adding that condign punishment as a deterrent should have overtaken me, but that the Tzarina, through consideration for the loyal service and white hairs of my father, had condescended to pardon the criminal son, and, remitting the disgrace-fraught execution, had condemned him to exile for life in the heart of Siberia.
When she had finished, the lady asked her where she lodged, and told her she would not have to wait long for an answer to the letter. Marya went back to the post-house full of hope, and presently, to the consternation of her hostess, a lackey in the imperial livery entered and announced that the tzarina condescended to summon to her presence the daughter of Captain Mironoff.
I found a tall man, already bent by age. His long hair was quite white; his old uniform reminded one of a soldier of Tzarina Anne's time, and he spoke with a strongly-marked German accent. I gave him my father's letter. Upon reading his name he cast a quick glance at me. "Ah," said he, "it was but a short time Andréj Petróvitch was your age, and now he has got a fine fellow of a son.
Arrived at Sofia, Marya learnt that the court was at the summer palace of Tzarskoe-Selo, and at once resolved to stop there. She was able to get a lodging at the post-house, and the postmaster's wife, who was a regular gossip, began to tell her all the routine of the palace, at what hour the tzarina rose, had her coffee, and walked in the gardens.
An autograph letter from the tzarina, Catherine II., framed and glazed, is carefully preserved. It is addressed to the father of Peter Grineff, and contains, with the acquittal of his son, many praises of the intelligence and good heart of the daughter of Captain Mironoff. Gargantua and Pantagruel Francois Rabelais was born at Seuillé in Touraine, France, about 1483.
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