A TRAGEDY ON THE NEVA.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 138, 10 June 1905, Page 13

A TRAGEDY ON THE NEVA.

What promicies to hp an rsoeedingly 'n--tcresting se.-irs of articles has opened iu| The "Leisure Honr" under the tirlo of "Six I Years at the Russian Court." The author, I I au Englishwoman, was fonneriy in charge lof the little Grand Duchesses of Russia, ; ! and has therefore had gr-at opportunities for sec-ing the intimate life at the Court. '< The opening chapters are chiefly introduc- j tory, and !n the course of an account of I rhe tzar's palace at Czarbkoe Selo sUe says:— Bctirecn thp two parts are the Little. Capricp and tne Oreat Caprice. The story j goes that on one occasion Catherine 11., j walking with a favourite and trusted MIE-j ister in rhe park, complained of the fiatness of the country, saying that it would! give h<?r great pleasure to come out oni the following morning, and find a hill jost I where Kho stewxi. To hear was to obey. The Minister; started work immediately. The entire po- ) puhition .jf i he i-onctryside was impressed. ! The wors was carried on througbont the! nigbt, and an arcced way of stone was raised across the road: by excavating and. digging, a fell! ac-rnally appeared before'; ' morning. This hill was afterwards covered with trees and shrubs. Catherine 11. was an autocrat. She had [ j a great objection to members of her house- ! i hold getting married. On one occasion: j a lat\j and gentleman be longing to htr' ' snite ticame engaged. For a long time Catherine re'oeed her consent to their' marriag*. bnt finally agreed on the ex- j prpss condition that she was allowed to; j make all arrangements for the wedding, j j To this proposition they gladly consented. I The ceremony concluded, she led the.' j way down to the frozen Neva, wher* she! i had caused an ice-house to be built. In | I this terrible abo<le i-he incarcerated them. ' j Months nftrr. when the N«»va was in Good. j their dead bodies were recovered, and bar- j j ictl- :