Page:The Czar, A Tale of the Time of the First Napleon.djvu/444

434 St. Petersburg, and brought death and desolation to thousands of families. While the inundation continued, he spared no effort to rescue the perishing; and for weeks afterwards he went every day to the homes of those who had lost their relatives, relieving their necessities, and speaking words of hope and comfort about the 'city which cannot be moved.' Then another and a deeper sorrow came to him—but of that I will not speak."

Here the child's clear voice broke in. "Oh, father," he asked wondering, "why did not God comfort him?"

Ivan could not answer, nor could he meet the searching gaze of the boy's young eyes. In broken-hearted silence he turned away. But Henri put his arm around the child and drew him close to him. "God did comfort him, at last," he said. "The way was rough, rough and long, but the end was peace.—That journey to the south, from which he returned no more, was undertaken partly for the benefit of the Empress Elizabeth, whose health for some time had been failing. Her physicians had recommended her to pass the winter in Germany, but she entreated them not to separate her from her husband; and, to avoid this separation, he fixed upon a residence for her at Taganrog, in the Crimea, the climate being accounted favourable, resolving to make it his own headquarters for the season. There they spent a few quiet, restful weeks together. Elizabeth wrote to her own family that she had never been so happy in all her life. She drove and walked with the Emperor, who watched over her with all the care and tenderness of which he was so capable. Whenever he walked alone, he visited the poor in their humble homes; and many a touching memory of his kindness will linger long on their lips and in their hearts.