stared into the very heart of the fire, as if they beheld there
the pageant of the past, upon which his mind was bent.

Nineteen years were sped since Ivan the Terrible had passed away,
leaving two sons, Feodor Ivanovitch, who had succeeded him, and
the infant Demetrius. Feodor, a weakling who was almost imbecile,
had married Irene, the daughter of Boris Godunov, whereby it had
fallen out that Boris became the real ruler of Russia, the power
behind the throne. But his insatiable ambition coveted still
more. He must wear the crown as well as wield the sceptre; and
this could not be until the Ruric dynasty which had ruled Russia
for nearly seven centuries should be stamped out. Between himself
and the throne stood his daughter's husband and their child, and
the boy Demetrius, who had been dispatched with his mother, the
dowager Tsarina, to Uglich. The three must be removed.

Boris began with the last, and sought at first to drive him out
of the succession without bloodshed. He attempted to have him
pronounced illegitimate, on the ground that he was the son of
Ivan's seventh wife (the orthodox Church recognizing no wife as
legitimate beyond the third). But in this he failed. The memory
of the terrible Tsar, the fear of him, was still alive in
superstitious Russia, and none dared to dishonour his son. So
Boris had recourse to other and surer means. He dispatched his
agents to Uglich, and presently there came thence a story that
the boy, whilst playing with a knife, had been taken with a fit
of epilepsy, and had fallen, running the blade into his throat.
But it was not a story that could carry conviction to the
Muscovites, since with it came the news that the town of Uglich
had risen against the emissaries of Boris, charging them with the