56 THE ORLOFF.
strangle
each other in order to grasp the much-coveted sceptre, was considered
as something quite unprecedented. The Court Chronicler of the day
speaks of it with emotion as a sight to move the hearts of gods and men.
Nicholas
died in the middle of the Crimean War and Alexander II. reigned in his
stead. The extraordinary pomp of his coronation has never been
surpassed. He in his turn held in his hand Orloff's great diamond as
the symbol of absolute power. Yet he, who could deal as he chose with
the lives of all his subjects, had not power to save his own from the
hand of the assassin. The murder of Alexander II. by Nihilists, in
March, 1881, is fresh in memory as also the succession of the present
Czar. The Orloff was then once more taken from its repose in the
sumptuous privacy of the Kremlin to enhance the splendors of an
Imperial Coronation. Within a short time the Orloff has served to
grace yet another splendid ceremony. On the occasion of the recent
installation of
