She resorted to the instrumentality of another tool, and induced Alexis, one of the Orloff family, all of whom were pliant and remorseless instruments of her will, to go to Italy and accomplish the ruin of her possible rival.
Alexis went to Leghorn, where he laid a snare for the young Princess through the aid of a base Neapolitan intriguer named Ribas, whom he sent to Rome, and where the villain introduced himself as an Italian officer who had come to pay his respects to the Princess, in whose fortunes he professed to feel the deepest interest. The young Princess was destitute, and when he offered assistance he was graciously received.
When Ribas had secured the complete confidence of the unsuspecting girl, he declared that he had come commissioned by Alexis Orloff to offer her the throne of Russia, and that if she would consent to marry Orloff he would head a rebellion in her favor.
The young Princess had already been informed by Prince Radzivill of her claim to her mother's throne, and the hopes he had fostered now seemed confirmed, so that with fatal alacrity she yielded to the designs of the conspirators. When later, Alexis himself came to Rome she gave him a ready welcome, and when, as part of his carefully prepared instructions, he declared that he had fallen in love with her, with the inexperience of a girl of sixteen she readily consented to become his wife.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
