At the end of the 19th century, Count Salias — the author of numerous historical novels — surpassed not only his Russian fellow writers but also the European favorites of popular fiction, Dumas and Jules Verne, in reader popularity. At the end of the 20th century, Salias’s novels began returning to their readers. In “The Empress's Maid of Honor,” Count Salias turns to events of his favorite century — the 18th.