They brought together in the cathedral of St. Sophia the members of the senate, the nobles, and the clergy, and they bade them elect, there and then, a new emperor. A little respite was gained, because in that time of suspense and peril it was no easy matter to find a man courageous enough to take upon himself this dangerous distinction. Three days of anarchy and confusion followed. Isaac II., luckily for himself, seized this opportunity of dying. Then, as no one would become emperor, the mob seized on a young man, named Nicolas Kanavos, and proclaimed him emperor, against his will.
Young Alexis IV. turned with despairing eyes upon the Latin camp. There, and there alone, seemed to be his chance of safety. He made hasty and secret arrangements with the Marquis of Montferrat for the admission of the Crusaders into the city, and waited their arrival. He would have done better either to trust to his Varangian guard, or to fly to the Latin camp without delay. But these Greek emperors trusted no one, and if they fought, or if they fled, seemed always to fight or fly too late.
Late in the evening, while Alexis was expecting, perhaps, the arrival of same of his Latin defenders, he received a visit from Alexis Ducas, called, from the thickness of his beetling eyebrows, Murtzuphlos. This man was one of the officers of the household, chamberlain or keeper of the imperial wardrobe. He came into the presence of the young emperor, hurriedly, without ceremony, urging immediate flight from the rage of a maddened mob, which he represented as close at his heels. There was no mob. But the unhappy youth,
