Hmm interesting. I can see him chafing under ty man as he gets older, and of course not liking the fact that Menshikov seems to dominate everythingThe age gap might be considered too big. It was no problem when the husband was older. But I could definitely see Menshikov's enemies/rivals make a mountain of a molehill with it. Then again, Maria died (IIRC) when they came back from Siberia or giving birth to twins (whose? Some backwoodsman out in Siberia's?). So she could marry Pavel, and still die more or less on schedule forcing him to remarry. It all depends on his relationship with Menshikov though