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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Minister of Evil, by William Le Queux
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Minister of Evil
+       The Secret History of Rasputin's Betrayal of Russia
+
+Author: William Le Queux
+
+Release Date: September 22, 2007 [EBook #22720]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MINISTER OF EVIL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Michael Ciesielski and the booksmiths at
+http://www.eBookForge.net
+
+
+
+
+
+The Minister of Evil
+
+The Secret History of
+RASPUTIN'S
+Betrayal of Russia
+
+
+William Le Queux
+
+
+Cassell and Company, Ltd
+London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne
+
+
+First Published August 1918.
+_Reprinted September 1918._
+
+
+Copyright, 1917, by William Le Queux, in the United States of America.
+
+
+
+
+TO THE READER
+
+
+AFTER the issue to the public of the curious chronicle of "Rasputin the
+Rascal Monk," based upon official documents, and its translation into a
+number of languages, I received from the same sources in Russia a bulky
+manuscript upon very thin paper which contained certain confessions,
+revelations, and allegations made by its writer, Féodor Rajevski, who
+acted as the mock-saint's secretary and body-servant, and who, in
+consequence, was for some years in a position to know the most inner
+secrets of Rasputin's dealings with those scoundrelly men and women who
+betrayed Holy Russia into the hands of the Hun.
+
+This manuscript, to-day before me as I write, is mostly in Italian, for
+Rajevski, the son of a Polish violinist, lived many years of his youth in
+Bologna, Florence, and old-world Siena, hence, in writing his memoirs, he
+used the language most familiar to him, and one perhaps more readily
+translated by anyone living outside Russia.
+
+In certain passages I have been compelled to disguise names of those who,
+first becoming tools of the mock-saint, yet afterwards discovering him to
+be a charlatan, arose in their patriotism and--like Rajevski who here
+confesses--watched patiently, and as Revolutionists became instrumental
+in the amazing charlatan's downfall and his ignominious death.
+
+These startling revelations of the secretary to the head of the "dark
+forces" in Russia, as they were known in the Duma, are certainly most
+amazing and unusually startling, forming as they do a disgraceful secret
+page of history that will prove of outstanding interest to those who come
+after us.
+
+I confess that when first I read through the bald statements of fact,
+which I have here endeavoured to place in readable form for British
+readers, I became absorbed--therefore I venture to believe that they will
+be just as interesting to others who read them.
+
+WILLIAM LE QUEUX.
+
+DEVONSHIRE CLUB, LONDON,
+_January, 1918_.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER                                    PAGE
+ 1. RASPUTIN MEETS THE EMPRESS                1
+ 2. RASPUTIN ENTERS TSARSKOE-SELO            19
+ 3. THE POTSDAM PLOT DEVELOPS                36
+ 4. THE MURDER OF STOLYPIN                   53
+ 5. THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE              68
+ 6. RASPUTIN IN BERLIN                       85
+ 7. SCANDAL AND BLACKMAIL                   100
+ 8. RASPUTIN THE ACTUAL TSAR                116
+ 9. THE TRAGEDY OF MADAME SVETCHINE         132
+10. TRAITOROUS WORK                         148
+11. POISON PLOTS THAT FAILED                163
+12. RASPUTIN AND THE KAISER                 180
+13. THE "PERFUME OF DEATH"                  197
+14. MILIUKOFF'S EXPOSURE                    214
+15. THE TRAITORS DENOUNCED                  229
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+RASPUTIN MEETS THE EMPRESS
+
+
+THE Spanish author Yriarte wrote those very true words:
+
+    "_Y ahora digo yo; llene un volumen_
+     _De disparates un Autor famoso,_
+     _Y si no alabaren, que me emplumen._"
+
+For those who do not read Spanish I would translate the passage as:
+
+     "Now I say to you; let an author of renown fill a book with
+     twaddle, and if it is not praised by the critics, you may tar and
+     feather me."
+
+I am not an author of renown. Indeed, I make no pretence of the
+delicacies of literary style, or the turning of fine phrases of elegant
+diplomacy. My object is merely to record in these pages the truth
+regarding the crumbling of Russia, and the downfall of our Imperial
+Throne.
+
+Anyone who cares to search the voluminous records in the Bureau of Police
+in the long Bibikovsky Boulevard, in Kiev, will find my _dossier_ neatly
+filed and tabulated, as are those of most Russians. You will find that I,
+Féodor, son of Féodor Rajevski, musician temporarily abroad, and his wife
+Varvara, was born in the Via Galliera, at Bologna, in Italy, on July 8,
+1880, and on March 3, 1897, entered the University in the Vladimirskaya.
+I venture to think that the police have but little inscribed to my
+detriment save perhaps a few students' pranks in the Kreshtchatik, and
+the record of that memorable night when we daubed with blue and white
+paint the equestrian statue in front of the Merchants' Club, and I was
+fined twenty roubles by the bearded old magistrate for the part I played
+in the joke.
+
+Had there been anything serious against me I doubt whether I should have
+occupied, as I did for some years, the post of confidential secretary to
+"Grichka," that saintly unwashed charlatan whose real name was Gregory
+Novikh, and whom the world knew by the nickname of "Rasputin."
+
+Of my youth I need say but little. After my student days I obtained,
+through the influence of a high Government official named Branicki, a
+friend of my father, a clerical post in the bureau of political police of
+the Empire, a department of the Ministry of the Interior, and for several
+years pursued a calm, uneventful life in that capacity. In consequence of
+a grave scandal discovered in my department--for my chief had secured the
+conviction of a certain wealthy nobleman named Tiniacheff, in Kharkoff,
+who was perfectly innocent of any offence--I was one day called as
+witness by the court of inquiry sitting in Moscow.
+
+It was at that inquiry early in 1903 that I first met General
+Kouropatkine, who at that time had risen to high favour with Her Majesty
+the Empress and was--as was afterwards discovered--urging the Tsar to
+make war against Japan, well knowing that any attacks by us would be
+foredoomed to failure. At the General's instigation I was transferred to
+the Ministry of War as an under-secretary in his Cabinet, and he sent
+me--on account of my knowledge of Italian--upon a confidential mission to
+Milan. This, I presume, I carried out entirely to his satisfaction, for
+on two other occasions I was sent to Italy with messages to a certain
+Baron Svereff, a rich Russian financier living in San Remo, and with whom
+no doubt Kouropatkine was engaged in traitorous dealings.
+
+One day, having been called by telephone to the house of His Excellency,
+I found, seated in his big luxuriously furnished room, and chatting
+confidentially, a strange-looking, unkempt, sallow-faced man of thirty or
+so, with broad brow, narrow sunken cheeks, and long untrimmed beard, who,
+as soon as he turned his big deep-set eyes upon mine, held me in
+fascination.
+
+His was a most striking countenance, broad in the protruding forehead
+which narrowed to the point of his black beard, and being dressed as a
+monk in a long, shabby, black robe I recognised at once he was one of
+those fakirs we have all over Russia, one of those self-sacrificing bogus
+"holy" men who wander from town to town obsessed by religious mania, full
+of fictitious self-denial, yet collecting kopecks for charity.
+
+Religion of all creeds has its esoteric phases, and our own Greek Church
+is certainly not alone in its "cranks."
+
+"Rajevski, this is the Starets, Gregory Novikh," said the General, who
+was in uniform with the cross of St. Andrew at his throat.
+
+I stood for a few seconds astounded. On being introduced to me, the
+unkempt, uncleanly fellow crossed his arms over his chest, bowed, and
+growled in a deep voice a word of benediction.
+
+I expressed pleasure at meeting him, for all Russia was at the moment
+ringing with the renown of the modest Siberian "saint" who could work
+miracles. For the past month or so the name of "Grichka" had been upon
+everyone's lips. The ignorant millions from the Volga to Vladivostok had
+been told that a new saint had arisen in Russia; one possessed of Divine
+influence; a man who lived such a clean and blameless life in imitation
+of Christ that he was destined as the spiritual Guide and Protector of
+Russia, and to eclipse even Saint Nicholas himself.
+
+As one level-headed and educated I had always had my doubts concerning
+all "holy" wanderers who meander across the steppes collecting alms.
+Knowing much of the evil life lived in our Russian monasteries and
+convents, and the warm welcome given to every charlatan who grows his
+beard, forgets to wash, lifts his eyes heavenwards, and begs, I had, I
+confess at the outset, but little faith in this new star in Holy Russia's
+firmament now introduced to me by His Excellency the Minister of War.
+
+"I have been speaking with the Starets concerning you," the Minister
+said, as he turned in his padded chair, and flicked the ash from his
+exquisite Bogdanoff cigarette. "I have detached you from my department to
+become secretary to the Starets. Yours will be an enviable post, my dear
+Féodor, I assure you. Russia is in her degeneration. The Starets has been
+sent to us by Divine Providence to regenerate and reform her."
+
+"But, your Excellency, I am very content in my present post--I----"
+
+"I issued the decree from the Ministry this morning," he interrupted in
+his fierce, blustering manner, that manner which, years later, carried
+him through the war with Japan. "It is all arranged. You are the
+secretary of our protector whom Almighty God has sent to Russia for our
+salvation."
+
+My eyes met the piercing gaze of the unkempt scoundrel, and, to my
+surprise, I found myself held mystified. Never before had any man or
+woman exercised such an all-powerful influence over me by merely gazing
+at me. That it was hypnotic was without doubt. The fellow himself with
+his sallow cheeks, his black beard, his deep-set eyes, and his broad brow
+was the very counterpart of those portraits which the old cinquecento
+artists of Italy painted of criminal aristocrats.
+
+In the Pitti and the Uffizi in Florence, in the great gallery in Siena;
+in Venice, Rome, and Milan hung dozens of portraits resembling closely
+that of Gregory Novikh, the man who, to my own knowledge as I intend to
+here show, betrayed Russia, and destroyed the Imperial House of Romanoff.
+
+In that look I had foreseen in him something terrible; I had read the
+whole of his destiny in his glance. His gaze for the moment overwhelmed
+me. Once or twice in my life--as it comes to most men--I have met with
+that expression in the countenances of those I have come across: it
+presaged crime, and the prophecy, alas! has been verified. Crime was in
+Gregory Novikh.
+
+Perhaps Rasputin--as the world called him and as I will call him--knew
+that crime was in him. I think he did. By his eyes I knew him to be a
+criminal sensualist with murder in his heart.
+
+I had heard a whisper of his sordid and miserable elemental passions,
+even though the Starets was, next to His Majesty the Tsar, the most
+popular man in all the Empire.
+
+To be appointed his confidential secretary was surely great advancement
+at a single bound, for though sensuality was to him as natural as the air
+he breathed, yet he had the highest society of Petrograd already at his
+feet.
+
+Compelled to accept my unwanted appointment, I bowed, and expressed
+gratification that I should have been chosen for such a post.
+
+"You must be discreet, my dear Féodor," said His Excellency, throwing his
+cigarette end into the great bronze bowl at his elbow. "When I have sent
+you upon confidential missions you have been as dumb as an oyster. This
+new post I give to you because I know that you are a true patriotic
+Russian, and if you see and know certain things you will never chatter
+about them to the detriment of myself, or of our very good friend
+Grichka. To him, remember, everything is permitted. You will learn much,
+but rather than speak let your tongue be cut out. And that," he added,
+looking at me very seriously as he lowered his voice, "and that, I warn
+you, will be the judgment upon you in the fortress of Schlüsselburg if
+you dare to divulge a single secret of Russia's saviour!"
+
+I stood aghast between this all-powerful War Minister in his glittering
+decorations, the Emperor's right hand and confidant, and the unkempt,
+ragged, wandering collector of kopecks--the man whose eyes held me in
+their fascination each time they met my gaze.
+
+The suddenness of it all bewildered me. The salary I was to receive, as
+mentioned by His Excellency, was most generous, indeed, more than double
+that which I had been paid by the Ministry of War. It meant luxury beyond
+my wildest dreams; a life of ease, affluence, and influence.
+
+Is it any wonder therefore that I accepted it, little knowing in those
+days of peace that I was a pawn in the great game of the Hun?
+
+How shall I describe Rasputin? My pen fails me. He was one of a few great
+charlatans of saintly presence and of specious words, fascinators of
+women, and domineerers of men, who have been sent to the world at
+intervals through all the ages. Had he lived in the twelfth or thirteenth
+century of our era he would no doubt have been canonised. This rough,
+uncouth, illiterate Siberian peasant, who had been convicted of
+horse-stealing, and of immorality, who had served years of imprisonment
+in the gaol at Tobolsk, and who had only a month before we met been flung
+out of a monastery in Odessa and kicked half to death by its inmates as a
+fraud, had actually become the most popular person in Petrograd.
+
+With the women of the aristocracy he was well-known, but to the Imperial
+Court he had not risen. Yet, being a _protégé_ of Kouropatkine, matters
+were no doubt being arranged, although I was, of course, in ignorance of
+the traitorous plans in progress.
+
+On the following morning, according to my instructions given me by my new
+chief, I called upon him at the small ground-floor flat which he occupied
+in the Poltavskaya, close to the Nicholas Station. The house, the
+remaining rooms of which were unoccupied, was a dark forbidding-looking
+one, with a heavy door beneath a portico, and containing deep cellars
+into which nobody ever penetrated save the Starets himself.
+
+On the morning of my first visit there, I was, from the beginning, much
+mystified. The dining-room was quite a luxurious apartment, so was the
+"saint's" study--a den with a soft Eastern carpet, a big writing-table, a
+high porcelain stove of chocolate and white, and silk-upholstered
+settees. From this den a door opened into the "holy" man's
+sleeping-room, an apartment of spartan plainness save for its big stove,
+a replica of the one in the study.
+
+The household, I found, consisted of one other person, an old Siberian
+peasant woman of about sixty, named Anna, who came from Pokrovsky, the
+"saint's" native village. She acted as housekeeper and maid-of-all-work.
+
+That first morning spent with Rasputin was full of interest. He was a
+dirty, uncouth, illiterate fellow who repelled me. His hands were hard,
+his fingers knotty, his face was of a distinctly criminal type, and yet
+in my bewilderment I remembered that General Kouropatkine had declared
+him to be sent by the Almighty as the Protector of Russia.
+
+His conversation was coarse and overbearing, and interlarded by
+quotations from Holy Writ. He mentioned to me certain ladies in high
+society, and related, with a broad grin upon his saintly countenance,
+scandal after scandal till I stood aghast.
+
+Truly the "saint" was a most remarkable personality. From the first I had
+been compelled to admit that whatever the Russian public had said, there
+was a certain amount of basis for the gossip. His was the most weird and
+compelling personality that I had ever met. Even Stolypin had been
+impressed by him, though the Holy Synod had declared him to be a fraud.
+
+My work consisted of reading to him and replying to letters from hundreds
+of women who had become attracted by his peculiar distorted emotional
+religion, many of whom desired to enter the cult which he had
+established. As secretary it was also my duty to arrange for the weekly
+reunions of the "sister-disciples," held in a big bare upstairs room, in
+which hung a holy ikon and several sacred pictures, and in which the
+mysteries of his "religion" were practised.
+
+Ere long, I found that to those weekly séances there flocked many of the
+wealthiest and most cultured women in Petrograd, who actually held the
+ex-horse-stealer in veneration, and believed, as the peasants believed,
+that he could work miracles.
+
+One afternoon, after I had been nearly a month in Rasputin's service,
+Boris Stürmer, a well-known Court sycophant, with bristling hair and a
+sweeping goatee beard, was brought to the monk by Kouropatkine. Both were
+in uniform, and after ushering them into Rasputin's study I felt that
+some dark conspiracy was on foot.
+
+They remained in council for nearly an hour when I was called into the
+room, and to me, as the monk's right hand, the plot was explained so that
+I could assist in it.
+
+To me the German Stürmer, who afterwards rose to be Prime Minister of
+Russia, was no stranger. Indeed, it was he who, inviting me to be seated,
+explained what was in progress.
+
+"It is necessary, Rajevski, that the Father should meet Her Majesty the
+Empress. He is our saviour, and it is but right that he should come to
+the Imperial Court. But he cannot be introduced by any of the ordinary
+channels. Her Majesty must be impressed, and her curiosity aroused."
+
+I bowed in assent, little dreaming of the devilish scheme which,
+instigated from Potsdam, and paid for by German gold, was about to be
+worked. Already Germany had decided to conquer Russia, and already the
+far-seeing Kaiser had watched and recognised that he could use Rasputin's
+undoubted influence in our priest-ridden country for his own dastardly
+ends.
+
+"Now," continued Stürmer, stroking his beard as he looked at me. "We have
+just discovered that Her Majesty intends to pay a visit incognita next
+Friday to the shrine of Our Lady at Kazan, in order to pray for the birth
+of an heir to the Romanoffs. We have therefore decided that our Father
+shall go to Kazan, and be found by the Empress praying before the shrine
+beseeching the Almighty to grant Her Majesty her fond desire. He will
+appear to her a perfect stranger uttering exactly the same prayer as that
+in her mind."
+
+"They will not speak," Kouropatkine added. "Our Father will apparently
+take no notice of her save to glance into her face, for why should he
+recognise in her the Empress?"
+
+I saw with what ingenuity the plan was being laid, for well I knew the
+amazing and quite uncanny fascination for women of all classes possessed
+by the Starets.
+
+At the time I naturally believed that Stürmer and his friend Kouropatkine
+were both convinced that it would be to the advantage of Russia if the
+holy man gained admission to the Imperial Court as spiritual guide to
+Nicholas II. Such a widely popular figure had the Starets become, and so
+deeply impressed had been the people of Moscow and Warsaw, where he had
+performed some mysterious "miracles," that there were hundreds of
+thousands of all classes who, like the two Ministers of the Crown who sat
+in that room, really believed that he was possessed of Divine power.
+
+As we walked in the Nevski, people, mostly women, would rush to him and
+kiss his dirty hand, or raise the hem of his greasy kaftan to their lips,
+asking for the Father's blessing. By the enlightened Western peoples the
+ignorance and superstitions of our great Russian people cannot be
+understood. You, who have travelled in our Holy Russia, know our
+trackless country where settlements are to distances, as one of our
+writers has put it, as fly-specks upon window-panes, where whole villages
+are the prey of disease, and where seventy-nine people out of every
+hundred cannot read or write. You also know how in the corner of every
+room hangs the ikon, how the gold or blue-domed basilica strikes you in
+every street, the long-haired priests chanting in their deep bass, the
+passer-by ceaselessly crossing himself, the peasantry crushed and
+down-trodden, and the middle and upper classes lapped in luxury and
+esteeming good manners more highly than morals. Such is Russia of
+to-day--Russia in the age of my employer Rasputin, the era of the
+downfall of the Imperial Romanoffs, and the fierce struggle with the
+barbaric Hun.
+
+In accordance with the plan formed by Boris Stürmer I next day
+accompanied the Starets by rail direct to Nijni Novgorod, by way of
+Moscow, thence taking steamer down the great Volga, a twelve-hour
+journey, to that city where they make bells and ikons, Kazan.
+
+Rasputin had put on his oldest and most ragged monk's habit, and carried
+a staff. Over his threadbare dress he wore another of finer texture which
+it was his intention to discard ere entering before the shrine, in order
+to appear most lowly and humble in the eyes of the shrewd Tsaritza. We
+left Petrograd at night, that our departure should not be known and
+commented upon, but ere we did so I received a note from the General to
+the effect that the director of Secret Police at Tsarskoe-Selo had
+telephoned that Her Majesty was not leaving till the following day.
+
+Hence we were travelling a day ahead of the Empress.
+
+Kazan is a city full of the odour of sanctity if judged by the number of
+priests and monks one meets in its streets. It is situated about seven
+versts from the river, an old-world picturesque place wherein one rubs
+shoulders with people in all sorts of curious costumes, especially in the
+Tartar suburb where the low houses border upon narrow unpaved streets
+dotted here and there with mosques.
+
+On arrival we drove up the hill to the great Preobrazhensky Monastery
+where Rasputin, as became a holy man, sought hospitality and was
+immediately very warmly welcomed, while I afterwards went on to the Hotel
+Frantsiya, in the long busy Vozkrensenkaya, where I took a room in order
+to watch the arrival of Alexandra Feodorovna, who would travel incognita,
+and of whose coming I was to give warning to Grichka.
+
+For two days I waited, ever on the alert, and, of course, interested in
+the adventure. It is not always that one waits in an hotel in expectation
+of the arrival of an empress. Meanwhile I had made friends with the hotel
+clerk, without, of course, explaining my business, and he had promised to
+tell me of all new arrivals.
+
+The Frantsiya is a very comfortable hotel, conducted upon French lines,
+and the two days I spent in Kazan were certainly quite enjoyable ones.
+
+On the evening of the third day my friend the hotel clerk sent a message
+to my room, and in response I at once descended to the bureau, when he
+informed me that the ladies had just arrived, a Madame Strepoff, and her
+maid Mademoiselle Kamensky. He described the first-named, and I at once
+recognised her as the Tsaritza herself, though, of course, the tall, pale
+young man had no idea of her identity. I had merely told him that I
+expected the arrival of a lady whom I had met in Moscow some time ago.
+
+"Madame has taken the best suite of rooms in the hotel," the clerk said.
+"She is evidently an aristocrat though she is only Madame Strepoff. I
+have just sent their passports to the police."
+
+The hour was immediately before dinner, therefore I lounged about the
+entrance hall awaiting the appearance of the two travellers who, the
+clerk had told me, had not ordered dinner in their rooms, so evidently
+they intended to dine in the public restaurant.
+
+Just after half-past seven they descended the broad staircase. There was
+but little difference in their ages. In an instant I recognised the
+handsome Empress by the many photographs I had seen. The other, dark and
+also good-looking, was evidently a lady-in-waiting, a lady whom I
+afterwards met at Court.
+
+The pair, dressed inconspicuously in black, seated themselves at a little
+_table à deux_ in the window, while I followed, and having selected a
+table opposite, ate my meal as I watched.
+
+The Empress in incognita seemed in high spirits, perhaps because she had
+escaped from the Imperial Court. She chatted confidentially with her
+companion, and more than once cast an inquiring glance in my direction,
+as though wondering whether I were not an agent of the Okhrana, the
+ubiquitous secret police of the Empire. It is only too true that wherever
+one goes in Russia one is "shadowed" by the police, and Her Majesty knew
+full well that the bureau of "personal police" at Tsarskoe-Selo would
+know that she had left the palace and would keep an eye upon her, because
+just about that period the air was full of plots against the dynasty.
+
+The Empress and her bosom friend Mademoiselle Zéneide Kamensky--whom I
+afterwards knew her to be--finished their meal unrecognised by the
+servants, or any of those in the restaurant, and then returned to their
+rooms. Afterwards I took a droshky up to the Preobrazhensky Monastery,
+which I reached about ten o'clock. The old monk who answered my ring at
+the barred door returned with a message from Rasputin to the effect that
+I was to tell him the object of my visit. This I refused to do, and
+became insistent upon seeing him. Such hesitation on Rasputin's part
+greatly surprised me. Indeed, it was not before nearly half an hour had
+elapsed that the long-bearded old janitor unwillingly conducted me
+through the long, bare corridors of the monastery where my footsteps on
+the flags awakened the echoes, and after several turns ushered me into a
+small, well-furnished room, wherein, in an armchair before the stove, sat
+the charlatan who was posing as the Saviour of Russia.
+
+In an instant I realised that he was in an advanced state of
+intoxication. As I entered he rose unsteadily, and addressing me declared
+that life in the Spasso-Preobrazhensky was most pleasant, and at once
+began singing a ribald song.
+
+I stood aghast. This was the man who, by the scheming of Stürmer and his
+catspaw, was to be introduced to the Imperial Court! So fuddled was he by
+vodka that he was unable to understand the purport of my visit. He merely
+laughed inanely and began to repeat parrot-like those curious prayers
+which he recited at the weekly reunions of the sister-disciples--passages
+culled haphazard from Holy Writ, interspersed with the most obscene and
+ribald allegations, a jumble of piety and blasphemy that none could ever
+understand.
+
+Soon I realised the hopelessness of the situation. This was the first I
+knew that the "saint" was addicted to alcohol, although he drank wine
+freely at meals and always kept champagne for his friends, paid for out
+of his collections for charity. In his inebriated state his wild-looking
+eyes glowed like coals, and as he looked at me I experienced once more
+the strange sensation of being enthralled. Truly, there was something
+mesmeric about that gaze of his, a mystery that I have never solved.
+
+A priest entered after I had been there a few minutes, and to him I
+remarked that the Father being "rather unwell" I would return early next
+day. He smiled meaningly, and I departed.
+
+Having no knowledge of what hour the Empress intended to visit the shrine
+of Our Lady, I was back again at the monastery at dawn when I found the
+Starets had quite recovered. As soon as I told him of the presence of the
+Tsaritza he bustled about, and in his oldest robe, rusty, travel-worn and
+frayed, he accompanied me to the fine church of Bogoroditsky.
+
+It was then only seven o'clock, and we found the church with its many
+candles and its much venerated shrine quite deserted save for one or two
+peasant women who had halted to pray on their way to work.
+
+Outside we stood together gazing down the long white road which led from
+the direction of the Hotel Frantsiya.
+
+"Alexandra Feodorovna must certainly come this way," remarked the ragged
+"saint" as I stood at his side. "Remain here and keep watch. I shall go
+to yonder house and speak with the people. When the carriage approaches,
+let me know quickly."
+
+Then leaving me the Starets crossed to a small house which he entered to
+give its inmates his blessing--blessing forsooth from such an unholy,
+unwashed scoundrel!
+
+Through an hour I waited in patience, until in the distance I saw a
+carriage approaching, and at once gave warning, whereupon the Father
+entered the church and threw himself upon his knees devoutly before the
+holy shrine and began to pray earnestly aloud in his deep bass.
+
+I had entered after him, and secreting myself behind one of the massive
+pillars watched the arrival of the two females in dead black, who,
+crossing themselves as they entered, approached the shrine.
+
+As they did so Rasputin, apparently unconscious of their presence, cried
+in a loud voice:
+
+"O God! in Thy gracious bounty give unto our Imperial House of Romanoff a
+son--one who shall in due time wear the glorious crown of the Tsars and
+become the Sovereign Defender of All the Russias against our enemies. In
+this my prayer I most humbly echo the voice of Russia's millions, whose
+dearest wish is that a son be born unto our Imperial House. O God, I
+beseech thee to grant us our request!"
+
+From my place of concealment I saw the Tsaritza start visibly. She wore a
+veil, so that I could not see her countenance. She had halted, entranced
+by overhearing that prayer uttered by the unkempt stranger. I noticed
+that she whispered a word to her companion, who, like herself, was
+veiled, and then Her Majesty threw herself upon her knees, an example
+followed by Mademoiselle Kamensky.
+
+The Empress, her head bowed in silence, knelt before the weird impressive
+shrine, side by side with the Starets. The great church was dark save for
+the light of the myriad candles, and silent save for the twittering of a
+bird, yet I could see that the pious exhortation of Rasputin had been
+taken as an omen by Her Majesty.
+
+Suddenly, the mock saint's voice again rang out clearly in the great
+cavernous basilica as he repeated the prayer in clear impassioned
+words--that same prayer which the Empress was repeating in silence.
+
+Only the three knelt there. For a full ten minutes silence again reigned.
+Neither of the kneeling figures stirred until Rasputin crossed himself
+slowly, and for a third time, raising his voice still higher he besought
+the Almighty to grant Russia an heir to the Throne.
+
+Then, at last, he rose with slow dignity as became a saintly priest, and
+again he made the sign of the cross.
+
+As he did so the Empress who had raised her veil turned her head,
+whereupon he halted for several seconds and gazed straight into her face
+with that intense, hypnotic stare which always held women in such
+mysterious fascination. I saw that the Empress was again startled, but
+folding his hands across his breast, an attitude habitual to him, the
+Starets passed out of the church without a second glance at her, leaving
+her breathless and trembling.
+
+When he had gone she turned in alarm and whispered with her
+lady-in-waiting. Both women rose, and, following the monk, stood gazing
+at his receding figure as he went down the long white road.
+
+"A strange man surely, Zéneide!" I heard the Empress exclaim. "How
+curious that, unconscious of my presence, he should be here, praying for
+me--a holy man without a doubt! We must discover who he is. What eyes!
+Did you notice them?"
+
+"Yes. His gaze really frightened me," her companion admitted.
+
+"Ah! His is the face of a true saint--a wonder-worker! Of that I am
+certain. We must make inquiries concerning him," remarked Her Majesty. "I
+must see him again and speak with him!"
+
+Then the pair, entering the carriage, drove rapidly away.
+
+While standing upon the church steps they had discussed the Starets while
+I had lounged close by unnoticed, believing that we were alone.
+
+As the carriage moved off, however, I was startled to feel strong hands
+laid heavily upon me, as a rough voice exclaimed:
+
+"Halt! You are under arrest!"
+
+Next second I became aware that I was in the hands of two rather well
+dressed men, no doubt agents of the Okhrana.
+
+"You have been loitering here with evil intent!" exclaimed the elder of
+the pair. "We have been watching you ever since you entered behind that
+good Father. We saw you secrete yourself. Have you any firearms?"
+
+I unfortunately had a revolver, and at once produced it.
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed the brown-bearded agent of Secret Police as he took
+possession of it. "I thought so! You had discovered the identity of the
+lady with the long veil, and have been here awaiting an opportunity to
+fire at her!"
+
+"What?" I gasped, aghast at the serious charge levelled against me. "I am
+no revolutionist! I carry that weapon merely for my self-protection."
+
+The bearded man gave a low whistle, and next moment three grey-coated
+policemen in uniform sprang up from nowhere, and I was unceremoniously
+marched through the streets to the head police bureau in the Gostiny
+Dvor, well knowing the seriousness of the allegation against me.
+
+Two hours later I was taken to the dark-panelled room of the Chief of
+Police, a bald-headed, flabby-faced functionary in a dark blue uniform
+glittering with decorations. Before his big table, standing between two
+policemen, I answered question after question he put to me, my replies
+being carefully noted by a clerk who sat at a side table. In the room
+were also the two officers of the Okhrana who had travelled, unknown to
+the Empress, in order to keep Her Majesty beneath their surveillance.
+
+"Why did you arrive at the Frantsiya and await the coming of the two
+ladies?" snapped the Chief of Police in his peculiarly offensive manner.
+
+I was at loss what to say. I was unable to tell the truth lest I should
+betray the plot of Boris Stürmer and General Kouropatkine. I recollected
+my friendship with the hotel clerk, and my eagerness for the arrival of
+the travellers.
+
+"Ah! You hesitate!" said the all-powerful functionary with a sinister
+grin, and knowing what I did of the political police and their arbitrary
+measures towards those suspected, I realised that I was in very grave
+danger.
+
+"You had secret knowledge of Her Majesty's journey incognita, or you
+would not have been watching in the church with a loaded revolver in your
+pocket," he went on. "Your Brothers of Freedom, as you term them, never
+lack knowledge of Their Majesties' movements," my inquisitor said.
+
+"I deny, your Excellency, that I was there with any evil intent," I
+protested. "Such a thing as you suggest never for a second entered my
+mind."
+
+The man in the brilliant uniform laughed, saying:
+
+"I have heard that same declaration before. It is a clever plot, no
+doubt, but fortunately you were watched, and the knowledge that you were
+being watched prevented you from putting your plans into execution.
+Come--confess!"
+
+"I had no idea that I was being watched until I was arrested," I
+declared.
+
+"But you cannot explain the reason why you travelled from Petrograd to
+Kazan. Let us hear your excuse," he said with increased sarcasm.
+
+"I have no excuse," was my very lame reply. I was wondering what had
+become of the Starets. It was quite evident that they knew nothing of my
+double journey up to the monastery, and further, there was no suspicion
+against Rasputin. That being so I hesitated to explain the truth, in the
+faint hope that Kouropatkine, as Minister of War, would hear of my
+arrest, and contrive to obtain my release. I saw that, at least, I ought
+to remain loyal to those who employed me, and further, even if I told the
+truth it would not be believed.
+
+"It will be best to make some inquiries in Petrograd regarding this
+individual," suggested the police agent who had arrested me.
+
+"I really don't think that is necessary," replied the Chief of Police of
+Kazan, tapping his desk impatiently with his pen, as he turned to me and
+said:
+
+"Now, tell me quickly, young man. Why are you here?"
+
+What could I reply?
+
+"Ah!" he said, smiling. "I see that there are others whom you refuse to
+implicate. It is useless to send such people as you for trial."
+
+"But I demand a fair trial!" I cried in desperation, a cold sweat
+breaking out on my brow, because I knew that he had power to pass
+sentence upon me as a political suspect who refused information--and that
+his order would certainly be confirmed by the Minister of the Interior.
+
+Too well did I know the drastic powers of the Chiefs of Police of the
+principal cities.
+
+At my demand the bald-headed man simply smiled, and replied:
+
+"My order is that you be conveyed to Schlüsselburg. You will there have
+plenty of leisure in which to repent not having replied to my questions."
+
+To Schlüsselburg! My heart fell within me. Once within that dreaded
+fortress, the terrible oubliettes of which are below the surface of the
+Lake Ladoga, my identity would be lost and I should be quickly forgotten.
+From Schlüsselburg no prisoner ever returned!
+
+Would any of the conspiring trio, whose tool I had been, raise a finger
+to save me? Or would they consider that having served their purpose it
+would be to their advantage if my lips were closed?
+
+"Schlüsselburg!" I gasped. "No--no, not that!" I cried. "I am
+innocent--quite innocent!"
+
+"You give no proof of it," coldly replied the Chief of Police, rising as
+a sign that the inquiry was at an end. "My orders are that you be sent to
+Schlüsselburg without delay." Then, turning to the two agents of the
+Okhrana, he added: "You will report this to your director at
+Tsarskoe-Selo. I will send my order to the Ministry for confirmation
+to-night. Take the prisoner away!"
+
+And next moment I was bundled down to a dirty cell in the basement, there
+to await conveyance to that most dreaded of all the prisons in the
+Empire.
+
+By a single stroke of the pen I had been condemned to imprisonment for
+life!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+RASPUTIN ENTERS TSARSKOE-SELO
+
+
+I CONFESS that I felt my position to be absolutely hopeless.
+
+I was a political suspect, and therefore I knew full well that to attempt
+to communicate with anyone outside was quite impossible. The Chief of
+Police of Kazan, honestly believing that he was doing his duty and
+unearthing a subtle plot against the life of the Empress, on account of
+the revolver in my possession, had condemned me to imprisonment in the
+Fortress of Schlüsselburg. Its very name, dreaded by every Russian,
+recurred to me as I recollected Kouropatkine's significant words. Had he
+not threatened that, if I revealed one single word of the secret doings
+of the holy Starets, my tongue would be cut out within those grim dark
+walls of that prison of mystery?
+
+We Russians had from our childhood heard of that sinister fortress, the
+walls of which rise sheer from the black waters of Lake Ladoga--that
+place where the cells of the political prisoners, victims of the thousand
+and one intrigues of the Russian bureaucracy, consequent upon the
+autocracy of the Tsar, are deep beneath the lake's surface, so that they
+can--when it is willed by the Governor or those higher Ministers who
+express their devilish desire--be flooded at will.
+
+Hundreds of terrified, yet innocent and nameless victims of Russia's
+mediæval barbarism, persons of both sexes--alas! that I should speak so
+of my own country--have, during the past ten years of enlightenment,
+stood in their narrow dimly-lit oubliette and watched in horror the black
+tide trickle through the rat holes in the stone floor, slowly, ever
+slowly, until water has filled the cell to the arched stone roof and
+drowned them as rats in a trap.
+
+And all that has been done by the accursed German wirepullers in the name
+of the puny puppet who was Tsar, and from whom the truth was, they said,
+ever carefully hidden.
+
+The Kazan police treated me just as inhumanly as I expected. By my own
+experience as an official in the Department of Political Police, and
+knowing what I did in consequence, I was expecting all this.
+
+Four days I spent in that gloomy, but not very uncomfortable cell in
+Kazan, when, on the fifth morning, I was taken, handcuffed to another
+prisoner who I found afterwards had murdered his wife, to the Volga
+steamer which, after twelve hours of close confinement, landed us at
+Nijni.
+
+A hundred times I debated within myself whether it were best to remain
+silent, and not reveal my past career in the Department of Political
+Police, or to state the absolute facts and struggle by that means to
+obtain a hearing and escape.
+
+One fact was patent. General Kouropatkine and Boris Stürmer both trusted
+in my silence, while the rascal monk had found in me a catspaw who had
+remained dumb. In truth, however, my secret intention was to watch the
+progress of events. Of the latter, Rasputin had, of course, no suspicion.
+If I were--as I had already proved myself--his willing assistant, then he
+and his friends might endeavour to save me.
+
+Such were my thoughts as I sat in the train between two police agents on
+the interminable journey from Nijni to the capital.
+
+On arrival at the Nicholas Station the murderer to whom I was manacled
+and myself were shown no consideration. We had been without food for
+twelve hours, yet the three men in charge, though they ate a hearty meal
+in the buffet, gave us not a drink of water. Humanity is not in the
+vocabulary of our police of Russia when dealing with political suspects,
+so many of whom are entirely innocent persons who have proved themselves
+obnoxious to the corrupt bureaucracy.
+
+We had two hours to wait in Petrograd, locked in one of the waiting-rooms
+where we were at last given a hunk of bread and a piece of cold meat.
+Then we were driven out to Schlüsselburg in a motor-car, arriving there
+in the grey break of dawn and being conveyed by boat to the grim
+red-brick fortress which rose from the lake.
+
+Stepping from the boat on to the floating landing-stage we were conducted
+by armed warders through the iron gate and along innumerable stone
+corridors where, ever and anon, we passed other warders--men who,
+criminals themselves, spent their lives in the fortress and were never
+allowed to land in order that they might not reveal the terrible secrets
+of that modern Bastille. Those who would form a proper opinion of our
+Empire should remember that this horrible prison was at the disposal of
+each of the Ministers and their sycophants, and that hundreds of entirely
+innocent people of both sexes had for years been sent there out of
+personal spite or jealousy, and also in the furtherance of Germany's aims
+for the coming war.
+
+Within those dark, gloomy walls, where many of the dimly lit cells were
+below the lake, hundreds of patriotic Russians had ended their lives,
+their only offence being that they had been too true to their Emperor and
+their own land!
+
+Ever since my childhood I had been taught to regard Schlüsselburg as an
+inferno--a place from which no victim of our corrupt bureaucracy had ever
+emerged. Only His Excellency the Governor and the under-Governor had for
+years landed from that island fortress. To all others communication with
+the outside world was strictly forbidden. Hence I was fully aware that
+now I had set foot in the hateful place my identity had become lost, and
+only death was before me.
+
+And such deeds were being done in the name of the Tsar!
+
+At the time I believed in His Majesty, feeling that he was in ignorance
+of the truth. Nowadays I know that he was, all the time, fully aware of
+the crimes committed in his name. Hence, I have no sympathy with the
+Imperial family, and have welcomed its well-deserved downfall.
+
+Into a small room where sat an official in uniform I was ushered, and
+later, after waiting an hour, was compelled to sign the big
+leather-bound register of prisoners. Already my crime had evidently been
+written down in a neat official hand, yet I was given no opportunity to
+read it.
+
+"Enough!" said the big bearded officer with a wave of the hand. "Take him
+to his cell--number 326."
+
+Whereupon the three men who had conveyed me there bundled me down two
+steep flights of damp stone steps, worn hollow by the tread of thousands
+of those who had already gone down to their doom, into a corridor dimly
+lit by oil-lamps--a passage into which no light of day ever penetrated.
+
+There we were met by an evil-looking ex-convict who carried a key
+suspended by a chain.
+
+"Three-two-six!" shouted one of my guardians, whereupon the gaoler opened
+a door and I was thrust into a narrow stone cell, the floor of which was
+an inch deep in slime, faintly lit by a tiny aperture, heavily barred,
+about ten feet above where I stood.
+
+The door was locked behind me and I found myself alone. I was in one of
+those oubliettes which at the will of my captors could be flooded!
+
+I held my breath and glanced around. Within me arose a fierce resentment.
+I had acted honestly towards my scoundrelly employers--though, be it
+said, my object was one of patriotic observation--yet they had allowed me
+to become the victim of the secret police who would, no doubt, obtain
+great kudos, and probably a liberal _douceur_, for having unearthed "a
+desperate plot against Her Majesty the Empress!"
+
+That there was a plot was quite true--but one unsuspected by the Chief of
+Police of Kazan.
+
+My paroxysm of anger I need not here describe. Through the hours that
+passed I sat upon the stone seat beside the board that served me as bed,
+gazing up at the small barred window.
+
+_Clap--clap--clap_ was the only sound that reached me--and with failing
+heart I knew the noise to be that of waves of the lake beating upon the
+wall within a few inches of my window, the dark waters which in due time
+would no doubt rise through my uneven floor and engulf me. Big grey rats
+ran about in search of fragments of food--of which there was none. I was
+a "political," and my food would certainly not be plentiful.
+
+In those awful nerve-racking hours, never knowing when I might find my
+floor flooded as signal of a horrible death, I paced my cell uttering the
+worst curses upon those who had employed me, and vowed that if they gave
+me the grace--for their own ends--to escape I would use my utmost
+endeavours to destroy them.
+
+I did not blame the Okhrana or the Chief of Police of Kazan. They had
+both acted in good faith. Yet I remembered that I was the catspaw of
+Kouropatkine and of Stürmer, either of whom could easily order my
+release. And that was what I awaited in patience, although in terror.
+
+Days went by--hopeless, interminable days. The lapping of the waters
+above me ever reminded me of the fate that had been of the many hundreds
+who had previously occupied that same fearsome oubliette and had been
+drowned, deliberately murdered by those into whose bad graces they had
+fallen.
+
+When the grey streak of light faded above me the gruff criminal in charge
+would unbolt my door and bring me a small paraffin lamp to provide me
+with light and warmth for the night. When the lamp was brought each night
+I thought of Marie Vietroff whose name was still upon everyone's lips.
+The poor girl, arrested though innocent as I had been, had been confined
+in a cell in the fortress of Peter and Paul, and her fate was known in
+consequence of certain revelations admitted by the Assistant Public
+Prosecutor. This official, the tool of higher and more corrupt officials,
+had admitted that the girl, though entirely innocent of any crime, had
+been arrested out of spite and sent to the fortress where, to escape a
+doom more horrible than death itself, she had emptied the oil from her
+lamp over herself while in bed, and then set fire to it.
+
+Often, even in that deep oubliette, the sounds of woman's shrieks reached
+me, and each time I thought of the girl-victim of an official's revenge.
+
+Days passed--so many that I lost count of them--until I had abandoned
+hope. The scoundrels whom I had served had forsaken me now that I had
+served their purpose. Rasputin had fascinated the Empress by that
+mesmeric glance of his, and it had probably been deemed wiser that my
+mouth should be at once closed. At any moment I might discover the water
+oozing up between those green slime-covered stones.
+
+One day, however, at about noon the gruff uncommunicative peasant who was
+my gaoler--a man incarcerated for murder in Moscow--unlocked the door and
+bade me come out.
+
+In surprise I was taken along the corridors to that same small room in
+which I had put down my name in that Book of Fate they called the Prison
+Register, and there the same official informed me that it was desired to
+interrogate me at the Ministry of the Interior in Petrograd.
+
+Another interrogation! My spirits rose. If my captors meant to have the
+truth, then they should have it. I would expose the plot, let me be
+believed or disbelieved.
+
+Escorted by two agents of police, I was taken out into the dazzling light
+of day back to Petrograd, and to the Ministry of the Interior, where in a
+private room--one that was in a wing of the great building familiar to
+me--I was left alone.
+
+I had only been there for a few minutes, looking out of the window in
+wonder, when the door opened, and before me stood the goat-bearded man
+Boris Stürmer.
+
+"Welcome back, my dear Rajevski!" he exclaimed, coming towards me and
+shaking my hand warmly. "We only knew yesterday where you were. Those
+fools in Kazan spirited you away, but that idiot the Chief of Police has
+been to-day dismissed the service for his meddling. I do hope you are
+none the worse for your adventure," he added with concern.
+
+"Surely Grichka knew of my arrest!" I said. "Did he not inquire?"
+
+"He did not dare to do so openly, lest he himself should be implicated,"
+replied the German. "We were compelled to wait and inquire with due
+judiciousness. Even then we could not discover whither you had been
+sent--not until yesterday. But it is all a mistake, my dear Rajevski--all
+a mistake, and you must overlook it. The Father is eagerly awaiting your
+return."
+
+"I must first go home and exchange these dirty clothes," I remarked.
+
+"Yes. But first accept the apologies of the General and myself. You, of
+course, knew that we should extricate you--as we shall again, if any
+other untoward circumstances happen to arise. Recollect that we can open
+any door of prison or palace in Russia," and then he smiled grimly as I
+took my leave.
+
+I returned to my own rooms to find that they had, during my absence, been
+searched by the police, and some of my correspondence, of a private and
+family nature, had been taken away. At this I felt greatly annoyed, and
+resolved to obtain from Kouropatkine immunity from such domiciliary
+visits in future.
+
+Upon my table lay a letter which had, I was told, arrived for me that
+morning. On opening it I found that it was from the head office of the
+Azof-Don Commercial Bank, in the Morskaya, officially informing me that a
+sum of fifty thousand roubles had been placed to my credit there by some
+person who remained anonymous.
+
+The present was certainly a welcome one, made no doubt as reparation for
+the inconvenience I had suffered.
+
+Half-an-hour later I arrived at the Poltavskaya where old Anna admitted
+me, and I at once went to the monk's sanctum.
+
+Rasputin sprang from his chair and, seizing both my hands, cried:
+
+"Ah! my dear Féodor! So here you are back with us! This relieves my mind
+greatly."
+
+"Yes," I said. "Back from the grave."
+
+"The infernal idiots!" declared the monk, his wide-open eyes flashing as
+he spoke. "I will see that it does not occur again. But you quite
+understand, Féodor, that it was not wise to reveal that I had gone to
+Kazan on purpose to pray in the Empress's presence."
+
+I smiled, and said:
+
+"Somebody has placed fifty thousand roubles to my account at the Azof-Don
+Bank."
+
+In turn the rascal smiled, and said:
+
+"You need not seek its source. It is out of the Government funds, and is
+yours. Keep a still tongue, and there may be other payments." Then,
+turning to his table, he showed me quantities of correspondence which had
+been left unattended in my absence, and urged me to get to work, adding:
+"I have to be at the Baroness Tchelkounoff's this afternoon, and there is
+a séance here to-morrow--five neophytes to be initiated."
+
+So five more silly, neurotic and, of course, wealthy women were to be
+initiated into the mysteries of the mock saint's religion. Grichka had no
+use for those whose pockets were not well lined, for he was accumulating
+vast sums from those weak, fascinated females who believed in his
+divinity as healer and spiritual guide.
+
+Presently I seated myself at the table and recommenced my secretarial
+duties, while he went forth. In many letters were drafts for
+subscriptions for Rasputin's convent in far-off Pokrovsky in Siberia, a
+place which no one had ever visited, yet in support of which he had
+obtained hundreds of thousands of roubles. I might here state that later
+on, when I visited Pokrovsky, I found the wonderful convent, of which he
+told me such pious stories, consisted of a plain house cheaply furnished
+in which lived his peasant wife and children, together with twelve of his
+chosen sister-disciples, foolish women who had made over their money to
+him and devoted their lives to piety as set forth in his new "religion."
+
+A fortnight passed. Of Kouropatkine we saw little. He had, at last,
+assisted by the traitor Stössel and at Germany's instigation, succeeded
+in forcing war with Japan, and the streets of the capital were filled
+with urging, enthusiastic crowds bent upon pulling the Mikado from his
+throne.
+
+Kouropatkine had, according to what Rasputin told me, assured the Emperor
+that the victory would be an easy one, and that the Japanese would fly at
+first sight of our troops. The General had quite recently returned from
+the Far East, and had presented a personal report to the Tsar describing
+Japan's war preparations. He had declared that if Russia meant victory
+she must strike at once. Hence war was declared; you know with what
+disastrous results to both the Army and Navy of Russia.
+
+It was, however, on the day before the declaration of war that Rasputin's
+real triumph came. The Empress, who had been searching Russia high and
+low for the pious Father beside whom she had knelt in Kazan, had at last
+discovered him, and he received a command to an audience at the Palace of
+Tsarskoe-Selo.
+
+The monk, his eyes shining with glee, showed me the letter from Count
+Fredericks, Minister of the Court, and said: "You must accompany me,
+Féodor."
+
+At noon on the day appointed we therefore left Petrograd together. The
+monk wore, in pretended humility, his oldest and most rusty robe--though
+beneath it, be it said, his under garments were of silk of the finest
+procurable in the capital--while suspended by a thin brass chain around
+his neck was a cheap enamelled cross. He was unkempt, unwashed, his face
+sallow and drawn, yet those wonderful brilliant eyes stared forth with
+uncanny intensity of expression. His hands were grimy, and his long
+tapering finger-nails had not been cleaned for weeks. Such was the man
+whom Alexandra Feodorovna, fascinated by his glance, had called to her
+side.
+
+On arrival at the station of Tsarskoe-Selo we found one of the Imperial
+carriages awaiting us, with footman and coachman in bright blue liveries,
+with outriders.
+
+Two flunkeys, also in blue, advanced, and, placing their hands beneath
+the saint's arms, lifted him into the carriage, an honour always paid to
+those who are special guests of His Majesty the Tsar. As for myself I
+climbed in afterwards, smiling within myself at the spectacle of the
+unwashed monk being lifted in as though he were an invalid. With us was
+an officer in uniform and a civilian--an agent of the Okhrana.
+
+The moment we had seated ourselves the Imperial servants took off their
+cocked hats and replaced them crosswise on their heads as sign that
+within the carriage was a guest of His Majesty, and in order to signal to
+passers-by as we drove along to remove their hats or salute.
+
+Rasputin had already been given instructions by General Erchoff, Chief
+Procurator of the Holy Synod, as to how we should act in the presence of
+Her Imperial Majesty. We had both attended before him, Rasputin well
+knowing that Erchoff was one of his most bitter enemies, but who on
+account of the Tsaritza's interest was now posing as a friend.
+
+After our drive back to Rasputin's house the monk, flinging himself into
+a chair and lighting a cigarette, thoughtfully remarked:
+
+"That puppet Erchoff will later on regret that he denounced me a year
+ago. His term of office is at its limit."
+
+The mock saint was possessed of an almost supernatural intuition. In
+everyday life he would tell me of things that would happen socially and
+politically, and sure enough they would happen. The gift of looking into
+the future is given to a few men and women in the world, those persons
+who sometimes when they look into the face of another hold their breath
+and remain silent, because they see death written upon the countenance
+before them. This curious faculty was possessed by Rasputin to a very
+marked degree--a faculty which has puzzled scientists through all the
+ages, a faculty which usually runs side by side with an overweening
+vanity and an amazing self-consciousness. Sometimes the possessor of that
+most astounding and mysterious intuition is also possessed of a humble
+and retiring disposition. But it is seldom.
+
+Grichka, as all Russia called him, was an outstanding personality,
+clever, scheming, and as unscrupulous as he was avaricious. His mujik
+blood betrayed itself every hour.
+
+Even as we sat there in the Imperial carriage as we drove to the Palace,
+he smiled with self-conscious sarcasm when the people saluted or doffed
+their hats to him as an Imperial guest.
+
+At last we arrived before huge prison-like gates, which opened to allow
+us to pass, sentries saluted, the doors swung back again, and we found
+ourselves in the great well kept park of the Alexander Palace.
+
+I saw two civilians walking together along the drive, which led into a
+wood. They were agents of the secret police patrolling the grounds, for
+every precaution was being taken to guard the persons of Their Majesties.
+The death of the girl Vietroff had aroused the indignation of Russia to
+such an extent that the atmosphere was charged with anarchism.
+
+Our road lay through woods, past a model dairy. Thence we went past two
+large farms, and out into open meadow lands, everything being kept most
+spick-and-span by the hundreds of servants.
+
+The system of defence of Tsarskoe-Selo struck me as amazingly well
+designed. The road we had driven along seemed to be a maze, for twice we
+had left what appeared to be the main road, and passing three
+guard-houses--small fortresses in themselves, in case of an attack by the
+revolutionists--we at last arrived before the main entrance of the royal
+residence, guarded by a detachment of fierce-looking Kubansky Cossacks.
+These were drawn up standing at the salute, with their officers, as we
+approached. It was surely a picturesque guard of honour, with their
+quaint, old-fashioned pointed headgear, their smart comic-opera tunics,
+and their long, shiny boots.
+
+In a great high white wall is an elegant gate of delicately wrought
+ironwork, with the usual striped sentry boxes on either side. Around are
+seated Chinese statues in bronze, each upon its pedestal. Over the
+gateway is the Imperial cipher in bronze, and beyond in the holy of
+holies is the long two-storied palace of Tsarskoe-Selo, that spot
+forbidden to all save to the guests of Their Majesties.
+
+I give this in detail because few outsiders, very few indeed--save
+ambassadors and other jackanapes in uniform--had, until the arrest of the
+Romanoffs, ever trod within the hallowed precincts of the
+palace-fortress, the bomb-proof home of the incompetent weakling who had
+been crowned Tsar of All the Russias.
+
+As we passed through that last gate I saw before us a building very much
+like a French château of the sixteenth century, a long low building with
+sloping slated roofs, few chimneys, and a clock--which, by the way, had
+stopped--high over the entrance.
+
+Everywhere since we had entered the Imperial domain all was most
+scrupulously well kept. Not a gravel stone was out of place. Gangs of men
+were, indeed, kept to rake over instantly the gravel drives so as to
+obliterate the track of the wheels of the carriages.
+
+At last with due pomp we drew up before the long portico of the
+comfortable but not imposing house in which lived Their Imperial
+Majesties.
+
+As we descended an attendant took Rasputin's staff, when instantly there
+came forward a lieutenant of Cossacks, a curiously crafty-looking fellow,
+who asked us if we desired to wash, or wished for a drink or for food.
+
+The fellow was repulsive, even to the charlatan himself. The latter gazed
+at him, and replied in his deep, serious tones:
+
+"I am here to see our Empress. I have no need for thy ministrations."
+
+At this rebuke the evil-looking officer looked daggers, and seeing that I
+was but a menial as secretary he did not deign to address me.
+
+A few seconds later we were taken in charge by the "skorochodi," servants
+who are so intelligent that they are nicknamed the "quick-walkers." The
+palace contains hundreds of servants and hangers-on, but these are the
+ones picked to take visitors through the semicircular built palace to
+audience of either the Tsar or his spouse.
+
+Through a long corridor we were conducted past the doors of a number of
+rooms. At each were two sentries, one a big Abyssinian negro in blue and
+gold--called an "Araby" in the palace--and the other a stolid Cossack
+sentry with his fixed bayonet.
+
+At the end of the corridor we were met by one of the Emperor's personal
+servants who came forward in all humility, and bowing before Rasputin,
+asked.
+
+"Can I be of service, Father, before you have audience?"
+
+Both of us were surprised. Here, in the midst of all the pomp and
+ceremony was an ordinary Russian peasant, as unlettered and as uncouth as
+Rasputin himself, and a personal attendant of his Majesty.
+
+He ushered us into a pretty room, with a long balcony upholstered in pale
+grey silk, with thick soft carpet to match, an apartment which might have
+been the boudoir of the Empress herself.
+
+"I am here at Her Imperial Majesty's command," replied the Father, ready
+for the crowning of the slow and subtle plot which Stürmer had engineered
+with Kouropatkine. "She desires to speak with me."
+
+Next instant the servant, who no doubt knew of Grichka's wonder-working
+with his mock miracles, threw himself upon his knees, and craved:
+
+"Oh, our Father, I beseech thee to place thy blessing upon me, and upon
+my wife and my invalid child. The doctor who came yesterday said that she
+is suffering from phthisis, and that the case is serious. I beg of thee
+to cure her."
+
+"Thy name?" he asked quickly, looking straight into his face with those
+wonderful eyes.
+
+"Aivasoff--Ivan Aivasoff."
+
+"Whence do you come?"
+
+"From Ossa, in the Government of Perm."
+
+"And you are His Majesty's valet, eh?"
+
+"I am one of His Imperial Majesty's valets. He told me that the Tsaritza
+had commanded you here, and that I was to introduce you and your
+secretary, Féodor Rajevski."
+
+Rasputin halted, and assuming his most pious demeanour--that same
+attitude which had attracted Petrograd society--and incidentally
+extracted hundreds of thousands of roubles from its pockets--crossed his
+hands, muttered some words, and bestowed his blessing upon the Tsar's
+body servant.
+
+A minute later the man Aivasoff straightened himself and, pointing to a
+door on the opposite side of the room, asked:
+
+"Are you both ready? The Tsaritza is awaiting you."
+
+Rasputin, though pretending to be careless of his personal appearance,
+stroked his long beard, and then announced his readiness to pass into the
+presence of the Empress.
+
+"You will go first, and bow," said our attendant. "Your secretary will
+remain within the door with hands crossed before him," he said.
+
+Then with his knuckles he rapped thrice upon the white enamelled door,
+and, turning the handle of the lock, entered, walking before to announce
+us.
+
+In front I saw a deep glow of electricity shaded with daffodil silk, a
+pretty artistic room with high palms, choice cut flowers, and soft
+luxurious couches upholstered in grey and gold brocade. There sat two
+ladies, one of whom was in a silk gown of bottle green, which was, no
+doubt, the latest creation of the Rue de la Paix--the Empress--while the
+other, who was in elegant black, I afterwards recognised as her bosom
+friend who had accompanied her to Kazan, Mademoiselle Zéneide Kamensky.
+
+Ivan Aivasoff bowed low as he uttered his stereotyped words of
+introduction. He was one of those ignorant persons with whom the
+unscrupulous bureaucrats had surrounded the person of the Tsar. He was an
+honest, well-meaning fellow from the Urals, who had been selected to
+pose as a palace official, and to act just as I was acting, as the tool
+of others; a peasant chosen because he would naturally be less affected
+by revolutionary and progressive influence.
+
+Aivasoff was, as I afterwards learnt, but one of many peasants in
+immediate contact with the Emperor and Empress, the other servants being
+German.
+
+As we bowed before the two ladies they rose smiling, while the Father
+with raised hands pronounced upon them his blessing in that pious,
+slightly hoarse, but deeply impressive voice of his. Then, after the
+Empress had welcomed him he fixed her with that impelling, hypnotic gaze
+of his, and in pretence of never having met her before, exclaimed:
+
+"O Gracious Lady, I have come here at thy bidding, though I am but a poor
+and unlettered wanderer, unfamiliar with palaces. My sphere is in the
+houses of the very poor in order to direct, to advise, and to succour
+them. Such is God's will."
+
+"Already, Father, we have heard of you," responded the Empress,
+fascinated by the extraordinary thraldom of his gaze. "Your great
+charitable works are well known to us, as they are known through the
+length and breadth of our Empire. It is said by many that you have been
+sent unto us as saviour of Russia."
+
+"Yes--it is so, by God's Almighty grace," the mock saint said, bowing low
+at the Empress's words, while Mademoiselle Kamensky exchanged inquiring
+glances with myself.
+
+That scene was, indeed, a strange one, the dirty, unkempt monk in his
+faded, ragged habit, greasy at collar and sleeves, his black matted beard
+sweeping across his chest, and his hair uncombed, standing erect and
+rather imperious, posing as a Divine messenger, in that luxurious private
+apartment of the Empress herself.
+
+"It is but right that you, as our spiritual guide, should be in direct
+touch with the Emperor and myself," she said, without, however, referring
+to the meeting at Kazan, to which I had certainly expected she would
+allude. "From our friend Stürmer I have learnt much concerning your good
+works, Father, and I wish to support them financially, if I may be
+permitted, just as I did those of Father Gapon."
+
+"Truly I thank thee, O Lady," he replied, bowing low again. "My convent
+at Pokrovsky is in urgent need of funds."
+
+"Then I shall give orders for you to receive a donation immediately," she
+said in a low voice, and with that pronounced German accent which always
+reminded those with whom she came into contact that she was not a
+true-born Russian. "Stolypin, too, has told me of the wonderful miracle
+you performed in Warsaw."
+
+I knew of that miracle, an outrageous fraud which had been perpetrated
+upon an assembly of ignorant peasants by means of a clever conjuring
+trick in which Rasputin's friend, the chemist Badmayev, and another, had
+assisted. Stürmer had been laughing heartily over it at Rasputin's house
+on the previous night.
+
+"God hath given me strength," replied the monk simply, and with much
+humbleness. "I am His servant, sent by Him unto Russia as her guide and
+her deliverer. As such I am before thee."
+
+As he stood there with devout piety written upon his sallow, shrunken
+countenance, he certainly presented a most saintly, picturesque
+appearance, his attitude being that of a most humble ascetic of the
+Middle Ages. Saint Francis of Assisi could not have been humbler.
+
+That Her Majesty was much impressed by the crafty charlatan was quite
+apparent. In that strange jumble of quotations from the Scriptures which
+he so often used, he declared to her that by Divine command he intended
+to guide Russia in her forthcoming progress and prosperity, so that she
+should rise to become the all-powerful nation of Europe.
+
+"It is well, O Lady, that thou hast sent for me," he added. "I am thy
+most devoted servant. I am entirely in thy hands."
+
+And again crossing his begrimed hands upon his breast he raised his eyes
+to Heaven, and repeated his blessing in that same jumbled jargon which he
+used at the weekly séances of the sister-disciples.
+
+"O Father, I sincerely thank you," replied Her Majesty at last. "The
+Emperor is unfortunately away in Moscow, but when he returns you must
+again come to us, for I know he will welcome you warmly. We are both
+striving for the national welfare, and if we receive your goodwill we
+shall have no fear of failure."
+
+"There are, alas! rumours of plots against the dynasty," said Rasputin.
+"But, O Lady, I beg of thee to heed these my words and remain calm and
+secure, for although attempts may be made, desperate perhaps, it is
+willed that none will be successful. God in His grace is Protector of the
+House of Romanoff, to whom a son will assuredly soon be born."
+
+Alexandra Feodorovna held her breath at hearing those words. That scene
+before the shrine of Our Lady of Kazan was, no doubt, still vivid in her
+mind.
+
+"Are you absolutely confident of that?" she asked him in breathless
+suspense.
+
+"The truth hath already been revealed unto me. Therefore I know," was his
+reply. "I know--and I here tell thee, O Lady. The Imperial House will
+have a son and heir."
+
+That prophecy, duly fulfilled as it was later on, caused the Empress to
+regard the dissolute "saint" as a "holy" man. In that eventful hour at
+Tsarskoe-Selo the die was cast. The Empress had fallen irrevocably
+beneath the spell of the amazing rascal, and the death-knell of the
+Romanoffs as rulers had been sounded.
+
+When we backed out of the Empress's presence the peasant Ivan, who had
+introduced us, handed us over to the Tsar's chief valet, an elderly
+grey-bearded man in the Imperial livery, a man whose name we understood
+was Tchernoff, and who had been valet of the old Emperor Alexander III.
+
+The Starets left the palace full of extreme satisfaction, and indeed,
+when an hour later we were alone together in the train returning to
+Petrograd, he grinned evilly across at me, and said meaningly:
+
+"Alexandra Feodorovna did not forget our meeting at Kazan, though she did
+not allude to it. Ere long, though she is Empress, I intend that she
+shall sit at my feet and do my bidding!"
+
+And he chuckled within himself as was his peasant's habit when mightily
+pleased.
+
+Truly, that meeting with the Tsar's valet Tchernoff was quite as fateful
+to Russia as the meeting with the neurotic spiritualistic Empress
+herself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE POTSDAM PLOT DEVELOPS
+
+
+ABOUT a week after Rasputin's first audience of the Empress Alexandra,
+the Bishop Theophanus, confessor of the Imperial family, paid him a visit
+at the Poltavskaya.
+
+The Bishop, a big, over-fed man, had a long chat with the Starets in my
+presence.
+
+"Her Majesty was very much impressed by you, my dear Grichka," said the
+well-known cleric to the man who, having pretended to abandon his
+profligate ways, had parted his hair in the middle and become a pilgrim.
+"She has daily spoken of you, and you are to be commanded to audience
+with the Tsar. Hence I am here to give you some advice."
+
+The "holy" man grinned with satisfaction, knowing how complete had been
+the success of Stürmer's plans. At the moment Theophanus was in ignorance
+of the deeply laid plot to draw the Empress beneath the spell of the
+Starets whom the inferior classes all over Russia--as well as the
+well-to-do--believed was leading such a saint-like, ascetic life in
+imitation of Christ.
+
+Truly, Grichka dressed the part well, and gave himself the outward
+appearance of saintliness and godliness. Even the Bishop was bamboozled
+by him, just as Petrograd society was being mystified and electrified by
+the rising of "the Divine Protector" of Russia.
+
+Of his doctrine I need not here write. Dark hints of its astonishing
+immorality have already leaked out to the world through chattering women
+who were members of the cult. My object here is to expose the most subtle
+and ingenious plot which the world has known--the Teutonic conspiracy
+against our Russian Empire.
+
+Rasputin's "religion" was not a novel one, as is generally supposed. It
+was simply a variation conceived by his mystically-inclined mind upon the
+one devised by Marcion in the early days of the Christian era. He had
+conceived the theory that the only means by which the spirit could be
+elevated was to mortify and destroy the flesh.
+
+The Bishop Teofan, or Theophanus, was a mock ascetic, just as was
+Rasputin. Bishop Alexis of Kazan, after Rasputin's visit there, had
+introduced him to the Rector of the Religious Academy, and already the
+mock saint had established a circle of ascetic students, of whom Teofan
+and another Starets named Mitia the Blessed (a name derived from Dmitry),
+who came from Montenegro, were members. But Rasputin, although the
+leader, had entirely imposed upon Teofan.
+
+In all seriousness the Bishop told the Starets of the interest in him
+which the Empress had aroused in the mind of the Tsar.
+
+"He is a keen spiritualist, just as is the Empress," said the confessor.
+"At Court everyone has heard of your marvellous powers. I can promise you
+great success if you carry out the views I will place before you. You
+must form a Court circle of disciples. The woman most likely to assist
+you is Madame Vyrubova, who, with Mademoiselle Kamensky, is Her Majesty's
+greatest confidante."
+
+"Very well, I will meet her. You arrange it."
+
+"To-morrow is Monday, and there will be the usual clerical reception at
+the Countess Ignatieff's. I will see that she is there to meet you."
+
+"Excellent, my dear Teofan!" said the "saint." "In this affair we will
+help each other. I will form a circle of believers at Court, and
+Alexandra Feodorovna shall be at their head."
+
+The fact is that Teofan knew that Rasputin was possessed of a marvellous
+hypnotic power, and, being aware of the vogue of hypnotists at Court, saw
+in the Starets an able assistant by whom to gain power in the immediate
+entourage of Their Majesties. Thus, quite unconsciously, he was
+furthering the plans of Kouropatkine and Stürmer, who were receiving
+money from Berlin.
+
+Already one of Rasputin's principal disciples was Madame Golovine, the
+elder sister of the Grand Duke Paul's morganatic wife, Countess
+Hohenfelsen, a woman who had become his most ardent follower, and who
+never failed to attend, with her two daughters, the famous séances held
+weekly in that big upstairs room.
+
+On the following evening I went with Rasputin to the great house of the
+Dowager Countess Ignatieff to attend the usual Monday gathering of
+prelates and ascetics, for her salon was a rendezvous for all kinds of
+religious cranks, theologians, and people interested in pious works.
+Rasputin's unexpected appearance there caused a sensation.
+
+Outside his circle of "disciples" he was unapproachable. The instructions
+given me by Boris Stürmer were absolute and precise. The reason that I
+was always at the charlatan's right hand was because he could only write
+with difficulty, and was therefore unable to make any memoranda. His
+letters were the painful efforts of an unlettered mujik, as indeed he
+was.
+
+And yet already he had become the most renowned man in the Russian
+capital!
+
+Our Empire's quarrel with Japan had not been finally settled. The country
+was in a state of serious unrest. While the revolutionary spirit, started
+by the death of the girl Vietroff, was seething everywhere, the dynasty
+was threatened on every hand. Yet the ever-open eye of the Okhrana was
+upon everyone, and arrests of innocent persons were still continuing.
+
+That night the salon of the Countess Ignatieff was responsible for much
+concerning the downfall of the Romanoffs. In the great luxurious
+drawing-room there were assembled beneath the huge crystal electroliers a
+curious, mixed company of the pious and the vicious of the capital. There
+was the Metropolitan in his robes and with his great crucifix, Ministers
+of State in uniforms with decorations, Actual Privy Councillors and their
+wives, and dozens of underlings in their gaudy tinsel, prelates with
+crosses at their necks, and women of all classes, from the highest
+aristocracy to the painted sister of the higher demi-monde.
+
+The gathering was characteristic of Petrograd in those times of Russia's
+decadence, when Germany was preparing for war. The fight with Japan had
+already been engineered through Kouropatkine as a preliminary to the
+betrayal and smashing of our Empire.
+
+Of the conflict with the Mikado I have no concern. My pen is taken up in
+order to reveal what I know regarding the astounding plots conceived in
+Potsdam and executed in Petrograd, in order fearlessly to expose those
+who were traitors to their country, and to whom the _débâcle_ of 1917 was
+due.
+
+In that great well-lit saloon, crowded by religious personages of all
+kinds, the old Dowager Countess Ignatieff, in stiff black silk, came
+forward to receive the popular Starets as the newest star in Russia's
+religious firmament. With Stürmer behind him to advise and to plot, aided
+by an obscure civil servant named Protopopoff--who afterwards became
+Minister of the Interior and a spy of Germany--the "saint" never held
+himself cheap. That was one of the secrets of his astounding career.
+Though he possessed no education and could scarcely trace his own name,
+he possessed the most acute brain of any lawyer or banker in Petrograd.
+In every sense he was abnormal, just as abnormal as Joan of Arc, Saint
+Anthony, Saint Francis, or a dozen others who have been beatified.
+
+The rheumatic old countess, after shaking hands with us both, introduced
+us to a dozen other persons around her. Suddenly she said:
+
+"Ah! Here is my dear friend the Lady-of-the-Court Anna Vyrubova. Allow me
+to introduce you, Father."
+
+The Starets instantly crossed his hands piously over his breast and bowed
+before a good-looking, sleek-faced woman of forty, who was elegantly
+dressed, and who greeted him with a humorous smile. Having heard much of
+the woman's scandalous past, I naturally regarded her with considerable
+curiosity. She was a woman of destiny. Petrograd had not long before been
+agog with the scandal following her marriage with a young naval officer,
+who had gone to the Baltic, and unexpectedly returning to his wife's room
+in the palace at Tsarskoe-Selo, had been shut out by the Empress herself.
+The husband had afterwards died in mysterious circumstances, which had
+been hushed up by the police, and madame had remained as the personal
+attendant upon Her Majesty with her inseparable friend Zéneide Kamensky.
+
+As I watched the monk's meeting with this woman of adventure, I saw that
+he had at once fascinated her, just as completely as he had hypnotised
+her Imperial mistress. She stood before him, using her small black fan
+slowly, for the room was overpoweringly hot, and began to chat, assuring
+him that she had for a long time been desirous of meeting him.
+
+As I stood beside Rasputin I heard him say, in that humble manner which
+always attracted society women:
+
+"And, O Lady, I have heard of thee often. It is with sincere pleasure
+that I gaze upon thy face and speak with thee. It is God's will--let Him
+be thanked for this our meeting."
+
+The blasphemy of it all appalled me. I knew of certain deep plots in
+progress, and I watched the handsome lady-in-waiting, with whom the monk
+crossed the room, nodding self-consciously to the bishops, prelates, and
+mock-pious scoundrels of all sorts, with their female victims. I held my
+breath in wonder.
+
+As I followed I saw Stürmer, the goat-bearded traitor, standing chatting
+to a pretty young girl in turquoise blue. Then I overheard Madame
+Vyrubova say to the Starets:
+
+"I came here to-night, Father, especially to meet you. Her Majesty gave
+me a message. She is in despair. She requires your help, prayers, and
+advice."
+
+"Ah! my dear lady, I regret; I am fully alive to the high honours which
+our Tsaritza has done me to command me to Court. But my sphere is with
+the poor. My life is with them--for their benefit and guidance."
+
+"I bear you a message," said the well-preserved woman of whom a thousand
+tongues had gossiped evilly in Petrograd. "To-morrow the Empress expects
+you informally. She will take no refusal."
+
+"Refusal--how can I refuse my Empress?" he replied. "I can beg of her to
+excuse me. I have to attend a meeting in the lowest quarter of the city
+to-morrow among those who await me. And in the evening I go upon a
+pilgrimage. Her Majesty will not begrudge the poor my ministrations.
+Please tell her this. My sphere, as designed by God, is with the masses
+and not in the Imperial Palace."
+
+That was all I overheard. Stürmer called me aside to whisper, and as he
+did so I saw that the Starets had at once become surrounded by women, of
+whom he always became the centre of attraction, with hands crossed so
+humbly over his breast.
+
+His refusal to go to Court was in accordance with his extraordinary
+intuition and acumen, though his meeting with the woman Vyrubova marked
+another milestone in the history of Russia's betrayal.
+
+The days passed. The world was, of course, in ignorance, but we in the
+Poltavskaya, the monk and myself, knew of the despatch of Admiral
+Rozhdestvensky's blundering fleet on its voyage half-way round the world,
+how he was ordered to fire upon anything he saw in the North Sea, and
+how, as soon came out, he fired upon some of your British trawlers on
+the Dogger Bank, for which our Government paid quite willingly sixty-five
+thousand pounds in compensation.
+
+But let the first war-chapter of Russia's history pass. With it Rasputin
+had but little to do. The person who, unwilling or not, carried out the
+will of Potsdam's Kaiser was the Empress Alexandra. And having done so
+she, with her curious nature, suddenly turned from gay to grave. She
+became strange in her conduct and discarded her wonderful Paris gowns--in
+which, by the way, she was eclipsed by "Liane," the dark-haired diva of
+the Paris _cafés chantants_, in whom Nicholas II. took such a very
+paternal interest.
+
+Time after time I had been present when Stürmer and Rasputin, chuckling
+over the undoubted success of their conspiracy, discussed the situation.
+
+Since Her Majesty had met the rascal monk at Tsarskoe-Selo she had never
+appeared in public. On certain occasions, when a Court pageant or
+function had to be held according to custom and the calendar, it was the
+Emperor's mother who, with her well-known charm and honesty, received the
+guests. Excuses were made for Alexandra Feodorovna's non-appearance. The
+truth was that the Empress, full of spiritualistic beliefs, had suddenly
+developed a religious mania, centred around the amazing personality of
+the mock monk.
+
+Thrice had Her Majesty sent him commands through her pro-German puppet
+Fredericks, and thrice he, at Stürmer's suggestion, refused to comply.
+This illiterate Siberian monk, ex-horse-thief and betrayer of women,
+actually disregarded the Imperial order! He had declared himself to be
+the saviour of Russia, and greater than the Romanoffs.
+
+"The Empress is furious!" declared the Bishop Teofan one day as, with his
+heavy bejewelled cross upon his breast and wearing clothes of the richest
+texture, he sat with the rascal in his den. "Sometimes she is in anger,
+at others in despair. Anna Vyrubova is frantic. Why do you not come to
+audience?"
+
+"She promised that I should see Nicholas," was the reply. "After I have
+spoken with him I will see her. It does a woman good to wait."
+
+"I agree, but your refusal may be stretched too far," said the Bishop.
+
+"None will tell the truth concerning her," Rasputin said. "I hear on one
+hand that she thinks herself too fat and is taking the 'Entfettungscur'
+against the advice of the Court physician. Others say that she has eczema
+and dare not show her face, while others say she is mad. What is the
+truth?"
+
+"Come and ascertain for yourself."
+
+"Her devotion is that of a fanatic--I take it?"
+
+"Exactly. She lives only for the entertainment of monks and pilgrims. You
+are lucky, my dear Grichka. Madame Vyrubova was evidently entranced by
+you at Countess Ignatieff's. She will do your bidding. Only, I beg of you
+to come to Court."
+
+The charlatan, however, steadily refused the Bishop's advice. Instead, he
+left Petrograd that night alone, and went away to his wife and
+sister-disciples at Pokrovsky, in Siberia.
+
+For more than two months he was absent from Petrograd. One day a frantic
+message came to me over the telephone from Madame Vyrubova, who inquired
+the whereabouts of the Starets.
+
+"The Father has gone to his convent at Pokrovsky, Madame," I replied.
+
+"What!" she gasped. "Gone to Siberia! Why, Her Majesty is daily expecting
+him here at the Palace. When will he return?"
+
+"I regret, Madame, that I cannot say," was my reply. "He has told me
+nothing."
+
+"Will you please take a confidential message to Boris Stürmer for me?"
+she asked. And when I replied in the affirmative, she went on:
+
+"Please go at once to him and ask him to come to the Palace this evening
+without fail. I am very anxious to see him concerning a highly important
+matter. A carriage will meet the train which arrives at seven-thirty."
+
+I promised to carry out the wishes of the Tsaritza's favourite
+lady-in-waiting, and half an hour later called upon Stürmer at his fine
+house in the Kirotshnaya, where I delivered the message.
+
+During the next few weeks I merely called at the Poltavskaya each morning
+for the monk's letters, which I opened and dealt with at my leisure.
+
+His correspondence was truly amazing. The letters were mostly from
+wealthy female devotees, missives usually couched in pious language. Some
+contained confessions of the most private nature, and asking the Father's
+advice and blessing. All these latter he had given me strict instructions
+carefully to preserve. Any letter which contained self-condemnation by
+its writer, or any confession of sin, was therefore carefully put away,
+after being duly replied to. At the time, it did not occur to me that the
+impostor ever intended to allow them to see the light of day, and,
+indeed, it was not until several years later that I discovered that he
+was using them for the purpose of extracting large sums from women who
+preferred to pay the blackmail he levied rather than have their secrets
+exposed to their sweet-hearts or husbands.
+
+While Rasputin, having thrown off his cloak of piety, was leading a
+dissolute life in far-off Pokrovsky, and refusing to obey the Empress's
+repeated invitations, the guns of Peter and Paul one day boomed forth
+salvo after salvo, announcing to the world that the prayer uttered by the
+Starets before our Lady of Kazan had been granted.
+
+An heir had been born to the Romanoffs!
+
+There was but little public rejoicing, however, for Russia was, at the
+moment, plunged into grief over the disastrous result of her attack upon
+Japan. Nevertheless, the event more than ever impressed upon the neurotic
+Empress that Grichka was possessed of some mysterious and divine
+influence. Her Majesty believed entirely in his saintliness, and her
+faith in the power of his prayers was complete. God had granted his
+prayer and sent an heir to the Romanoffs because of his purity and
+perfect piety. Already she was wondering whether, in some mysterious way,
+the child's life was not linked with that of the holy Father whom the
+Almighty had sent to protect her son's existence.
+
+Because of this the Empress sent to Rasputin, at Pokrovsky, a number of
+telegrams, which eventually the monk gave over to me to docket and put
+away with the incriminating letters of his foolish and fascinated
+admirers. The women of Russia, from the Empress to the lowly
+superstitious peasant, were now at the charlatan's feet.
+
+One telegram from Alexandra Feodorovna read as follows:
+
+     "Father and Protector of our House, why do you refuse to come and
+     give us comfort? God has given the Romanoffs an heir, and we
+     desire your counsel and your prayers. Do, I beg of you, return to
+     sustain us with your presence. When we met our conversation
+     remained unfinished. I confess that I doubted then, but I now
+     believe. Make haste and come at once to us. From your
+     sister--ALEXANDRA."
+
+Of this appeal the Starets took no notice. He preferred the society of
+his sister-disciples at Pokrovsky to that of the Tsaritza. Besides, was
+it not part of his clever plan to place the Empress beneath his influence
+by bringing her to the brink of despair? He had not yet met Nicholas II.,
+and it was his intention to place his amazing and mysterious grip upon
+him also at the crucial moment. So again the Empress sent him a
+communication--a letter written in her own hand, and delivered by one of
+the Imperial couriers.
+
+     "Why do you still hesitate?" she asked. "I sent you word by Anna
+     [Madame Vyrubova] that I desired eagerly to see you again. Your
+     good works are to-day in everyone's mouth. All at Court are
+     speaking of you and your beautiful soul-inspiring religion, of
+     which I am anxious to know more details from your own lips. It
+     is too cruel of you to sever yourself from Petrograd when all are
+     longing for your presence. What can I do in order to induce you
+     to come? Ask of me anything, and your wish shall be granted. Do
+     reply.--ALEXANDRA."
+
+Again he treated her invitation with contempt, for following this, ten
+days later, she sent him another telegram:
+
+     "If you still refuse to come I will send Anna to you to try and
+     induce you to reconsider the situation. Nicholas is extremely
+     anxious to consult you. Father, I again implore you to come to
+     us.--A."
+
+Rasputin, who had created such a favourable impression upon the
+lady-in-waiting Vyrubova, certainly had no intention of allowing her to
+go to Pokrovsky and see the sordid home which Russia believed to be a
+wonderful "monastery," and to which Petrograd society had subscribed so
+freely. He therefore sent Her Majesty a message--the first response she
+extracted--to the effect that he was leaving for Petrograd as soon as it
+was possible to fulfil his Divine "call."
+
+In the meantime I had been introduced by Boris Stürmer, whom I met almost
+daily, to Stolypin, a friend of Rasputin's principal disciple in
+Petrograd, Madame Golovine, and to Monsieur Raeff, who afterwards, by
+Rasputin's influence, received the appointment of Procurator of the Holy
+Synod. At Stürmer's fine house there were, in the absence of the Starets,
+constant meetings of Raeff, General Kurloff, the Chief of the Political
+Police, and a beetle-browed official named Kschessinski, who was director
+of that secret department of State known as "the Black Cabinet," a suite
+of rooms in the central postal bureau in Petrograd, where one's
+correspondence was daily under examination for the benefit of the corrupt
+Ministers and their place-seeking underlings. In addition, at these
+dinners, followed by the secret conferences, there attended a certain
+smart, well-set-up officer named Miassoyedeff, a colonel stationed at
+Wirballen on the East Prussia frontier, and who had received gracious
+invitations from the Kaiser to go shooting and to hob-nob with him. This
+man afterwards became a spy of Germany, as I will later on reveal.
+
+Kurloff, as head of the Political Police, had, before my appointment as
+secretary to the Starets, been my superior, and therefore I well knew the
+wheels within the wheels of his department. Naturally he was
+hand-in-glove with the director of the Black Cabinet, the doings of which
+would require a whole volume to themselves, and to me it was evident that
+some further great and deep laid plot was in progress, of which Rasputin
+was to be the head director.
+
+One day in the Nevski I met Mitia the Blessed, the Starets who ran
+Rasputin so closely in the public favour. I saw he was hopelessly
+intoxicated, and was being followed by a crowd of jeering urchins. I did
+not, however, know that Stürmer and his friends had arranged this
+disgraceful exhibition of unholiness in order to discredit and destroy
+Grichka's rival. Five minutes later I met the Bishop Theophanus walking
+with the Procurator of the Holy Synod, who, like myself, witnessed the
+degrading sight, and from that moment Mitia the Blessed no longer
+exercised power, and was not further invited to the salons of those
+mystical members of the aristocracy. He had been swept into oblivion in a
+single day.
+
+Rasputin at last returned, forced to do so by the determined attitude of
+the Empress, who without doubt was suffering from serious religious
+mania, as well as an acute form of neurotic heart disease. The monk
+arrived quite unexpectedly at the Poltavskaya, and rang me up on the
+telephone late one evening.
+
+The Bishop Theophanus was, I found, with him. He knew of his arrival, and
+had come from Peterhof to meet him and urge him to go next day and see
+the Empress.
+
+"If it is thy wish, I will," replied the "saint" with some reluctance,
+for he knew too well that already he wielded an unbounded influence over
+the Tsaritza. The fellow whose record was the worst imaginable, and
+whose very nickname, "Rasputin," meant in Russian "the dissolute," was
+regarded by the Empress as possessed of divine power, and as saviour of
+Russia and protector of the Imperial family and its heir.
+
+"I hear that Alexis, Bishop of Kazan, has turned your enemy, and has
+written to the Holy Synod regarding your questionable monastery at
+Pokrovsky," remarked Theophanus. "It is very regrettable."
+
+"Bah! my dear friend. I have no fear," declared the man whose vanity was
+so overweening. "Soon you will see that Nicholas himself will do my
+bidding. I shall play the tune, and he will dance. All appointments will,
+ere long, be in my hands, and I will place one of our friends as
+Procurator of the Holy Synod."
+
+At the moment I was inclined to laugh at such bombastic assertion.
+Little, indeed, did I dream that within twelve months his prophecy would
+be fulfilled, and that the ex-horse-stealer, whose secretary I had
+become, would actually rule Russia through the lethargic weakling who sat
+upon the throne as Tsar Nicholas II.
+
+A week later I accompanied the Starets to have his first audience with
+His Majesty the Emperor at the Palace of Peterhof, that wonderful
+Imperial residence where the great Samson Fountain in gilded bronze
+throws up from the lion's jaws a thick jet seventy feet high, in
+imitation of Versailles, and where nearly six hundred servants were
+employed in various capacities. We passed the Marly Pond, where the carp
+were called by the ringing of a bell, and the Marly Cascade, where water
+runs over twenty gilded marble steps. Truly, the beauties of Peterhof
+were a revelation to the Starets and myself. On the previous day he had
+had audience of the Empress at Tsarskoe-Selo, but I had not been present,
+therefore I remained in ignorance of what had transpired. All I know is
+that he returned home and drank a whole bottle of champagne to himself,
+in full satisfaction--not that he cared for the wine, for his peasant
+taste favoured the fiery vodka.
+
+On entering Peterhof we were met by the valet Tchernoff, who greeted
+Rasputin very warmly with some meaning words, and said:
+
+"His Majesty is in his private cabinet expecting you. Come."
+
+Another valet took our hats and overcoats, and then Tchernoff led us up a
+great flight of marble stairs, and on through nearly a dozen panelled
+rooms with historic portraits, much like those I had once passed through
+at Fontainebleau, until he entered the blue drawing-room, a great,
+old-fashioned, eighteenth-century apartment adorned by a number of
+magnificent pictures by Saltzmann.
+
+Your British public have never truly realised the gorgeousness of the
+Palace at Peterhof, or the fact that in the Imperial service at the
+various residences there were no fewer than four thousand domestics, most
+of them useless and all uniformed. The "Arabys," imported especially from
+Abyssinia, and who wore fantastically embroidered blue and gold uniforms
+with a great crimson sash, and a kind of turban upon their heads, were
+simply well-paid puppets, who added pomp to the gorgeous salons, the
+doors of which they guarded.
+
+As we passed through the great rooms on our way to the Tsar's private
+cabinet, a hundred servants and officials bowed to us, but Rasputin
+remained quite unimpressed. He was possessed of a most astounding
+intuition, and he knew that by his mystical practices, his mock piety,
+and by apparently ignoring the Imperial pair that success was assured.
+
+At last we stood before the door of the autocrat's room, which Tchernoff
+threw open unceremoniously, when we were confronted by His Majesty, who
+wore a rough tweed shooting-suit, presenting anything but an Imperial
+figure. I had expected to see him in uniform, like the thousand and one
+pictures which purport to represent him, instead of which I found a very
+ordinary-looking, bearded man, with deep-set eyes, a wan countenance, and
+rather lank hair. He was square-built, a trifle below the medium height,
+and a man whom, had you passed him in the Nevski, you might have taken
+for a Jew tailor or a small tradesman. But the room itself was a
+beautiful one, like all the apartments in Peterhof, semicircular in
+shape, with a great bay window looking out upon the wonderful fountains,
+all of which were throwing up their jets, with a great vista of greenery
+beyond.
+
+The Tsar bowed as the Starets, crossing himself, bestowed his blessing
+upon him. The owner of twenty palaces and seven hundred million acres of
+land turned his eyes to the carpet humbly as the mock saint uttered those
+words of incomprehensible jargon which half Russia believed to be
+inspired by the Divine will.
+
+When Rasputin spoke His Majesty seemed cowed and thoughtful. Over his
+whole frame was written fear and exhaustion. His voice was hollow when he
+replied, and his glance was full of anticipation. At every gesture of the
+Starets he seemed startled.
+
+Was it any wonder when one recollected, so many were the plots against
+the dynasty, that at the moment he had removed from Tsarskoe-Selo, where
+a gang of a thousand men were engaged in digging deep trenches around the
+palace because the Okhrana had got wind of a desperate plot to tunnel
+beneath the Imperial residence and blow it up together with its Imperial
+occupiers.
+
+His Majesty addressed the Starets as "thee" and "thou."
+
+"I know, Father, that thou art our guide and saviour," said the autocrat,
+when together we were seated in the window, Rasputin explaining that he
+always took me with him in order that I might take mental notes of
+conversations and decisions.
+
+"Féodor is mute," he added. "And he is part of myself."
+
+Then His Majesty referred to Rasputin's "miracles" which he had performed
+in Warsaw, Kiev, and other places, mere conjuring tricks which had held
+the peasants speechless in amazement.
+
+"Theophanus has told us of them. Thou hast healed the sick and cured the
+lame," said His Majesty. "Truly, thou art greater in Russia than
+myself."
+
+"Pardon, your Majesty," replied the impostor humbly, "I am but God's
+messenger, but thou art Tsar. It is not for me to exert authority, only
+to pray unceasingly for the Empire and for the well-being of its Imperial
+House. Theophanus hath, I hope, told thee that I seek no emoluments, no
+advancement, no favour, no honour; I am but the humble Starets--a pilgrim
+who hopes one day to see Mount Athos, there to retire in devotion."
+
+"Theophanus has told me much," said the Emperor. "He has told me how at
+spiritualistic séances thou canst work thy will with our departed, and
+how at the house of our dear Stürmer not long ago thou didst obtain
+communication with the spirit of my dear father Alexander. Truly, thy
+powers are great, and we have need of thee. Why didst thou refuse to come
+to us even though the Empress sent thee so many commands?"
+
+"Because, as I have replied to Her Majesty, I am no courtier. My work
+lies in the homes of the poor, not in the palaces."
+
+"Ah, no," laughed the autocrat with good humour. "Thou art truly sent to
+us to save Russia. Thy place is here, in our own home."
+
+I drew a long breath when I heard the Tsar pronounce those words, for
+they showed quite plainly the strong, invincible grip the impostor had,
+by posing with unconcern, already obtained upon the Imperial family and
+the Court.
+
+The Starets crossed himself, and again bowed. I was amazed to witness the
+crass ignorance and astounding superstition displayed by the Emperor of
+Russia, whom all Europe believed to be a progressive, wideawake monarch.
+That he possessed a spiritualistic kink, as did also his German wife, was
+quite apparent. Any bogus medium or charlatan could easily impose upon
+him. A dozen men and women who, by their vagaries and pretended powers,
+had brought psychic studies into ridicule, had given séances before the
+Emperor, and had told him things which his crafty entourage had already
+paid them to "reveal."
+
+On the night of the declaration of war with Japan, Kouropatkine brought
+to Peterhof the French medium Jules Verrier, who received a handsome fee
+for pretending to get into touch with the spirit of Peter the Great, who
+declared that Russia, in declaring war, had carried out his wishes. And
+Nicholas was at once in high glee, and mightily enthusiastic to know that
+his historic ancestor approved of his action.
+
+The Imperial Court was full of frauds, traitors, and sycophants. In all
+of them Nicholas had the fullest confidence, while his wife was possessed
+of certain knowledge which sometimes caused her to discriminate.
+
+The commonplace-looking man in tweeds, who was the entire reverse of
+one's idea of an Emperor, grew confidential, and it was plain that he was
+quite as much impressed by Grichka as the Empress had been, for
+throughout the audience the monk had used to the full his inexplicable
+hypnotic power.
+
+"Our good Theophanus and Helidor favour us with their counsel, but,
+Father, thou hast our most complete confidence. I beg of thee to grant
+the Empress another interview to-morrow, for she is daily longing for
+counsel from thee. I will fix the audience. So, as our friend, please
+keep the appointment. But before we part I wish to grant to thee any
+request that thou mayest desire--any appointment or advancement of any
+friend. Speak, and thy wish shall be at once granted."
+
+The monk reflected. It was, indeed, the moment of his first triumph.
+
+"I have a young and extremely able friend named Protopopoff in the
+Ministry of the Interior," he replied. "He is a loyal son of Russia, and
+a pious believer. Cannot he be advanced?"
+
+"He shall be. I will make a note of the name," and turning to his desk,
+he scribbled it upon the blotting-pad with a stubby pencil, repeating the
+words:
+
+"Protopopoff--in the Ministry of the Interior."
+
+And such was the manner in which the man who was the most audacious spy
+that Germany employed in Russia was placed in the path of advancement,
+subsequently in 1915 becoming Minister in his own Department, and
+betraying his country for German gold.
+
+Truly, the Potsdam plot was rapidly maturing, and its amazing
+ramifications I intend to disclose.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE MURDER OF STOLYPIN
+
+
+WITHIN a fortnight of the mock monk's audience of the Tsar he found
+himself installed in a fine suite of rooms in the Palace at
+Tsarskoe-Selo, one apartment being assigned to myself as his secretary.
+
+Rasputin's ascendancy over the Imperial couple became daily more marked.
+I was the onlooker of a very curious and clever game. Spiritualistic
+séances were held frequently, at which the Emperor and Empress assisted.
+In Petrograd the monk also continued the weekly receptions of his
+"disciples," chief among them being Madame Golovine and the Princess
+Paley. The Empress fell more and more beneath the evil influence of the
+Starets, for she felt convinced that his prayer had been answered by the
+birth of an heir.
+
+To one man--even though of the Germanophile party--the intrusion of
+Rasputin into the Court circle caused great annoyance. That was Count
+Fredericks.
+
+Madame Vyrubova one day told me that the count had that afternoon, in her
+presence, inquired of the Emperor:
+
+"Who is this new Starets of whom everybody is talking?"
+
+"Oh! merely a simple mujik whose prayers carry right to Heaven," was His
+Majesty's answer. "He is endowed with most sublime faith."
+
+The count then warned the Tsar of the displeasure which Rasputin's
+presence at Court was creating on every hand, adding:
+
+"There are rumours that he is a mere drunken libertine. Make inquiries
+for yourself of his doings in Petrograd."
+
+"Well, my dear Count," laughed the Emperor carelessly, "better one
+Starets than ten hysterics."
+
+This seemed to me to prove that Rasputin's presence often saved the
+Emperor from the hysterical outbursts of his wife.
+
+Indeed, only the previous day the monk put about a story in Petrograd to
+account for the Empress's hysterical state. He started a rumour that Her
+Majesty was, against the advice of the Court physicians, following a
+system of German _Entfettungscur_, or cure for obesity, the result having
+been a complete breakdown of the nervous system.
+
+Thus, by slow degrees, the artful monk ingratiated himself with the
+Imperial family, just as years ago, when a mere cabdriver, in his
+pre-saintly days, he happened to ingratiate himself with Alexis, Bishop
+of Kazan, who became greatly struck with him, and later pushed him
+forward as a holy man, yet for his trouble afterwards found himself swept
+away, and his successor appointed by Rasputin's own hand. The monk was
+relentless, overbearing, suspicious of any persons who did him a favour,
+and at the same time ready to lick the boots of Germany's War Lord.
+
+The "Dark Forces" were now strenuously at work. Little did I enjoy the
+quiet of my own rooms in Petrograd. My "saintly" master was ever active
+holding conferences, often hourly, with Ministers of State, councillors,
+and the "disciples" of his own secret cult.
+
+Very soon I noted that his closest friend was Stolypin, a good-looking
+man with beard and curled moustache, who was President of the Council of
+Ministers.
+
+At that period Stolypin and the Emperor were inseparable. His Majesty
+gave him daily audiences, and sometimes, through Mademoiselle Zéneide
+Kamensky, the Empress's chief confidante, he had audience of Her
+Majesty.
+
+I met Stolypin often. His Excellency was a bluff but elegant bureaucrat,
+who had succeeded Count Witte, a man of refinement, belonging to a very
+old boyar family. He was an excellent talker, and with his soft, engaging
+manners he could, when he wished, exercise a personal charm that always
+had a great effect upon his hearers. His Excellency's great virtue in the
+Emperor's eyes was that he never wearied him, and that was much in his
+favour; he always curtailed his business. Whatever he had to report to
+the Emperor was done quickly, without unnecessary comment, and the
+conference ended, they smoked together on terms of almost equality.
+
+I beg the reader's pardon if I here digress for a moment. After Stolypin
+we had a well-meaning statesman as Prime Minister in Kokovtsov, who
+endeavoured to follow the same lines as his master. He was a talented and
+eloquent man, whom I often met, and who at first impressed the Tsar by
+his crystallised reports. But Emperor and Prime Minister had no personal
+attraction towards each other, as they should have if an empire is to
+progress. Nicholas never gave him his confidence.
+
+Perhaps I may be permitted to reveal here a scene historic in the history
+of the Empire, being present with my master Rasputin in the Tsar's
+private cabinet. It was a very curious incident, and revealed much
+concerning the attitude of Nicholas towards the nation.
+
+Kokovtsov, who had allowed Akimoff to be present--the latter, I believe,
+in eager anticipation of a triumph--read to the Emperor his new project
+for enlarging the Government monopoly system for the sale of vodka. This
+would have greatly increased the Government's exchequer, but would
+inevitably have ruined the people.
+
+In the room Rasputin sat in his black robe and his big jewelled cross
+suspended by its chain, while I stood beside him.
+
+The Emperor, with a cigarette in his mouth, sat in a big arm-chair at his
+desk, tracing circles and squares upon a sheet of paper, his habit when
+distracted. Now and then he scratched his head. He was attentive to the
+report, still drawing his circles, but making no comment, except that his
+lips relaxed in a faint smile.
+
+Suddenly he turned to Rasputin and asked: "Well Father, what do you
+understand in all this?"
+
+Kokovtsov ceased reading his project, and stood in wonder. Not a single
+item of the project had been criticised, no comment had been offered,
+therefore His Excellency naturally believed that his efforts were
+receiving approbation. Rasputin was silent.
+
+Suddenly the Tsar rose from his chair with a sigh of weariness, and
+slowly selected a fresh cigarette from the big golden box upon his
+writing-table. Then he shook hands with Kokovtsov as a sign that the
+audience was at an end, and said:
+
+"Really, my dear Excellency, I do not agree with your project at all. It
+is all utter rubbish, and will only lead the Empire into further
+difficulties. Surely Russia has sufficient alcohol!"
+
+I watched the scene with wide-open eyes.
+
+Poor Kokovtsov, so well meaning, bowed in assent and crumpled up before
+the Tsar of all the Russias. The blow was quite unexpected. When I left
+the Emperor's presence with Rasputin, the latter said:
+
+"Well, my dear Féodor. The day of Kokovtsov is ended. One may be thankful
+for it, because it will mean less friction between the Emperor and the
+Empress."
+
+Three days later His Majesty dismissed his Prime Minister, but gave him
+the title of Count. He had no son, therefore the distinction was a mere
+empty one.
+
+With this digression, for which I hope I may be pardoned, I will return
+to Stolypin. The mystery of his assassination has always been carefully
+hushed-up by the Secret Police, but I here intend to lift the veil, and,
+at the risk of producing certain damning evidence, disclose the whole of
+the amazing and dastardly plot.
+
+Few people know of it. Rasputin knew it, I know it, the Empress knows it,
+and a certain woman living in seclusion in London to-day knows it. But
+to the world the truth which I here write will, I venture to believe,
+come as a great surprise.
+
+The cry "Land and Liberty" was being heard on every hand in the Empire.
+Peter Arkadievitch Stolypin, son of an aide-de-camp general of Alexander
+II., was in the zenith of his popularity. He had become a _vermentchik_,
+the traditional appellation applied to the favourite of the Emperor, and
+as such he loomed largely in the eyes of Europe. He had entered the
+public service as a youth, and had later on become governor of the
+province of Samara, where he had attracted the notice of Count Witte
+because of the drastic way in which he had suppressed some serious riots
+there. In due course he was called to Petrograd, where he was introduced
+to the Emperor, and later on the mantle of Count Witte had fallen upon
+him.
+
+Though in high favour with the Emperor he was clever enough to court the
+good graces of Rasputin, knowing full well what supreme influence he
+wielded over the Imperial couple. For that reason I frequently had
+conversation with him both at Court and at the Poltavskaya. He was a man
+of complex nature. A lady-killer of the most elegant type, refined and
+determined, yet lurking in the corners of his nature was a tyrannical
+trait and a hardness of heart.
+
+In Samara he had distinguished himself by various injustices to the
+population, and hundreds of innocent persons had, because they had been
+denounced by the _agents-provocateurs_ of the secret police, been sent to
+prison or to Siberia by administrative order. At first there was a
+rivalry between him and General Trepoff in the Tsar's good graces, but
+Trepoff died, leaving Stolypin master of the situation.
+
+Though Rasputin behaved graciously towards him and often dined at his
+table, he was in secret his enemy. So cleverly did the monk form and
+carry out his plot that to the last he never believed but that the holy
+man, who prayed so fervently for his success in the guidance of Russia,
+was his most devoted friend.
+
+Many crimes have been committed in Russia beneath the shadow of the Black
+Wings, but perhaps none more ingenious than the one under notice.
+
+The first I knew of the deep conspiracy was in the spring of 1911, by the
+visit one night to Rasputin's house in the Poltavskaya of a tall,
+fair-haired man named Hardt, whom I knew as a frequent visitor to the
+monk. He was a merchant in Petrograd and a man of considerable means,
+but, as I afterwards discovered, was an agent of Potsdam specially sent
+to Russia as the secret factotum of the Tsaritza. He was ever at her beck
+and call, and was the instrument by which she exchanged confidential
+correspondence with the Kaiser and other persons in Germany.
+
+On that evening when Hardt called quite half-a-dozen of the
+sister-disciples were taking tea with the saint and gossiping, for each
+Thursday he would hold informal receptions, and with horrible blasphemy
+bestow upon the society women who attended his accursed blessing. The
+ladies there on that night were all of the most exclusive circle in
+Petrograd.
+
+On Hardt's arrival the reception was cut short after he had whispered
+some words to the Starets, who made excuse that he had to leave to return
+to the palace.
+
+Indeed, he went to the telephone at the farther end of the room and held
+a conversation with the Tsaritza's confidante, Mademoiselle Kamensky.
+None knew, however, that that private telephone by which the charlatan so
+impressed his visitors was merely a fake one, its wires not extending
+farther than the end of the garden.
+
+Grichka sometimes when alone rehearsed those conversations, until he
+succeeded in producing a perfect series of answers which would strike the
+hearer as a most intimate conversation concerning either Emperor or
+Empress.
+
+From the chatter upon the mock telephone the assembly concluded that his
+presence was required at the palace immediately, therefore they rose and
+retired, leaving the mysterious Hardt alone with us.
+
+Instead of going to Tsarskoe-Selo we retired to the saint's little den,
+where we opened a bottle of champagne, of which we all three drank.
+
+"Well, my friend Hardt?" asked the monk, flinging himself carelessly into
+his easy chair and unbuttoning his long black coat for comfort. "What has
+happened? You can, as you know, speak before our faithful Féodor," he
+added.
+
+"I have waiting outside a young woman whom I want you to see," replied
+the German agent.
+
+"Does she wish to enter our circle?" inquired the monk, adding with his
+usual avariciousness: "Has she money?"
+
+"No--neither," was Hardt's reply. "She does not want to become one of
+your disciples; indeed, the less you say on that matter the better!"
+
+"Then why should I trouble to see her?"
+
+"I will tell you all after you have chatted with her. May Féodor invite
+her in? She is sitting in a droshky outside."
+
+"If you wish," growled Rasputin. "But why all this mystery? I have much
+to do. I am due at Countess Ignatieff's--and am already late."
+
+"Remain patient, I beg of you, Father," urged the German suavely. "I am
+acting upon instructions--from Number Seventy."
+
+"From Number Seventy!" echoed the monk, instantly realising that Hardt,
+an agent of the German Secret Service, was carrying out some
+well-concealed and ingenious project. "Very well," he said. "I rely upon
+you not to delay me longer than necessary. Féodor," he added, turning to
+me with that lofty air which his low mujik mind sometimes conceived to be
+superiority, "go and find this mysterious young person."
+
+A few minutes later I conducted into the saint's presence a dark-haired,
+extremely handsome young woman of about thirty, who spoke with
+considerable refinement and whose arrival mystified me greatly.
+
+Hardt introduced her to the holy man, saying:
+
+"This is Mademoiselle Vera Baltz, of Stavropol, a friend of His
+Excellency Peter Stolypin."
+
+"Ah! Welcome, my dear mademoiselle," exclaimed the monk affably. "So you
+are a friend of His Excellency--when he was Governor of Samara, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Yes. I have come here because I crave your assistance. Monsieur Hardt
+knows all the circumstances, and will explain."
+
+The saint turned to the fair-haired man seated opposite him, Mademoiselle
+Baltz having been given an easy-chair close by Rasputin's table. It was a
+writing-table, but the scoundrel never wrote. Sometimes he pretended to
+do so, but the truth was that it was a long and painful procedure with
+him. He preferred to scrawl his initials to any typewritten letter which
+I prepared.
+
+"The explanation is briefly this, Father," said Hardt in his businesslike
+way. "Mademoiselle has been the dupe of His Excellency, who, while
+Governor, often went to Stavropol, where he stayed at an hotel under
+another name. Mademoiselle never knew his identity until a year ago, when
+she saw his photograph in the papers as Prime Minister. She never knew
+that he was married--though I have here a letter in which he proposes
+marriage to her."
+
+And he produced from his pocket a note, bearing the heading of the
+Centralnaya Hotel at Samara, which Rasputin read through.
+
+"Well?" asked the Starets, blowing a cloud of cigarette smoke from his
+bearded lips.
+
+"Mademoiselle is anxious to meet His Excellency."
+
+"Ah! I see," exclaimed the monk, whose mind at once turned to blackmail,
+a course which he himself was actively pursuing. "Mademoiselle wishes for
+money--eh?"
+
+"No, Father," replied the young woman stoutly. "Not money--only justice!
+Peter Stolypin misled me, as you see according to his letter. I am but
+one of his many victims, and I desire to expose him."
+
+"H'm!" grunted Rasputin, who, having ascertained that no monetary
+consideration was forthcoming, was not particularly interested in the
+affair. He never did anything without reward. Those who could pay him
+well obtained through his influence at Court high office and big
+emoluments. Within my own knowledge in at least twenty cases he was
+already receiving heavy percentages upon the salaries, including those of
+two bishops and three under-secretaries, who had been dug out from
+nowhere and pitchforked into office by him.
+
+By his influence with Nicholas the rascal ruled Russia with a relentless
+recklessness unparalleled in all history.
+
+"Mademoiselle has already had audience of Her Majesty, who has sent her
+here to interview you," Hardt explained. "I am placing her case in the
+hands of our friend Altschiller."
+
+The latter was a well-known lawyer, who, by the way, was afterwards
+proved to be a spy of Austria.
+
+"What do you desire of me, my dear young lady?" asked Rasputin in the
+paternal manner he so often assumed towards the fair sex who hung about
+the hem of his ragged robe, and knelt so constantly before him for his
+blessing.
+
+"You, Father, are all-powerful in Russia," replied Vera Baltz. "Her
+Majesty told me that you would help me to--to destroy Stolypin," she said
+with a fierce expression in her black eyes.
+
+Rasputin exchanged glances with the secret agent of Potsdam who, I knew,
+did so much dirty work on the Empress's behalf.
+
+"What Her Majesty desires, I am here to obey," was the monk's quiet
+response. "I pray that no injustice be done," the blasphemer added,
+piously crossing himself.
+
+"Injustice!" cried the girl angrily. "He deceived me, and left me to
+starve when he received his advancement and came here to Petrograd. He
+became the Tsar's favourite because of his cruel and harsh treatment of
+our poor people of Samara, and has climbed to office over the bodies of
+those shot down in the streets at his orders. Injustice! There is
+assuredly no injustice to drag the ghastly truth concerning him into the
+light of day."
+
+"Not at all! I quite agree," said Rasputin, rising and shaking her hand.
+"You can tell your lawyer from me that you have my assistance, but in
+strictest secrecy, of course. Not a soul must know of it, remember!" he
+added, looking straight at her with that strange hypnotic glance of his,
+a gaze beneath which she quivered visibly.
+
+"I shall remain silent," she promised.
+
+"If the truth leaks out that you have seen either Her Majesty or myself,
+then I shall instantly become your enemy, and not your friend," the monk
+declared.
+
+"Only Monsieur Hardt knows," the girl said. "It was he who took me to
+Peterhof."
+
+"You may rely upon the silence of both my friends," Rasputin assured her,
+and a moment later I conducted her downstairs and out into the street.
+
+When I returned to where Rasputin was still seated with his visitor, the
+latter was, I found, making explanation how he had, after considerable
+difficulty, traced the woman Baltz at the Empress's orders and taken her
+to the Palace, first, however, prompting her to seek revenge upon the
+Prime Minister.
+
+"I cannot understand it at all," Hardt added.
+
+"I do. Cannot you see that Stolypin is violently anti-German and openly
+disapproves of the Germanophile party at Court?"
+
+"But he is closeted daily with the Emperor, I understand. And the Empress
+grants him frequent audiences."
+
+"Because she is endeavouring to ascertain the true extent of His
+Excellency's knowledge of her own dealings with our friends in Berlin,"
+was the monk's reply. "Alix pretends to be most gracious to him, yet she
+is distinctly antagonistic, more from fear than anything else. To-day he
+is a favourite at Court, to-morrow----"
+
+And Grichka made a wide sweep with his dirty knotted hand without
+concluding his sentence.
+
+"Has Her Majesty spoken to you concerning her fears that Stolypin has
+discovered something?" asked the man Hardt eagerly.
+
+The monk grinned meaningly.
+
+"Her Majesty is taking precautions," he replied evasively. "Possibly
+Stolypin has discovered the reason you travelled to Berlin a month ago. I
+have an idea that you were watched by the Okhrana."
+
+"Do you really think so?" gasped the German in quick apprehension. "Why
+do you suspect?"
+
+"From something whispered to me a week ago."
+
+"Then Stolypin may know that Alexandra Feodorovna is behind the
+traitorous dealings of Colonel Miassoyedeff on the frontier--eh?"
+
+Rasputin, his eyes fixed upon his visitor, slowly nodded in the
+affirmative.
+
+"That means ruin--perhaps imprisonment for me!" Hardt gasped, his face
+pale and anxious.
+
+"I might say the same thing," remarked the saint, stroking his long,
+untrimmed beard. "But I do not. We are both strong enough to resist all
+attacks. Any suspicion against Miassoyedeff must be removed. I will see
+that the Emperor promotes him to-morrow. Our one stumbling-block is Peter
+Stolypin."
+
+"One that, I take it, must be removed?"
+
+"Yes--at all costs. That is why the Empress has sought out this woman
+Baltz, who, if my estimate of her sex is correct, is a wild firebrand."
+
+"She certainly is viciously vindictive."
+
+"One thing is certain, our friend Stolypin has no idea that he is seated
+on the edge of a volcano," remarked the monk. "He lives extremely happily
+with his wife and children in that beautiful villa over on the Islands of
+the Apothecaries, and has no suspicion of the coming storm. I promised
+his wife to go to her salon to-morrow night."
+
+"And will you go?"
+
+"Of course. There must be no suspicion. Are we not, all of us, his best
+friends?" asked the monk, grinning evilly.
+
+"I am returning to Berlin by way of Stockholm on Thursday," Hardt said,
+for he gave as the reason for his frequent visits to Germany and
+Scandinavia that he bought leather in those countries. "Have you anything
+to report?"
+
+"Yes. One or two things," replied the Starets, who ordered me to write at
+his dictation as follows:
+
+     "MEMORANDUM.
+
+     "FROM GREGORY TO NUMBER SEVENTY.
+
+     "Have acted upon your instructions regarding the Kahovsky affair.
+     Some important correspondence was seized by the police at his
+     arrest, and for two days matters looked extremely unpromising. I
+     paid T. twenty thousand roubles to close his lips, and induced
+     the Emperor to release Kahovsky and restore his papers. I suggest
+     that he should be recalled from Russia and sent to London, where,
+     being unknown, he might be extremely useful to you.
+
+     "Madame Zlobine is at the Adlon Hotel in your city. She has
+     quarrelled with the General, and strict watch should be kept upon
+     her. She has been heard to express very decided views against Her
+     Majesty. It may be found that she is in communication with J. If
+     so, it is in the interests of Stolypin's anti-German campaign!
+
+     "Hardt will explain verbally the position of the latter, and the
+     discovery of the woman Baltz. Meanwhile His Excellency is
+     unsuspicious that we are aware of his hostile intentions towards
+     us.
+
+     "Please do me the favour to assure His Majesty the Emperor of my
+     continued efforts in the service of Alexandra Feodorovna, even
+     though matters are daily growing more complicated. Anna [Madame
+     Vyrubova], moreover, is more difficult to please.
+
+     "Both Stürmer and Protopopoff are under my protection, and I have
+     already contrived to advance them. Kokovtsov is growing in favour
+     and will be a force to be reckoned with in the immediate future.
+     Urge Miassoyedeff, from your side, to exercise the greatest
+     caution. There are whispers, but I have endeavoured to stifle
+     them by contriving his advancement through the Emperor, who
+     yesterday decorated him.
+
+     "The Imperial pair will shortly visit the Danish and Swedish
+     Courts, and probably go for a cruise in Norwegian waters, though
+     there is, as yet, no announcement.
+
+     "I am still working upon the project you set out when we met in
+     Helsingfors two months ago regarding the reduction and weakening
+     of the army. I have already initiated the matter through ladies
+     whose husbands are in the Ministry of War. It will mean the
+     expenditure of a considerable sum of your money, but I know it
+     will be a mere bagatelle if your object is accomplished.
+
+     "I have to acknowledge a payment of one hundred thousand roubles
+     into the Azof Bank from an unknown source. Please remember that
+     S. in Paris and J. in Rome are making big claims upon me, and
+     that next month I must receive a similar sum.
+
+     "Hardt has told me that matters are progressing well at Carlton
+     House Terrace, and also in Paris. Of that I am glad to hear. Let
+     our next meeting be at the Phoenix Hotel in Abo, where I am
+     unknown, and which you can reach without notice. At present I
+     dare not leave Russia, as Her Majesty will not hear of it.
+
+     "It would be as well to make the next payment through the
+     Aktiebank in Abo. They would not suspect.
+
+     "Do not fail to impress upon both Sukhomlinoff and Miassoyedeff
+     the necessity for the utmost caution. Till we meet."
+
+When I had typed this at his dictation I handed it to him, and he managed
+painfully to append his illiterate signature.
+
+Then I placed the sheets in an envelope and gave them to Hardt to convey
+in secret to the headquarters of the German Secret Service in the
+Königgrätzerstrasse in Berlin.
+
+"And, friend Hardt," Rasputin said, as the Kaiser's emissary placed the
+letter carefully in his wallet, "please impress upon Number Seventy what
+I have said about money. All this costs much. Tell him that sometimes
+when inordinate demands are made upon me--as you know they are often
+are--I have to use my own funds in order to satisfy them. Smith in London
+receives unlimited funds through the Deutsche Bank, I know, so please
+tell our friend from me that I expect similar treatment in future."
+
+The Starets was one of the most far-seeing and mercenary scoundrels. He
+had accounts in different names in half-a-dozen banks in Petrograd and
+Moscow, into which he constantly made payments as the result of his
+widespread campaign of espionage and the blackmailing of silly women who
+fell beneath his uncanny spell.
+
+When Hardt had left, the saint opened another bottle of champagne and
+drank it all from a tumbler, afterwards consuming half a bottle of
+brandy. I was busy with three days' accumulation of letters, and did not
+notice it until, an hour later, I found him dead asleep on the floor of
+the dining-room--a pretty spectacle if presented to the millions of our
+patriotic Russians who believed in the Tsar as their "Father" and in the
+divinity of the "holy man" who directed the Empire's affairs.
+
+The saint filled me with increasing disgust, yet I confess I had become
+fascinated by the widespread and desperate conspiracies which he either
+engineered himself or of which he pulled the most important strings.
+
+In the plot against Stolypin, though none dreamed of it, he had been the
+most active agent. Stolypin, a purely honest and loyal Russian, who, on
+taking office as Prime Minister, was actuated by a firm determination to
+do his level best for the Empire, was an unwanted statesman. He was too
+honest, and, therefore, dangerous to the Court camarilla set up and paid
+by Potsdam.
+
+As the days passed the monk frequently referred to him as a thorn in the
+side of the Empress.
+
+"The fellow must be got rid of!" he declared to me more than
+once. "He suspects a lot, and he knows too much. He is dangerous to us,
+Féodor--very dangerous!"
+
+One night, when we were together in his room at Tsarskoe-Selo, after he
+had been dining _en famille_ with the Imperial family, he remarked:
+
+"Things are going well. I saw the lawyer Altschiller to-day. All is
+prepared for the coup against Stolypin, who is still ignorant that Vera
+Baltz is in Petrograd."
+
+I knew Altschiller, who often called at the Poltavskaya. He was a close
+friend of Monsieur Raeff, whom Rasputin, when all-powerful a little later
+on, actually appointed as Procurator of the Holy Synod, having placed the
+appointment upon the Emperor's desk to sign!
+
+The law case was, however, delayed. Hardt was on one of his frequent
+absences--in Germany, no doubt--and matters did not move so rapidly as to
+satisfy the Empress. The whole plot was to keep the Prime Minister in the
+dark until the moment when the skeleton of his past should be dragged
+from its cupboard.
+
+As announced by Rasputin, the Emperor and Empress had visited Denmark and
+Norway on board the _Standart_, and were back again at Peterhof, when one
+day Rasputin received his friend Boris Stürmer, the bureaucrat, at that
+time struggling strenuously for advancement. In the monk's den Stürmer,
+chatting about Stolypin and the vindictive woman who had come to
+Petrograd to destroy him--for he was one of the paid servants of Potsdam,
+and in consequence knew most of the secrets--said:
+
+"Have you, Father, ever met a Jew named Bagrov?"
+
+"Never to my knowledge. Why?"
+
+"Because I know from my friend Venikoff, one of the assistant-directors
+of Secret Police, that the man, a discharged _agent-provocateur_ and
+incensed at the way he has been treated by Stolypin, has joined forces
+with some mysterious young woman named Baltz. There is a whisper that
+between them they are engineering a plot to assassinate the Prime
+Minister!"
+
+Rasputin's strange eyes met mine. Both of us knew more than this
+struggling sycophant.
+
+"Bagrov?" the saint repeated. "Who is he?"
+
+"Oh! A fellow who was assistant to Azeff in some disgraceful matters in
+Warsaw--an _agent-provocateur_ who lived afterwards for some time in
+Paris and on the Riviera. He attributes his downfall to Stolypin, and
+hence is most bitter against him. He has, I hear, fallen in love with the
+woman Baltz, who hails from Samara."
+
+"Well?" asked the saint.
+
+"Well?--nothing," laughed the man with the goat-beard. "I simply tell you
+what I know. There is a plot--that is all! And as far as I can discern
+the swifter Stolypin leaves the Court, the easier it will be for Her
+Majesty and ourselves--eh? While Stolypin is daily with the Emperor there
+is hourly danger for us."
+
+"In that I certainly agree," declared Rasputin. "We must be
+watchful--very watchful."
+
+We remained alert--all of us. That same night Rasputin informed the
+Empress of the secret plot of the black-haired Vera and her lover
+Bagrov.
+
+The Court left for the Crimea next day, and Rasputin travelled with the
+Imperial family. Stolypin, in ignorance of what was in progress, was of
+the party, I being left in Petrograd to follow three days later.
+
+On arrival at Kiev, where the Emperor had arranged to review the troops,
+a gala performance was held in the theatre that night. Opposite the
+Imperial box sat Stolypin, with two other high officials of the Court,
+when, during the entr'acte, a man dashed in, and in full view of the
+Emperor and Empress fired a revolver at the Prime Minister.
+
+The confusion this caused was terrible. Her Majesty fainted and was
+dragged out of the box by Mademoiselle Kamensky, while the Tsar swiftly
+jumped to his feet and regarded the scene calmly.
+
+"I'm done!" gasped the patriotic and honest Stolypin, as those present
+seized the assassin, who was none other than the ex-_agent-provocateur_
+Bagrov.
+
+Six hours later the Prime Minister breathed his last, a victim of the
+Empress and her Potsdam camarilla, while Vera Baltz fled to Switzerland.
+
+Rasputin afterwards told me that he urged the Court to leave Kiev at
+once, adding:
+
+"It was far best for Alix and Nicholas to pretend horror of the tragedy
+than to offer condolences."
+
+And so ended another chapter of Russia's underground history.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE
+
+
+THE murder of Stolypin, though unsuspected by the chancelleries of
+Europe, was, as I have explained, the work of the Hidden Hand of Germany.
+Stolypin had suspected the true state of affairs at the Russian Court,
+therefore the success of Germany in the coming war depended upon closing
+his mouth; so Potsdam, using the erotic monk Rasputin as its catspaw,
+effected a coup which had, alas! sad result to Holy Russia.
+
+Stolypin was but one of many persons of both sexes who, because they knew
+too much of Germany's secret propaganda in Russia, fell victims in those
+constant conspiracies whereby they were swept either into the net of the
+corrupt police or into their graves.
+
+As servant of the head of Russia's "Dark Forces"--as Rasputin and
+Protopopoff were afterwards denounced in the Duma--I was compelled to be
+ever at the saint's elbow; hence I saw and heard much that was
+astounding.
+
+One night, a few months after Stolypin's assassination, we had been
+bidden to dinner by the great Polish landowner Ivan Volkhovski, who had a
+beautiful villa outside Petrograd. There I met a smart, middle-aged
+Russian officer, who, over our champagne, declared to me that things were
+growing critical in Europe over the Balkan question, but that France and
+Russia were united against any attack that Germany might secretly
+engineer.
+
+"Then you think that war is really coming?" I asked him in surprise.
+
+"Think!" he echoed. "You are a cosmopolitan, surely! Don't you know? Are
+you really blind?"
+
+"Well, I am blind politically," I replied with a wink. "I see that on all
+sides people are getting rich quickly and receiving ironmongery--as I
+call the tin decorations from the Sovereign--as reward for closing their
+eyes to the true facts."
+
+"Ah! I see that you are quite wideawake, my dear Rajevski," said the
+officer, whose name was Colonel Dubassoff. "Our friends here in Petrograd
+will continue to remain asleep, for they have every incentive, thanks to
+the great pro-German propaganda and the generous distribution of German
+gold. To-day our enemies in Berlin have their hands outstretched and
+clutching upon Paris, New York, Rome and London, just as they have here
+in Petrograd. War must come--depend upon it. The English Lord Roberts has
+forecast it. He knows!"
+
+"Then you believe that Germany is at work actively arming in preparation
+for war?"
+
+"Most certainly I do," replied the colonel. "Only a month ago I was in
+London and afterwards in Paris. In London the authorities are not so
+entirely asleep as we are in Russia."
+
+Suddenly, as he spoke, I noticed that Rasputin, who was in whispered
+conversation with Bishop Theophanus, a fellow-guest, had been listening
+very attentively.
+
+Two hours later, when I returned home with Rasputin, he ordered me to sit
+down and write a note, which the scoundrel dictated as follows:
+
+     "Please listen to N.N. Colonel Paul Dubassoff, of the
+     Préobrajensky Regiment, has expressed in my presence to-night
+     disloyalty to the Sovereign, and he is a serious danger to the
+     State. He should be suppressed."
+
+To this lie the monk scrawled his initials, and next morning the letter
+was sent to the Chief of the Secret Police. Within twelve hours the
+unfortunate colonel who had dared to pronounce his opinion concerning
+Germany's activities was already lodged in the fortress of Peter and
+Paul, where, I believe, he remained until the Revolution of 1917.
+
+At that moment, however, the German propaganda in Russia found itself in
+an extremely critical state. By Stolypin's murder a new difficulty had
+arisen. All the colleagues of the late Prime Minister believed themselves
+entitled to become his successor, and as each had his own particular
+circle of friends, each naturally pulled all the political wires
+possible. Intrigues arose on every hand, and though everybody realised
+the personal danger of anybody appointed to the dead man's position, yet
+ambition was apparent everywhere.
+
+The Empress, who had now returned from her fateful journey to the Crimea,
+was in daily consultation with the monk, it being their intention to
+obtain the appointment of some hard-up Minister who, by being well paid
+with German gold, would remain inert and keep his mouth closed regarding
+the world-plot in progress. Being at Tsarskoe-Selo, and conducting the
+Starets's correspondence, I know how deep was the intrigue to keep out
+and discredit the Minister of Finance, Vladimir Nicholaievitch Kokovtsov,
+who was known to be the only strong man who could succeed Stolypin.
+
+The whole machinery of the pro-German propaganda had been set to work
+from Berlin to prevent the mantle of Stolypin falling upon Kokovtsov. Yet
+one afternoon, while I sat writing at Rasputin's dictation in his elegant
+sitting-room in the palace of Tsarskoe-Selo, the Empress, who was dressed
+ready to go for her daily drive, burst angrily in, saying:
+
+"Nikki has just appointed that hateful money-grubber Kokovtsov! I tried
+all I could to prevent it, Father. But I have failed!"
+
+Rasputin smiled at her words, and with that sinister calmness that
+characterised him in moments of chagrin, he replied:
+
+"Pray do not distress thyself, O lady! Kokovtsov will assuredly not be
+long in office when the hand of Gregory is lifted against him."
+
+"He must not remain long. He may get to know too much, as others have
+done. In Berlin his appointment will give the greatest offence," she
+said.
+
+"I will ask the Almighty's intercession, for I see, O lady, that thou art
+nervous and unstrung. Compose thyself, I beg of thee. All will be well,"
+and the "healer" crossed himself piously.
+
+Truly, the condition of our dear land was in parlous state. A vogue for
+asceticism had sprung up, just as other vogues have become popular in
+other European countries.
+
+As head of this circle of ascetic followers the monk had, with the
+connivance of Badmayev the herbalist, invented an expedient to deaden the
+flesh so as to render it benumbed as with cocaine. Hundreds of
+weak-minded women were flocking about him. Some of them were wives and
+daughters of the wealthy manufacturing class, but most were of the high
+aristocracy, who all regarded my employer as the Saviour of Russia, sent
+by Heaven to reform and deliver the "Holy" land from the toils of unrest
+and desolation.
+
+We Russians are always idealists. That is our curse. Our religion is,
+unfortunately, an obsession, for any drunken scoundrel can become a "holy
+man" by simply making such declaration, and ever afterwards "sponging"
+upon his neighbours. Rasputin was but an example of this.
+
+After all, it was but natural that, with the bevy of female devotees ever
+at his knees, he should attract the gossip of the scandalmongers. Much,
+indeed, of what they said was true, for I happen to know that personally.
+
+But on that day at Tsarskoe-Selo I noted the Empress's agitation that
+Kokovtsov had been appointed, and began to suspect that the camarilla
+would take drastic action in order to defeat him. Indeed, when the
+Empress had left the room, Rasputin grew thoughtful in turn, and stroked
+his unkempt beard as he paced the floor, saying:
+
+"Ah, Féodor! We must crush this jackanapes. I must see what we can do."
+
+Weeks went by. The usual meetings of the monk's "sister-disciples" were
+held at the house in the Poltavskaya, and often in the presence of a
+stranger or a female novice about to be admitted to the cult he pretended
+to speak to Alexandra Feodorovna over his mock telephone.
+
+Every action of the monk was that of an arrogant and erotic swindler. His
+intelligence was, however, extremely perceptive, and he was not wanting
+in finesse of the mujik order, combined with a sense of foresight that
+was utterly amazing. These, with his suave manner, his affectation of
+deepest piety, and his wonderful fascination over women of every age and
+every class, had now brought him to the position of the power behind the
+Throne.
+
+He already ruled Russia. Tsar and Tsaritza were his puppets, so cleverly
+did he play his cards, yet as he frequently remarked to me in the weeks
+that followed:
+
+"Kokovtsov is against me. We are enemies. He must go."
+
+I knew that if the Premier had an enemy in Grichka, then the statesman
+was doomed.
+
+Now, the plot which Rasputin formed against the new Prime Minister was an
+extremely clever and subtle one.
+
+While it was being carried out I often met Vladimir Nicholaievitch, who
+was naturally compelled to curry favour with the Father, and consequently
+sometimes visited him even against his inclination, no doubt. He was a
+long, rather narrow-faced, bearded man, with a pair of deep-set eyes and
+a secretive air, subtle by temperament, and keenly alive to his own
+interests as well as those of the Empire.
+
+His one sin in the eyes of Alexandra Feodorovna was that he hated
+Germany.
+
+"He once lost money in a German financial concern," Rasputin declared to
+me one day with a laugh. "That is why he cannot bear the Germans."
+
+The Premier, risen from the middle-class, was a dandy who never looked
+one in the face, and whose eyes were ever upon his own clothes, as though
+expecting to find specks of dust upon them. He was always immaculately
+dressed, and his newly-acquired manners were so perfect that I often
+wondered if he carried a book of etiquette in his pocket.
+
+My own estimate of him was that he was too neat, too well groomed, too
+civil, too bowing, and too anxious not to forget what he should say at
+the right moment. In a word, he was an elegant who had suddenly entered
+the Court entourage, in which there was no place for him.
+
+The Tsar had no affection for him, and had merely appointed him because
+he believed that he might worry him less than others whose names and
+abilities had been put forward.
+
+Poor Kokovtsov! He was in complete ignorance of the clever plot which
+Rasputin, at the Empress's suggestion, was engineering against his
+patriotic activities. Germany intended to rule Russia in the near
+future, and woe betide any statesman who would not remain inert and be
+spoon-fed by Teutonic propaganda, or place in his pocket the German marks
+held out so temptingly to him. In that way lay advancement, emoluments,
+decorations, and the Tsar's favour. To be Russian was, alas! to court
+disaster and ignominy.
+
+Monsieur Kokovtsov was typically a good Russian. He had no fighting
+spirit, but was essentially a man of peace, entertaining a horror of
+bloodshed or of sanguinary deeds. His placid temper caused him to avoid
+all questions in dispute. He was prepared to do all possible to benefit
+our country. He had cleverly conducted the election campaign, and had all
+the governors of each province with him. The Emperor trusted him; the
+Empress hated him.
+
+Besides, Kokovtsov was a worker. He did not believe in that favourite
+expression among Russians, "_nechevo_," which really means "nothing," but
+is equivalent to "don't bother" or "don't worry." In Russia we
+unfortunately always have a "_zarftra_," or to-morrow. For that reason he
+was disliked also by the people.
+
+It was not many months after his appointment when one night, at the
+Poltavskaya, Rasputin received a visit from General Rogogin, the Director
+of the Black Cabinet, the _cabinet noir_, the existence of which was
+rigorously kept secret until the Revolution afforded the public a glimpse
+of Russia behind the scenes.
+
+Even from the tribune of the Duma it was declared that the Black Cabinet
+was a fiction. Yet I happened to know that it existed, for later that
+evening I accompanied Rasputin and the Director to the General Post
+Office, where in three rooms on the second floor of the building the
+mysterious department, where correspondence was opened and read, was
+situated. Here was the most secret establishment of the Imperial Police.
+For over a hundred years had this mysterious department been at work
+examining the letters of all classes of people whose thoughts or doings
+could be of interest to the Tsar, his Minister of the Interior, or the
+Okhrana. Indeed, I learned from the general's conversation with the
+monk--I first having taken an oath never to divulge anything of what I
+saw or heard--that even the correspondence of the Tsar, his relatives, or
+friends was not immune from examination.
+
+Then I instantly realised the reason that the Tsaritza and Rasputin, in
+communicating with their friends in Germany, sent their letters by hand.
+
+On the night in question I stood watching with interest how letters for
+secret examination were taken from a lift which passed up and down from
+the sorting-rooms above to the distributing room below. The basket was
+taken off the lift during its slow descent, and another basket
+substituted containing letters already examined, so quickly that the man
+in charge of the lift below noticed nothing.
+
+We saw several processes of opening letters by steaming them, first
+taking an impression in plaster of any seal, and also by cutting off the
+end of the envelope by means of a small guillotine. The letters were
+dexterously opened, photographed, replaced in their respective envelopes,
+refastened and new seals made, or in other cases the ends of the cut
+envelopes were resealed by means of paper pulp to match the colour of the
+envelope, and placed under pressure in a hot press, thus actually
+remaking the paper!
+
+The watchman of this secret chamber was an illiterate, deaf and dumb
+peasant.
+
+"Each functionary on being first admitted here," said Rogogin, "is
+compelled to take a solemn oath never to divulge its existence to a
+living soul--not to his wife, father, sister, brother, or dearest
+friend."
+
+All was remarkable, a spying system of which I had never dreamed.
+
+When we entered the Director's well-furnished private room and the door
+was closed, Rogogin took from a locker drawer a letter which he handed to
+the monk, saying:
+
+"Here is the letter of which I spoke; if I hold it back it may arouse
+suspicion."
+
+Rasputin, who could only read with difficulty, looked at the letter, and
+then, handing it to me with that lofty air he assumed in the belief that
+he could conceal his ignorance, said:
+
+"Féodor, read it to me."
+
+It was on grey paper, and was as follows:
+
+                                "IMPERIAL RUSSIAN EMBASSY,
+                                        "UNTER DEN LINDEN, 7.
+                                             "June 8th.
+     "_Secret._
+
+     "YOUR EXCELLENCY,--In accordance with your instructions I beg to
+     report confidentially as follows: On arrival here I presented my
+     credentials of His Excellency our Ambassador, and in consequence
+     was allowed to conduct a confidential inquiry among the staff of
+     the Embassy, and in other quarters, in which I have been actively
+     assisted with excellent results by P. Ostrovski, agent of the
+     Okhrana in Berlin, whom I recommend for advancement.
+
+     "My discoveries are several, and of an interesting nature. First,
+     a person named Hardt, who is often resident in Petrograd, is the
+     secret courier of the Empress between Potsdam and Tsarskoe-Selo.
+     Secondly, a sum of one hundred thousand marks was paid by the
+     Dresdner Bank on March 11th last to the account of one Boris
+     Stürmer, who has an account in Riga at the Disconto Gesellschaft.
+     Thirdly, the Emperor William on April 2nd gave audience in secret
+     at the Berlin Schloss to M. Protopopoff, for which no reason can
+     be assigned. Fourthly, I have learned on the best authority that
+     if Herr Hardt were arrested on any of his journeys to Sweden or
+     Germany, some highly interesting private correspondence would be
+     found upon him. Fifthly, there is no doubt whatever that the monk
+     Rasputin is in receipt of money from this city, as I have in my
+     possession a receipt given by him for two hundred thousand
+     roubles paid him by the Deutsche Bank, and this I am bringing
+     with me on my return.
+
+     "Further, I have documentary evidence of a widespread German
+     intrigue in Russia, facts which will, I feel confident, amaze
+     your Excellency. When I return I shall place in your hands
+     weapons by which the enemy may be combated. I hesitate to send
+     any documents through the post in case they miscarry, and I am
+     addressing this letter to Mademoiselle Pauline, as your
+     Excellency suggested.
+
+     "I have yet some further inquiries to make on your Excellency's
+     behalf, but I intend to leave Berlin in any case on the
+     twenty-second. I have the honour to remain, your Excellency's
+     obedient servant,                               IVAN BOTKINE."
+
+The monk listened attentively, his big, strange eyes wearing a sly,
+crafty expression. He fingered the jewelled cross suspended from his
+neck--a habit of his.
+
+"Ah! So Botkine leaves Berlin on the twenty-second. It is well that we
+know this, my dear Rogogin--eh?"
+
+"Yes," laughed the traitorous general. "He must not reach Russia."
+
+"Of course not," agreed the monk. "We must obtain possession of this
+documentary evidence that he will carry upon him. Who is he?"
+
+"Botkine is a confidential agent in Kokovtsov's employ," was the
+Director's reply. "He was, I find, assistant-director of police in Nijni
+before the Minister was appointed, and is now in His Excellency's private
+service."
+
+"Well, it is excellent that by your astuteness, my dear General, we are
+forewarned. If not, there might very easily have resulted a serious
+contretemps--eh?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"And who is this Mademoiselle Pauline?" asked Rasputin, his clever
+criminal brain already at work to defeat a revelation of the truth.
+
+"Pauline Lahure, the little French dancer at the Villa Rode."
+
+"Lahure!" cried Rasputin. "I know her, of course, a music-hall artiste.
+She has been lately taken up by the old Countess Bronevski. She was at my
+house only a fortnight ago, and wanted to become a 'sister'!"
+
+"As spy of Kokovtsov--eh?"
+
+"Without a doubt," I chimed in. "From all I hear His Excellency is a gay
+dog."
+
+"True, my dear Féodor," remarked the monk, fingering the cross nervously,
+and then taking a cigarette which the general offered him. "But had not
+our friend Rogogin been on the alert and opened the dainty dancer's
+letters, what a trap we should have fallen into--not only ourselves, but
+the Empress also! Vladimir would have presented the documents to the
+Emperor, and an unholy domestic scene would have resulted. This fellow
+Botkine must never reach Russia!" he added seriously.
+
+"I agree," replied the general. "Let us see Gutchkoff at once," he added.
+General Gutchkoff was a Jew and the director of the dreaded political
+police, with whom Rogogin, of course, worked hand-in-glove.
+
+It was then nearly eleven o'clock at night, but we all three drove to
+General Gutchkoff's house in the Spaskaya. He was out, his man informed
+us.
+
+"I must see him at once," said the monk loftily. "Where is he?"
+
+"He went out to dinner, Holy Father, and he is probably now at the
+Krestovsky or at the Bouffes."
+
+"Go at once and find him," said the monk. "It is a matter of extreme
+urgency, and we will await him here."
+
+Thus ordered by Gregory Rasputin--who was all-powerful in the
+capital--the general's servant ushered us into a cosy little salon,
+placed a box of cigarettes and some liqueurs before us, and then himself
+left in a droshky to find his master, who was so well known in Petrograd
+as a _bon viveur_.
+
+For half an hour Rasputin, much worried by the secret inquiries of the
+Premier into the doings of the pro-German camarilla, chatted with the
+general, more than once expressing fear regarding the perilous situation.
+
+"Revelations seem imminent," he exclaimed anxiously. "The man Botkine
+must never arrive in Russia--you understand that, Rogogin!"
+
+"I quite agree," said the Director of the Black Cabinet. "But Gutchkoff
+must see to it. I have done my part in the affair."
+
+"You have done excellently, my dear friend--most excellently," declared
+the monk. "Nothing could have been better. I will mention your great
+services to the Empress. Yes, we must rely upon Gutchkoff."
+
+In half an hour the servant returned with his master, the head of the
+political police, a short, fat man in general's uniform, with
+decorations, who, when he entered the room, betrayed unmistakable signs
+of having dined well. Indeed, he had been unearthed from a midnight
+carouse at a questionable restaurant.
+
+At sight of Rasputin, a power to be reckoned with and a person of whom
+even the greatest in the land craved favours, he pulled himself together
+and cast himself into a chair to listen.
+
+The monk was clever enough not to enlighten the Police Director regarding
+the plot to upset Kokovtsov's undue inquisitiveness. He merely told him
+that a certain secret agent named Botkine was leaving Berlin for
+Petrograd on the twenty-second.
+
+"The man is dangerous," he added, "extremely dangerous."
+
+"Why?" asked Gutchkoff, somewhat surprised at our midnight visit.
+
+"Because--well, because I happen to know that he is in possession of
+certain facts concerning very high personages. He is a blackmailer, and
+has been to Berlin to endeavour to sell some documents to Maximilian
+Harden--documents which, if published, would place a certain member of
+our Imperial family in a very unsatisfactory light," Rasputin said. "My
+friend Rogogin here will bear me out."
+
+The Police Director, after a few minutes' silence, asked:
+
+"Has he sold the documents in question?"
+
+"I think not," was Rasputin's reply. "If he has not, he will have them in
+his possession on his return. We must secure them at all costs."
+
+"You wish to close his mouth--eh?"
+
+"Yes. He must be suppressed at all hazards," declared the monk. "It is
+the wish of the Emperor," he added, a glib lie always ready upon his
+tongue. "Further, I need not add that if this affair be conducted in
+secrecy and scandal in the Imperial House avoided, His Majesty will
+certainly see that you are adequately rewarded. I can promise you that."
+
+General Gutchkoff was again silent. He well knew that if the Tsar had
+ordered the man Botkine to be silenced there must be some very unsavoury
+affair to be hushed up.
+
+"There is an agent of yours in Berlin named Ostrovski, is there not?" the
+monk asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then he must also be removed at once to another post. Transfer him to
+Constantinople, or, better still, to Yokohama. He must not remain in
+Berlin another twenty-four hours, and he must, not, at any cost, be
+allowed to return to Russia," Rasputin said decisively.
+
+"I scarcely follow you, Holy Father," was the amazed general's reply.
+"Ostrovski is very reliable, and has been entrusted with the most
+delicate affairs. He has always given me the greatest satisfaction."
+
+"I regret if he is under your protection, but that does not alter
+matters. He and Botkine have been acting in unison, and hence Ostrovski
+knows more of this scandal concerning a certain member of the Imperial
+family than is good for him to know. Promote him with increased salary to
+Yokohama, and send him there by way of Marseilles upon some confidential
+mission. But on no account must he return to Russia before going to
+Japan--you understand? He will no doubt wish to travel by way of Siberia,
+but this must be forbidden. If you will write out his appointment, I will
+obtain the Emperor's signature to it to-morrow morning."
+
+"You wish me to write out the order now--eh?" asked Gutchkoff, still much
+puzzled, but eager to get scent of the particular scandal known to
+Botkine.
+
+"Yes, now," replied the monk, pointing to the writing-table, whereupon
+the Police Director sat down and wrote out the order transferring the
+agent Ostrovski to Japan, an order which Rasputin, after pretending to
+read it, handed to me to place in my pocket.
+
+"And now, what about this person Botkine?" asked Gutchkoff. "How do you
+wish me to act towards him?"
+
+"In the way that I will direct to-morrow," replied the monk. "I must have
+time to devise some plan--a plan which will be secret and arouse no
+suspicion," he added grimly, with a sinister smile.
+
+Early next morning I accompanied him to Peterhof, where the Imperial
+Court happened to be. Anna Vyrubova was away in Moscow, but without delay
+he sought the Empress and remained in her boudoir for a full hour, no
+doubt explaining the discovery of Kokovtsov's inquiries in Berlin.
+
+I met the Prime Minister himself in the long corridor guarded by "Araby"
+servants which led to the Emperor's private cabinet, and with him was
+General Gutchkoff, who had evidently also been summoned to audience
+regarding some matters concerning the police administration. Kokovtsov
+had no suspicion of what Rasputin had learned, or that Gutchkoff had
+promised to act as he directed against his trusted agent Ivan Botkine.
+
+The pair strolled along the softly carpeted corridor, chatting affably,
+for they were apparently going to consult His Majesty together. Truly,
+the Court world is a strange life of constant intrigue and
+double-dealing, of lack of morals and of honesty of purpose and of
+patriotism. In our Holy Russia many good men and women have, because of
+their love for their own land, been sent to drag out their lives in the
+dreariness of the Siberian prison camps.
+
+When the monk returned to me he asked for Ostrovski's appointment,
+written on the previous night, which I carried in my pocket. This he took
+at once to the Tsar. His Majesty was at that moment closeted with the
+Prime Minister, Gutchkoff having already seen the Emperor and,
+transacting his business, been dismissed.
+
+Five minutes later Rasputin returned with the Emperor's scribbled
+signature still wet, and in my presence handed it to the Director of
+Political Police. Ostrovski had been transferred to Japan, where he would
+be harmless, even though he might have learned facts from Botkine. But
+what had Rasputin decided should be the fate of the latter? For the sake
+of Alexandra Feodorovna and the whole camarilla Botkine's lips must, I
+knew, be closed. That had been decided. I longed to learn what the
+Empress had said when the monk had revealed the truth to her and pointed
+out her peril.
+
+No doubt Her Majesty would see to it that the affair was hushed up. I
+knew full well that she understood that once Kokovtsov obtained evidence
+too many people would be implicated, and perhaps a public trial might
+result. Both she and Rasputin, no doubt, realised that it would be unwise
+to allow a member of the Okhrana--as Botkine had been--to be arrested,
+for fear of the scandal public revelations would cause. The capital
+teemed with Germans like Stürmer and Fredericks, traitors like
+Protopopoff and Soukhomlinoff, men like Azeff, Guerassimoff and
+Kurtz--one day the bosom friend of Ministers and powerful noblemen, and
+the next cast into the fortress of Peter and Paul--Rogogin, the sycophant
+Raeff--whom Rasputin had made Procurator of the Holy Synod--and the
+drunken "saint" Mitia the Blessed--at last dismissed--spiritualists,
+charlatans, and cranks. Upon such fine society was the Throne of the
+Romanoffs based! Was it any wonder that it was already tottering
+preparatory to its fall?
+
+I left Peterhof with Rasputin at about three o'clock that afternoon, and
+on our return to the Poltavskaya I spoke over the telephone, at the
+monk's orders, to Doctor Badmayev, the expert herbalist who prepared
+those secret drugs with which Madame Vyrubova regularly doped the little
+Tsarevitch, keeping him in a constant state of ill-health and in such a
+condition that he puzzled the most noted physicians in Europe.
+
+Badmayev, a small, ferret-eyed man, his features of Tartar cast, came and
+dined with us, after which Rasputin signed a cheque for twenty-eight
+thousand roubles, a sum to which "the doctor" was entitled under an
+agreement. Well did I know that the sum in question was payment for his
+active assistance in supplying certain drugs of which the monk in turn
+declared that he himself held the formula. The drugs--which he pretended
+to be the secret of the priests of Tibet--were those which he doled out
+in small quantities to his sister-disciples, and which produced
+insensibility to physical pain, drugs which were so baneful and
+pernicious that the monk always warned me against them, and never took
+any himself.
+
+After dinner, at which they both drank deeply of champagne, the monk and
+his friend went out to spend the evening at a low-class variety theatre,
+while I was left alone until midnight.
+
+In consequence I visited some friends in the Ivanovskaya, and returned to
+Rasputin's at about a quarter-past twelve. Twenty minutes later he
+returned in a hopeless state of intoxication; therefore I did not speak
+to him till next morning.
+
+Such was the fellow's vitality that he was up before six o'clock. At
+seven he went out, and returned about nine, when he called me to his den.
+
+"Féodor," he said, "I wish you to leave to-day for Vilna, and go to the
+Palace Hotel there. Remain until a friend of ours named Heckel calls upon
+you."
+
+"Who is Heckel?" I asked, surprised at being sent upon such a long
+journey in that sudden manner.
+
+"A friend of Hardt and myself. Do not be inquisitive--only obey. When
+Heckel calls please give him this letter," and he handed me a rather
+thick letter in an official cartridge envelope of the Imperial Ministry
+of Foreign Affairs. "Heckel will tell you that he is from 'Father
+Gregory.' He is tall, fair, and rather slim--a German, as you may guess
+from his name. Your train leaves at two-forty this afternoon. Be careful
+of that letter and to whom you deliver it in secret. Heckel, after
+finding you at the hotel, will produce an English five-pound note and
+show it to you. That will be his passport. If he does not do so, then do
+not give him the letter."
+
+That afternoon I left for Vilna by the Warsaw express, and after a long
+journey through the endless pines and silver birches duly arrived at the
+hotel indicated, and there awaited my visitor. He arrived next day, a
+fair-haired, slim man, just as Rasputin had described him, evidently an
+_agent-provocateur_ from Berlin. After he had been ushered into my
+bedroom by a waiter, he greeted me warmly, and inquired if I had anything
+to hand him.
+
+To this I made an evasive reply, in pretence of being in ignorance of his
+meaning, whereupon he said in German:
+
+"Ah! I forgot. You wish first to establish my identity," and laughingly
+he produced from his wallet an English five-pound note, which he showed
+to me.
+
+In consequence I handed him the letter from the Ministry, which he placed
+unopened in his pocket and then left, while that same night I returned to
+Petrograd.
+
+Three days later I learned the truth.
+
+Ivan Botkine, the trusted secret agent of the Prime Minister Kokovtsov,
+who had left Berlin on the twenty-second for Petrograd, had been found
+dead in one of the sleeping compartments on the arrival of the train at
+the frontier station of Wirballen. His pockets and valise had been
+rifled, and an inquiry had been opened. Though the doctors disagreed as
+to the exact cause of death, it was apparent that one of the dishes he
+had eaten in the restaurant car an hour before had been poisoned.
+
+Further, I have since established the horrifying fact that the mysterious
+letter from the Ministry which I handed to Heckel in Vilna contained a
+secret poison! That it was used to remove poor Botkine, Rasputin
+afterwards admitted to me. Such were the methods of the camarilla
+who were ruling Russia!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+RASPUTIN IN BERLIN
+
+
+TRULY, our Russia was a country of blood and tears under the last of the
+Romanoffs. Its creed and its motto was "Gallows and Siberia!"
+
+No man's life was safe under a régime run by scoundrels, of whom
+"Grichka," my chief, was the worst.
+
+An unlimited secret fund was placed at the disposal of the Ministry of
+the Interior for purposes of the Secret Police, and when I say that
+Rasputin controlled that Ministry as well as the Emperor himself, it can
+easily be understood that all who were loyal Russians were "suspect," and
+denunciation throve on all sides. The Okhrana recruited its agents from
+all quarters. That is why one was never sure that the stranger who
+denounced Rasputin and his friends was not an _agent-provocateur_.
+
+Every Russian subject of any note, and every foreign traveller, was
+watched, not because of his disloyalty, but because Rasputin and his
+camarilla, including the Empress, feared lest he should discover how they
+were daily betraying Russia and its Tsar.
+
+I have been, at Rasputin's orders, many times in the central bureau of
+the Secret Police in search of the index-card of some person who had
+fallen beneath the monk's displeasure. In these indices and in the
+corresponding files the persons concerned were, I found, never designated
+by their own names, but by code-names that could be telegraphed if
+necessary from city to city. Thus the Deputy Cheidze (since become
+famous) was registered under the name of "drawing-room" (gostini), Lenin
+(also since famous) as "symbol," Miliukoff as "grass," and
+the traitor Soukhomlinoff as "glycerine."
+
+Those were indeed terrible days in Holy Russia--days when the innocent
+were sent to their death, while Rasputin, the religious fraud, laughed
+and drank champagne with his high-born devotees, who believed him, even
+in this twentieth century, to be divine!
+
+I remember that on May 16th, 1914, when the political horizon was
+cloudless and no one dreamed of war, I sat in the visitors' gallery of
+the Duma, having been sent there by Rasputin to listen to the debate and
+report to him.
+
+The labour leader Kerensky, who afterwards became Minister of Justice in
+the Provisional Government, rose and from the tribune proclaimed the
+infamy of the police. He did not mince matters. He said:
+
+"The most notorious jailers of the period of Alexander III. knew how to
+respect in their political enemies the man who thought differently, and
+when they shut him up in the fortress of Schlüsselburg they would
+sometimes come to chat with him. And some of those martyrs, those men
+struggling for liberty, have been able to return to us with the glamour
+about them of twenty years' hard labour. But now, the sons of those
+famous jailers do not hesitate to seize young men of seventeen or
+eighteen and make them die slowly, but surely, under the blows of the
+knout, under the strokes of the rod, or by the burns of a red-hot iron.
+Are we not returning to the days when political prisoners were walled up
+alive? And you imagine, gentlemen, that you can claim for this country
+the civilising mission of a European nation!"
+
+He spoke of a man whom I knew well, one of the most sinister persons in
+all Russia, a man who, like Rasputin and Stürmer, accepted German gold.
+The man's name was Evno Azef, upon whom unfortunately the French
+Government bestowed the Legion of Honour.
+
+Before he went to Paris, Azef was a close friend of Rasputin and of
+Stürmer. He was a criminal of the worst type, an expert in crime, though
+he was a recognised agent of the Russian Political Police. And yet so
+clever was he as an _agent-provocateur_ that he actually managed to get
+himself elected as director of the Terrorist organisation of Petrograd,
+and as a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Party!
+
+In my presence he one night, when in his cups, boasted to the merry monk
+what he had to his credit as a revolutionary. He organised the murders
+of the Minister of the Interior, Plehve, and of the Grand Duke Sergius.
+It was he who prepared the attempted murders of Admiral Dubassof, the
+Governor-General Guerchelman, and the attempt on Nicholas II. The latter
+was with Rasputin's knowledge and consent! Perhaps Alexandra Feodorovna
+knew of it. Who knows? That she was not so devoted to "Nikki" as she
+pretended is well known to everyone who was at the Imperial Court at the
+time. Happily, however, the plot failed because of circumstances which
+Azef could not control.
+
+The scoundrel also assisted in the drawing up of the plans for the
+military mutinies at Moscow, Viborg, and Kronstadt, while he knew
+beforehand of the preparations for the assassination of General Sakarof,
+and of Governor Bogdanovitch at Ufa, as well as a number of Terrorist
+crimes which succeeded.
+
+One of his crimes in conspiracy with Rasputin I will here relate, because
+it is a mystery which has long puzzled the London police.
+
+On the morning of January 11th, 1909, the London newspapers contained a
+report of a strange discovery. Four days before there had arrived at
+Victoria Station a young French lady, dark-haired and extremely
+good-looking, who took a cab to a small but highly respectable private
+hotel in the vicinity. There she gave the name of Mademoiselle Thomas,
+and her profession as governess. Next morning a tall, thin young
+foreigner called for her, and they went out together, she returning very
+late that night apparently exhausted after a long motor journey. Next day
+she remained in her room all day. On the third day an elderly man called,
+and she went out with him, being absent about a couple of hours. On her
+return she went straight to her room and nothing was seen of her further
+until the next day at noon the chambermaid failed to arouse her by
+knocking. The police were informed, the door was forced, and Mademoiselle
+Thomas was found dead. She was lying upon the floor fully dressed.
+
+The medical evidence at the inquest was that the pretty French governess
+had been dead fully eighteen hours. Upon her or in her small hand-luggage
+there was nothing to establish her identity. That she had taken poison
+was the opinion of the expert medical witness. Yet the poison could not
+be established. Apparently it was a case of suicide, for the laundry
+marks and names of the makers of her clothing had been deliberately
+removed.
+
+One thing, however, was extremely mysterious. Upon the marble top of the
+washhand-stand in the bedroom the police found some scrawled words in a
+character they could not decipher. Experts were brought in, when it was
+found that the writing was in Russian character, and the words were: "The
+holy Starets is----"
+
+This conveyed nothing to the London police, who, of course, knew nothing
+save that a "Starets" in Russia is a "saint."
+
+Therefore the experts at Scotland Yard were, after much patient
+investigation, compelled to dismiss it as one of London's unsolved
+mysteries.
+
+Now for the truth.
+
+One night, a year before, when I had returned with Rasputin from
+Tsarskoe-Selo, we found awaiting us the somewhat dandified man of a
+hundred aliases and as many disguises, the notorious Azef. He greeted us
+both warmly, and being a close friend of Rasputin, the monk took him into
+his cosy little den, where for over an hour they remained closeted
+together.
+
+I was one of the few who knew the secret of Azef's crimes. Indeed, when I
+entered the room while the pair were talking I heard him ask with a
+laugh:
+
+"What if we give him a taste of the necktie of Stolypin--eh?"
+
+"It certainly would be best, my dear Evno," the monk agreed. "That is if
+you think the accusation can be well made."
+
+"Trust me," laughed the great _agent-provocateur_. "A denunciation, the
+discovery of papers--you have those of Buchman in your safe, by the way,
+and they could be used--arrest, trial, and the necktie! It would be quite
+easy, and his mouth would be closed."
+
+"He is growing dangerous," growled Rasputin. "What you say is perfectly
+true."
+
+Then turning to me, he said:
+
+"Féodor, bring those papers which Manuiloff brought me a week ago--the
+papers used for the arrest of Professor Buchman in Warsaw."
+
+I obeyed, well knowing how that file of incriminating correspondence with
+an Anarchist group in Zurich had been forged by Stürmer's secretary
+Manuiloff, and how it had been found among the professor's effects.
+
+"The necktie of Stolypin," was Azef's playful allusion to the ever-ready
+gallows to which he, plotting with Rasputin, Manuiloff, Guerassimof,
+and others, was so constantly sending innocent persons.
+Truly, Russia was a strange country even before the outbreak of war.
+
+The immediate object of Azef's activities, combined with Rasputin's, was
+at Germany's direction to extend the Terrorist action and thus cause
+trouble and unrest in the Empire. By every fresh success he obtained more
+money from Berlin, and at the same time strengthened his privileged
+position in the ranks of the Terrorists, while his worth was increased in
+the eyes of both the Minister of the Interior and of the Emperor. The
+scoundrel's revolutionary career and his police career were inseparable.
+He was a Terrorist to-day, a police official to-morrow, but, like
+Rasputin, a secret agent of Germany always!
+
+Terrible as it may seem, the Okhrana, with the connivance of the
+Wilhelmstrasse, and with the Empress's full knowledge--of this there is
+no doubt, because documentary evidence exists which proves it--caused the
+highest personages in Russia to be murdered or hanged in order to prove
+to those lucky ones who survived how necessary was the organisation for
+their own existence!
+
+A hundred dramas could be written upon the intrigues of Grichka and Azef.
+Some of them were amazing; all were disgraceful. The life of the most
+upright and honest man or woman was not safe if marked down by the pair
+of scoundrels. The attempt upon Admiral Dubassof, in which Count
+Konovnicin met his death; the attempt upon General Guerchelman,
+Governor-General of Moscow; the assassination of General Slepzof at Tver,
+with half a dozen other murders of the same kind, were all the work of
+Azef. Why? Because both Azef and General Guerassimof, chief of the Secret
+Police, were in the toils of Germany. The Wilhelmstrasse paid well, but
+threatened exposures if this or that person were not removed. Hence Azef,
+as one of the heads of the Terrorists, received his orders through
+Rasputin, and, obeying, was paid his blood-money.
+
+Many of the dastardly crimes which Azef, aided by the monk, committed at
+Germany's orders will never be known. Hundreds of innocent persons were
+arrested, and when the police searched their homes the most incriminating
+documents were found concealed--documents which when produced they had
+never before seen. Hundreds of men and women were hurried to Siberia, and
+hundreds of others were sent to rot in jails and fortresses, while upon
+dozens there was placed "the necktie of Stolypin."
+
+"Ah! my dear Gregory," Azef said, after he had lit a fresh cigarette,
+"there will be no security until that man's mouth is closed. I see that
+you agree with me."
+
+"Quite," replied the monk, who, I saw, was rather agitated because of
+something which the police spy had told him.
+
+"Good! Then I will go further. To-day I have proposed to the Council of
+Workmen's Delegates that we should blow up the Central Bureau of the
+Okhrana, with Guerassimof in the centre of it. The killing of Guerassimof
+appealed to them. They hate him--as you know. Really, those people are
+humorous. They think I am their friend, and yet each day the police
+arrest one or two members regularly but quietly, and they disappear no
+one knows whither. I have suspicions of Menchikof, of the Okhrana at
+Moscow. The other day I met him at Princess Kamenskoi's, and what he
+told me set me wondering. He poses as your friend, but I feel convinced
+he is your enemy."
+
+Rasputin's bearded face relaxed into that strange, sardonic grin of his
+as he replied:
+
+"I know Menchikof. He is harmless. The only man we may fear is Burtsef.
+He knows far too much of the police organisation and the deeds of our
+provocating agents."
+
+"I agree. But he lives in Paris, and hence the Okhrana cannot lay hands
+upon him. If only he would return to Russia, then he would not be long at
+liberty. That I assure you."
+
+"He is in Paris. Could we not send him a message that his daughter
+Vera--who married young Tchernof last year--has been taken suddenly ill,
+and thus summon him at once to Vilna? Once on Russian soil he could be
+arrested."
+
+Azef smiled. "Our friend Burtsef knows a little too much of our methods
+to fall into such a trap. He would recognise my hand in it in an instant.
+No, some other means must be found. Meanwhile we must deal with the
+person under discussion. We were agreed that he must be suppressed at all
+hazards, eh?"
+
+"Exactly. And we must suppress Burtsef afterwards."
+
+Paris, Lausanne, Geneva, Zurich and Nice swarmed with Russian secret
+agents, who, at orders from Azef and Rasputin, kept constant vigil upon
+the doings of everyone. The directors of the foreign service of our
+political police were Ratchkovsky in Paris, and Rataef in London. The
+latter posed as a Russian journalist, and usually spent his afternoons
+over cups of coffee in the cosmopolitan Café Royal in Regent Street.
+
+All this I knew, and much more. I knew that Ivan Manuiloff, who was now
+secretary to Stürmer, had begun his lucrative career as the agent and
+catspaw of Ratchkovsky in Paris. But he intrigued against his chief, and
+was then transferred to Rome. Of that man and his dastardly doings I
+will tell more later. Suffice it to say that the Emperor so deeply
+believed in him that one day he gave him a gold cigarette-case with his
+initials in diamonds "as a mark of his esteem"!
+
+Having listened attentively to the conversation between the two
+scoundrels, I at last came to the conclusion that they were conspiring
+against some mysterious person named Krivochein.
+
+After the pair had consumed a bottle of champagne, Azef rose and, shaking
+his friend's dirty paw, said:
+
+"I hope to have everything arranged when we meet. I would not yet mention
+the matter to the Empress."
+
+"Of course I shall not," remarked Rasputin, with that crafty grin of his.
+"She would only worry over it--and just now she is greatly troubled over
+the Tsarevitch. He has had another attack."
+
+The monk did not mention the fact that the cause of the attack was one of
+Badmayev's secret drugs which Anna Vyrubova had dissolved in his milk!
+
+After Azef had left, Rasputin flung himself into his easy chair, and as
+he lit a cigarette remarked to me:
+
+"Ah, Féodor! What a man! There is nothing he is unable to accomplish."
+
+"He is very daring," I remarked.
+
+"No, it is not daring--it is deep cunning. He has the police at his back;
+I have Alexandra Feodorovna--so we win always. But," he added, with a
+snarl, "we have enemies, and those must be dealt with--dealt with
+drastically. I hear they are setting about more scandals in Petrograd
+concerning me. Have you heard them?" he asked.
+
+"Gossip is rife on every hand, and all sorts of wild stories are being
+circulated," I said.
+
+"Bah! Let the fools say what they will of Gregory Rasputin," he laughed.
+"It only makes him the more popular. It is time, however, that I
+performed some more miracles among the poor," he added reflectively. "Let
+us arrange some, Féodor. Do not forget it."
+
+The miracles were arranged a fortnight later. With the assistance of a
+clever German conjurer named Brockhaus, from Riga, who with others helped
+the mock saint on the occasions when he imposed upon the credulity of the
+mujiks, he pretended to "heal" a child of lameness, while a female
+assistant of Brockhaus, having posed as a blind peasant, was restored to
+sight.
+
+The miracles took place out at Ligovo, a village outside Petrograd, and
+like wildfire the news was spread that the Holy Father had again taken
+compassion upon the people. Hundreds of men and women now flocked round
+him to kiss the edge of his ragged robe, and as he passed in the streets
+everyone crossed themselves. By such means did Rasputin retain the favour
+of the people and of the Empress herself.
+
+One night he received a telegram in cipher, which he gave me to decode.
+It had been despatched from Paris and read:
+
+     "The appointment is at Savignyplatz, 17, Charlottenburg. Do not
+     fail. Please inform A. [Alexandra Feodorovna] and obtain
+     instructions.--EVNO."
+
+At once Rasputin became active. He went to Peterhof, where the Court was
+at that moment, and carried out Azef's desire. He was with the Empress
+and Madame Vyrubova for a couple of hours ere he rejoined me, and we took
+the evening train back to the capital.
+
+That night he called upon Stürmer, who had with him his sycophant and
+ex-policeman Manuiloff, and they held counsel together. Then, next
+afternoon, we both left Petrograd for Berlin.
+
+We had no difficulty in discovering the house in the Savignyplatz. It was
+a good-sized one on the corner of the Kantstrasse, and the old woman who
+opened the door at once ushered us into a pretty drawing-room, where we
+were greeted by a rather tall, dark-haired and refined young lady, who
+welcomed us in Russian, and whose name Rasputin had told me was
+Mademoiselle Paula Kereicha.
+
+"You must be very tired after your long journey, Father," she said,
+bowing her head and crossing herself as the monk mumbled a blessing upon
+her.
+
+"No; travelling is very easy between Petrograd and Berlin," he replied
+affably; and then he introduced me.
+
+I could see that somehow she resented my intrusion there. She glanced at
+Rasputin inquiringly.
+
+"Oh, no," laughed the monk. "I quite understand, mademoiselle; you need
+have no fear." Then lowering his voice to a whisper, he said: "I know
+full well that living here as secret agent of the Okhrana you have to
+exercise every caution."
+
+Paula Kereicha--who I afterwards found was a second-rate variety actress
+who sometimes took engagements in order to blind people to her own
+calling, that of police-spy--smiled and admitted that she had to be very
+careful.
+
+"It is not the Germans that I fear," she said. "They know me well at the
+Wilhelmstrasse, and I am never interfered with. Indeed, they assist me
+when necessary. No. It is the Terrorists who would do me harm if they
+could. There is a dangerous group here--as you know."
+
+"I know well," said the monk; "only last week Tchapline and Vilieff were
+given Stolypin's necktie owing to your denunciations. They came to Russia
+from Berlin, and were arrested immediately they set foot across the
+frontier."
+
+"No," she protested. "Azef was here. It was he who put papers into their
+baggage, and then telegraphed to the police at Wirballen. Neither of the
+men was dangerous as far as I could see, but our friend Evno believed
+them to be; hence he deemed them better out of the way."
+
+I could see that the young woman had some scruples regarding the dirty
+work for which she received money from the Ministry of the Interior in
+Petrograd. And surely hers was a highly dangerous profession.
+
+Apparently it was not desired that Rasputin's arrival in Berlin should be
+known, for we were shown to our rooms by the stout old Russian woman, and
+I heard the handsome Paula speaking on the telephone in a guarded
+manner.
+
+"And you will call at half-past nine to-night, eh?" I heard her ask, and
+presently she rang off.
+
+We ate our dinner together, the monk being very gracious towards his
+mysterious hostess; and almost punctually at half-past nine the door of
+the drawing-room opened, and there entered a rather shabbily dressed man,
+whom I at once recognised as Count von Wedel, the inseparable companion
+of the Kaiser, and titular head of the German Secret Service. With him
+was no less a person than the German Foreign Minister, Kiderlen-Waechter.
+Our visitors were the two Men Behind the Throne of Imperial Germany.
+Standing with them was that man of kaleidoscopic make-up, the great Azef
+himself.
+
+That meeting was indeed a dramatic one. Rasputin, taking bribes on every
+side from officials in Russia who desired advancement, and from the
+Germans to betray Russia into the hands of the Wilhelmstrasse, sat that
+evening in the elegant little room listening to the conversation, with
+all the craft and cunning of the Russian mujik. He made but few remarks,
+but sat with his hands upon his knees, his deep-set, fiery eyes glancing
+everywhere about him, his big bejewelled cross scintillating beneath the
+electric light of the pretty Paula's elegant, tastily furnished little
+room.
+
+Von Wedel, though dressed so shabbily, was the chief spokesman.
+Kiderlen-Waechter, who had so cleverly pulled the strings of Germany's
+diplomacy in the Near East, and had now been recalled to Berlin and
+placed at the helm of the Fatherland's double-dealing with the Powers,
+spoke little. He seemed to be learning much of the Kaiser's duplicity.
+
+"The Emperor William, I can tell you frankly, Father, is displeased," von
+Wedel said to Rasputin reprovingly. "Only by an ace has the whole of our
+arrangements with your Empress, and with yourself as our agent, been
+suppressed from Downing Street. And that by steps taken by our friend
+here, Monsieur Azef. But we are not yet safe. I tell you quite frankly
+that though you are a good servant of ours, yet your habit of taking
+intoxicants is dangerous. You boast too much! If you are to succeed you
+must assume an attitude of extreme humility combined with poverty. Be a
+second St. Francis of Assisi," added the Count, with humour. "You can act
+any part. Imitate a real saint."
+
+"It surely is not through a fault of mine that any secret has leaked
+out," the monk protested.
+
+"But it is," the Count declared severely. "I am here to-night at the
+Emperor's orders to tell you from him that, though he appreciates all
+your efforts on his behalf, he disapproves of your drunkenness and your
+boastful tongue."
+
+"I am not boastful!" the monk declared. "Have you brought me here to
+Berlin to reprimand me? If so, I will return at once."
+
+And he rose arrogantly from his chair, and crossed his hands over his
+breast piously in that attitude he assumed when unusually angry.
+
+Von Wedel saw that he was going too far.
+
+"It is not a matter of reproof, but of precaution," he said quickly.
+"Happily the truth has been suppressed, though a certain agent of Downing
+Street--a man known by the nickname of 'Mac'--very nearly ascertained the
+whole facts. Fortunately for us all he did not. But his suspicions are
+aroused, together with those of Krivochein."
+
+"Cannot this man Mac--an Englishman, I suppose--be suppressed?" asked
+Rasputin. "If he is in Russia I can crush him as a fly upon the
+window-pane."
+
+"Ah! but he is not in Russia," replied the Count. "He is a very elusive
+person, and one who tricks us every time. 'Mac the Spy,' as they call him
+at Whitehall, is the first secret agent in Europe--next, of course, to
+our dear Steinhauer."
+
+"I disagree," interrupted the Foreign Secretary. "The man Mac is
+marvellous. He was in Constantinople and in Bucharest recently, and he
+learned secrets of our Embassy and Legation which I believed to be
+sacred. He even got hold of our diplomatic telegraph code a week after it
+had been changed. No, the English Mac is the most astute secret agent in
+Europe, depend upon it!"
+
+Paula Kereicha sat listening to the conversation, but without making any
+remark. I noticed that Azef seemed very uneasy at her presence, and
+presently sent her from the room to ask for a telephone call. The instant
+she had gone he exclaimed in a low voice:
+
+"It is a pity to have spoken before Paula! She knows too much. One day,
+when it suits her, she may reveal something unpleasant concerning us."
+
+"But you made the appointment here, at her house!" Kiderlen-Waechter
+protested.
+
+"Of course, because it is the safest meeting-place, but I did not know
+that matters were to be freely discussed before her."
+
+"Then you do not trust the woman?" remarked Rasputin. "You are like
+myself, I never trust women," and he grinned. "Shall we drop our
+conversation when she returns?"
+
+Azef reflected for a few moments.
+
+"No," he said. "She knows most of the details of the affair. There is no
+reason why she should not know the rest. Besides, I may require her to
+assist me."
+
+In the discussion which ensued I gathered that Rasputin and Azef had
+resolved, with the connivance and at the instigation of the German
+Foreign Office, to assassinate a certain well-known British member of
+Parliament who had been in Russia and had learned, through the British
+secret agent Mac, the betrayal of Russia into the hands of the
+Wilhelmstrasse. It was believed that this Englishman--whom Rasputin had
+nicknamed "Krivochein," so that in correspondence his identity should not
+be revealed--would place certain facts before the British Government to
+the detriment of the plans of the pro-German party in Russia.
+
+Of the actual identity of the unfortunate member of Parliament whom Azef
+and Rasputin had marked down as their victim I could not learn. No doubt
+Paula knew who "Krivochein" was. And it was certain also that both von
+Wedel and the German Foreign Secretary were privy to the plot.
+
+Apparently the Empress had been informed of the danger, and knew of the
+steps the conspirators were taking. Indeed, Rasputin declared:
+
+"Alexandra Feodorovna is very anxious as to the future. She has had a
+violent quarrel with Nicholas regarding his refusal to dismiss
+Sheglovitof."
+
+"He must be dismissed," declared von Wedel. "The Emperor William insists
+upon it. Each hour he remains in office he becomes more dangerous."
+
+"I am already engineering disagreements in the Duma," the monk replied.
+"If he does not fall by them, then he will go naturally, for he is not a
+puppet hypnotised by the wishes of Tsarskoe-Selo, as are so many of our
+Ministers. The Tsar, who so quickly takes offence nowadays, prefers
+flunkeys to Ministers whose personality is too marked. Besides, we have
+the Woman [the Empress] ever on our side. No, Sheglovitof's hour has
+come."
+
+The meeting lasted nearly three hours, until at last Azef and the two
+German officials left, and Rasputin went to his room, where he consumed
+half a bottle of brandy. Meanwhile I sat chatting with Mademoiselle Paula
+until it was time to retire.
+
+Next day, in consequence of a telephone message, I left with Rasputin for
+Paris, where we put up at the Grand Hotel, being visited on the day
+following our arrival by Azef, who, dressed differently, I would
+certainly have passed in the street unrecognised. The two scoundrels
+retired to Rasputin's room, where they remained for half an hour, and
+then we all three went forth into the sunshine of the boulevard.
+
+"It is about his time to pass," the notorious spy remarked to the monk,
+who, by the way, wore an ordinary suit of tweeds and a soft felt hat.
+"Let us sit here--at the Grand Café."
+
+In consequence we took seats at one of the little tables on the
+_terrasse_ and ordered "bocks."
+
+Presently, as we watched the stream of passers-by, Azef raised the
+newspaper he had been pretending to read, so concealing his face, and
+whispered:
+
+"Here he is! That is our friend Krivochein!"
+
+I looked and saw a well-dressed, quiet-looking English gentleman passing
+along with his wife, who had apparently been shopping. Little did he
+dream that the eyes of the two most evil men in Europe were upon him.
+
+"He leaves to-night on his return to London," remarked Azef, when five
+minutes later we rose and returned to the hotel.
+
+That same afternoon Rasputin, who declared that he had a bad headache,
+sent me to an English chemist's in the Avenue de l'Opéra for a bottle of
+tabloids of aspirin. I was rather surprised, for he never took drugs.
+When I gave him the little bottle he drew out the plug of cotton-wool and
+extracted a tabloid, which he put upon his dressing-table, afterwards
+replacing the wool.
+
+About six o'clock a lady was announced, and when she was shown up to our
+sitting-room I found to my surprise that it was Paula Kereicha.
+
+Rasputin was out with Azef, so Paula declared that she would wait till
+their return.
+
+"I am staying at the Hôtel Chatham, and have to go to London to-morrow,"
+she told me. "Krivochein has left the Chatham with his wife, and I am to
+follow."
+
+"The Father and Azef have gone round to the Chatham," I said. "They are
+evidently hoping to find you there."
+
+"Ah! Then I will return and see if they are there," she said, and,
+rising, she left.
+
+I did not see her again. She went to London next day, according to Azef's
+instructions, and as a French governess took a room in that quiet hotel
+near Victoria Station--the room wherein she was afterwards found dead.
+
+At the time I had no knowledge of the tragedy, but later on I learned
+from Rasputin's own lips, while in one of his drunken, boastful moods,
+how he had introduced into the bottle of aspirin a single tabloid of one
+of Badmayev's secret poisons, made up to resemble exactly the other
+tabloids. With Azef he had gone to the Hôtel Chatham on purpose to
+extract from her dressing-case her own bottle of aspirin--which she had
+purchased on the previous day from the same chemist in the Avenue de
+l'Opéra--and replace it by the one containing the fatal dose.
+
+The latter she had swallowed in ignorance because of a headache, death
+ensuing in a few seconds, and the post-mortem revealed nothing.
+
+"Ah! my dear Féodor, that girl knew far too much! Besides, we discovered
+that, though she had been sent by our friend Azef to assist two of our
+friends to bring 'Krivochein's' career to a sudden end, she had actually
+warned him, so that he has succeeded in escaping to America to avoid us!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+SCANDAL AND BLACKMAIL
+
+
+AS the power of the monk Rasputin increased, so also my own social
+position became advanced, until as the "saint's" confidential secretary,
+and therefore as one who had his ear, I became on friendly terms with
+half the nobility of Petrograd.
+
+The pious fraud declared to true believers, "If you do not heed me, then
+God will abandon you."
+
+Leading as he was, freely and openly, a life of shameless debauchery,
+wholesale blackmail and political intrigue, it is marvellous how his
+power became so unlimited. To those who disbelieved in his doctrine or
+in his divinity, he simply smiled evilly, and said: "If you fail to do my
+bidding you will be punished by my friends."
+
+Such warning was sufficient. Everyone knew that Rasputin's power was
+already, in 1912, greater than that of the Tsar Nicholas himself. Day
+after day ambitious men called at the house in the Gorokhovaya, to which
+we had now moved, all of them anxious for ministerial and clerical
+appointments, which he obtained for them at prices fixed by himself. The
+highest in the land bowed before the rascal, while any man who dared to
+belittle him, or attempt to thwart his evil designs, was at once removed
+from office. Through Madame Vyrubova, who received her share of the
+spoils and acted upon the Empress, Rasputin reigned as Tsar, the Emperor
+doing little but sign his name to documents placed before him.
+
+Thus Russia was compelled to witness a regular procession of officials
+whom the "man of God" appointed, in accordance with value received. Even
+Goremykin was compelled to bow before the mystic humbug. Rasputin for
+five years caused to be appointed or dismissed all the bishops, and woe
+betide any person who attempted to interfere with his power.
+
+The Archbishop Theophanus, full of remorse at having lent a helping hand
+to the scoundrel, tried to overthrow him by publicly denouncing his evil
+practices, while the Bishop Hermogenes, who knew of the monk's past,
+attempted to reveal it. In an instant the vengeance of Rasputin fell upon
+them, Theophanus being sent to Tadriz, and Hermogenes confined to a
+monastery. Helidor was hunted by the police and sought asylum abroad;
+while a man named Grinevitch, who had also known Rasputin long ago at
+Pokrovsky, was invited to dinner by the monk one night, and next morning
+was found dead in his bed; while another was arrested by the police on a
+false charge of conspiracy, and sent to prison for ten years, though
+perfectly innocent.
+
+Rasputin's overbearing insolence knew no bounds. Now that he was the
+power behind the Throne, he compelled all to bow to him, the educated as
+well as the peasantry. On entering a house, whether that of prince or
+peasant, he would invariably kiss the young and pretty women, while he
+would turn his back upon and refuse even to speak with those who were
+older.
+
+Our new house was larger and more luxurious than the old one. But it also
+had the false telephone in the study, which was supposed by the "saint's"
+dupes to be a private wire to the palace of Tsarskoe-Selo! The house had
+been furnished entirely at the expense of the Empress, with valuable
+Eastern carpets, fine furniture, tasteful hangings of silk, beautiful
+pictures, autographed portraits of their Majesties, and, of course, ikons
+of all sorts and sizes to impress the pious.
+
+An example of the rogue's impudence occurred on Easter Day in 1912. We
+were breakfasting with Madame Vyrubova's sister at her house just off the
+Nevski. With us was Boris Stürmer and two minor officials of the Court,
+and we were awaiting the coming of the Tsaritza's favourite lady in
+waiting.
+
+At last she arrived from Tsarskoe-Selo bearing a parcel for Grichka,
+which she gave him merrily, saying:
+
+"The Empress has made this for you with her own hands. She spent part of
+last night in finishing it for you, so that you should have it as an
+Easter present."
+
+The "saint" cut the string and withdrew a blue silk coat of the kind he
+was in the habit of wearing, in the Russian style, over loose trousers
+and high boots of patent leather.
+
+"Alix wishes you to wear it to-day," Madame Vyrubova went on, "after you
+have taken Holy Communion."
+
+Rasputin, with a disappointed look, cast it and its paper upon the floor,
+and said:
+
+"Now let us have breakfast," and promptly began to eat with his fingers,
+as he always did, in order to show his contempt for the more refined
+manners of those about him.
+
+A few weeks after this incident there occurred the Ganskau affair, which
+was a most disgraceful transaction, and which was very carefully hushed
+up. Though there were many rumours in Petrograd concerning it, I am able
+to place the whole of the astounding facts on record here for the first
+time.
+
+Rasputin, tiring of his lascivious pleasures, also became bored by those
+who called in order to enlist his influence in their cause for monetary
+consideration. Hence he surrounded himself with a trio of expert
+swindlers. They consisted of a certain adventurous prince named
+Gorianoff, a man named Striaptchef--who had been his companion in his
+early horse-stealing days in his native Pokrovsky--and a notorious woman
+named Sabler. These precious persons constituted a sort of bodyguard, and
+they first interviewed any petitioner, fixed the amount of the gift
+proposed to the "holy man" for the exercise of his influence, and carried
+out the "deal."
+
+If a wealthy man desired a Government appointment; if an under-secretary
+desired a portfolio; if a wife desired her husband's advancement or his
+appointment to an office at Court; if a father desired a lucrative job
+for his profligate son; or if a rich man, who was being watched by the
+police because of some crime he had committed, wished to escape
+scot-free, then they interviewed the elegant Prince Gorianoff at his
+house in the Zacharievskaya. This individual, whom the police of Europe
+know as a Continental swindler, would quickly gauge the petitioner's
+means, and screw from him every rouble possible before putting the matter
+before the caster out of devils.
+
+One day, as I sat alone at lunch with Rasputin, the prince called, and
+sitting down at the table unceremoniously declared:
+
+"I have done a very good stroke of business this morning, my dear
+Gregory. You have probably heard of Ganskau of Tver."
+
+"The great banker, eh?"
+
+"The same. He is one of the wealthiest men in Russia. He wants
+something, and he can afford to pay, though he seems very close-fisted at
+present."
+
+"What does he want?" growled the monk.
+
+The scoundrel who bore the title of prince made a grimace, and said:
+
+"He wants to put a suggestion before you. He refuses to tell me what it
+is--except that it is very urgent and brooks no delay. I told him that he
+would have to pay five thousand roubles if he desired to have an
+interview--and he has paid it. Here is the money!" And he drew from his
+pocket a bundle of banknotes.
+
+"But, my dear Peter," exclaimed the pious fraud, "I have no time to
+barter with these people. I cannot see him."
+
+"Take my advice, Gregory, and listen to what he has to say," replied the
+adventurer, who had lived all his life on his wits in London, Paris and
+Rome--and had lived well too. "If I am not mistaken he will tell you a
+strange thing, and if you get it down in writing--in writing,
+remember--that letter will be worth a very large sum of money in the near
+future. As I have said--he wants something urgently--and he must be made
+to pay."
+
+"Very well," Rasputin replied grudgingly. "I will see him--at four
+o'clock this afternoon. Féodor," he added, turning to me, "make a note
+that I see this banker man."
+
+At four o'clock punctually a fine car drew up, and a stout, overdressed,
+full-bearded man alighted and was shown into the room where I awaited him
+with the prince.
+
+"Ah!" cried the latter, welcoming him warmly. "You had my message over
+the telephone. I have, after great difficulty, induced the holy Father to
+consent to see you. He is due at Tsarskoe-Selo, but he has just
+telephoned to the Empress that he is delayed. And the delay is in order
+to hear you."
+
+"I am sure I am most grateful, Prince," declared the banker, who seemed
+very pale and much agitated. His wealth was proverbial in Russia, and
+even in banking circles in Paris and London. His brother was one of the
+secretaries of the Russian Embassy in Paris.
+
+With due ceremony, after the banker had removed his light
+overcoat, I conducted him into the monk's presence.
+
+As Ganskau bowed towards the mysterious influence behind the Imperial
+Throne, I saw the quick, inquisitive hawk's glance which Rasputin gave
+him. Then I turned and, closing the door, left the pair together, and
+returned to where the prince was waiting. Gorianoff was a clever and
+unscrupulous scoundrel of exquisite manners and most plausible tongue. It
+was for that reason that the holy Father employed him.
+
+As he leaned back in a padded arm-chair, smoking lazily while he awaited
+his victim's reappearance, he laughed merrily and whispered to me that
+the rich man from Tver would, "if properly handled," prove a gold mine.
+
+"Mind, Féodor--be careful to impress upon the Father to obtain something
+incriminating from the banker in writing. He is hard pressed, I know, and
+in order to save himself he will commit any folly."
+
+"Men who are pushed into a corner seldom pause to think," I remarked.
+
+"If the police are upon them, as I know they are in this case, then no
+time is afforded for reflection."
+
+By the prince's manner I knew that he felt confident of making big
+profits. The great Ganskau, the Rothschild of Russia, desired Gregory's
+aid, and Gregory would assist him--at a price. While we were talking
+Madame Vyrubova rang on the telephone to inquire if Rasputin had left for
+Tsarskoe-Selo.
+
+I replied in the negative, whereupon she said: "Tell him not to come
+to-night. The Emperor has quarrelled with Alix, and it will be best for
+him to be absent. The boy [meaning the little Tsarevitch] will be taken
+ill in the night, and then he can come to-morrow and heal him."
+
+I understood. The woman Vyrubova, so trusted by the Tsaritza, was about
+to administer another dose of that baneful drug to the poor invalid
+boy--a drug which would produce partial paralysis, combined with symptoms
+which puzzled every physician called to see him.
+
+It was not until nearly half an hour later that Rasputin opened the door
+of his room, and, crossing himself piously, laid his hands upon his
+breast and dismissed his petitioner.
+
+"Your desire shall be granted," he said in final farewell. "But you must
+write me the reason you desire my assistance. I always insist upon that
+in every case."
+
+"But--well, it is not nice to confess," declared the desperate man,
+pausing on the threshold of the room.
+
+"Probably not. But you do confess to me, and surely you can trust me, a
+servant of Heaven, with your secret? If not, please do not rely upon
+Gregory Rasputin," he added proudly.
+
+For a second the victim hesitated. Then he said in a low, hard voice: "I
+will do as you wish--well knowing that you will keep the truth a secret."
+
+Rasputin, his hands still crossed upon his breast, bowed stiffly, and the
+banker, recognising us standing at the end of the passage, walked towards
+us.
+
+As soon as he had left the house, Rasputin called us, and throwing
+himself into a chair became unduly hilarious.
+
+"Really, Peter, you are extremely clever!" he declared. "Where you find
+these people I do not know. You said you had done a good stroke of
+business, but I did not believe you. Yet now I see that the banker's
+millions of roubles are entirely at our disposal. We must be
+diplomatic--that is all!"
+
+"Why does he require your influence?" inquired the prince.
+
+"In order to extricate himself from a very dangerous position. At any
+moment he may be arrested for murder!"
+
+"For murder!" Gorianoff echoed. "Is he guilty of murder?"
+
+"Yes. He has confessed the truth to me as a father confessor. Now he has
+promised to put his confession down in black and white."
+
+In an instant I saw the trend of Rasputin's evil thoughts. By the written
+confession he would, through his princely friend, be able to extort money
+without limit.
+
+"Of what is he in fear?" asked the prince eagerly.
+
+"Of arrest for the murder of a young French girl, Elise Allain, who had
+been singing at the Bouffes in Moscow," Rasputin replied. "He has just
+told me how he committed the crime three months ago, in order to rid
+himself of her, and escaped to Brussels believing that the police would
+never be able to establish his guilt. On his return to Tver three days
+ago, however, he found that the police had been making active inquiries,
+having discovered in one of the dead girl's trunks that had been left at
+the station cloak-room in Warsaw, certain letters from him. Indeed, he
+has received a visit from the Chief of Police at Tver, who closely
+questioned him."
+
+"Ah! Then he may be arrested at any moment--eh?"
+
+"That is what he anticipates," said the monk. "He has gone to his hotel
+to write his confession, and will return here in an hour with a banker's
+draft for one hundred thousand roubles."
+
+"Did I not say that I had been doing some good business, Gregory?" asked
+his friend.
+
+"Yes--and it will prove better business later--you will see."
+
+At Rasputin's orders I went round to Malinovsky, Assistant Director of
+Police, who at the monk's request telephoned to Tver to inquire what
+suspicions there were against the banker Ganskau. When Malinovsky
+returned to where I was sitting, he told me that the reply of the Chief
+of Police of Tver was to the effect that there was no doubt that Ganskau
+was guilty of a very brutal murder, committed in most mysterious
+circumstances. The banker's wife, with whom he lived on very disagreeable
+terms, had discovered a letter from the girl Elise, and duly handed it
+to the police out of revenge. This led them to find the box at Warsaw
+wherein were other letters, one of which forbade her to come to Russia,
+and threatening her with violence if she disobeyed.
+
+I returned at once to the Gorokhovaya, where the monk and the prince sat
+with a bottle of champagne between them, and gave them the message.
+
+A quarter of an hour later the banker returned excitedly, and was ushered
+in to Rasputin, who saw him alone. They remained together for about ten
+minutes, and then the victim departed.
+
+At once the monk came to us, waving in one hand Ganskau's confession of
+guilt, and in the other a draft on the Azov Bank for one hundred thousand
+roubles.
+
+"I suppose we had better pretend to do something--eh, Peter?" asked the
+monk, with an evil grin.
+
+"Of course," was the reply.
+
+Then I sat down, and at the "holy man's" dictation wrote to the Minister
+of the Interior as follows:
+
+     "There is a charge of murder against Nicholas Ganskau, banker, of
+     Tver. I wish to see all documents concerning the crime. Orders
+     must be given not to arrest the assassin for one month, and that
+     due notice be given me before any action is taken."
+
+To this the monk scrawled his illiterate signature.
+
+From that moment the unfortunate banker was irretrievably in Rasputin's
+hands, and I saw much of his dealings with him. Pretending to leave
+everything with his friend Prince Gorianoff, he refused to see the guilty
+man again. In the meantime the prince, whom I accompanied as the monk's
+secretary, went to Tver three weeks after the first transaction, and we
+saw the victim in secret. Gorianoff told him that, although the monk had
+been able to prevent his arrest, the police were not satisfied, and
+pressure was being placed upon them by one of his enemies in high places.
+
+This, of course, greatly alarmed him.
+
+"All is unfortunately due to your wife!" the prince remarked. "It is a
+pity you have not made peace with her. It was she who took one of the
+girl's letters to the police."
+
+The banker started up as though electrified.
+
+"My wife!" he gasped. "Is it her doing?"
+
+"Most certainly," was the prince's cool reply. "Féodor knows it. He had
+it from the Chief of Police of this city himself."
+
+I confirmed my companion's statement, while the banker, terror and
+despair written upon his pale features, stood staring like one who saw
+death before him.
+
+"My wife left me a fortnight ago!" he stammered. "That is why. She
+expected me to be arrested. What can I do? How can you help me? Who is
+this enemy in a high position who is determined upon my arrest?"
+
+"The holy Father alone knows; I do not," declared the prince very
+seriously. "It is somebody at Court--somebody who is a friend of his and
+who let the fact drop in the course of conversation. I regret it, but I
+may as well tell you that your arrest is imminent."
+
+"But what can I do to avoid the scandal?" cried the murderer in despair.
+
+"Well--the only way is to propitiate your unknown enemy," replied the
+prince insinuatingly.
+
+"I gave the Father a hundred thousand roubles," he remarked.
+
+"True; and the Father used his influence so that the inquiries were
+dropped. He had no knowledge of the fact that you had such a bitter and
+relentless enemy in the higher Court circle."
+
+"Nor had I. I wonder who it can be--except, perhaps, Boyadko, with whom I
+once had some financial dealings over which we quarrelled."
+
+As a matter of fact, the unknown enemy only existed in Rasputin's fertile
+imagination.
+
+"Well, as I have said, the Father may find means of propitiating him--if
+the payment is a liberal one," said Gorianoff. "I suggest that you return
+with us to Petrograd at once, and I will endeavour to accomplish
+something."
+
+Eagerly he acted upon the adventurer's advice. During the journey the
+banker was nervous lest at any moment the police might lay hands upon
+him. At each station the sight of a grey uniform caused him to hold his
+breath. Thus to work upon his nerves was part of the prince's game, for
+he well knew that the more terrified Ganskau became, the greater amount
+of money he would be prepared to pay.
+
+Back in Petrograd he begged of Rasputin to receive him, and the monk,
+after two refusals on the plea that he was too busy, at last consented
+ungraciously.
+
+The result of that interview was that Nicholas Ganskau disgorged a
+further hundred thousand roubles for the bribing of an enemy who did not
+exist!
+
+After the banker had left, Rasputin, full of satisfaction as he held the
+draft for the amount in his dirty paw, dictated to me another letter
+addressed to the Minister of the Interior, which read:
+
+     "His Majesty the Emperor, having full knowledge of the charge of
+     murder made against Nicholas Ganskau of Tver, orders that the
+     inquiries concerning the case be abandoned and that the person
+     suspected be not further molested."
+
+This was duly signed by the monk and delivered by me at the Ministry an
+hour later.
+
+Such orders Rasputin frequently gave in the name of His Majesty, who,
+even if he knew of them, never questioned them.
+
+This, however, did not end the affair, for twelve months afterwards
+Ganskau, who, scot-free, had taken up his residence in the Avenue
+Villiers, in Paris, where he was leading a very gay life, received an
+unexpected visit from Prince Gorianoff, who, making pretence that he had
+severed his friendship with Rasputin, hinted that as the monk held in his
+possession the written confession of his crime, it might be worth while
+to obtain and destroy it.
+
+This suggestion Ganskau at once welcomed, thanking the prince for his
+kindly intervention.
+
+Then the latter made a remark which in itself showed how expert a
+blackmailer he was.
+
+"You see, as the girl Elise was a French subject, if the French police
+ever get hold of the truth it would go very badly with you," he declared.
+
+The banker's face went pale as death.
+
+"I never thought of that!" he gasped. "Yes, I must get that confession at
+all hazards," he cried.
+
+"I am prepared to assist you," said the scoundrel coolly. "Of course to
+obtain it from such a man as Rasputin presents many difficulties. He will
+never part with it willingly."
+
+"Then how shall we get it?"
+
+"It must be stolen."
+
+The banker remained silent for a few moments.
+
+"You see," went on the prince, "one can never tell into whose hands may
+fall that collection of confessions which the Father has extracted from
+those who are guilty."
+
+"And you think you can obtain it for me?" asked the banker.
+
+"I am still friendly with many of Rasputin's friends. It is merely a
+matter of payment--another hundred thousand roubles, and surely it is
+worth it."
+
+The banker, seeing himself in great danger should either Rasputin or his
+visitor turn against him, at length consented, and before Gorianoff left
+he had in his pocket a draft upon the Crédit Lyonnais for the sum
+mentioned. The assassin had at first made it a condition that the
+confession should be handed to him before he paid, but the prince pointed
+out that the money was required for bribery, and would have to be paid
+before the confession could be extracted from Rasputin's safe.
+
+Needless to say, the banker never received back his written confession of
+his crime, and so constant was the strain of his guilty conscience and
+his hourly dread of arrest and capital punishment, that a year later he
+shot himself at an hotel in Plymouth.
+
+Another illustration of the monk's greed and unscrupulousness was the
+Violle affair.
+
+Monsieur Felix Violle, a Frenchman who had become a naturalised Russian,
+and who carried on business as a wholesale furrier in the Nevski in
+Petrograd, had a very pretty young wife. One day, at one of the weekly
+reunions of the sister-disciples, this young woman was brought by Madame
+Vyrubova's sister, she having expressed her desire to enter Rasputin's
+cult. There were present on that occasion about thirty other women,
+mostly young and good-looking, and nearly all of the highest society in
+Petrograd. The youngest present was about seventeen, the daughter of a
+certain countess who was one of Rasputin's most attached devotees.
+
+After Madame Violle had been initiated into the secrets of the erotic
+sect, the whole party sat down to tea, when a photograph was taken by one
+of the ladies, which showed Madame Violle seated by the "holy Father."
+
+Rasputin, from that day, took a great deal of interest in the furrier's
+wife. He introduced her to Anna Vyrubova, who presented her to the
+Empress. Hence, from being a tradesman's wife, Olga Violle, within a
+fortnight, had entered the vicious Court circle which revolved around
+Alexandra Feodorovna, and which was rapidly conspiring to betray Russia
+into the hands of the Germans.
+
+Madame Violle told her husband nothing of her social advancement. The
+furrier was in a large way of business, a man of means who liked to see
+his wife well dressed; therefore she was able to cut an elegant figure at
+Court. She accounted for her absences from home by the fact that she
+frequently visited a married sister living about twenty miles outside
+Petrograd.
+
+Under the evil hypnotic influence of Rasputin, the smart little woman,
+who often called at the house and whom I sometimes met at the palace, was
+quickly transformed from a steady tradesman's wife into a giddy,
+pleasure-loving and intriguing degenerate, perhaps even more vicious than
+the rest. Indeed, it was this very fact which caused the Empress to look
+upon her with favour. Thus she soon had the run of the private
+apartments, and became upon friendly terms with both Stürmer and
+Fredericks.
+
+This went on for some months, and even at the Imperial Court, where
+nobody was over-squeamish, the conduct of little Madame Violle--who came
+from nowhere and whose past was quite obscure except to Rasputin, Madame
+Vyrubova, her sister and myself--was looked upon somewhat askance.
+
+Violle, who was most devoted to his extremely pretty wife, one day had a
+sudden shock. By some means a copy of the photograph of the
+sister-disciples went astray in the post. A photographer obtained
+possession of it and promptly made some picture post-cards, which were
+quickly upon the market, much to Rasputin's chagrin. Somebody,
+recognising Madame Violle in the picture, sent one anonymously to her
+husband. The result was a terrible domestic scene.
+
+Madame Olga came to Rasputin in great distress, and in my presence,
+falling upon her knees before him, in tears, kissed his unwashed hands
+and begged him to advise her.
+
+"Your precious husband has made a fool of himself," the monk remarked
+grimly. "Let him take warning lest Gregory Rasputin lift his hand against
+him. Return home, and tell him that from me."
+
+That was all the advice he would give her. He was full of anger that the
+woman who had taken the picture should have been so negligent as to allow
+a copy to fall into the hands of others. Always elusive, he hated to be
+photographed, as he feared that it might constitute evidence against him.
+
+The pretty woman, still much agitated, went out, and took train to
+Tsarskoe-Selo, where she had audience of Her Majesty, who, in turn, urged
+her to defy her husband.
+
+Meanwhile the latter was going about Petrograd in a state of fury at
+discovering that his wife was one of the monk's followers. But he was
+not the first furious husband who had had cause to hate the hypnotic
+peasant. The man Striaptchef and the woman Sabler, who constituted
+Rasputin's bodyguard, assisted by Prince Gorianoff, quickly heard of the
+furrier's anger and told the monk. Therefore it was not with any degree
+of surprise that, when a ring came at the door late that same night, I
+found myself face to face with the wronged husband.
+
+"I wish to see the Father," he said quite coolly.
+
+"I regret that he is out," was my prompt reply.
+
+"You lie!" he shouted. "He is at home. This house has been watched ever
+since six o'clock, when he returned. I will see him, and you dare not
+stop me."
+
+Then, ere I was aware of it, he seized me by the throat, hurled me back
+into the entrance-hall, and before I could prevent him marched straight
+to Rasputin's room.
+
+I dashed after him, hearing the monk's shouts for assistance, and on
+entering found the "holy man" lying on the floor and the infuriated
+Violle lashing him with a short whip he carried. The scene was a dramatic
+one. The scoundrel was shrieking with pain, and in endeavouring to avoid
+the blows succeeded in rising, but as he did so the furrier administered
+another sound whack, which sent the Empress's pet "saint" skipping across
+the room howling.
+
+"You dog of a mock monk!" cried the furrier. "Take that!--and that!--_and
+that!_"
+
+So beside himself with anger was he that I believe he would have beaten
+Rasputin to death had not Striaptchef dashed in, and together we
+succeeded in dragging the angry man off and turning him out of the house.
+
+As soon as the "saint" had recovered from the _fracas_, he gave vent to a
+volley of fearful oaths, cursing the pretty woman who had been the cause
+of the assault.
+
+"She shall be kicked out. I will see that she goes to the palace no
+more," he declared. "If a woman cannot manage her husband then she is
+dangerous. And Olga Violle has proved herself to be dangerous. I will
+see that Alix dismisses her to-morrow. And all on account of that
+thrice-accursed picture-making. To think that I--the Saviour of Russia,
+sent to these people by the Almighty--should be whipped like a dog!"
+
+He strode up and down foaming with fury.
+
+"The skin-dealer shall suffer!" he cried. "I'll make him pay dearly for
+this!"
+
+Then, turning to me, he ordered me to go at once to Manuiloff, Stürmer's
+secretary, adding: "Bring him to me. Tell him that it is a matter of
+greatest urgency."
+
+I had great difficulty in finding the man he had indicated, and who was
+one of Russia's "dark forces." He was not at his house, but by bribing
+the doorkeeper I learned that he would be found in a very questionable
+gambling-house in the vicinity. There I discovered him and drove him to
+the Gorokhovaya.
+
+"Listen," the monk said as I ushered him in. "There is a furrier in the
+Nevski named Violle. Both he and his wife are dangerous revolutionists
+and must be arrested at once. You understand--eh?"
+
+Manuiloff, the catspaw of both Stürmer and Rasputin, and who was well
+paid to do any dirty work allotted to him, did not quite understand.
+
+"You denounce him--eh?" he asked. "There are reasons, of course."
+
+"Of course there are reasons, you fool, or I should not bring you here at
+this hour to tell you of the conspiracy against the Throne. I make the
+allegation; you must furnish the proofs. Do you now understand?" asked
+the "saint."
+
+"Ah, I see! You want some documents introduced into the furrier's house
+incriminating both him and his wife?"
+
+"Exactly. And at once. They must both be arrested before noon to-morrow,"
+Rasputin said. "I shall leave all the details to you, well knowing that
+they will be in good hands, my dear Manuiloff," laughed Rasputin grimly.
+"One thing is important. There must be no loophole for either of them to
+escape. The Empress wills it so. Both must be sent to Schlüsselburg. Tell
+His Excellency so from me. We want no trial or attempt at scandal. The
+pair are dangerous--dangerous to us. Now do you understand?"
+
+Manuiloff, who had forged incriminating documents many times, and who had
+a dozen underlings who assisted him in these nefarious deeds, understood
+perfectly. He was paid to act as his two chiefs directed, and dozens of
+innocent persons were rotting in prison at that moment because they had
+fallen beneath Rasputin's displeasure.
+
+So it was that by noon next day both Violle and his pretty wife--who had
+only the day before been a close friend of the Tsaritza--were on their
+way to Schlüsselburg as dangerous to the State.
+
+Truly, the monk had neither scruples nor honesty, neither compunction nor
+pity; for the woman who was his favourite he had turned upon and sent to
+that grim island fortress, where in one of those terrible oubliettes
+below the level of the lake her death took place eight months later.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+RASPUTIN THE ACTUAL TSAR
+
+
+THE tragi-comedy of Tsarskoe-Selo was being played with increasing vigour
+just prior to the war. Berlin, through Rasputin, piped the tune to which
+the Imperial Court was dancing--the Dance of Death!
+
+One night, after Rasputin had dined with Madame Vyrubova and myself,
+General Soukhomlinoff, Minister of War, entered, swaggering in the
+uniform of the Grodno Hussars.
+
+This man, who, as I write, is in a convict prison as a traitor, had only
+a week before assured the Emperor that the army was ready "to the last
+button" for a possible war, and the troops devoted to him. I happen to
+know how many thousand roubles passed into his banking account from the
+Deutsche Bank in Berlin as price of that lie!
+
+Poor weak Nicholas! On the day following, Protopopoff, the wily schemer
+and spy of Germany, who was admitted to all the secrets of the Allies,
+went to the Emperor and echoed what Rasputin had declared to His Majesty,
+namely, that God was with Russia and that the Holy Spirit approved of the
+righteous work accomplished under the guidance of Stürmer and
+Soukhomlinoff. Truly the camarilla were supporting each other, and I, an
+onlooker, stood amazed and astounded. All four were half-mad with wild
+dreams of the prosperity which war would bring to them, for the bribes
+promised by Berlin were heavy, and Hardt and other secret messengers were
+constantly passing between the two capitals bearing confidential orders
+from the Wilhelmstrasse, of which the War Minister's assurance to the
+Tsar had been one.
+
+But Soukhomlinoff, whose wife was declared to be the most _chic_ and
+extravagant woman in all Petrograd, strode up and down the room that
+night in a fury of rage.
+
+"Gregory!" he cried. "An untoward incident has happened. Your enemy
+Vorontsof Dachkof has been at work against you this afternoon."
+
+"Curse him! How?" growled the monk, for the Lieutenant-General of the
+Caucasus had been a personal friend of Alexander III.
+
+"I was at audience with Nicholas after luncheon, and the count was there.
+After he had presented his report he became familiar, and said: 'Now I
+must talk to thee. Dost thou know that, with thy Rasputin fellows, thou
+art going to thy doom, that thou art gambling away thy throne and the
+life of thy child?'"
+
+"What?" gasped the monk, starting up. "Did he openly say that?"
+
+"He did."
+
+"Then the count shall be disgraced!" declared Rasputin. "He has long
+been my enemy; but I will suffer this no longer."
+
+"Well, when the count spoke, Nicholas huddled himself up on a settee and
+sobbed. 'Oh! why did God confide to me this heavy task!'"
+
+"The fool!" laughed Rasputin. "To-morrow he shall see me playing with the
+Tsarevitch in the Park, and Nicholas shall be with us."
+
+And indeed Rasputin carried out his plan, and the count saw them
+together.
+
+The monk was not blind to the fact that he was surrounded by enemies, all
+of whom were jealous of his power and sought his downfall. By bribery,
+blackmail, and the unscrupulous use of the secret police, which was under
+Protopopoff as Minister of the Interior, the camarilla were waxing fat,
+and woe betide any who dared utter a warning to the Emperor.
+
+Monsieur Gutchkoff had denounced, before the Duma, the scandal of the
+sexually-perverted peasant's presence at Court and prophesied the direct
+disaster. Kokovtsov had loyally warned his master of the effect upon the
+country which the low intrigues of his courtiers was producing. Then,
+when Goremykin urged the Tsar to prorogue the Duma, General Polivanof had
+the courage to sign an address to His Majesty urging him not to do so, as
+it would be a highly dangerous measure. Rodzianko, too, regardless of
+consequences, took to Tsarskoe-Selo a full report of the accusations made
+in the Duma, and urged His Majesty to put an end to the outrageous
+scandals.
+
+The monk had noted all this, and had already marked down all his enemies
+for destruction. He well knew what aversion the Tsar had to anyone who
+spoke what was unwelcome. Weak and vacillating, His Majesty hated to be
+told the plain truth, and for that reason he was so constantly kept in
+the dark. Even his loyal Ministers knew that by being outspoken they
+would be seeking dismissal. Indeed, with Rasputin's clever intriguing,
+Kokovtsov, Sazonov, Krivochein and Polivanof all paid for their
+sincerity by the loss of their offices and the displeasure of their
+Imperial master. Again, it was the monk who had contrived to dismiss
+Monsieur Trepof, for I actually wrote out the order, which Nicholas
+signed, dismissing him! And, in addition, Rodzianko, whom the Emperor
+nicknamed "the Archdeacon" because of his deep, impressive voice, lost
+the sympathy of his sovereign because he had prophesied evil.
+
+And now yet another enemy had arisen in the person of Count Vorontsof
+Dachkof.
+
+"The count shall pay for this, and dearly!" repeated Rasputin, as he sat
+with his brows knit, stroking his unkempt beard.
+
+"At least he can be dismissed, just as you sent into disgrace Prince
+Orlof, the fidus Achates of the Emperor," remarked Anna Vyrubova, who was
+handsomely dressed and wearing some fine diamonds.
+
+Rasputin gave vent to an evil laugh.
+
+"And Witte also," he said. Then, with his unbounded egotism he rose, and
+added: "Yes, Anna, I am Tsar, though Nicholas bears the title!"
+
+Only on the previous night the Tsar, accompanied by Soukhomlinoff and
+Rasputin, had dined at the mess of the officers of the Guard, and all
+three, His Majesty included, had become highly hilarious, and later on
+hopelessly drunk.
+
+"True!" exclaimed the Minister of War, who had so misled Russia and the
+Tsar into a belief that all was prepared for hostilities against Germany.
+"You are the most powerful person in the land to-day, Gregory. That is
+why you must not only suppress Vorontsof Dachkof, but also Yakowleff--who
+is his friend, remember."
+
+"Ah, Yakowleff! I had quite forgotten, General! How foolish of me!" cried
+the monk. "The concession for the gambling casino at Otchakov has been
+granted to him, but we must have it. It will be a second Monte Carlo, and
+a mine of wealth for us."
+
+"I quite agree, my dear Gregory. And it lies entirely with you whether we
+stand in Yakowleff's place or not," exclaimed the woman who was the evil
+genius of the Tsaritza.
+
+The fact was that a rich financier, Ivan Yakowleff, who had offices in
+Petrograd and in London, for certain personal services rendered to the
+Tsar--the buying off of an unwelcome female entanglement, it is said--had
+been granted a concession to establish public gaming-rooms at Otchakov,
+on the Black Sea, not far from Odessa. The financier, who was elderly,
+had recently married a young and rather pretty wife, and being a friend
+of Count Vorontsof Dachkof, was in the happiest circumstances, well
+knowing that a huge fortune awaited him.
+
+"At the moment Yakowleff is in London, I hear, forming a syndicate to
+take over the concession," the general remarked.
+
+Rasputin smiled evilly, and after a pause said:
+
+"Anybody who puts money into the venture will never see that money again.
+I will take care of that."
+
+"Good!" laughed His Excellency the Minister, flicking some dust from the
+sleeve of his uniform. "We must have that concession for ourselves. But
+ought not we to know what is in progress in London--eh? Shall we get
+Protopopoff to send instructions to his agents in England?"
+
+"No. Something might leak out. I do not trust the Okhrana in London,"
+replied the wary woman, Vyrubova. "Have you forgotten the Meadows affair,
+and how they betrayed me and very nearly caused a scandal by their
+bungling? No, if we are to watch Yakowleff, let us do it ourselves. Why
+should you not go, Féodor?" she suggested, suddenly turning to me.
+
+"I? To London!" I exclaimed, in no way averse to the journey, for I had
+been in England on three occasions previously.
+
+"Yes," said Rasputin. "You shall go. Start to-morrow. Telegraph to Madame
+Huguet. She will help you, for she is not suspected, and all believe her
+to be French. Besides, she is pretty, and therefore useful."
+
+"As a decoy, you mean?" I exclaimed.
+
+"Of what other use is a woman?" laughed the scoundrel, whose
+unscrupulousness where the fair sex were concerned was notorious. He
+rose, and, unlocking a drawer, took out a book in which were registered
+many addresses of those who were in his pay, and hence under his
+thraldom.
+
+I searched the pages eagerly and found the address, together with notes
+of certain payments. Madame, I saw, lived in a flat in Harrington
+Gardens, South Kensington.
+
+There and then I received instructions to leave next day by the through
+express to Ostend, seek the lady, and then watch the movements of the
+Russian, who was busily forming the syndicate for the new Monte Carlo.
+
+"If we are to strike against him we cannot know too much of his doings.
+Besides, when we do strike we must not blunder--eh, General?" laughed the
+monk, after which he opened a bottle of champagne, of which we all drank.
+
+A week later I was in London, and one afternoon called upon Madame
+Huguet, who was expecting me. She was a vivacious, dark-haired young
+Frenchwoman, who had been one of the Father's sister-disciples in
+Petrograd, and whom he had sent to London upon some secret mission, the
+purpose of which was not quite clear to me. She had lived for some years
+in London before, and was well known in certain go-ahead circles of
+society. Seated in her cosy, well furnished drawing-room, with its silken
+curtains and bright chintzes in the English style, I told her exactly
+what Rasputin and Anna had instructed me to say.
+
+"The Father wishes you to lose no time in becoming acquainted with the
+financier Yakowleff," I said. "He has offices in Old Broad Street, and he
+lives in Fitzjohn's Avenue, Hampstead, when in London."
+
+"He is there now," she said. "I saw something about him in the papers
+three days ago--something concerning a concession for a gaming casino."
+
+"Oh!" I cried. "Then it is in the papers--eh?"
+
+She obtained the copy of the newspaper, and I saw it was announced that
+an "Establishment" was about to be constructed at Otchakov, which was to
+be a formidable rival to Monte Carlo, and that Monsieur Yakowleff, of
+Petrograd, was the originator of the scheme.
+
+Fortunately Yakowleff did not know me by sight; therefore, while Madame
+Huguet set to work to scrape acquaintance with him, I spent my days
+watching his movements when he came to his City office, and noting his
+constant and busy peregrinations to and fro. Certainly his scheme was
+attracting around him many influential and wealthy men, to whom the
+prospect of huge profits proved alluring.
+
+He was short, stout, rather Hebrew in appearance, unscrupulous no doubt,
+or he would not have stooped to do such dirty work as he did for
+Nicholas; nevertheless, he seemed highly popular in financial circles. He
+had left his wife in Petrograd; therefore the life he was leading was, I
+found, a pretty gay one. Each day he lunched at the best restaurants with
+his business friends, and discussed the great Otchakov scheme, and each
+night he took one of his lady friends out to dinner, the theatre, and the
+Savoy, Ritz or Carlton afterwards.
+
+Within ten days of my arrival in London I found that his guest at dinner
+at the Ritz one night was the sprightly young Frenchwoman, Julie Huguet!
+
+Next day she called me by telephone to Harrington Gardens, and said:
+
+"I discovered a good deal last night. The syndicate is already formed.
+One hundred thousand pounds has been subscribed, and next week Yakowleff
+is leaving for Paris, and thence back to Petrograd."
+
+Within half an hour I had telegraphed the news to Box 296, Poste
+Restante, Petrograd, which was the one used by Rasputin.
+
+In reply I received from the monk a message which read:
+
+"Obtain names of subscribers."
+
+This I succeeded in doing after some considerable trouble, and they were
+the names of some of the shrewdest speculators in the City, none of them
+over-scrupulous, no doubt. To Rasputin I wired that I had the list, and
+asked for instructions, to which I received the reply:
+
+     "Excellent! Return without delay.--GREGORY."
+
+On my way back, during those many hours in the Nord Express between
+Ostend and Petrograd, I reviewed the whole affair, and saw the sinister
+working of the monk's mind. That Count Vorontsof Dachkof was in danger I
+knew full well. The monk never allowed any person to express open enmity
+without retaliating quietly and patiently, but with a crushing blow.
+
+I wondered what was being planned between the Ministers of War and
+Interior. No doubt the Empress had been informed of what the count had
+told the Emperor, and she would at once conspire with the holy Father to
+cast him into social oblivion--or worse!
+
+That the cupidity of Rasputin knew no bounds I was well aware. He
+intended to obtain that most lucrative gambling concession for himself,
+for Russians are born gamblers, especially the better classes, and the
+establishment of a casino on the Black Sea, with French hotels and
+restaurants, pretty villas, and an opera house in imitation of Monte
+Carlo, would in summer attract those thousands of rich Russians who in
+winter went to the Riviera to gamble.
+
+It was a chance which Rasputin would never allow to slip. Of that I was
+quite certain.
+
+The evening I returned to Petrograd the monk had left me a message to go
+to Tsarskoe-Selo; therefore I took my green pass, which admitted me past
+the many guards of the innermost holy-of-holies, the Imperial apartments,
+where I knew I should find the real ruler of Russia.
+
+He had been spending the evening with the Empress, her daughter Olga, and
+Anna, and when I sent word to him he joined me in a small ante-room, and,
+closing the door, eagerly questioned me.
+
+"When does Yakowleff return from Paris?" he asked when I had read over to
+him the list of those adventurous London financiers who had put their
+money into the Otchakov scheme.
+
+"Next Thursday he leaves," I said. "Madame has gone to Paris on pretence
+of shopping, but in reality to keep watch. 'Axanda, Poste Restante,
+Avenue de l'Opéra,' will find her. She arranged it with me before we
+parted."
+
+"Then this money-bag has really formed an influential syndicate in London
+to exploit our country--eh?" asked the monk grimly. "I have been speaking
+to the Empress about it, and she declares that the whole circumstance of
+Nicholas granting a concession, and for such service, is scandalous."
+
+Scandalous! Surely Alexandra Feodorovna knew that her own actions had
+caused her name to be execrated through the length and breadth of Russia.
+Helidor and the "Blessed Mitia" had both attempted to reveal what they
+knew. Helidor and Mitia had many powerful friends, so they were severely
+left alone by the police; yet others who but opened their mouths and
+criticised had been sent to prison without trial, while those who had
+gained undue knowledge and might transmit it to England or America were
+sent to those dreaded oubliettes of Schlüsselburg--worse even than the
+Bastille, and not one has ever returned across the lake alive.
+
+Rasputin was at that moment occupied by two matters--first, the fierce
+antagonism of Vorontsof Dachkof; and secondly, his avariciousness
+concerning the concession for gambling at that pretty little town east of
+Odessa.
+
+So wide was the monk's influence that, hearing at that moment that the
+King of the Hellenes had granted to another British syndicate a
+concession to open public gaming-tables in Corfu, Rasputin had already
+been to Stürmer, the President of the Council, and contrived to have
+diplomatic pressure brought through Prince Demidoff, Russian Minister at
+Athens, to bear upon the King to cancel the concession as opposed to
+public morals! This view Rasputin contrived to have supported by the
+Wilhelmstrasse, because the Kaiser had his spring palace in the vicinity,
+and, with his mock piety, he discountenanced any Temple of Fortune. The
+result was that the Corfu casino was prohibited.
+
+Thus the Otchakov scheme was the only one in Europe. San Sebastian was
+declared by the monk to be only on a par with Ostend, and Otchakov was to
+be the great rival of Monte Carlo, with more varied and added
+attractions.
+
+In that room, while he was hearing me through, Protopopoff, who had been
+making a report to the Emperor, joined us, and listened to what I had to
+say.
+
+"I was looking at Yakowleff's _dossier_ to-day, as you wished," remarked
+the Minister to the monk. "He seems a very honest, clean-living man for a
+financier. There are no suspicions of disloyalty, or even of anything."
+
+"Then they must be made," declared Rasputin. "I intend to hold that
+concession. He would never have had it had it not been for Dachkof. But
+the latter is already out of favour. The Emperor has promised me to
+dismiss him to-morrow. His Majesty prefers cheerful people, not men who
+are pessimists," he laughed.
+
+Indeed, next day the count, who was one of the most loyal and devoted
+servants of the Romanoffs, and who had risked everything in an attempt to
+open the Emperor's eyes, was actually dismissed. Such was the power of
+Rasputin.
+
+But the plot against Yakowleff to dispossess him of the concession for
+Otchakov was a much more deeply-laid and evil one. The financier had
+returned to Petrograd, flushed with his success with his moneyed friends
+in London. Already news had gone round that a wonderful casino was to be
+built to eclipse Monte Carlo, and he had given an interview to the
+_Novoye Vremya_ concerning it.
+
+One afternoon, while in the handsome room set apart for Rasputin's use
+at Tsarskoe-Selo, I was sitting writing at his dictation, when there
+suddenly entered the Emperor, who had just come in from one of his
+frequent solitary walks in the park.
+
+His Majesty flung himself wearily in a chair, and began to discuss a
+diplomatic matter concerning Austria, and to ask the Father's advice, for
+he now scarcely ever acted upon his own initiative.
+
+Rasputin reflected for a few moments as he stood gazing out of the
+window, and then, having given his opinion as to the proper course to
+pursue, he added:
+
+"There is another matter which should have thy attention--a matter which
+is being hidden very carefully from thee."
+
+"And pray what is that, Father?" inquired the Emperor.
+
+"It is the secret and traitorous dealings which one Yakowleff is having
+with British agents with a view to betraying Russia into the hands of the
+English," declared the sinister monk.
+
+"I do not follow."
+
+"To this man Yakowleff thou gavest the concession for improvements at
+Otchakov. On pretence of obtaining financial assistance he has been to
+London, and there, according to what my friends tell me, has been in
+consultation with certain British agents, whose intention it is to obtain
+our military and naval secrets."
+
+"Then you denounce Yakowleff as a traitor--eh?" snapped the Emperor.
+
+"I certainly do. If thou doubtest me, order Protopopoff to make a police
+search at his house in the Vosnesensky. Something will certainly be found
+there," he said, with insidious cunning, well knowing that Protopopoff's
+_agents-provocateurs_ had already taken steps to secure the financier's
+undoing.
+
+"I have here the names of two Englishwomen who are in the British Secret
+Service, and who were recently in Petrograd with Yakowleff." And he
+produced a piece of paper upon which he had scrawled the two names in
+his illiterate calligraphy. "The women are back in London, but he was
+with them a fortnight ago."
+
+"Are you quite certain of all this?" asked Nicholas dubiously. "I always
+believed Yakowleff to be my friend. Indeed, he has already shown his
+loyalty to me."
+
+"And in return thou gavest him the valuable concession for Otchakov,"
+growled the monk.
+
+"If you assure me, Father, that what you have said is the truth, and not
+mere hearsay, I will call Protopopoff, and he shall make full inquiry."
+
+"It is a pity that the Otchakov scheme should be given into the hands of
+thy enemy," the monk declared, and thus the matter dropped.
+
+In Petrograd late that night, after the usual evening assembly of the
+sister-disciples, when all the women had departed and I was again alone
+with the monk, Protopopoff arrived, and said jubilantly:
+
+"Your words to Nicholas have borne fruit regarding Yakowleff. The Emperor
+spoke to me on the telephone, and, acting on his instructions, I ordered
+a police search, when some documents in cipher were found in a drawer in
+his writing-table."
+
+"And you arrested him?"
+
+"No. He seems to have somehow got wind of what was in progress, for he
+left Petrograd yesterday for Helsingfors, and has escaped!"
+
+"Escaped!" shrieked Rasputin, springing to his feet in dismay.
+
+"Yes. Gone back to London, I believe."
+
+The monk knit his brows and stood stroking his unkempt beard. He was
+thinking out some further devilish plot.
+
+"Féodor," he said at last, turning to me, "write down what I say."
+
+I crossed to the table, and when I was ready he dictated the following:
+
+     "In consequence of his traitorous dealings with emissaries of a
+     foreign Power, I, Nicholas, refuse to grant Ivan Yakowleff his
+     application for a concession for improvements at Otchakov, and
+     hereby grant the privilege unreservedly to Alexander Klouieff, of
+     48 Kurlandskaya, Petrograd. Further, I order the arrest of Ivan
+     Yakowleff and the confiscation of all his property."
+
+Alexander Klouieff! The fellow was an ex-agent of secret police, a man
+ready to do any dirty work, even murder, for Rasputin, if paid for it--a
+low-bred criminal of the worst possible type! So the concession was to be
+given to him, and he, of course, would in due course, in exchange for
+payment, hand it over to the monk, who would share the huge profits with
+his friends.
+
+"Nicholas shall sign that to-morrow," Rasputin remarked with confidence.
+"As soon as he has done so I will see that copies be sent to each of the
+men in London who have subscribed, and they will no doubt prosecute
+Yakowleff for fraud. In any case, he is ruined and cast out, so he no
+longer stands in our path."
+
+"Excellent!" said Protopopoff. "Does Klouieff know?"
+
+"Of course not. I shall pay him something for the use of his name before
+he knows exactly what has transpired," was the crafty reply of the
+"blessed Gregory"--as so many termed him.
+
+Two days later I went as usual to the palace with my master, and he took
+me with him along to the Emperor's room, in case any writing was to be
+done. The monk's first words were of the escape of Yakowleff.
+
+"The traitor has gone back to his English pay-masters!" said the Starets.
+"I have written here the order for his arrest and the confiscation of his
+property."
+
+And he placed before the Emperor the document I had written. To
+Rasputin's dismay, however, His Majesty seemed disinclined to append his
+signature. To me, Nicholas, who was wearing an old grey tweed suit,
+seemed very doubtful regarding the whole transaction.
+
+"Who is this person Alexander Klouieff?" he demanded. "I must know
+something more of him."
+
+"He is a man of considerable wealth--upright, honourable, and devoted to
+thee," Rasputin assured him. "Canst thou not place thy trust in those I
+recommend? If not, I say no more."
+
+"Of course, Father; but the concession was granted--while this order
+makes it appear that it was only applied for."
+
+"Surely it is not wise that thou shouldst be known to have granted favour
+unto a traitor?" was the monk's clever reply.
+
+Still Nicholas hesitated, at which Rasputin grew furious, declaring that
+he had no time to waste in idle discussion.
+
+Dropping the familiar form of speech he was in the habit of using to the
+Emperor, he stood erect and said:
+
+"You know the message which your dead father gave you at the séance last
+night! If you refuse to sign this decree, then I will abandon Russia
+to-day and leave you, the Empress and the lad to your fate. Remember, I
+am God's messenger and your divine guide!"
+
+The Tsar stood terror-stricken and in fear lest the real ruler of Russia
+should once again depart from Petrograd and refuse to return. Further
+refusal to sign was useless; therefore he bit his lip in chagrin and
+appended his signature to the document, which not only deprived the
+unfortunate Yakowleff of his concession, but also denounced him as a
+traitor and a swindler.
+
+The result was that not only did Rasputin obtain possession of the
+concession for Otchakov, but he sold it a month later for a huge sum to a
+syndicate of bankers in Vienna, who still hold it. The monk, after paying
+a dole to the ex-agent of police, divided up the spoils with Protopopoff,
+Stürmer and Soukhomlinoff, and, in addition, he bought a very valuable
+diamond necklace for Anna Vyrubova.
+
+As for poor Yakowleff, he was, as Rasputin had plotted, prosecuted in
+London for fraud, and sentenced at the Old Bailey to a term of
+imprisonment.
+
+As the months went on, in the first half of 1914, I noticed that the
+acquaintanceship between Rasputin and his well-paid chemist-friend,
+Badmayev, became closer. Badmayev held the formula of the poisonous
+concoction which at intervals Anna Vyrubova secretly introduced into the
+food of the Tsarevitch, causing the poor lad those mysterious illnesses
+which were puzzling the physicians of Europe.
+
+That some fresh plot of a diabolical nature was in progress I felt
+confident, but of its actual motive I could ascertain nothing. Yet it
+turned out to be a conspiracy--no doubt inspired and suggested by
+Potsdam--of a peculiarly devilish character.
+
+It was on that fateful day that the "Germanisation" of Russia became
+complete. Thanks to the traitorous assurances of Soukhomlinoff, Minister
+of War, Russia, alas! found herself suddenly plunged into hostilities.
+Petrograd, of course, went wild with excitement. Our loyal Russians, who
+believed in official declarations and in their Tsar, were ready to fly at
+the Teutons, little dreaming that already, before a single shot was
+fired, Germany held all the honours of the game, and had the Russian bear
+shackled hand and foot.
+
+At four o'clock in the afternoon Rasputin called me, and handing me an
+envelope which seemed to contain some small object--a lady's silver
+powder-puff case I afterwards knew it to be--said:
+
+"Féodor, I want you to go to the booking-office of the Finnish station at
+the departure of the train for Helsingfors at five-thirty. There you will
+meet a fair-haired young man who knows you by sight. He will say the word
+'Anak,' and when he does, hand him this in secret. He will quite
+understand."
+
+This order I carried out. I had not been at the crowded station five
+minutes when a young man, carrying a small handbag, elbowed his way
+through the excited crowd and uttered in an undertone the word "Anak." I
+greeted him, and surreptitiously handed him the little packet, for which
+he thanked me and disappeared on to the platform.
+
+My curiosity being aroused I waited until after the departure of the
+train, when I watched the mysterious young man return from the platform,
+hurry out of the station, and jump into a droshky and drive off.
+
+When I returned and reported my meeting with the young man, Rasputin
+seemed much gratified, and even telephoned to Stürmer, who was at that
+moment at the palace, having been called to the War Council which the
+Emperor--who had again consulted his dead father's spirit at a further
+séance on the previous night--was now holding.
+
+It appeared that a dinner had a week before been arranged by Prince
+Galitzine, to which the Grand Dukes Nicholas Nicholaievitch, Constantin
+Constantinovitch, and Michael Alexandrovitch, together with Generals
+Arapoff, Daniloff, Brusiloff, and Rennenkampf, had been invited. At first
+it was proposed to cancel the engagement owing to the critical position
+of affairs, but on the suggestion of the Grand Duke Nicholas it was not
+abandoned, for, as he pointed out, it would bring together the loyal
+leaders of the army on the eve of great events, and that, after dinner,
+views might be exchanged in confidence for the national benefit.
+
+Now earlier that same day Rasputin had given me a note to deliver to the
+Grand Duke Michael, whom I had failed to find, but was told that he was
+to dine at Prince Galitzine's. So about half-past six o'clock I took it
+to the prince's house, when, to my surprise, as I passed into the great
+hall I saw the same fair-haired young man to whom I had delivered that
+envelope in secret an hour before. He was one of the prince's servants,
+but he had not seen me!
+
+A sudden suspicion seized me. I asked to see the prince, and when shown
+up to his room I delivered the note for the Grand Duke.
+
+Then, having seen that the door was closed, I asked permission to say
+something in strictest confidence, and told him of the mysterious
+envelope I had delivered to his servant.
+
+He heard me through, gave me his hand in promise that he would not
+betray my confidence, thanked me, and dismissed me.
+
+Next day the prince called me to him in secret, and told me that in the
+possession of the young man was found a lady's silver powder-puff box
+filled with what looked and smelt like toilet-powder. This, on being
+examined, was discovered to be a most subtle and dangerous poison--one
+evidently prepared by that diabolical poisoner, Badmayev.
+
+The young man had been forced by his master to swallow some, and had died
+in great agony. Thus it was proved that Rasputin and the camarilla had,
+on the very night of the outbreak of war, plotted to sweep off at one
+blow our most famous Russian generals, and leave our country practically
+without any military leaders of experience and at the mercy of the Huns!
+
+The vile plot would no doubt have succeeded, and the deaths put down to
+ptomaine poisoning, as so many have been, had I not so fortunately
+recognised the young valet as he crossed the hall of Prince Galitzine's
+house.
+
+Thus it will be seen that Rasputin and his friends hesitated at nothing
+in their frantic endeavours to gain their own sordid ends and to secure
+victory for Germany.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE TRAGEDY OF MADAME SVETCHINE
+
+
+"SISTER! thou who hast chosen to become the bride of Heaven, listen unto
+me, and repeat these words after me!" exclaimed the monk Rasputin,
+holding over the kneeling countess the big bejewelled cross which the
+Empress had given him, and in which were set some of the finest jewels of
+the Romanoffs.
+
+"I will, O Father," replied Paula Yakimovitch, a pretty young woman,
+whose husband was Governor of Yakutsk, far off in Siberia, and who had
+begged him to leave her in Petrograd.
+
+"Then repeat these words," said the bearded saint, fixing his weird,
+hypnotic eyes upon her. "Thou art my holy Father--"
+
+"Thou art my holy Father----" exclaimed the Governor's wife in obedience.
+
+"To thee I bow, and to thee I acknowledge that thou art sent by Almighty
+God to save our holy Russia."
+
+She repeated the words amid the silence of that afternoon assembly of the
+sister-disciples at the Starets' house, a gathering which included Madame
+Vyrubova and her sister, Madame Soukhomlinoff; Madame Katacheff, wife of
+the Governor-General of Finland; pretty little Madame Makotine, to whose
+salon everyone scrambled; and old Countess Chapadier, bedecked, as
+always, with diamonds.
+
+"I hereby swear in my belief that God has sent to our Russia his divine
+saviour in the human form of Gregory Rasputin, and that the sin I commit
+in my belief is the sin which is easiest forgiven, and that by prayer and
+fasting my sins will be remitted, even as I am admitted to the sect of
+the righteous and holy."
+
+These blasphemous words the young woman repeated after the unwashed
+saint, who, standing upon a sort of dais in the big upstairs salon, still
+held up the jewelled cross suspended from his neck in front of him.
+
+"Salvation is in contriteness," the monk went on, for that was what the
+sly scoundrel had invented. "Contriteness can only come after we have
+sinned. Let us therefore sin, my sisters, in order to gain salvation! By
+sinning with me," he added, having reached the apogee of his influence,
+"salvation is all the more certain to come to you for this reason--that I
+am filled with the Holy Spirit!"
+
+"God be thanked! God be thanked!" fell from the lips of those thirty or
+so bamboozled and hysterical women, who, seated on forms as
+school-children might sit, had assembled to assist at the admission of
+Countess Yakimovitch to the secret and disgraceful cult of the
+blasphemous charlatan.
+
+The date was September the 7th, 1914.
+
+Russia had been at war with Germany for a month, and the Press of the
+Allies was full of cheerful optimism regarding what one of your London
+journalists had called "the Russian steam-roller." We in holy Russia
+believed in "the mills of God," and the nation as a whole was confident
+that it could resist the Teuton invasion.
+
+The neophyte, beneath the extraordinary hypnotism of the "saint," felt
+the dirty fingers upon her brow, as, in a strange jargon of religious
+phrases and open blasphemy, he pronounced a kind of benediction upon her,
+adjuring her carefully to preserve the secrets of the sect "from your own
+mother and father, sister, brother, husband and child." Then he added:
+"In me, Gregory Rasputin, you see the One sent by Heaven as the Healer
+and Deliverer of Russia from the hands of the oppressor. To me the
+Emperor, but an earthly king, hath delegated his imperial powers. I am
+the saviour of Russia. Believe in me and in my teachings and ye shall
+have life, health and prosperity--with the life beyond the grave.
+Disobey, and thou shalt be eternally damned, together with all thy
+family. I, Gregory Rasputin, who hath been sent to thee as saviour," he
+added, "take unto me as sister Paula Vladimirovna to be my disciple!"
+
+"May God forbid!" cried a woman's voice from among those assembled. "Let
+us end this blasphemy!"
+
+The effect was almost electrical. Rasputin started, and gazed at the rows
+of elegantly-dressed women, his disciples, and the few good-looking young
+women whom he had invited to be present.
+
+"Yes," went on a young and pretty woman seated at the back of the little
+audience. "I repeat those words!"
+
+Startled myself at the boldness of the young lady, I saw that she was
+dark, extremely good-looking, and refined. Rasputin had met her a week
+before at the salon of old Countess Lazareff, and she having expressed a
+desire to know more of the secret cult of which so many curious rumours
+were rife in Petrograd society, he had allowed Madame Trevetski, the wife
+of the ex-Commander-in-Chief in the Caucasus, to bring her that
+afternoon.
+
+Now, it must be said that no lady was admitted to those weekly reunions
+of the sister-disciples unless she first had the full approval of the
+Starets. She must be good-looking and possessed of either wealth or
+influence, but in preference wealth. And it was certain that no woman was
+ever invited unless it was Rasputin's intention to admit her to the
+secrets of his "religion."
+
+Yet here was open defiance! This lady, whose name was Madame Anastasia
+Svetchine, was the wife of Colonel Svetchine, who was on the Staff of the
+Etat-Major at Vilna, and who was already at the battle front. Before
+Rasputin had allowed her to be brought to his house it had fallen to my
+lot to make some inquiries concerning her, and I had found that she was
+of good family, that her husband was possessed of fair means, and that
+besides their house in Vilna they had a comfortable residence in the
+Kirotshnaya, in Petrograd. She moved in that rather gay, go-ahead set of
+which, prior to the war, the reckless Madame Soukhomlinoff was the
+centre, and she had recently become quite a notable figure in Petrograd
+society.
+
+Rasputin, furious at her interruption, roared:
+
+"Silence, woman! Go out of the room at once!"
+
+But Madame Svetchine, springing to her feet, cried: "It is monstrous!
+Disgraceful! Blasphemous! It is true what Purichkevitch has said in the
+Duma--that you are the evil force in Russia! Though a woman, I will have
+none of your mock piety and disgraceful licentiousness!"
+
+"Ah! I see, madame, that you are an enemy--eh?" he said in a slow,
+deliberate way. "And let me tell you, when Gregory Rasputin has an enemy,
+he does not rest until that enemy is swept from his path. If you defy me,
+you defy your God!"
+
+"I defy you!" cried the woman shrilly, making a dramatic scene. "But I
+fear my God, and Him alone."
+
+"Oh! be silent, I beg!" cried Countess Lazareff in French, wringing her
+hands, she having introduced her, while all were horrified that the holy
+Father should be thus openly denounced before his "sisters."
+
+"What is that woman saying?" the monk shouted across to me, for he did
+not know French, and was suspicious that the words contained yet another
+insult until I translated them to him.
+
+"I refuse to be silent!" declared the colonel's young wife. "I will
+describe to all whom I meet what has taken place here to-day--the mockery
+of it all. It is shameful how any woman in her senses, refined and
+educated, should fall beneath the fascination of such a brute!"
+
+This was greeted with wild exclamations of surprise and indignation.
+Indeed, so furious became the "sisters" at such open insult that I was,
+at Rasputin's orders, compelled to conduct her out.
+
+In the hall the young lady, who was certainly very pretty, became quite
+quiet again, and turning to me said:
+
+"Monsieur Rajevski, I came here on purpose to denounce that infernal
+charlatan who is your employer. I am not without friends--and influential
+ones. I have spoken my mind fearlessly and openly. No doubt I have made
+an enemy of Grichka, but for that I care nothing, so long as I have
+exposed him."
+
+Little did the unfortunate young lady know of Rasputin's low cunning and
+diabolical unscrupulousness when she had uttered those words. I made no
+reply, for I feared that she would live to regret having created that
+scene in the monk's holy-of-holies.
+
+Late that evening, having been out, I returned to find the "saint" seated
+with the Minister Maklakoff, the man whom the newspaper _Utro Rossy_
+described as "The love-sick Panther." Both were in an advanced state of
+intoxication, and when I entered, Rasputin, in a thick voice, exclaimed:
+
+"Ah! my dear Féodor, I have just been describing the scene to-day with
+that woman Anastasia Svetchine--the little spitfire! But a pretty woman,
+Féodor--very pretty woman, eh? It's a pity"--he sighed--"a great pity!"
+
+"Why?" asked the long-moustached Minister, who had just come from an
+official reception, and was in his hussar uniform, with gold braid and
+many decorations. "Are you not better rid of her, my friend? Women of her
+sort are usually dangerous."
+
+"I know she is dangerous," growled the holy Father, taking a deep gulp of
+champagne. "That is why I intend that she shall pay dearly for her
+defiance."
+
+"Is she worth troubling about?" I queried. "You have so many affairs to
+attend to just now."
+
+"Gregory Rasputin always attends to his enemies first, Féodor," he
+replied huskily.
+
+The eyes of "The love-sick Panther" twinkled through his rimless
+pince-nez. Well he knew the bitter revenge which the Starets wreaked upon
+any who dared to challenge his divinity.
+
+Maklakoff was at the time the Tsar's favourite Minister, and it was quite
+usual after a Cabinet Council for the Emperor to ask him and
+Soukhomlinoff to remain behind, as both were voted "really jolly
+fellows." Then Their Majesties would unite with the children and a few
+intimates, including the Father and Anna of course, and they would have a
+little fun. Maklakoff was famed for his power of mimicry. He could
+imitate the barking of dogs, and frequently announced his presence to the
+Imperial family by barking in the corridors of Tsarskoe-Selo, while his
+most famous imitation was that of a panther. And this of a Cabinet
+Minister in days of war!
+
+"O Nicholas Alexievitch, _do_ let us see you as a panther!" the Emperor
+would often say.
+
+Then the Minister of State would coil himself up beneath a sofa and roar
+like a panther. Then, crawling slowly out on all fours, he would suddenly
+take a leap and land in an arm-chair or upon a sofa, greatly to the
+delight of the Imperial family, while the Grand Duchesses and the
+Tsarevitch would go wild with glee.
+
+When, by the way, Maklakoff was dismissed in 1915, as a result of the
+anti-German riots in Moscow, the paper _Utro Rossy_ was fined three
+thousand roubles for publishing an article headed "The Leap of the
+Love-sick Panther."
+
+Maklakoff was a bosom friend of Rasputin, a dissolute evil-liver after
+the monk's own heart, and more than once had, in my presence, mentioned
+the names of certain good-looking women in various classes of society who
+might be invited to become disciples of the sadic Anti-Christ.
+
+Within a week of the scene created by Madame Svetchine, Rasputin had
+already commenced to seek his revenge in a deep and cunning way. He had
+heard from several persons that Madame Anastasia was going about
+Petrograd openly denouncing him, and that she had been in communication
+with Monsieur Miliukoff of the Cadets, and also Count Bobrinski. For the
+time being Rasputin was devoting his days to the reorganisation of his
+"disciples." His traitorous interference in politics had already borne
+fruit in favour of Germany.
+
+The events that were happening at that very moment mercilessly showed up
+the faults of our Russian administration, which was Germanic by origin in
+its traditions and its sentiments. Indeed, at that moment, when the enemy
+at the gates was knocking over the fortresses of Poland like ant-hills,
+intrigues for place and honour were rife everywhere, and Maklakoff was
+playing the "panther" to amuse the ladies of Tsarskoe-Selo!
+
+Rasputin one day called to him one of his half-dozen sycophants of the
+secret police, whom the Minister Protopopoff had placed at his disposal
+for purposes of personal protection, but in reality to act as his spies
+and _agents-provocateurs_.
+
+To this fellow, Depp by name, he had given instructions that the
+_dossiers_ of both Colonel Svetchine and his wife should be brought to
+him. Next day they arrived, and for half an hour Depp sat reading over to
+him the various police reports from Vilna and those of Petrograd.
+
+The monk, leaning back in his arm-chair, stroked his unkempt beard, his
+eyes fixed out of the window, brooding over his devilish scheme.
+
+An hour later, after he had dispatched Depp to make certain inquiries in
+Petrograd concerning the doings of the colonel's young wife, he said to
+me:
+
+"Féodor, I must see Soukhomlinoff to-night. Telephone to him at the
+Ministry. If he is not there, you will find him at the palace. If so,
+tell him to call here at once when he returns to Petrograd."
+
+I found the Minister of War was at Tsarskoe-Selo, and spoke to him there,
+giving him Rasputin's message, and receiving a reply that he would be
+with us at ten o'clock that night.
+
+I had to keep an appointment, at Rasputin's orders, with Protopopoff--to
+deliver a letter and receive a reply; therefore I was not present when
+His Excellency the General arrived. What the pair arranged I had no idea,
+for when I returned to the Gorokhovaya the general was just stepping into
+his big car with its brilliant headlights.
+
+"Good night, Féodor!" he shouted to me merrily, for he was of a genial
+nature, and next moment the powerful car drove away.
+
+Events marched rapidly during the next fortnight. I had gone with
+Rasputin to the General Headquarters of the Army at the Polish front, a
+journey which the intriguer had been sent upon by those at Court whose
+mouthpiece he was--to discuss a peace necessary for the Empire, he
+declared.
+
+Truth to tell, I knew that three days before the secret messenger Hardt
+had arrived from Berlin by way of Sweden, bearing a dispatch with
+elaborate instructions to the Starets.
+
+The Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaievitch received us on the evening of our
+arrival at Headquarters, and, of course, the monk was full of one of
+those fantastic tales which succeeded so well with many, either the
+ignorant or credulous, or those to whose personal advantage it was to
+pretend to believe him.
+
+The Grand Duke received the Starets politely but stiffly, for he well
+knew the power he wielded in the Empire, and that his will was law.
+
+"Ah, Highness!" exclaimed the monk, "war is indeed a calamity. Alas! that
+Russia hath offended God by entering upon it. But thou, in thy wisdom,
+must put an end to it. The Holy Virgin appeared to me in a dream, and
+told me we must conclude peace. I come to inform thee of her will."
+
+"When didst thou see the Virgin?" asked the Grand Duke.
+
+"Three days ago."
+
+"Now that's odd," he replied. "I, too, saw her, but it was only two days
+ago, and she said to me: 'Gregory is coming to see thee. He will advise
+peace. Don't listen to him, but expel him like the scoundrel he is. If he
+goes on troubling and intriguing have him thrashed.'"
+
+The monk went livid.
+
+"And further," continued Nicholas Nicholaievitch, "if you remain here,
+you infernal charlatan and blackmailer, that is what I shall do. So you
+can return to Alexandra Feodorovna and tell her what I say. My soldiers
+are fighting for Russia, and they will continue to do so, however many
+visions you may have--and however much German gold you may grab with your
+filthy paws. Get out!"
+
+Rasputin stood speechless for a moment. Then, with an imprecation upon
+his lips, he turned and retired.
+
+Three days later we were back in Petrograd, but the monk, who never
+forgot, at once set about plotting the Grand Duke's retirement.
+
+One morning, among the monk's correspondence, I found a letter for
+Rasputin, which had been brought by hand from the Ministry of War, marked
+"Strictly private." On opening it, I read the following, which bore as
+signature the initials of Soukhomlinoff:
+
+     "In a further reference to the suspicions against Colonel
+     Svetchine, inquiries made fully confirm your view. The political
+     police who made domiciliary visits to his house in Petrograd and
+     his apartments in Vilna found nothing of importance. In Vilna,
+     however, it has been discovered that, immediately prior to the
+     war, he had established friendly relations with Elise Isembourg,
+     who was an agent of Germany and a friend of Miassoyedeff. At my
+     instructions we have allowed the Colonel leave, and he returned
+     to Vilna to meet the woman, who had, at our orders, written to
+     him. She, acting upon our instructions, offered him a sum of
+     money to betray certain plans of the defences of Grodno, agents
+     of secret police being concealed during the interview. At first
+     he stoutly refused, but next day he met her again and succumbed
+     to the temptation, so at the present moment he is preparing the
+     information she seeks."
+
+I read this over to the monk, who at once rubbed his hands together in
+satisfaction.
+
+"Ah! all goes well, my dear Féodor!" he exclaimed. "That woman will be
+sorry she denounced me, I assure you."
+
+I could discern the motive of the conspiracy, but as yet had no idea of
+its true depth.
+
+It was not until a week later, when one night the Minister of War called
+upon the monk, and in my presence they discussed the Svetchine affair.
+
+"You did well, General," declared Rasputin, with an evil smile. "What has
+really happened in Vilna?"
+
+"Well, the woman Isembourg, though she was a spy of Germany, is now on
+our side in the contra-espionage service," was his reply. "From the first
+she assured me that the colonel was extremely honest and patriotic.
+Though before the war she had several times tried to induce him to give
+her military information, yet he always declined and endeavoured to avoid
+her."
+
+"Well, that difficulty can be overcome, surely?" asked the monk.
+
+General Soukhomlinoff, a traitor himself, laughed lightly as he replied:
+
+"Of course. There were other means. Elise, three days ago, handed over to
+me a typewritten document revealing the secrets of the defences of
+Grodno, which she reported had been given to her by Colonel Svetchine in
+return for a promise of ten thousand roubles when she could obtain the
+money from a secret source in Petrograd."
+
+"Then he is a traitor!" exclaimed the monk eagerly.
+
+The general winked, and replied: "Elise Isembourg declares that he is,
+and that he gave her the document."
+
+"He, of course, denies it?"
+
+"He knows nothing as yet," said His Excellency. "I have issued orders for
+his arrest to-day, and have given instructions for the court martial to
+be held here, in Petrograd."
+
+The evil monk laughed gleefully.
+
+"Ah! I see," he remarked. "And probably the colonel has never yet seen
+this typewritten document?"
+
+"Probably," replied the Minister of War, with a mysterious smile. "There
+have been such cases. I have fixed the court martial for next Thursday,
+and I assure you it will be difficult for the colonel to prove his
+innocence!"
+
+From that conversation I gathered the diabolical nature of Rasputin's
+plot against a perfectly innocent man, as revenge for his wife's insults.
+
+Next day we were called to the palace, for the Empress was sorely worried
+over the health of the Tsarevitch, and she implored the holy Father to
+pray for him, little dreaming that the ever-recurring attacks were due to
+the subtle poison administered in secret by her most trusted favourite,
+Madame Vyrubova. For several days we remained at the palace, while
+Rasputin performed one of his "miracles," namely, the restoration of the
+lad to his normal condition.
+
+What if the Empress had known that the "miracles" in which she so
+fervently believed were merely performed by the administration of certain
+antidotes to the poison already given!
+
+While at the palace on that occasion I witnessed some strange doings at a
+spiritualistic séance to which Bossant, the notorious French medium, had
+been commanded. The Emperor, Empress and their intimates were present,
+including Rasputin and myself, and when the circle was formed and the
+séance in full swing the Tsar consulted the spirit of his dead father as
+to how he should act in the conduct of the war against Germany.
+
+The reply, of course, arranged by the Empress and her friends, was
+something as follows:
+
+     "Thou hast done well, my son, and thou art worthy the throne of
+     the Romanoffs. Continue to defend our beloved land. Trust in the
+     counsels of those about thee, of thy wife, of thy Ministers,
+     especially Stürmer, Protopopoff and Soukhomlinoff, as well as the
+     advice which the holy Father is ever giving thee. All have been
+     sent to thee as good and faithful guides. My blessing is upon
+     thee, O my son!"
+
+Such was the "message" so cleverly given to the credulous monarch by the
+traitors and intriguers about him. And alas! he believed truly and
+absolutely, ignorant of the fact that some thousands of roubles had gone
+into the medium's pocket as price of his connivance.
+
+On returning to Petrograd late on Thursday night I found among the monk's
+correspondence a letter from Madame Svetchine, a long, regretful letter,
+in which she expressed the greatest sorrow for the words she had uttered
+at the assembly of the sister-disciples, and begged to be forgiven.
+Further, she announced her intention of calling upon the Father "upon a
+serious and urgent matter."
+
+I told him this, whereat he growled:
+
+"Ah! the woman is coming to her senses. Yes. If she comes I will see her.
+She is pretty, Féodor--pretty--yes, very pretty."
+
+I drew a long breath. The unfortunate woman knew, no doubt, the serious
+charge against her husband, but never dreamed that Rasputin was the cause
+of that false accusation.
+
+Just before I ascended to my room to retire--the hour being about one
+o'clock in the morning--the telephone bell rang, and I answered it.
+
+One of the officials at the War Office was, I found, at the other end.
+
+"His Excellency the Minister has an urgent message to transmit to the
+Father," said the voice.
+
+"Very well," I said, stating who I was.
+
+"Then listen, please. The message he has written reads: 'Colonel
+Ivan Svetchine has been tried by court martial, which sat until half an
+hour ago. He has been condemned on a charge of dealing with the enemy and
+revealing military secrets to Germany, and ordered to be executed for
+treason. The execution is fixed to take place in the Peter and Paul
+Fortress at dawn on Saturday.'"
+
+I replaced the telephone receiver with a heavy heart. Yet another
+innocent man was to die as victim of Rasputin's overweening vanity and
+evil influence in every quarter.
+
+When I entered and told the monk, who was already in bed in a
+half-drunken state, he merely turned over and continued snoring.
+
+On Friday night, when, as usual, we had returned from Tsarskoe-Selo in
+one of the Imperial motor-cars, I was told that a lady was waiting to see
+the Starets, but she would give no name. She was persistent that she must
+see him, and had already waited nearly three hours.
+
+When I entered the waiting-room, a small chamber at the end of a
+corridor, I found it to be the wife of the condemned man. She was dressed
+in dead black, her beautiful face tear-stained and deathly pale.
+
+"Ah! Monsieur Rajevski!" she cried, rushing towards me. "You know
+me--Madame Svetchine--eh?"
+
+"Yes, madame," I said. "I remember you."
+
+"You will let me see him--won't you?" she cried in great distress, as she
+gripped my hand nervously. "He has, I hope, forgiven me; surely he----"
+
+"I gave him your letter," I said.
+
+"Yes--and what did he say?" she gasped in eagerness.
+
+"Well, the truth is that he said nothing," I replied, adding: "He was
+much occupied with other things."
+
+"Ah! I must see him!" cried the frantic woman. "I was wrong to speak as I
+did. The Father is the great power in Russia. I must throw myself upon
+his mercy."
+
+I promised to take her to him, and left her to inform Rasputin of the
+arrival of his expected visitor.
+
+With an evil glint in those terrible eyes of his, he rubbed his hands
+together.
+
+"Good, Féodor!" he said, striding across the room. "I will see the woman.
+Oh, yes, if she wishes to see me I will not deny her that pleasure," he
+added with biting sarcasm. Truly, he was weird and horrible in the hour
+of his triumph.
+
+A few moments later I ushered the pale, wan woman in black into his
+presence.
+
+"Holy Father!" she cried wildly, "forgive me--say that you forgive the
+unconsidered words of a weak and unworthy woman."
+
+"Forgive--why?" he asked, standing erect and fingering his bejewelled
+cross. "I do not understand why I am honoured by this visit, madame."
+
+"Ah! Of course you do not know. Pardon, I have forgotten to explain. My
+husband----" And she broke into tears. "My dear husband----"
+
+"Well, what of your husband?" asked Rasputin. "He is at the front. Has he
+been wounded--or----"
+
+"No, no--not that!" she cried. "They have made a false charge against
+him. Some woman named Isembourg, whom he knew in Vilna before the war,
+has made an allegation against him of traitorous dealings with the
+enemy. She has given over to the Ministry of War some documents
+containing the plans of the defences of Grodno, which she declares he has
+sold to her! But it is lies--all lies. I know it!"
+
+"Really, this is quite a romantic story, madame," said Rasputin, quite
+unmoved. "Why should this woman make such charges?"
+
+"How can I tell? Ah! but you do not know the worst!" she went on. "The
+court martial actually accepted this woman's statements--statements that
+were lies--all of them! My husband is devoted to me, and I love him--ah,
+so dearly! He is all in all to me. And----"
+
+"But the woman--Isembourg, I believe you say--she is a friend of his,
+eh?" interrupted the monk, his hands crossed over his breast in that
+pious attitude he always assumed when listening.
+
+"She says she was his friend before the war--before we married, indeed.
+Perhaps she was," answered the condemned man's wife. "But she is
+undoubtedly an _agent-provocateuse_ of police set to tempt men to their
+downfall."
+
+"Of that I have no knowledge," was Rasputin's cold reply.
+
+"But you will help me, holy Father! Do--for the sake of a man who is
+innocent--for the sake--the sake of his unborn child! Ah! you will show
+mercy, won't you?" she begged.
+
+"I do not follow you," was the monk's reply, in pretence of ignorance.
+
+In a frenzy of despair the wretched wife flung herself upon her knees
+before the scoundrel, and cried:
+
+"My husband! There is yet time to save him! He--he is to be
+shot--to-morrow--as soon as it is light! You--and you alone--can induce
+the Emperor to order a revision of the sentence or a new trial. You
+will--you are all-powerful and divine!"
+
+"Pardon, madame, that is not your true estimate of Gregory Rasputin," he
+said, with biting sarcasm. "Only a short time ago I was a charlatan and a
+fraud! No; your opinion cannot have altered in so short a time."
+
+"But you--if you are sent by God to Russia--will never allow an innocent
+man to be murdered in this fashion--condemned upon the word of a
+notorious woman."
+
+"The affair does not concern me, I assure you," he laughed. "If your
+husband has been condemned to death he must have had a fair and impartial
+trial by his brother officers. I am not a military man, and know nothing
+of such matters. If he has been found to be a traitor," added the unholy
+spy of Germany, "then the sentence is just."
+
+"But he is no traitor. He is as patriotic as you are yourself, Father! He
+has ever been so," cried the despairing woman.
+
+"I have no means of knowing that," he replied in a hard voice, gazing at
+her with those strange, wide-open eyes, and endeavouring to put that
+spell upon her that few women could resist. "Nevertheless, I will forgive
+you, and, further, I will exercise my influence to save your husband's
+life if you will consent to enter the circle of our holy disciples."
+
+The desperate young woman held her breath for a few seconds, staring at
+him wildly as upon her knees she still knelt, clutching the "saint's"
+dirty hands.
+
+"No," she replied. "That I will never do."
+
+Rasputin saw that his plot had failed. Here at least was one woman over
+whom he was powerless, one who regarded him as a fraud. In an instant he
+flew into a sudden rage.
+
+"Enough!" he cried, throwing her off. "You refuse to accept my
+condition--therefore your husband shall die!"
+
+The wretched woman, her countenance pale as death, tried to speak. Her
+lips moved, but no sound came from them. Next moment, by dint of supreme
+effort, she struggled to her feet and rose stiffly. Then, a moment
+later, her hands clenched and despair in her splendid eyes, she turned
+and staggered out.
+
+Four hours later Colonel Svetchine boldly faced a firing-party in the
+yard of the fortress. There was a word of command, and next second the
+gallant soldier fell forward on his face--dead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+TRAITOROUS WORK
+
+
+THE true story of the tragic death of a Russian civil servant named Ivan
+Naglovski, and of the mysterious explosion which destroyed the great
+munition works at Okhta and killed over four hundred and fifty persons
+and injured seven hundred, has never been told.
+
+There have been sinister whisperings in Russia, but I am here able to
+unfold the amazing truth for the first time.
+
+I had accompanied Rasputin to the Verkhotursky Monastery at Perm; the
+house in the Gorokhovaya was closed, its wooden shutters were fastened,
+and the Empress was desolate without her "holy Father." Stürmer, the
+Prime Minister, was with the Emperor, daily plotting and striving for the
+betrayal of our nation to the Germans, and "Satan in a silk hat"--as one
+of the Grand Dukes had nicknamed the Minister of the Interior,
+Protopopoff--had gone on a mission to London, ostensibly in Russian
+interests, but really as a spy of Germany. The latter was, of course, not
+known at the time, for the British Government sent him on a tour of
+munition and other centres, showed him what they were preparing, and
+fêted him in London as the representative of their ally. We now know
+that, on his return to Petrograd, he at once became violently
+anti-British, and made a full report of all he knew to the
+Wilhelmstrasse!
+
+The purpose of the monk's pilgrimage to Perm was to form a branch of his
+believers in that city. He had left Petrograd dressed as a pilgrim, with
+hair-shirt and staff complete, and as such he posed to everybody. The
+world, however, did not know that the rooms allotted to him in the
+monastery by the rascally bishop, whom he had himself appointed, were the
+acme of luxury, and that in them he held drunken orgies every night.
+
+After we had been there three weeks an Imperial courier brought him a
+letter from Peterhof. It was night, and the monk was in an advanced state
+of intoxication with his companions, three other mock-pious rascals like
+himself.
+
+When I handed him the letter he glanced at the Imperial cipher on the
+envelope, and, grinning, exclaimed:
+
+"It is from the Empress. Read out what the woman says."
+
+I hesitated, suggesting that it would be better if I read it to him in
+private.
+
+"Bah!" he laughed. "There is nothing private in it. Read it, Féodor."
+
+So, thus ordered, I obeyed. The letter was written in Russian, but with
+mistakes in grammar and orthography, for the Empress had never learned to
+write Russian correctly. These are the words I read for the delectation
+of the dissolute quartette:
+
+     "HOLY FATHER,--Why have you not written? Why this long dead
+     silence when my poor heart is hourly yearning for news of you and
+     for your words of comfort?
+
+     "I am, alas! weak, but I love you, for you are all in all to me.
+     Oh! if I could but hold your dear hand and lay my head upon your
+     shoulder! Ah! can I ever forget that feeling of perfect peace and
+     blank forgetfulness that I experience when you are near me.
+
+     "Now that you have gone, life is only one grey sea of despair.
+     There was a Court last night, but I did not attend. Instead Anna
+     [Madame Vyrubova] and I read your sweet letters together, and we
+     kissed your picture.
+
+     "As I have so often told you, dear Father, I want to be a good
+     daughter of Christ. But oh! it is so difficult. Help me, dear
+     Father. Pray for me. Pray always for Alexis [the Tsarevitch].
+     Come back to us at once. Nikki [the Tsar] says we cannot endure
+     life without you, for there are so many pitfalls before us. For
+     myself, I am longing for your return--longing--always longing!
+     Without our weekly meetings all is gloom----"
+
+Here I broke off. What followed ought, I saw, not to be read aloud to
+that trio, who might at any moment turn to be enemies of the Starets.
+
+"Yes," he said, smiling in gratification. "The woman evidently misses me.
+It places a woman in her proper position to discard her for a while," he
+added with a drunken laugh. "What else does she say?"
+
+"Only that they are due to go to Yalta, but that Her Majesty awaits your
+return," I replied.
+
+"Then let her wait. I am very comfortable here. Perm is pleasant as a
+change."
+
+I knew well that he was enjoying himself hugely and had already formed a
+great circle of hysterical women who believed in his divinity and
+practised the rites of his disgraceful "religion."
+
+The final words of that amazing letter, which in itself showed the terms
+upon which Alexandra Feodorovna was with the convicted horse-stealer from
+Pokrovsky, were as follows:
+
+     "Here, O dear Father, we have only the everlasting toll of war!
+     Germany is winning--as she will surely win. She must. You will
+     see to that! But we must all of us maintain a brave face towards
+     our Russian public. In you alone I have faith. May God bring you
+     back to us very soon. Alexis is asking for you daily. We are due
+     to go to Yalta, but shall not move before we meet here. I embrace
+     you, and so do Nikki and Anna.--Your devoted daughter, ALIX."
+
+The unkempt quartette, treating the Empress's expressions of affection as
+a huge joke, filled their glasses with champagne and drank heavily again,
+while Rasputin began to regale his "saintly" companions with stories of
+the intimate life of the pro-German Empress.
+
+Truly, it was a gay, dissolute life that the verminous rascal was leading
+at the Verkhotursky Monastery, and many were the women over whom he
+exercised his weird, uncanny fascination.
+
+"Believe in me and you will receive God's blessing," was his constant
+blasphemous declaration to every woman whose looks were even passable.
+"Doubt me and you will be damned."
+
+By Russia's millions in the provinces he was looked upon as the holy man
+sent by God to the Tsar. Did not the "saint" eat at the Emperor's table,
+and did he not prompt His Majesty in fighting the Germans? None ever
+dreamed that the unkempt miracle-worker, whose fascination for women was
+so astounding, was the secret ambassador of the Assassin of Potsdam.
+
+Two of those companions of his nightly drinking bouts at Perm were named
+Rouchine and Yepantchine, brawny fellows whose evil life was almost as
+notorious as Rasputin's. Rouchine had been a conjurer before he adopted a
+"holy" life, and by reason of his knowledge of magic and illusions he
+frequently assisted the Starets in performing those "miracles" that so
+astounded the mujiks who witnessed them with open mouths.
+
+Whenever things grew a little dull, or Rasputin believed that his
+divinity was being doubted, he would calmly announce:
+
+"I have had a vision. Last night the Holy Virgin appeared unto me and
+declared that I must again perform a miracle so that the world should be
+made aware that God, through me, is protecting our dear nation Russia."
+
+Instantly the news would spread from mouth to mouth--Rasputin's name
+being forbidden to be mentioned in the newspapers--that the Starets was
+about to perform a miracle, and thousands would assemble in some open
+place, where one of Rouchine's conjuring tricks would be performed.
+
+By this time so deeply had Rasputin corrupted the Russian Church in its
+centres of power and administration that half the highest ecclesiastical
+dignitaries were of his creation, his fellow-thief in Pokrovsky having
+been appointed to a bishopric.
+
+Very naturally, Rasputin had made many enemies. His overbearing vanity,
+his relentlessness in dealing with any who stood in his path, and the
+exposure of his use of _agents-provocateurs_ in securing the conviction
+and imprisonment of anyone who displeased him, had aroused against him a
+fierce hatred in certain quarters both in Petrograd and Moscow. Many of
+those who had sworn to be avenged were wronged husbands and fathers, a
+number of whom it had been my duty to endeavour to pacify even at
+personal risk to myself as the rascal's secretary.
+
+It was while at Perm that Rasputin received news that a man named Ivan
+Naglovski had been in Pokrovsky busily inquiring into his past, and
+interviewing his sister-disciples who were living there. Further, it was
+reported that he had been in communication with the monk Helidor, a man
+named Golenkovski, whose young wife was a "disciple" in Petrograd, and
+with Marie Novitski, who was preaching loudly against the erotic doctrine
+of the new "religion."
+
+It was plain that Ivan Naglovski was a secret enemy.
+
+Acting upon the monk's instructions I returned to Petrograd, and at the
+headquarters of the Secret Police made application that Naglovski's
+movements should be watched. Three days later I was assured that a small
+league of patriotic men and women had been formed, with Naglovski at
+their head, determined to unveil and unmask the traitorous rascal who was
+my employer.
+
+I was compelled to return to Perm and inform Rasputin of the result of my
+investigations. Before doing so I went, at Rasputin's instructions by
+telegraph, to Peterhof and was admitted by Madame Vyrubova to the
+Empress's presence.
+
+The handsome woman was resting in a gorgeous negligée gown prior to
+dressing for dinner, but she was quickly eager and interested when I
+explained that I had come from the monk and was returning to Perm at
+midnight.
+
+"When will the Holy Father's pilgrimage end?" she inquired with a sigh.
+"He has been away weeks, and never replies to my letters."
+
+"His time is no doubt fully occupied with constant devotion," remarked
+Anna Vyrubova in excuse.
+
+"The Father is much occupied, Your Majesty," I said.
+
+"Tell him for me that I am daily longing for his return," she said. "But
+wait. I will write to him and you shall convey the letter," at which
+order I bowed.
+
+"The Father is much troubled and perturbed," I remarked.
+
+"About what?" asked Her Majesty.
+
+"He has enemies. Some men and women have leagued themselves with the
+object of doing him harm."
+
+"Harm!" she echoed. "What harm can come to him when, being sent to us by
+God, he is immune from any harm that can befall us who are merely human?
+I do not understand."
+
+Her words were in themselves sufficient to reveal how completely and
+implicitly the Empress of Russia believed in the pretended divinity of
+the blasphemous ex-convict.
+
+"All I know, Your Majesty, is that the holy Father is unduly perturbed."
+
+"Ah! surely he can have no apprehension?" she said. "Tell him from me
+that as Christ had enemies so, of course, he has. But his enemies cannot
+do him injury." Then rising and going across to a beautiful buhl
+escritoire, she added: "I will write to him. I sent him another letter by
+messenger only yesterday--eight letters, and not a line of response!"
+
+For ten minutes or so, while the Empress sat writing, I chatted with
+Madame Vyrubova, and gave to her news of the monk.
+
+"Tell him to return as quickly as possible," the woman said in a low,
+confidential voice. "If there really is a plot on foot against him he is
+safer in Petrograd than in Perm. Besides, being on the spot, he will be
+able to combat his enemies with a swift and relentless hand."
+
+As Her Majesty was writing the telephone rang. Next moment it was plain
+that she was speaking with the Emperor, who was away at the headquarters
+of the army in Poland.
+
+Having listened to something he told her, she said:
+
+"The holy Father's secretary is here with me. The Father still remains at
+Perm. I am writing him urgently asking him to return to us. I wish you
+also to send a messenger to him to induce him to come back to Petrograd.
+You will be back here next Friday, and is it not wise to hold another
+séance next day, eh?"
+
+Then she listened eagerly.
+
+"Ah!" she exclaimed. "I am glad you agree with me, Nikki. Yes, let us try
+and get the Father back by Saturday at latest. Good-bye."
+
+And having rung off, she calmly finished the letter and secured it with
+the well-known big seal of black wax.
+
+"Remember," she said as she gave it to me, "the Father must be here next
+Saturday for the séance, which the Emperor will attend. He wishes again
+to consult the spirit of his father Alexander. Urge the Father to return
+at once."
+
+I promised to do her bidding, and, retiring, at once left the palace, and
+at midnight was on my way back to the far-off town on the Kama.
+
+On the evening of the following day I drove up to the monastery and there
+found Rasputin at dinner with the ex-conjurer Rouchine. When I entered
+the cosy little room in which the pair were seated, Rasputin had removed
+his long robe and was seated in his shirt-sleeves like the peasant he
+was. I handed him the letter from the German-born Empress, whereupon he
+said:
+
+"Oh! read it to me, Féodor. The woman's handwriting is always a puzzle to
+me."
+
+I knew how illiterate he was and the reason of his excuse.
+
+I tore open the envelope and quickly scanned the scribbled lines.
+
+"No," I replied, "not now, Gregory; later."
+
+"But I insist!" cried the Starets fiercely.
+
+"And I refuse!" was my determined reply. "I have reasons."
+
+Those last three words were not lost upon him, for Grichka was nothing if
+not the very acme of shrewdness. Not an adventurer or _escroc_ in Europe
+could compare with him in elusiveness.
+
+"Well, Féodor, if you have reasons, then I know that they are sound
+ones," he said. Then, turning to the "holy" conjurer, he grinned and
+said: "Féodor is a most excellent secretary. So discreet--too discreet, I
+often think."
+
+"One cannot be too discreet in the present international crisis," I
+remarked. "Enemy eyes and ears are open everywhere. One can never be too
+careful. Russia is full of the spies of Germany."
+
+"Quite true, Féodor--quite true!" exclaimed Rasputin, smiling within
+himself. "Don't you agree, friend Rouchine?"
+
+"Entirely," replied his accomplice, who, though he was well paid to
+assist in working "miracles" before the peasants, never dreamed that the
+Starets, who handed him money with such lavish hand, was the chief agent
+of Germany in Russia.
+
+Indeed, Rouchine's only son had been killed in the advance on Warsaw,
+hence he held the Hun in abhorrence, and I am certain that had he known
+Rasputin was the Kaiser's personal agent matters would have gone very
+differently, and in all probability the enemy plots so cleverly connived
+at by Alexandra Feodorovna would have been exposed in those early days of
+the war.
+
+The Russian nation even to-day still reveres its Tsar. They know that he
+was weak but meant well, and he was Russian at heart and intent upon
+stemming the Teutonic tide which flowed across his border. But for "the
+German," Alexandra Feodorovna, not one in all our Russian millions has a
+word except an execration or a curse, and as accursed by Russia, as is
+all her breed, she will go down in history for the detestation of
+generations of those who will live between the Baltic and the Pacific.
+
+Rasputin grew indignant because I crushed the woman's letter into my
+pocket without reading it aloud, but I knew well how to treat him,
+therefore I began to explain all that I had learnt from the Secret Police
+concerning the activities of Ivan Naglovski.
+
+Both men listened with rapt attention.
+
+"Then the fellow really intends evil?" asked the monk, as he laid down a
+chicken-bone, for he always ate with his fingers.
+
+"I fear he does," was my reply. "But Her Majesty wonders why you should
+trouble. She says that you, being sent as Russia's saviour, are immune
+from bodily harm."
+
+"Ah! but remember when that young fellow shot at you and grazed two of
+your fingers at Minsk," remarked the conjurer with a grin.
+
+"Yes, quite so. I don't like this fellow Naglovski and his friends. I
+will see Kurloff."
+
+Now, Kurloff was another treacherous bureaucrat, a creature of
+Rasputin's, who sat in Protopopoff's Ministry of the Interior, and who
+later on collected the gangs of the "Black Hundred," those hired
+assassins whom he clothed in police uniforms and had instructed in
+machine-gun practice--those renegades who played such a sinister part in
+the first Revolution.
+
+I then gave the monk the urgent message from the Empress.
+
+"Very well," he replied, "I will be back by Saturday; not because I obey
+the woman, but became I must see Kurloff, and I must take active steps
+against this Ivan Naglovski and his accursed friends."
+
+Half-an-hour later, when alone in the bare little room allotted to me, I
+took out the Empress's letter to the Starets and re-read it. It was as
+follows:
+
+     "HOLY FATHER,--It is with deepest concern that from your trusted
+     Féodor I hear of the plot against you. That you can be harmed I
+     do not believe. You, sent by God as Russia's guide to the bright
+     future of civilisation which Germany will bring to her, cannot be
+     harmed by mere mortal. But if there are any who dare dispute your
+     divine right, then, with our dear Stürmer, take at once drastic
+     steps to crush them.
+
+     "We cannot afford to allow evil tongues to speak of us; neither
+     can we afford the vulgar scandal that some would seek to create.
+     If you, O Father, feel apprehensive, then act boldly in the
+     knowledge that you have your devoted daughter ever at your side
+     and ever ready and eager to place her power as Empress in your
+     dear hands. Therefore strike your enemies swiftly and without
+     fear. Lips prepared to utter scandal must be, at all costs,
+     silenced.
+
+     "Our friend Protopopoff has returned from England and tells me
+     that Lloyd George and his friends are exerting every effort to
+     win the war. Those British are brave, but, oh! if they knew all
+     that we know--eh? They are in ignorance, and will remain so until
+     Germany conquers Russia and spreads the blessing of civilisation
+     among the people.
+
+     "Nikki is returning. A séance is to be held on Saturday. You must
+     be back in time. He is sending a messenger to you to urge you to
+     return to us to give us comfort in these long dark days. Anna and
+     the girls all kiss your dear hand.--Your devoted daughter,  ALIX."
+
+On the following day a middle-aged, fair-haired, rather well-dressed man,
+who gave the name of Nicholas Chevitch, from Okhta, a suburb of
+Petrograd, was brought to me by the monk who acted as janitor, and
+explained that he had private business with Rasputin.
+
+I left him and, ascending to the monk's room, found him extremely anxious
+to meet his visitor.
+
+"I will see him at once, Féodor. I have some secret business with him.
+Here is the key of a small locked box in your room. Open it and take out
+ten one-thousand rouble notes and bring them to me after you have brought
+in Chevitch."
+
+This I did. Having admitted the visitor to Rasputin's presence, I opened
+the small iron box which the Starets always carried in his supposed
+"pilgrimages," and took out the money, leaving in it a sum of about
+twelve thousand roubles.
+
+The ten thousand I carried to Rasputin, but as I opened the door I heard
+the fair-haired man say:
+
+"All is prepared. The wire is laid across the river. We tested it five
+days ago and it works excellently."
+
+"Good! Ah, here is my secretary Féodor!" the monk exclaimed. "He has the
+ten thousand roubles for you, and there will be a further ten thousand on
+the day your plan matures."
+
+I wondered to what plan the Starets was referring. But being compelled to
+retire I remained in ignorance. The man Chevitch stayed with the monk for
+over an hour, and then left to return to the capital.
+
+Later on I referred to the visit of the stranger, whereupon Rasputin
+laughed grimly, saying:
+
+"You will hear some news in a day or two, my dear Féodor. Petrograd will
+be startled."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Never mind," he replied. "Wait!"
+
+We arrived back in Petrograd on the following Friday morning, but
+although the Empress sent a messenger to the Gorokhovaya urging the monk
+to go to Peterhof at once, as she desired to consult him, he disregarded
+her command and did not even vouchsafe a reply. Indeed, Rasputin treated
+the poor half-demented Empress with such scant courtesy that I often
+stood aghast.
+
+"The woman is an idiot!" he would often exclaim to me petulantly when she
+was unusually persistent in her demands.
+
+Next evening, however, we went to the palace, whither another French
+medium, a man named Fournier, had been summoned, having, of course, been
+administered palm-oil to the tune of some thousands of roubles to give a
+"message from the dead" in the terms required by the wire-pullers in
+Potsdam.
+
+I was not present at the séance, but later that night, when Rasputin was
+sitting alone with me over a bottle of champagne which an "Araby" flunkey
+had brought him, he revealed that the "message" from the Tsar's dead
+father had been precise and much to the point.
+
+"Nicholas, I speak unto thee," the spirit had said. "Though thou art
+brave and thine armies are brave, yet thine enemies will still encompass
+thee. Loss will follow upon loss. The great advance will soon become a
+retreat, and the hordes of William will dash forward and Poland will
+become German. Yet do not be afraid. Trust in the good counsel of thy
+wife Alexandra Feodorovna and in thy Father Rasputin, whom Heaven hath
+sent to thee. Believe no evil word of him, and let his enemies be swept
+from his path. Such is my message to thee, O my son!"
+
+As Rasputin repeated those words with mock solemnity, he laughed grimly.
+
+The pity of it was that Nicholas, Tsar of All the Russias, believed in
+those paid-for messages, uttered by those presented to him as mediums and
+able to call up the spirit of his lamented father.
+
+"Poor idiot!" Rasputin remarked, first glancing to see that the door was
+closed. "He must have something to occupy his shallow brain. That is why
+the Empress arranges the sittings. But Féodor," he added, "I must see
+this enemy of mine, Ivan Naglovski. He is not a person to be disregarded,
+and it seems from what you told me he has a number of important friends.
+We will discuss the matter to-morrow."
+
+He afterwards dismissed me with a wave of his dirty hand, and I retired
+to bed in a room at the farther end of the long softly carpeted corridor.
+
+At noon next day we had news of a terrible disaster. Precisely at
+half-past eleven the city of Petrograd had been shaken to its foundations
+by a terrific explosion, followed by half a dozen others, which shattered
+windows and blew down signs and chimneys in all parts of the city. At
+first everyone stood aghast as explosion followed explosion. Then it
+transpired that the great munition works at Okhta, across the Neva,
+opposite the Smolny Monastery, had suddenly blown up, and that hundreds
+of workers had been killed and maimed and the whole of the
+newly-constructed plant wrecked beyond repair.
+
+I was just entering Rasputin's room at the palace when a flunkey told me
+the news.
+
+When a moment later I informed the Starets he smiled evilly, remarking:
+
+"Ah! Then that further ten thousand roubles is due to Nicholas Chevitch.
+If he calls when we return to Petrograd this afternoon, you must pay him,
+Féodor. He has done his work well. Russia will be crippled for munitions
+for some time to come."
+
+On our return to Petrograd we found the city in the greatest state of
+excitement. The succession of explosions had caused the people to suspect
+that the disaster was not due to an accident, as the authorities were
+fondly declaring, but the wilful act of the enemy. Rasputin heard the
+rumour and piously declared his sympathy with the poor victims.
+
+Yet we had not been back at the Gorokhovaya an hour when the man Chevitch
+called, and at the monk's orders I handed him the balance of his
+blood-money.
+
+That same evening Hardt, the secret messenger from Berlin, arrived,
+having travelled by way of Abö, in Finland.
+
+"I have a very urgent despatch for the Father," he said when he was
+ushered in to me, and he handed me a letter upon strong but flimsy paper,
+so that it could be the more easily concealed in transit.
+
+At once I took him up to the monk, who was washing his hands in his
+bedroom.
+
+"Ah, dear friend Hardt!" exclaimed the Starets, greeting him warmly. "And
+you are straight from Berlin! Well, how goes it, eh?"
+
+"Excellently well," was the reply of the messenger from the Secret
+Service Department in the Königgrätzerstrasse. "Germany relies upon you
+to assist us, as we know you are doing. Count von Wedell has sent you a
+letter, which I have handed to your friend Féodor."
+
+"Read it, Féodor," said the monk. "There are no secrets in it that may be
+hidden from our dear friend Hardt."
+
+He spoke the truth. Hardt was the confidential messenger who passed
+between the Emperor William and Alexandra Feodorovna, and nowadays he was
+travelling to and fro to Germany always, notwithstanding that Russia was
+at war with her neighbour.
+
+At Rasputin's bidding I tore open the letter, but found it to be written
+in cipher.
+
+Therefore I sat down at the little desk and at once commenced to decode
+it. It was in the German spy-cipher, the same used all over the world by
+German secret agents--the most simple yet at the same time the most
+marvellous and complicated code that the world has ever known.
+
+The keys to the code were in twelve sentences that one committed to
+memory. Hence no code-book need ever be carried. The cipher message, in
+its introduction, told its recipient the number of the sentences being
+used--a most ingenious mode of correspondence.
+
+With the paper before me I discovered that in sentence number eight I
+would find the key. The sentence in question, a proverb something like
+"Faint heart never won fair lady," I wrote down, and then at once began
+to decipher the cryptic message from Berlin.
+
+And I read out the following:
+
+     "MEMORANDUM NO. 43,286.
+
+     "From No. 70 to the Holy Father.
+
+     "If the blowing up of the Okhta Munition Works is successful,
+     endeavour to get your friend C. [Chevitch] to do similar work at
+     the new explosive factory at Olonetz, where a sub-inspector named
+     Lemeneff is one of our friends. Tell this to C. and let them get
+     into touch with each other.
+
+     "We approve of C.'s suggestion to destroy the battleship
+     _Cheliabinsk_, and it is suggested that this be carried out at
+     the same price paid for Okhta.
+
+     "From what we are informed you are in some danger from a man
+     named Naglovski, who has shown himself far too curious concerning
+     you of late. Steps should be taken against him.--Greetings,    W."
+
+The initial, I knew, stood for von Wedell, one of the directors at the
+Königgrätzerstrasse.
+
+Rasputin heard me through, and, taking the cipher message, applied a
+match to it, after which Hardt, having swallowed a glass of vodka, left
+us.
+
+But the monk, as a result of that message, was at once aroused to evil
+activity, and by means of a clever ruse invited Ivan Naglovski to dinner
+next day. He accepted, hoping, of course, to discover more concerning the
+monk, and quite unconscious that Rasputin knew of his hostile intentions.
+To dinner there were invited the Prime Minister, Boris Stürmer, and a
+sycophant of his named Sikstel. Stürmer was in uniform and Sikstel in
+civilian attire. Naglovski, I found, was a youngish man, who, when I
+introduced him, appeared highly honoured to meet at Rasputin's table the
+Prime Minister of Russia, while the monk went out of his way to
+ingratiate himself with his enemy. Naglovski and his friends had been
+preparing a plot either to expose or assassinate the monk, hence the head
+of the conspiracy was congratulating himself that the plot was
+unsuspected by anybody.
+
+The dinner passed off quite merrily until, of a sudden, Stürmer,
+addressing his fellow-guest, said:
+
+"News has been conveyed to the holy Father that you and your friends have
+formed a plot against him. Is that true?"
+
+Naglovski started and turned pale. For a moment he was taken entirely off
+his guard.
+
+"Ah!" went on Stürmer in his deep, thick voice, Rasputin having risen to
+go to the sideboard, "I see it is true. Now, what can you gain by
+endeavouring to belittle the efforts of our dear Father for the salvation
+of Russia? Think. Are you patriots? No. Well," he went on, "the reason
+the Father has invited you here to-night is to come to terms with you.
+For a list of your friends--a secret list that will be afterwards
+destroyed--the Starets will pay you twenty thousand roubles, and,
+further, I will give you a diplomatic appointment in one of the embassies
+abroad--wherever you desire."
+
+"What!" cried the young man. "You ask me to betray my friends to that
+blasphemous rascal!" and he pointed his finger at Rasputin, who moved
+aside. "Never! I refuse! And, further, I tell you," he shouted, rising as
+he spoke, "I intend to expose the mock-saint and his conjuring tricks;
+the criminal miracle-worker who, according to secret information I have
+just received, was the actual instigator of the terrible disaster at
+Okhta. This is what my friends, when I reveal to them the truth, will
+expose."
+
+As Ivan Naglovski uttered his biting condemnation Rasputin had crept up
+behind him, and drawing his revolver suddenly cried in a loud voice:
+
+"Enough! You don't leave this house alive. Gregory Rasputin knows how to
+crush his enemies, never fear. All your friends will share your fate.
+Take that!"
+
+And he fired, the bullet striking the unfortunate man in the back, where
+it entered a vital spot.
+
+Two hours later the body of Ivan Naglovski was discovered on some waste
+ground out at Kushelevka, on the other side of the city. Though the
+Director of Secret Police guessed what had occurred, he pretended that it
+was a complete and unfathomable mystery--and a mystery it has ever
+remained until this present exposure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+POISON PLOTS THAT FAILED
+
+
+BY the spring of 1916 Rasputin, though constantly revealing himself as a
+blasphemous blackguard, had become the greatest power in Russia.
+
+His name was whispered by the awe-stricken people. All Russia, from the
+Empress down to the most illiterate mujik, accepted him as divine and
+swallowed any lie he might utter.
+
+The weekly meetings of the "sister-disciples" were becoming more popular
+than ever in Petrograd society, and there were many converts to the new
+"religion."
+
+One evening a reunion for recruiting purposes was held by the old
+Baroness Guerbel at her big house in the Potemkinskaya. The
+yellow-toothed, loud-speaking old lady had been persistent in her appeals
+to Rasputin to hold one of his meetings at her house, and he had, with
+ill-grace, acceded. On fully a dozen occasions the baroness, who was a
+close friend of old Countess Ignatieff, had interviewed me and
+endeavoured to enlist my services on her behalf. At last the monk had
+said to me:
+
+"Well, Féodor, if the old hag is so very persistent, I suppose I had
+better spend an evening at her house and inspect her lady friends."
+
+Thus it had been arranged, the "saint" little dreaming of the outcome of
+that fateful reunion.
+
+It seems that Baroness Guerbel had arranged it because she wished to
+introduce to Rasputin a certain Madame Yatchevski--the wife of an officer
+who was very rich--who saw that, by Rasputin's influence, she could
+aspire to a position at Court.
+
+Olga Yatchevski proved to be a pretty, fair-haired little woman of
+girlish figure and sweet expression, and from the moment of their
+introduction the unkempt monk, after crossing himself and uttering a
+benediction, became greatly interested in her, the result being that she
+became an "aspirant," and her initiation into the secrets of the cult was
+arranged to take place on the following Wednesday.
+
+The meeting ended, the dozen or so neurotic women, all of them of the
+highest society in the capital, each bent and kissed the unwashed hand of
+Russia's "saviour," as was their habit, and when they had gone the monk
+sat down and drank half a bottle of brandy served to him by his ugly old
+hostess.
+
+Next night I happened to be out at the theatre when Rasputin, who was
+alone, emerged to walk round to a professional blackmailer named Ivan
+Scheseleff, who lived in the Rozhsky Prospekt. Suddenly he was set upon
+by three Cossacks--afterwards found to have been men hired by Madame
+Yatchevski's husband--who, hustling the "saint" into a narrow side
+street, gagged him, stripped him of the silk blouse embroidered by the
+Tsaritza's own hands, his wide velvet breeches, and his beautiful boots
+of patent leather.
+
+Then they drew a knout and administered to the rascal a sound drubbing,
+afterwards binding him with rope and shutting him up in a neighbouring
+stableyard, attired only in his underwear!
+
+His clothes they packed up in a cardboard box and delivered to
+Yatchevski, who, having sealed it, sent it by special messenger to
+Tsarskoe-Selo, where it was delivered into the Empress's own hands.
+
+Alexandra Feodorovna, on having it opened and discovering the insult to
+her "holy Father," waxed furious. Meanwhile, Rasputin had been
+discovered, and was at home foaming at the mouth at the indignity. He,
+"the saviour of Russia," had been thrashed and degraded!
+
+At two o'clock that morning he took a car to the palace, and I
+accompanied him. He had an interview with Her Majesty, who was attired in
+a rich dressing-gown of pale-blue silk, and the pair resolved upon a
+rigid inquiry regarding the affair.
+
+"It is monstrous that you, our dear Father, should have such enemies
+about you! We will crush them!" she declared angrily. "I will see Nikki
+about it in the morning. To send me your clothes is a personal insult to
+myself. It is abominable! These people shall suffer!"
+
+That night we remained at the palace, and next morning Protopopoff was
+called from Petrograd and informed by the Empress of what had occurred.
+Later the Minister came to the room wherein I was writing at the monk's
+dictation, and promised that the whole of the machinery of the Secret
+Police should be set in motion to discover the perpetrators of the
+outrage.
+
+Rasputin knew that many of the husbands of his devotees were enraged
+against him; therefore he could not, at the moment, suggest any
+particular person who had plotted the affair, and probably the police
+would have failed to obtain any information had not Captain Yatchevski
+himself boasted in the Officers' Club of how he had had the Tsaritza's
+pet "saint" stripped and thrashed.
+
+In Petrograd the very walls had ears; therefore within three hours the
+"saint" knew the identity of the instigator of the outrage, and gave his
+name to the Empress.
+
+"We will make an example of him," she said. "Otherwise it may be
+repeated. I leave it to you, dear Father, to take what reprisals you
+wish. In any course you adopt you will have the full authority of both
+Nikki and myself."
+
+For nearly a week Rasputin was undecided as to how he should wreak
+vengeance upon the unfortunate Yatchevski, whose wife had by this time
+become one of the monk's most devoted "sisters."
+
+On two or three occasions he went to the Minister of War and chatted with
+the traitor, General Soukhomlinoff.
+
+Once he remarked to me, after a meeting of the "disciples" at our house
+in the Gorokhovaya:
+
+"That captain shall pay--and pay dearly--for his insult! Think!--only
+think of it, Féodor--of sending my clothes to Her Majesty! What must she
+have thought! To me it seems that she doubts whether I can take care of
+myself. And am I not inspired, divine!--sent as the saviour of Russia,
+and immune from the attacks of mankind!"
+
+His subtle mujik mind clearly saw the bad impression which must be
+produced upon the woman who was so completely beneath the thraldom of his
+hypnotic eyes. If he could be beaten as a charlatan, then such action of
+his enemies must naturally create a doubt in her mind. Hence he was
+scheming to exhibit his power.
+
+The worst feature of the position was that from the Officers' Club the
+incident had leaked out all over Petrograd, until it had become common
+talk in the cafés. The story of Grichka sitting upon a dung-heap was on
+the lips of everybody, while a well-known member of the Duma remarked:
+
+"A pity he was not buried in it, never to see the light of day again!"
+
+Yatchevski was, of course, unconscious of the knowledge held by the monk.
+He was at the Ministry of War, head of one of its many departments, a
+loyal patriotic Russian, who, like our millions, believed that
+Soukhomlinoff was "out to win." He was ignorant of the irresistible power
+which the dirty "saint" could wield.
+
+One day, to Captain Yatchevski's delight, he found himself raised in rank
+and appointed military commandant of the town of Kaluga, south of Moscow,
+with permission to take his wife to reside there. Naturally he was
+gratified to receive so influential an appointment. Though possessed of
+much money, he had hitherto not progressed very far in his official
+career, and this favour shown him by the Tsar, who had made the
+appointment, pleased him immensely.
+
+His wife, of course, felt otherwise. She would be separated from her gay
+friends, the "sisters" of the monk's "religion." Besides, she saw that by
+entering Rasputin's cult there was a prospect of becoming on terms of
+personal friendship with the Empress.
+
+Anyhow, a week later Olga Yatchevski, having bidden farewell to the monk,
+was forced to depart with her husband to the important town of Kaluga,
+and for a fortnight I heard nothing.
+
+One morning, however, the monk received a certain General Nicholas
+Ganetski, of the Imperial General Staff, when, without much preamble, the
+officer remarked:
+
+"The warning you gave us concerning Yatchevski has proved quite true. He
+has been in communication with a German agent in Riga named Klöss."
+
+"Ah! I was quite certain of it, General," remarked the "holy" man, with a
+sinister grin. "I discovered it quite by accident. Well, what have you
+done?"
+
+"He and his wife are both under preventive arrest, pending an Imperial
+order. The papers we seized are conclusive. Among them was the enemy spy
+code. The whole case is quite clear, and there can be no defence."
+
+"Then there will be a court-martial?"
+
+"Of course. I have ordered it to be held on the seventeenth, in Moscow."
+
+"They are both clever agents of Germany," the monk remarked. "Be careful
+that they do not slip through your fingers."
+
+"No fear of that, Father," replied the general. "Possession of the German
+code is in itself sufficient to secure them conviction and sentence."
+
+The latter was indeed pronounced ten days later. The little fair-haired
+woman, who was so devoted to Rasputin, and who frantically appealed to
+him in vain to save her, was sentenced to imprisonment for life at
+Yakutsk, in Eastern Siberia, while her husband, condemned for treason,
+was next day shot in a barrack square behind the Kremlin in Moscow.
+
+Truly, Gregory the Monk swept with drastic and relentless hand any enemy
+who crossed his path.
+
+It was about a week after I heard of the execution of the Governor of
+Kaluga that I happened to be at Tsarskoe-Selo again with my evil-faced
+master, being busy writing in the luxurious little room allotted to him.
+
+Madame Vyrubova had been with us, discussing the condition of health of
+the heir to the throne, when, after she had left, there entered quite
+unexpectedly the Emperor himself.
+
+"Gregory," he said, standing by the window, attired in the rather faded
+navy serge suit he sometimes wore when busy in his private cabinet, "I
+have been told to-day that the Holy Synod are once again agitating
+against you. From what Stürmer has said an hour ago it appears that the
+Church has become jealous of your friendship with my wife and myself. I
+really cannot understand this. Why should it be so? As our divine guide
+in the war against our relentless enemies, we look to you to lead us
+along the path of victory. Alexandra Feodorovna has been telling me
+to-day some strange tales of subtle intrigue, and how the Church is
+uniting to endeavour to destroy your popularity with the people and your
+position here at our Court."
+
+"Thou hast it in thy power to judge me by my works," was the monk's grave
+reply, crossing himself piously and repeating a benediction beneath his
+breath. "Gregory is but the servant of the Almighty God, sent unto thee
+to guide and direct thee and thy nation against those who seek to destroy
+and dismember the Empire. Cannot I have the names of those of the Church
+who are seeking my downfall? Surely it is but just to myself if thou
+wouldst furnish them to me? Personally, I entertain no hope."
+
+"No hope!" cried the Tsar, starting. "What do you mean, Father? Explain."
+
+"No hope of victory for Russia, surrounded as she is on all sides by
+those who are conspiring to do thee evil. Against thee the Church is ever
+plotting. As Starets--I know!"
+
+"And the Procurator?"
+
+"He is thy friend."
+
+"And the Bishop Teofan? Surely he is not a traitor?"
+
+"No. For years I have known him. Trust Teofan, but make an end of the
+ecclesiastical camarilla which is against thee."
+
+"How can I? I do not know them?" was the Emperor's reply.
+
+"I tell thee plainly that if matters are allowed to proceed, the Church,
+suborned by German gold as it is, will contrive to defeat our arms. Hence
+it behoves thee to act--and act immediately!"
+
+The Tsar, his hands in the pockets of his jacket, stood silent.
+
+"Because by divine grace I possess the power of healing, thy Church is
+jealous of me," Rasputin went on. "The Holy Synod is seeking my
+overthrow! Always have I acted for the benefit of mankind. But the
+Russian Church seeks to drive me forth. Therefore, I must bow to the
+inevitable--and I will depart!"
+
+"Ah, no, Gregory! We cannot spare you, our dear Father," declared the
+Emperor. "This ecclesiastical interference we will tolerate no longer.
+You must help me. I give carte blanche to you to dismiss those of the
+Church who are disloyal and your enemies and mine, and replace them by
+those who are our friends, and in whom I can place my trust."
+
+"In the sweeping clean of the Church thou wilt find many surprises,"
+replied the monk, elated at the success of his clever reasoning.
+
+"No doubt. I know that the Empress and myself are surrounded by enemies.
+Plots are everywhere. Is not Protopopoff continuous in his declaration
+that the Church is against me? I know it--alas! too well. And I leave its
+reformation entirely to you, dear Father."
+
+Reformation! Within twelve hours Rasputin, who dictated to me over fifty
+letters, and had, in the name of the Emperor, dismissed most of the
+higher Church dignitaries in various parts of Russia, the new Procurator
+of the Holy Synod having been appointed by him only a few weeks before.
+
+Bishop Teofan, who had commenced life as a gardener, who had been
+convicted as a criminal by the court of Tobolsk, and whose sister was a
+"disciple" at Pokrovsky, held a long conference with the "saint" lasting
+well into the night. Truly, they were the most precious pair of unholy
+scoundrels in all Europe, both being in the immediate entourage of Their
+Majesties, and both pretending to lead "holy" lives, though they were
+gloriously drunk each evening.
+
+Nevertheless, within forty-eight hours of Rasputin's conversation with
+the Tsar, the Church of Russia had been swept clean of all its loyal
+adherents, and in their places--even in the bishoprics of Kazan, Tver and
+Odessa--were appointed alcoholic rascals of the same calibre as Rasputin
+himself.
+
+Is it, then, any wonder that Holy Russia has fallen?
+
+Indeed, the new bishop of Kazan was, three days after his appointment,
+found one night riotously drunk in one of the principal streets in the
+city, and, as he was wearing ordinary clothes, was arrested by the
+police, who did not recognise him, so that the precious prelate spent the
+night in a cell! Such was our dear Russia in the midst of her valiant
+struggle against the Hun!
+
+My dissolute master, possessed as he was of superhuman cunning, held the
+Empire in the hollow of his hand. He could make or break the most
+powerful statesman within a single day. In that small fireproof safe of
+his, concealed beneath the floor of the wine-cellar at the
+Gorokhovaya--that safe in which were preserved so many amorous letters
+from neurotic women whom the monk intended later on to blackmail--was
+also much documentary evidence of the "saint's" vile plots,
+correspondence which, later on, fell into the hands of the revolutionary
+party, who revealed only a portion of it after Rasputin's tragic end.
+
+Possessed of inordinate greed, the monk had a mania for amassing wealth,
+yet what really became of his money was to me always a mystery. Though he
+would have a balance of a million or so roubles at his bank to-day, yet
+the day after to-morrow his pass-book showed payments of mysterious sums,
+which would deplete his funds until often he had perhaps but a single
+thousand roubles.
+
+Into what channel went all that money which he received for bribery, for
+creating appointments, and for suggesting that young men of good family
+should be given sinecures, I was never able to discover.
+
+Personally, I believe he paid certain persons whose wives were
+"disciples" hush-money. But his power was such that I could never see why
+he should do so. Yet the mujik mind always works in a mysterious way.
+
+The true facts concerning the desperate conspiracy against Generals
+Brusiloff and Korniloff have never been told, though several French
+writers have attempted to reveal them, and the revolutionists themselves
+have endeavoured to delve into the mystery. As secretary to the Starets,
+I am able to disclose the actual and most amazing truth.
+
+It will be remembered by my readers that General Brusiloff, early in
+June, 1916, had his four armies well in hand, and made a superhuman
+effort to defeat the Central Powers between the Pripet and the Roumanian
+frontier. He was a fearless and brilliant tactician, and within two
+months had succeeded in capturing 7,757 officers and 350,845 men, with
+805 guns--and remember that this was in face of all the obstacles that
+the Minister of War, who was working with Rasputin as Germany's friend,
+had placed in his way.
+
+Brusiloff had done splendidly. No Russian general has eclipsed him in
+this war. He performed miracles of strategy, and Berlin had very
+naturally become genuinely alarmed. All their negotiations with Stürmer,
+Protopopoff, Rasputin and others of the "Black Force" had apparently been
+of no avail. They had staked millions of roubles, but without much
+result. Our armies were advancing, and the combined German and Austrian
+forces were daily being entrapped into the marshes or forced back.
+
+Even Rasputin realised the seriousness of the position, and more than
+once referred to it.
+
+Early one morning, before I was up, Hardt, the secret messenger from
+Berlin, arrived.
+
+After greeting me, he informed me that he had an urgent secret despatch
+for the Father--to be delivered only into his own hands. Therefore I at
+once conducted the travel-worn messenger to Rasputin's bedroom, where he
+delivered a crumpled letter from the belt which he wore next his skin.
+
+"Read it to me, Féodor," said the "saint," sitting up in bed and rubbing
+his eyes after a drunken sleep.
+
+Opening it, I found it to be in a code in what was known as "Sentence
+number seven"--words which, truth to tell, spelt an ancient Russian
+proverb, which translated into English means: "Actions befit men; words
+befit women."
+
+Taking a pencil, I sat down, and after ten minutes or so, during which
+time the monk chatted with Hardt, I succeeded in deciphering the message,
+which ran as follows:
+
+     "T. F. 6,823--88.
+
+     "Memorandum from 'No. 70.'                _Secret and Private._
+
+     "Further to the memorandum F. G. 2,734--22, it is deemed of
+     greatest and most immediate importance that the Pripet offensive
+     should at once cease. You will recollect that in your reply you
+     made a promise that the offensive was to be turned into a defeat
+     within fourteen days. But this has not been done, and a certain
+     Personage [the Kaiser] is greatly dissatisfied.
+
+     "The advance must not continue, and we send you further secret
+     instructions, herewith enclosed. Lose no time in carrying them
+     out.
+
+     "We hope you have not overlooked the instructions contained in F.
+     G. 2,734--22, especially regarding the destruction of the
+     munition factories at Vologda and Bologoye. It is a pity you have
+     allowed K. [Kartzoff, who blew up the explosive works at Viborg,
+     where four hundred lives were lost] to be shot. He was extremely
+     useful. The woman Raevesky, who was his assistant, was not in
+     love with him, as you reported. She would have assisted him
+     further if allowed her liberty. We wonder you were not more
+     correctly informed. Payment of 500,000 roubles will be made to
+     your bank on the 18th from Melnitzzki and Company of Nijni
+     Novgorod.                                                 S."
+
+Enclosed was a sheet of pale yellow paper, upon which had been typed in
+Russian the following:
+
+     "_Secret Instructions._--(1) You are to double the promised
+     payment to Nicholas Meder and Irene Feischer for the blowing up
+     of the works at Vologda and Bologoye, on condition that the
+     affair is carried out within fourteen days of the receipt of
+     this. If not, arrange with your friend P. [Protopopoff] to have
+     both arrested with incriminating papers upon them. They may
+     become dangerous to us unless implicated.
+
+     "(2) As you have failed to carry out the plans against Generals
+     Brusiloff and Korniloff, then you must adopt other means against
+     both generals, and thus ensure a lull upon the frontier. We note
+     that the attempt made by Brusiloff's body-servant, Ivan Sawvitch,
+     has unfortunately failed.
+
+     "The bearer of this will hand you a small packet. It contains two
+     tubes of white powder. Peter Tchernine, who has succeeded
+     Sawvitch as the general's servant, is to be trusted. You will
+     send the tube marked No. 1 to him in secret at General
+     Headquarters, with orders to mix the contents with the powdered
+     sugar which the general is in the habit of taking with stewed
+     fruit. The slightest trace of the powder will result in death
+     from a cause which it will be impossible for the doctors to
+     identify.
+
+     "(3) A young dancer at the Bouffes named Nada Tsourikoff, living
+     in the Garnovskaya, will call upon you for the tube marked No. 2.
+     She is a close friend of General Korniloff, and is about to join
+     him at headquarters at our orders. She has already her
+     instructions as to the use of the tube. The two deaths will be
+     entirely different, therefore doctors will never suspect.
+
+     "At all hazards the offensive must be ended. Greetings.
+                                                                 "S."
+
+After I had read the instructions Hardt produced a box of Swedish safety
+matches, which he emptied upon the table, and among them we saw two tiny
+tubes of glass hermetically sealed, one containing a white chalk-like
+powder and numbered "1," while the other was half filled with pale green
+powder and marked "2." These he handed to the monk, saying:
+
+"I will use your telephone, if I may? I have to ask the young woman Nada
+Tsourikoff to call here to see you."
+
+The monk having granted permission, Hardt, passing into the study, was
+soon speaking with the popular young dancer of the Bouffes.
+
+"You will call here at noon, eh?" he asked, to which she gave a response
+in the affirmative.
+
+Punctually at twelve I was informed that a young lady, who refused her
+name, desired to have an urgent interview with the Starets, and on going
+to the waiting-room, wherein so many of the fair sex sat daily in
+patience for the Father to receive them, I found a tall, willowy,
+dark-haired and exceedingly handsome girl, who, after inquiring if I were
+Féodor Rajevski, told me that her name was Tsourikoff and that she had
+been sent to see the Father.
+
+Without delay I introduced her to the "holy" man, who stood with his
+hands crossed over his breast in his most pious attitude.
+
+"My daughter, you have, I believe, been sent to me by our mutual friend,"
+he said. "You wish for something? Here it is," and he produced a small
+oblong cardboard box such as jewellers use for men's scarf-pins. Opening
+it, he showed her the tiny tube reposing in pink cotton wool. "It is a
+little present for somebody, eh?" he asked with a sinister laugh.
+
+"Perhaps," replied the girl as she took it and placed it carefully in the
+black silk vanity-bag she was carrying.
+
+"You have already received instructions through another channel?"
+inquired Rasputin.
+
+"I have, O Father," was her reply.
+
+"Then be extremely careful of it. Let not a grain of it touch you," he
+said. "I am ordered to tell you that."
+
+She promised to exercise the greatest care.
+
+"And when you have fulfilled your mission come to me again," he said,
+fixing her with his sinister, hypnotic eyes, beneath the cold intense
+gaze of which I saw that she was trembling. "Remember that!--perform what
+is expected of you fearlessly, but with complete discretion, and
+instantly on your return to Petrograd call here and report to me."
+
+The girl promised, and then, kissing the dirty paw which the monk held
+out to her, she withdrew.
+
+"Good-looking--extremely good-looking, Féodor," the monk remarked as soon
+as she had gone. "She might be very useful to me in the near future."
+Then after a pause he added: "Ring up His Excellency the Minister of War
+and ask where Brusiloff is at the present moment."
+
+I did so, and after a short wait found myself talking to General
+Soukhomlinoff, who told me that the Russian commander was that day at
+headquarters at Minsk.
+
+When I told the monk, he said: "You must go there at once, Féodor, and
+carry the little tube to the Cossack Peter Tchernine, who is now
+Brusiloff's body-servant."
+
+"I!" I gasped, startled at the suggestion that I should be chosen to
+convey death to our gallant commander.
+
+"Yes. And pray why not? Someone whom I can trust must act as messenger.
+And I trust you above all men, Féodor."
+
+For a moment I hesitated.
+
+Then I thanked him for his expression of confidence, but he at once
+noticed the reluctance which I had endeavoured to conceal.
+
+"Surely, Féodor, you are not hesitating to perform this service for the
+Fatherland? Think of all the sacrifices we are making to bring the
+benefit of German civilisation into Russia," added the pious scoundrel.
+
+"I will go--certainly I will go," I said. "But I cannot leave to-day. I
+shall require papers from the Ministry ere I can travel."
+
+"His Excellency the General will order them to be furnished to you," he
+said. "I will see to it at once."
+
+And five minutes later he went out to seek the Minister.
+
+I was horrified at my position, compelled as I was to convey the means of
+death to the hands of the German spy Tchernine, who had been placed as
+servant to the Russian commander. I saw that I must leave Petrograd for
+Minsk that night; therefore I set about preparing for my adventurous
+journey. Indeed, shortly before midnight I left the Gorokhovaya with the
+box of Swedish matches in my inner pocket.
+
+The journey from Petrograd due south to Polotzk, where I had to change,
+proved an interminable one and occupied nearly two days, so congested was
+the line by military traffic and ambulance trains. At last on arrival
+there I joined a troop-train with reinforcements going to Minsk, where I
+duly alighted, to discover that General Brusiloff's headquarters were out
+at a village called Gorodok, about five miles distant, in the direction
+of Vilna. The evening was bitterly cold, and as I drove along I became
+filled with ineffable disgust of Rasputin and the disgraceful camarilla
+who were slowly but surely hurling the nation to its doom.
+
+Had I refused to undertake that devilish mission, the monk would have
+instantly suspected me of double dealing, and sooner or later I should
+have met with an untimely end, as, alas! so many others had done. So
+completely had he placed me beneath his thumb that I was compelled to act
+as he dictated, in order to save my own life, for, as I have already
+explained, the "holy" man held the lives of those who displeased him very
+cheaply.
+
+At headquarters, which proved to be a veritable hive of military
+activity, I posed to a sergeant as Tchernine's brother, and begged that I
+might see him. It was nearly dark as I stood with the man, who had
+roughly demanded my business there.
+
+"I fear you will not be able to see him," he replied. "The Emperor has
+just arrived on a visit to headquarters, and he is with the general, and
+your brother is in attendance upon them."
+
+Tchernine, a spy of Germany, was actually in attendance upon the Emperor,
+and hence could listen to the conversation between His Majesty and the
+army commander!
+
+"But I have come all the way from Petrograd," I whined. "I have a message
+to give my brother from his wife, whom I fear is dying."
+
+This moved the honest sergeant, who, calling one of his men, told him to
+go to Tchernine and tell him he was wanted immediately.
+
+"Only for a few moments," I said. "I will not keep him from his duty more
+than two or three minutes--just to give him the message."
+
+I waited alone in a small, bare hut for nearly half an hour, when the man
+returned with Brusiloff's servant.
+
+"Ah, dear brother Peter!" I cried, rushing forward and embracing him ere
+he could express astonishment. "So I have found you at last--at last!"
+
+As I expected, the man who had accompanied him, not wishing to be
+present at the meeting, turned and left us alone.
+
+The instant he had gone I pressed the box of matches into his hand,
+whispering:
+
+"Take this. It has been sent to you from our friends in Berlin. Inside is
+a tube of white powder, which you will mix with the powdered sugar which
+General Brusiloff takes with fruit. It is highly dangerous, so be very
+careful how you handle it. Death will occur quickly, but the doctors will
+never discover the reason. It has already been used with effect by our
+friends among the Allies."
+
+"I understand," was the spy's grim reply. "Tell our friends that I will
+put it into the sugar to-night, and both His Majesty and the general
+shall have some. How fortunate, eh?" he grinned.
+
+I held my breath. It had never crossed my mind that Nicholas was to dine
+with the general.
+
+"No," I said. "Keep it till to-morrow, so that the general has it alone.
+It is intended for him. Those are the instructions."
+
+"I shall not," was his reply as he placed the box in his pocket. "If one
+has it, so shall the other. The German advance will be made all the more
+easy by the removal of both of them. I----"
+
+Footsteps sounded outside, and the sergeant appeared an instant later;
+hence we were compelled to separate after exchanging farewells as good
+brothers would.
+
+Back to Minsk I drove rapidly, and two hours later was in an ambulance
+train on my way to Petrograd, full of wonder as to what was happening at
+Gorodok.
+
+Peter Tchernine, spy of Germany, had no doubt mixed the contents of that
+tiny tube with the powdered sugar served to the general and his Imperial
+guest.
+
+Standing alone at the end of a long ambulance carriage, I leaned out of
+the window, breathing the fresh air of the open plain. We were running
+beside a lake, the water of which came up close to the rails. Here was my
+opportunity.
+
+I took a tin matchbox from my pocket and flung it as far as I could into
+the water.
+
+Then I returned to my seat, my heart lighter, for at last I had saved the
+life of our dear general, and also that of His Majesty, for, truth to
+tell, what I had given Peter Tchernine was only a little tube of French
+chalk made up to resemble that brought so secretly from Berlin.
+
+On reporting to Rasputin next day, he rubbed his hands with delight. I,
+of course, did not tell him of the Emperor's peril.
+
+Next day he, however, came to me in a state of high indignation.
+
+"The fool Tchernine has blundered, just as Sawvitch did!" he cried.
+"Brusiloff still lives and is continuing the offensive. Did he not
+promise to use the tube?"
+
+"He certainly did," I assured the monk. "He was filled with satisfaction
+that he would be able thus to help the Fatherland."
+
+"In any case he has failed!" said the "holy" man. "Not only that, but the
+plot against Korniloff has also failed. What shall I reply to Berlin?
+What will they say?"
+
+"Has the girl Nada Tsourikoff failed us, then?" I asked eagerly.
+
+"Yes," he replied in a hard, deep tone. "The little fool apparently had
+no courage. It failed her at the last moment--or----"
+
+"Or what?"
+
+"Or somebody knew the truth and threatened exposure."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because she was found dead yesterday morning at the Grand Hotel at
+Dvinsk, having broken the tube and taken some of its contents in her tea.
+A pity, too, Féodor, for she might have been so very useful." Then he
+added: "Bah! it is always the same with women, their courage fails them
+at the last moment! No. It is men--men like yourself, Féodor--that we
+want. The failure at Minsk is, however, very strange. We must inquire
+into Tchernine's actions and report fully to the Königgrätzerstrasse.
+Otherwise I shall once again be blamed. Surely I did my best--and so did
+you!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+RASPUTIN AND THE KAISER
+
+
+THE secret visit of Rasputin to Berlin and his second audience with the
+Kaiser were stoutly denied at the time, but as I accompanied the "saint"
+upon his adventurous journey I am in a position to know the exact facts.
+
+He, dressed as a Dutch pastor, and calling himself Pastor van Meuwen, and
+I, calling myself Koster, arrived at a small quiet hotel called the
+Westfälischer-Hof, in the Neustadische-strasse, on the north of the
+Linden. We had travelled by way of Helsingfors, Stockholm, and Hamburg,
+Rasputin being bearer of letters from the Tsaritza to the Kaiser and
+Kaiserin, assuring them of her continued good wishes and her efforts to
+secure a German conquest.
+
+Hardly had we been in the rather dismal hotel an hour when a waiter
+introduced into our private sitting-room, where I stood alone, a tall,
+dark, middle-aged man, who clicked his heels as he bowed elegantly before
+me.
+
+Smiling, and without uttering a word, my visitor handed me half of a
+plain visiting-card that had been roughly torn across, after I had
+scribbled my signature across the back. From my cigarette-case I took the
+other half, and placing them together, ascertained that they fitted. The
+torn portion that the Baron von Hausen--for that was his name, I
+learnt--had handed to me had been conveyed to Berlin by Hardt a month
+before, in order that we might repose confidence in any person who called
+upon us and bore it as the credential of the Königgrätzerstrasse.
+
+My visitor was a pleasant, shrewd-eyed man, well dressed and wearing a
+fine diamond in his black cravat, who, when he had seated himself at my
+invitation, glanced to see if the door was closed, and then exclaimed:
+
+"Well, Herr Koster, I trust that the Father and yourself have had a
+comfortable journey."
+
+"Quite," I replied. "But, of course, it is a very roundabout route."
+
+"I expected you two days ago," said the baron, who at that moment rose at
+the entry of Rasputin and greeted him.
+
+The appearance of the monk in Berlin was very different from the figure
+he presented in Petrograd. His hair and beard had been trimmed, he had
+washed, and in his clerical garb he looked a typical Dutch pastor.
+
+I introduced the pair, whereupon the baron said:
+
+"His Majesty the Emperor wishes you to come to Potsdam at four o'clock
+to-morrow afternoon. You are to meet the Chancellor."
+
+To this the monk agreed, saying in his halting German:
+
+"It is not the first time I have been received by His Majesty. I shall
+bring Féodor."
+
+"As you wish. But I question if His Majesty will allow him to be present
+at the audience."
+
+"In that case, Baron, tell His Majesty that I shall not come," remarked
+the "saint" bluntly. "His Majesty the Tsar permits the presence of my
+secretary, therefore why should your Emperor object? Give him that
+message," he said, adding: "I have little time to spare here in Berlin,
+and am returning to Petrograd almost at once."
+
+The Baron von Hausen demurred, but Rasputin insisted on his message being
+given to the Kaiser.
+
+Then, when our visitor had left, the monk helped himself to a stiff glass
+of brandy, and laughing said:
+
+"The only way to treat these Germans is with dignity, Féodor. I want you
+to note all he says and translate the most important into Russian for
+me. Why does Bethmann-Hollweg want to be present, I wonder?"
+
+"To advise the Kaiser, no doubt."
+
+"About what? I will deal with His Majesty himself, and nobody else," he
+snapped.
+
+Even while we were discussing the situation another caller came, a
+German, also dressed as a pastor, who gave the name of Schwass. In a
+moment Rasputin, recognising him, locked the door and, turning quickly,
+asked in Russian:
+
+"Well, how do things go? You are not suspected?"
+
+"Not in the least," was the reply of the man, who had been an agent of
+the Russian Secret Police, and who was now a spy living in Berlin under a
+clerical guise.
+
+"You have a letter for me, I believe, Father, from the Minister
+Protopopoff, have you not?" he asked.
+
+I unlocked the small attaché case and from among a number of other
+letters which we had brought from Russia was one in a plain envelope
+addressed to the Pastor Wilhelm Schwass.
+
+The spy tore it open, read it through carefully three times, and then
+placed it in the fire and watched until it was consumed. What the
+instructions were we knew not. They were evidently unwelcome, for the
+man's face went grey, and scarcely uttering another word he turned and
+left us.
+
+After dinner, which we took together in our sitting-room, we went out for
+a walk in the Linden. Rasputin was eager to go to one or other of the
+variety entertainments, but I dissuaded him from such an action, he being
+in clerical attire.
+
+"If you go you may arouse the curiosity of some stupid policeman, and
+inquiries might be made concerning us. No, while in Berlin it will be
+necessary for you to remain very quiet," I urged. "Remember, the baron
+and certain of his friends are watching us."
+
+So we idled along to the Café Bauer, where we spent an hour watching the
+gay crowd, among whom were a number of convalescent officers with those
+in the capital on leave from Flanders. Berlin life seemed quite
+unchanged, and the war had not by any means checked the spirit of gaiety
+in its "night life." There had been a successful attack upon the British
+that day, and the "victory" over the hated English was upon everyone's
+lips.
+
+For another hour we wandered, noting the merriment and confidence in
+conquest on every hand.
+
+"Truly," declared Rasputin, "these Germans spread reports of their own
+distress for propaganda purposes. Ah, they are indeed a great people,
+with a great leader!"
+
+I differed from him, for I have never had a liking for Germans. At heart
+Rasputin had, I knew, no great liking either. He admired them and
+assisted them because he was a born adventurer, and as the tool of the
+Kaiser was well paid for his services, while at the same time he had
+succeeded in placing himself in the position of autocrat over the Tsar
+himself.
+
+After an expensive supper at a small place near the Rosenthal Thor, where
+two scantily-clad girls danced while the patrons ate, we retraced our
+steps to the Neustadische-strasse.
+
+On re-entering the hotel the hall-porter gave me a message asking me to
+ring up Herr Weghinger at No. 2862, Potsdam.
+
+This I did from our sitting-room, asking for Herr Weghinger.
+
+"Yes," came the voice. "Are you Herr Koster?"
+
+I replied in the affirmative, recognising the voice of Baron von Hausen,
+who said:
+
+"Will you please tell your friend that I have arranged for your visit
+here, and that you will be welcomed. Be outside the French Embassy at
+three o'clock, when a yellow car will drive up. Enter it, and you will be
+brought here. I shall await you." And then he wished me good night.
+
+The wire over which I had spoken was, I knew, one of the private ones to
+the Neues Palais at Potsdam.
+
+Rasputin had again triumphed. When I told him he laughed coarsely,
+remarking:
+
+"People are too apt to regard this Kaiser fellow as lord of the world. He
+will never work his will upon Gregory. Nicholas tried, and failed. Let
+William try, and he will discover that at least one man is his equal--and
+more!"
+
+On the following day at three o'clock we both stood upon the kerb in the
+Pariser Platz, opposite the closed French Embassy, when suddenly from the
+Sommerstrasse a big yellow car approached us and drew up. The driver, who
+had evidently been given our descriptions, got down, saluted, and opened
+the door for us. Then a minute later we were on our way out of Berlin on
+the Potsdam road. The papers that day had reported that the Emperor was
+in Brussels, but such misleading statements are permissible in war.
+
+When we had come down the hill to the Havel and passed over the Glienicke
+Bridge, we sped through the pleasant town of Potsdam, until at last we
+entered the great Sanssouci Park, driving past the fountains straight up
+the tree-lined Hauptweg till we pulled up before the private door of the
+palace, that used by the Imperial family.
+
+The baron, in uniform and all smiles, was there to meet us, as he had
+promised.
+
+"I had a difficulty with the Emperor," he whispered to me. "But as the
+Father insists, His Majesty has given way."
+
+Rasputin overheard his words, and I saw upon his bearded lips a sinister
+smile.
+
+Through rooms with painted ceilings we were conducted, through the Shell
+Salon--the walls of which were inlaid with shells, the friezes being of
+minerals and precious stones--across the Marble Room, and then along an
+endless, thickly carpeted corridor, which reminded me of one at Peterhof
+leading to the Empress's private apartments, until the baron saluted a
+sentry, passed him, and a little farther on knocked discreetly at a
+polished mahogany door, that of the Kaiser's private workroom.
+
+A moment later we were ushered into a rather small room, plainly
+furnished, very much like an office. In a chair by the fire sat the
+grey-bearded Chancellor smoking a cigar, and standing with his back to
+the English grate was the Emperor William, looking grey and worn, dressed
+in a drab suit of tweeds.
+
+"Ah, Gregory!" exclaimed His Majesty, who took no notice of my
+unimportant self, "I do not forget our last meeting. Well, you have done
+well--excellent work for our Fatherland!" And he introduced the monk to
+the Imperial Chancellor, who, I thought, greeted the charlatan somewhat
+contemptuously.
+
+Now, Rasputin, wearing clothes to which he was unaccustomed, and devoid
+of his gold chain and jewelled cross, which he had so constantly fingered
+when he granted audiences to those who wished to bask in his
+smiles--which, of course, always meant great pecuniary advantage or
+official advancement--seemed at the first moment ill at ease.
+
+"I have done the bidding of my Imperial sister," was his reply. "I have
+for thee letters from her, also letters for thy wife," and from the
+pocket of his clerical coat he drew four letters, rather crumpled.
+
+The Emperor hastily scanned the two which Alexandra Feodorovna had
+addressed to himself, and I noticed a smile of satisfaction flit across
+his grey, mobile features.
+
+Then, placing them upon his littered writing-table, he gave us seats, and
+around the fire we sat to talk.
+
+Truly, that council of treachery was an historic one, and cost the lives
+of many innocent non-combatant women and children.
+
+The Kaiser began by chaffing Rasputin as to his disguise, saying with a
+laugh:
+
+"Really, you might pass unsuspected anywhere, Father! The baron has been
+telling me that you are at this moment the very reverend Pastor van
+Meuwen, from Utrecht. My police have no knowledge that you are Russian
+and an enemy. But there, you are clever, and your services to me are
+worthy far greater reward than you have yet received. Now tell me," he
+added, "how is Stürmer? I sometimes wonder whether he is acting straight
+or crooked. Only the other day he telegraphed to Downing Street that you
+Russians would never agree to a separate peace to isolate Britain. This
+is most annoying."
+
+"Thou art misled, as is all the world," replied the monk with a meaning
+smile. "That telegram was sent to London only after many conferences, in
+which Alexandra Feodorovna took part with Nicholas, Stürmer, Fredericks,
+and Protopopoff. The British Press was growing dubious as to our
+determination in winning the war, hence Stürmer's assurance to bamboozle
+the world was highly necessary."
+
+"That relieves us of much anxiety," remarked Bethmann-Hollweg, chewing
+the end of his cigar. "We were beginning to fear that Stürmer might be
+leaning towards England."
+
+Rasputin made a gesture in the negative.
+
+"Stürmer is ever a good friend of the Fatherland," was his slow reply,
+his eyes fixed upon the Emperor.
+
+"There must be famine in Russia," declared the Kaiser impatiently. "Your
+friend Protopopoff has not yet created it, as he promised when he saw me.
+Famine will bring Russia quickly to her knees, as it will eventually
+bring Britain. Our U-boats are doing marvels. Happily we warned the
+British, therefore we are contravening no convention."
+
+"Soon our friends in London who have sworn never to sheathe the sword
+until we are wiped from the face of the earth will begin to squeal,"
+remarked the Imperial Chancellor with a laugh. "And especially if we can
+carry out Professor Hoheisel's plan and create a pestilence. It must be
+tried in Russia first, and then in England," Bethmann-Hollweg went on.
+"The bacteria of anthrax, glanders, and bubonic plague must be sown in
+various parts of Russia, Gregory. Before you leave Berlin the plan will
+be explained to you."
+
+"The plan by which we sought to propagate cholera by sending infected
+fruit to various charitable institutions broke down because the delivery
+of the fruit was delayed, and it arrived at its destination in an
+uneatable condition," replied Rasputin. "No one would touch it, hence all
+our plans were upset."
+
+"The distribution of presents to charitable institutions must be
+repeated," declared the Chancellor, to which the Emperor agreed.
+"To-morrow you will be told our wishes in that direction," the Chancellor
+went on.
+
+"Yes," exclaimed the Emperor, "this military offensive must stop, and at
+once, if we are successfully to invade England. As soon as Russia makes
+peace our hands will be free to strike a staggering blow at John Bull.
+Not till then."
+
+"As soon as we bring Russia to her senses then we shall begin to twist
+the tail of the British lion," said the Chancellor. "All our plans are
+complete. As soon as there is quiet on the Russian front we can, within
+forty-eight hours, if we wish, put six army corps into East Anglia
+between the Tyne and the Blackwater," he added boastfully.
+
+"Hindenburg will lead them into London one day, never fear," declared the
+Emperor in the most earnest confidence.
+
+I sat in silence, listening to this strange talk of what was to happen to
+England when Russia was crushed.
+
+"The charges against Soukhomlinoff ought never to have been made," the
+Emperor went on, addressing the monk. "I understood from your report to
+Steinhauer that you were arranging that the Tsar should hush up the
+inquiry?"
+
+"The Emperor gave orders to that effect, in consequence of the advice of
+the Empress, but the charges were so very grave that Stürmer urged him to
+cancel his orders lest the public should suspect him of any intention of
+suppressing a scandal."
+
+It was true that the charges against the Minister of War were astounding.
+A high official in the Ministry, named Kartzoff, had betrayed his chief,
+whereupon Colonel Tugen Baranovsky, late Chief of the Mobilisation
+Department of the Russian General Staff, had declared that the
+mobilisation plans drafted by the general were full of wilful errors,
+while rifles, machine-guns, and field and heavy guns were all lacking.
+Allegations had been made by General Petrovsky, later Chief of the
+Fortifications Department, to the effect that the general had only twice
+visited the artillery administration during the whole time he held his
+portfolio as Minister, while Colonel Balvinkine, one of the heads of the
+Artillery Administration, had asserted that Soukhomlinoff had insisted
+upon important contracts for machine-guns being given to the Rickerts
+factory at a cost of two thousand roubles each, while the Toula factory
+could turn out excellent machine-guns at nine hundred roubles.
+
+Such were the charges whispered loudly from end to end of Russia.
+
+"It would be best for that fellow Kartzoff to disappear," declared the
+Kaiser. "His mouth should be closed, as he may become an awkward witness.
+Tell Protopopoff from me that it would be judicious to send him to some
+unknown destination, and that I shall expect to hear early news that he
+is missing."
+
+"I will carry out thine order," said Rasputin gravely. "I agree with thee
+that Kartzoff is highly dangerous. Besides, he is a friend of my worst
+enemy, Purishkevitch, the member of the Duma who has been agitating
+against the events at the front."
+
+Rasputin, by the way, did not fail to give Protopopoff the Kaiser's
+message, and three days after our return to Petrograd Kartzoff was
+enticed away from there by means of a forged telegram, a week later his
+body being found in a wood near Kislovodsk, in the North Caucasus, while
+two other witnesses against the Minister of War were arrested, and died
+later in the island fortress of Schlüsselburg.
+
+The Kaiser seemed unusually cordial towards the monk, much more so than
+on the occasion when they met in Silesia. The Chancellor seemed to be
+watching the "holy" man, taking note of his every gesture and every
+remark.
+
+The Kaiser agreed entirely with his Chancellor's views, and was insistent
+upon the creation of a pestilence in Russia.
+
+"Cholera or plague could work more for our ends in Russia in a month than
+we can effect by military force in a whole year," he declared as he lit a
+cigarette, afterwards tossing the match carelessly into the fire. "What
+are the views of Alexandra Feodorovna?"
+
+"The same as thine own," the monk replied. "Unfortunately all our efforts
+failed. A man named Tsourikoff by some means obtained knowledge of what
+was intended. Her Majesty heard of it, hence I had him removed two days
+later. He was met by a certain dancer, and had supper with her at
+Pivato's, in the Morskaya. An hour after they parted Tsourikoff died
+mysteriously."
+
+"The dancer was a friend of yours, eh? Perhaps a sister-disciple?"
+remarked the Emperor with a meaning grin.
+
+"Thou hast guessed aright," answered the monk. "But after that we did not
+dare to carry the infection further."
+
+"It must be done. I have some ideas. The baron will explain them to you
+to-morrow, and I shall expect you to carry them out," said the great War
+Lord. "In Russia there must be revolt and disease, in England invasion,
+and in France--well, we know how we shall conquer both France and Italy,"
+he added, smiling mysteriously.
+
+He spoke as one who believed that he held the destinies of Europe in the
+hollow of his hand.
+
+"Middle Europe will conquer the world, of that I have no doubt. All is in
+God's hands," agreed the "saint" in bad German, crossing himself with a
+mock piety which seemed to amuse both the Emperor and his Chancellor.
+
+"Listen to-morrow to Hoheisel's scheme, which I have approved," said the
+Emperor, passing to his visitor another cigarette from the heavy golden
+box. "The professor will call on you with the baron and explain. Act
+boldly, dear friend Gregory, for recollect that you have behind you the
+whole resources of Prussia and the good will of myself."
+
+The monk, who had only on the previous day declared that he would subject
+the Kaiser to his influence, had fallen so completely beneath the thrall
+of the German Emperor's curious hypnotism that he sat ready and eager to
+do his bidding.
+
+"The letters you have brought to me from Tsarskoe-Selo are satisfactory
+so far as they go, but there is still much to be done," said the Kaiser.
+"Tell the Empress that I will reply to her by courier, but that she is to
+continue her efforts, and that you both have my full and complete
+support. The prosecution of Soukhomlinoff must be at once suppressed, and
+those hostile statements in the Duma from time to time directed against
+us must be made a penal offence punishable by deportation. Kartzoff must
+go, and Purishkevitch, who is so constantly speaking in the Duma against
+yourself and others, should be suppressed without delay. Perhaps he will
+come to a sudden end!" suggested the Emperor. "At least we can hope so."
+
+Next day at noon the baron brought to us a short, stout, yellow-haired
+man in gold spectacles, the famous German bacteriologist, Professor
+Hoheisel, of the Friedrichshain Hospital.
+
+With the door locked, we all four sat down while the deep-voiced
+scientist unfolded his plan for the devastating of certain populous areas
+in Russia by the dissemination of a newly discovered and highly
+infectious disease.
+
+"The disease was discovered a year ago by Gerhold, at the Alt-Moabit, and
+is closely allied to bubonic plague. It is more highly infectious than
+anthrax or smallpox, and inevitably proves fatal," the professor said,
+seated at the head of the small table. "Curiously enough, infants seem to
+be immune up to six years of age. Now, my proposal, to which both the
+Emperor and the Chancellor have agreed, is that the cultures which I
+have prepared, and of which a large quantity is already in Stockholm
+ready to be utilised, should be introduced into a consignment of meat
+extract and tinned beef which has come from South America, and which is
+being held back by a certain firm in Stockholm friendly to ourselves."
+
+"How do you propose to infect it?" asked the monk, the devilish plot
+appealing at once to his cunning and unscrupulous mind.
+
+"By puncturing the tins and introducing the culture by means of a
+hypodermic syringe, and closing up the hole with a spot of solder. The
+bottles will be treated by puncturing the corks with the needle and
+closing the hole with melted resin."
+
+"I might say," added the baron, "that the cargo has been purchased by our
+friends, Messrs. Juel and Ehrensvard, who are awaiting instructions
+before re-shipping it. When the meat is prepared it will be your work,
+Father, to see that it is distributed in the two cities in which we want
+to experiment, namely, Nijni-Novgorod and Vologda."
+
+"They are doomed cities, eh?" I remarked.
+
+"We intend them to be so," the professor said. "When once the disease is
+released it will spread everywhere, and no precautions can be taken
+because, up to the present, it is known to only half-a-dozen of us in
+Berlin, and we have no knowledge how to treat it successfully."
+
+Rasputin was silent.
+
+"It will certainly be far more dangerous than cholera or
+plague--dangerous to ourselves, I mean," he remarked.
+
+"Of course the epidemic must not be allowed to break out in Petrograd or
+in any of the army centres--at least, not at present. We must first watch
+the effect in Vologda and Nijni."
+
+"Well," said the monk, "what do you wish me to do?"
+
+"You are returning by way of Stockholm," replied the baron. "His Majesty
+wishes the professor to accompany you, and in the warehouse of the firm I
+have named you will see the canned goods and bottles. The professor will
+show you that the tins have been repainted and are labelled with the mark
+of a well-known firm, so that there can be no suspicion of them. Only the
+paint is a much brighter blue than that usually employed. The reason of
+this is that they can easily be identified by any in the secret, and
+prevented from being opened in any area save those two towns I have
+named."
+
+"When do you leave?" asked the deep-voiced demon in human form.
+
+"On Friday next. I have still a number of persons to see."
+
+"Then I shall be ready to travel with you, Father," declared the
+professor; and then, after taking some brandy and soda-water, the
+conference ended.
+
+The devilish ingenuity of the whole scheme appalled me. The sowing of
+cholera germs by means of infected fruit had happily failed, but now
+Germany intended to strike a blow at the civil population of Russia upon
+a scale more gigantic than I had ever imagined.
+
+Next day, a man who gave the name of Emil Döllen brought Rasputin a
+letter, which I opened.
+
+It was, I found, a code message which had been received at the great
+German wireless station at Nauen, having been dispatched from Petrograd,
+ostensibly to the warship _Petropavlovsk_ in the Baltic, as Rasputin had
+arranged before he left Russia.
+
+When I decoded it, I found it to be from the Minister Protopopoff,
+containing certain further instructions, as well as a message from the
+Tsaritza--which necessitated the monk having a second audience with the
+Kaiser.
+
+In reply--while the secret messenger Döllen retired for an hour--I sat
+down and wrote, at the monk's dictation, a long dispatch, in which he
+made brief allusion as to the proposed dissemination of disease, and
+stating his intention to remain some days in Stockholm.
+
+     "All is well," he dictated. "The Emperor William sends his best
+     greetings and acknowledgments of your dispatch of the 3rd inst.
+     It has been found necessary to recall the troops who have been
+     held ready at Hamburg and Bremen for the invasion of Britain. The
+     German General Staff have, after due consideration, decided that
+     an invasion before Russia is crushed might meet with disaster,
+     hence they are turning their attention to submarine and aerial
+     attacks upon Britain in order to crush her. I have learnt from a
+     conversation with the Kaiser that London is to be destroyed by a
+     succession of fleets of super-aeroplanes launching newly devised
+     explosive and poison-gas bombs of a terribly destructive
+     character. Urge S. [Stürmer] to disclaim at once all knowledge of
+     the Rickert contracts. The action taken against General S. is
+     again ordered to be dropped. See the Emperor and persuade him.
+     Blessings upon you.
+                                                       "GREGORY."
+
+Then I proceeded to put it into the special code which Rasputin and
+Protopopoff alone used, and when Döllen called it was ready for
+transmission from Nauen back to the Russian battleship, to which I had
+addressed it, to be "picked up" by the wireless station in Petrograd.
+
+The "holy Father" greatly enjoyed himself in a quiet way in Berlin.
+Indeed, he purchased a ready-made suit of clothes, and, attired in them,
+he went out on two occasions and did not return till dawn, and then half
+intoxicated. On the second occasion the baron called and remonstrated
+with him, pointing out that he was running great risk.
+
+"We have been watching you in order to avoid any unwelcome inquiries by
+the police. But if you continue we can accept no further responsibility,"
+he said. "You see, you pose as Dutch without being able to speak a word
+of the language!"
+
+After that Rasputin became more discreet, but I was nevertheless glad
+when one night we met Professor Hoheisel at the station and left for
+Hamburg, duly arriving at Stockholm two days later, where we lost no time
+in visiting the premises of Juel and Ehrensvard.
+
+Indeed, Mr. Juel, the head of the Hun firm which was doing a large export
+business between Sweden and Germany, called upon us at the Grand Hotel
+within an hour of our arrival, and together we all went to a narrow
+street off the Fjellgatan, not far from the Saltsjöbanans station, where
+we found a great warehouse filled to overflowing with tins of corned beef
+and cases containing bottles of beef extract, which had come from
+America, destined for Germany, but which had been held up to be diverted
+to Russia after being treated with disease germs.
+
+We were shown stacks upon stacks of tins of one pound, two pounds and six
+pounds of beef, all bearing a well-known label, but all painted a
+peculiar blue for identification purposes. In the store we were met by
+four German laboratory assistants of the fat professor, ready to commence
+work upon the tins.
+
+"I will show you what we shall do," said Hoheisel. "The manipulation of
+the tins is quite easy."
+
+He conducted us to a small room on the top floor, which I at once saw was
+fitted as a laboratory, and which contained microscopes, incubators,
+stands of test-tubes, and all the other apparatus appertaining to the
+bacteriologist.
+
+One of his assistants had carried up four small tins of beef, with a
+couple of bottles of beef extract. These he placed on the table, and as
+we stood around he took a small bradawl, and having punctured the tin at
+the large end close to the rim, he took from one of the incubators a
+test-tube full of a cloudy brown liquid gelatine. Then filling a
+hypodermic syringe--upon which was an extra long needle--he thrust it
+into the contents of the tin and injected the virus into the meat.
+
+Afterwards, with a small soldering-iron he closed the puncture.
+
+"That tin, infected as it is, is sufficient to cause an epidemic which
+might result in thousands of deaths," declared the Hun professor proudly.
+
+His assistant then took a bottle of beef extract, which in Russia is
+popular with all classes in preparing their cabbage soup, and refilling
+the syringe, plunged the needle through the cork, afterwards placing a
+spot of melted resin upon the puncture.
+
+"You see how simple it is!" laughed the professor, addressing the
+"saint." "All that now remains is for a firm in Petrograd to buy the
+consignment and arrange for it to be sold to wholesale dealers in Vologda
+and Nijni. This we expect you to arrange."
+
+"I certainly will," replied Rasputin promptly. "Truly, the idea is a most
+ingenious one--a disease which is as yet unknown!"
+
+We remained in Stockholm for four days longer. The professor and his
+assistants were working strenuously, we knew, preparing death for the
+population of those two Russian towns.
+
+One afternoon, after he had lunched with us at the hotel, he said:
+
+"If our experiment is successful, then we mean to repeat it from South
+America to England. It is therefore most important that news of the
+epidemic does not reach the ears of the Allies. You will point out that
+to the Minister Protopopoff. When the plague breaks out the censorship
+must be of the strictest."
+
+Rasputin nodded. He quite understood. He hated the British just as
+heartily as did the Tsaritza.
+
+A week later we were back at Tsarskoe-Selo, and the monk--who pretended
+to have been on a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Tver--made to the Empress a
+full report of his journey to Potsdam. He also told her of the diabolical
+plot to sweep off the population of Vologda and Nijni as an experiment,
+in order to see how Hun "science" could win the war.
+
+Protopopoff came to Rasputin's house half-a-dozen times within the next
+three days, and it was arranged that a firm of importers, Illine and
+Stroukoff, of Petrograd, should handle the consignment of preserved meat.
+Both partners in the firm were in the pay of the Ministry of the
+Interior, hence it was not difficult to arrange that the whole cargo
+should be sent to Vologda and Nijni to relieve there the growing shortage
+of meat.
+
+I strove to combat the clever plot, but was, alas! unable to do so. Every
+precaution was taken against possible failure. The cargo arrived, and was
+at once sent on by rail to its destination, payment being made for it
+through ordinary channels, and nobody suspecting. Food was welcomed
+indeed in Russia in those days of 1916.
+
+In the stress of exciting events that followed I forgot the affair for
+several weeks. One night, however, Rasputin, on returning from Peterhof,
+where the Court was at that moment, received Protopopoff, and the pair
+sat down to drink together.
+
+Suddenly His Excellency exclaimed, with a laugh:
+
+"Your mission to Berlin has borne fruit, my dear Gregory! For the past
+four days I have been receiving terrible reports from Vologda, and worse
+from Nijni-Novgorod. The inhabitants have been seized by a mysterious and
+terribly fatal disease. A medical commission left Petrograd yesterday to
+study it."
+
+"Let them study it!" laughed Rasputin. "They will discover no mode of
+treatment."
+
+"Both towns are rapidly becoming decimated. There have been over thirty
+thousand deaths, and the mortality is daily increasing."
+
+"As I expected," remarked the monk. "The professor knows what he is
+doing. Later on we shall be sending the infection into England and cause
+our John Bull friends a surprise."
+
+"But the position is terribly serious," said His Excellency.
+
+"No doubt. Berlin is watching the result. One day they may deem it wise
+to infect our army. But that must be left to their discretion."
+
+Truly the result of that devilish plot was most awful. In the three
+months that followed--though not a word leaked out to the Allies, so
+careful were Protopopoff and the camarilla to suppress all the
+facts--more than half the population of the two cities died from a
+disease which to this day is a complete mystery, and its bacilli known
+only to German bacteriologists.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE "PERFUME OF DEATH"
+
+
+     "I AM much grieved to hear of the disaster at Obukhov. The
+     accident to Colonel Zinovief is most deplorable. Please place a
+     wreath upon his grave from me. Pray always for us.
+                                                           "ALIX."
+
+This was the text of a telegram addressed to Rasputin from the Empress,
+which I opened when it was placed in my hands. It had been sent from
+Bakhtchisaray, the Oriental town in the Crimea, where Alexandra
+Feodorovna had gone to visit the military hospitals, it being necessary
+for her to pose before Russia as sympathetic to the wounded.
+
+The disaster to which she referred had taken place at the great steel
+works at Obukhov, the outrage having been committed by two German secret
+agents named Lachkarioff and Filimonoff, who had visited Rasputin and
+from whose hand they had received German money. Nearly five hundred lives
+had been lost, as the foundry had been in close proximity to an
+explosives factory, where Colonel Zinovief, the director, had been blown
+to atoms.
+
+It was late at night, and the monk, who was in a state of
+semi-intoxication, on hearing of the wish of Her Majesty, remarked:
+
+"Ah! a clever woman, Féodor--very clever. She never misses an opportunity
+to show her sympathy with the people. Oh! yes--order the wreath to-morrow
+from Solovioff in the Nevski--a fine large one." Then laughing, he added:
+"The people, when they see it, will never suspect that Alexandra
+Feodorovna knew of the pending disaster eight days ago. But," he added
+suddenly, after a pause, "is it not time, Féodor, that I saw another
+vision?"
+
+I laughed. I knew how, during the week that had elapsed since our return
+from the secret visit to Potsdam, he was constantly holding reunions of
+his sister-disciples, many fresh "converts" being admitted to the new
+religion.
+
+Both Lachkarioff and Filimonoff, authors of the terrible disaster at
+Obukhov, had been furnished with passports by Protopopoff, and were
+already well on their way to Sweden, but the catastrophe was the signal
+for a terrible period of unrest throughout Russia, and in the fortnight
+that followed, rumours, purposely started by German agents and the secret
+police under Protopopoff, assumed most alarming proportions.
+
+All was the creation of Rasputin's evil brain. With the Emperor and
+Empress absent in the South, he had, with the connivance of "No. 70,
+Berlin," determined to undermine the moral of the whole nation by
+disseminating false reports and arranging for disaster after disaster.
+
+In the "saint's" study in the Gorokhovaya there was arranged the terrible
+railway "accident" which occurred near Smolensk, in which a crowded troop
+train collided with an ambulance train, the wreckage being run into by a
+second troop train, all three trains eventually taking fire and burning.
+The exact loss of life will never be known.
+
+Another outrage was the destruction of the big railway bridge over the
+River Tvertza, not far from Kava, thus blocking the Petrograd-Moscow
+line, while a train conveying high explosives made in England a few days
+later blew up while passing the station of Odozerskaja, completely
+wrecking the line between Archangel and Petrograd and killing nearly
+three hundred people.
+
+Each of these outrages was arranged in my presence, and I was compelled
+to assist in counting the money which was afterwards given by the monk to
+their perpetrators as price of their perfidy.
+
+"We must create unrest," Rasputin declared one night to His Excellency
+the Minister Protopopoff, as the precious pair sat together. "We must
+prepare Russia for disaster."
+
+Hence it was that they arranged for a series of most alarming false
+rumours to be circulated throughout the length and breadth of the Empire.
+
+Indeed, on the day following, I heard in a bank where I had business that
+all Moscow was involved in a great revolution, that the Moscow police
+were on strike, and that the troops had refused to fire upon the
+populace. Everyone stood aghast at the news. But the truth was that the
+telegraphs and telephones between Moscow and Petrograd had been wilfully
+cut in three places by agents of Protopopoff, and while those alarming
+rumours were current in Petrograd, similar rumours were rife in Moscow
+that revolution had broken out in the capital.
+
+Rasputin and his friends in the course of a few days created a veritable
+whirlwind of false reports, hoping by that means to shatter or stifle all
+manifestations of patriotic feeling, and prepare Russia for a separate
+peace.
+
+Meanwhile he had contrived, as the Kaiser ordered, to prevent the
+offensive being resumed in Poland; and yet so cleverly did he effect all
+this that General Brusiloff, who was at the south-west front, actually
+gave an interview to a British journalist, declaring that the war was
+already won, "though it was merely speculation to estimate how much
+longer will be required before the enemy are convinced that the cause for
+the sake of which they have drenched Europe in blood is irretrievably
+lost."
+
+The cold white light of later events has indeed revealed the black hearts
+of Rasputin and his friends, for while all this was in progress Stürmer,
+though so active in the betrayal of his country, boldly made a speech
+deploring the fact that anyone credited the sinister rumours which his
+fellow-conspirators had started, and to save his face he warned the
+working-classes to remain patient and prosecute the war with vigour.
+
+I recollect well the day he had made that speech--the day on which the
+Labour group of the Central War Industrial Committee issued its
+declaration. There was a reunion of the sister-disciples, at which three
+new members were admitted to the cult, all society women under thirty,
+and all good-looking. Their names were Baroness Térénine, whose husband
+had been Governor of Yaroslav; Countess Chidlovski, one of the
+acknowledged society beauties of Petrograd, who had of late had an
+"affair" with an Italian tenor named Baccelli; and Anna, the pretty young
+daughter of a woman named Friede, who was also a "disciple."
+
+There was a large attendance, and Rasputin exhibited more than the usual
+mock piety. In his jumbled jargon, which he called a sermon--that mixture
+of quotations from the "Lives of Saints" mingled with horrible
+obscenities--he had referred to the terrible rumours.
+
+"These, I fear, my dear sisters, are, alas! too true," he declared.
+"Being in the position of knowing much, I beg of you all to pray
+ceaselessly, and let these three who to-day join our holy circle take
+upon themselves the duty of obtaining fresh converts, and thus ensure to
+themselves the blessing of him who stands here before you--the saviour of
+Russia."
+
+Then he paused, and all the kneeling women crossed themselves, piously
+murmuring, as was part of the creed:
+
+"God's will be done! God's will be done! Truly, our Father Gregory is
+holy! Truly, the sacrifice which each and all of us make is made to God!"
+
+The three newly-admitted aspirants, dressed in very flimsy black in the
+mode which the monk imposed upon them, knelt before the Father and kissed
+his hands, while from his lips fell those awful blasphemies, which,
+amazing as it was, hypnotised, neurotic society women believed to be the
+truth.
+
+Afterwards Rasputin gave them all tea and cake, he being personally
+waited upon by the three neophytes. Then, half-an-hour after the last one
+had departed--for the three had remained behind with him for further
+private instruction and conversation, as was usual--the Prime Minister
+Stürmer was announced.
+
+"I have made the speech you suggested," he declared to the monk as he
+sank into a chair. "Phew! what a smell of perfume, my dear Gregory!" he
+laughed. "Your sister-disciples have left it behind them. Open the
+window, Féodor," he exclaimed, turning to me. "Let us have some fresh
+air."
+
+The monk then explained that while Stürmer had made that public
+declaration he had told the women that the situation was grave, well
+knowing that they, in turn, would tell their husbands, and the rumours
+would quickly be propagated.
+
+"I have had another reassuring telegram from Downing Street," Stürmer
+remarked, with a grin. "I dare not publish it, otherwise it would upset
+our friends in Berlin."
+
+"As I have told you, the Kaiser forbids the publication of any of our
+reassurances from France or England--especially from the English, whom he
+hates so deeply. What, I wonder, will be the fate of the English when he
+is able to send an army of invasion across the North Sea?"
+
+"If he is ever able. I doubt it," remarked the traitorous Premier of
+Russia.
+
+"He certainly intends doing so," said Rasputin. "And when he does I
+should be sorry to be in Britain. They will treat the civilians worse
+than they did the Belgians."
+
+"Yes; he intended being in Paris two years ago," replied the goat-bearded
+_débauché_ in uniform.
+
+"It is time I saw another vision," said the monk presently. "I shall see
+one to-night most probably--one concerning our defeat."
+
+"Do," urged Stürmer. "You have not had a vision for quite a long time. It
+impresses all classes, and we can make so much use of it when dealing
+with Nicholas. He believes as thoroughly in your visions as in the
+spirit-voice of the dead Alexander."
+
+Next day the whole world of Petrograd was startled.
+
+To Grichka the Blessed Virgin had once again revealed herself, just as
+she had done years ago to the peasant girl at Lourdes.
+
+The Procurator of the Holy Synod called to see him at noon to inquire of
+him personally, and ascertain what he had seen. Rasputin, with his hands
+crossed over his breast, turned his dark eyes heavenward, and said:
+
+"It is true that last night, just after midnight, as I was praying in my
+room, Our Lady appeared unto me in a cloud of shining light. She was
+clothed in bright blue, and in her hands she bore a bunch of lilies.
+Behind her I saw a picture of a great battlefield, where our soldiers
+were retreating in disorder, being shot down in hundreds by the
+machine-guns of the enemy--and worse--and worse!" And the charlatan hid
+his face in his hands as though to shut out the horror of the
+recollection.
+
+"What else?" asked the head of the Russian Church. "Tell me, O Father."
+
+"It is too terrible--the public must not know----" he gasped, as though
+in fear. "I saw our Emperor killed on the field of battle; he was struck
+in the head by a piece of shell from one of the German long-range guns,
+and half his face was blown away. Ugh!" And he shuddered. "The sight of
+it was terrible. My blood ran cold. Nicholas, our Emperor, dead! I saw
+Brusiloff, too, lying shot, with a dozen other generals. Then the scene
+changed, and I saw the burial of the Emperor with all pomp, and his widow
+Alexandra Feodorovna following the coffin."
+
+"And then?"
+
+"Then Our Lady opened her lips, and I heard her voice," went on the
+"holy" liar. "She spake to me slowly and solemnly, saying: 'O Gregory,
+what thou hast witnessed is decreed to take place within forty days from
+to-day! These scenes will be enacted upon Russian soil--and worse. The
+people of Petrograd, Moscow and Warsaw will be put to the sword by the
+enemy, who have right and justice upon their side. Russia has fallen away
+from God, and is now accursed.' I shrieked at those fateful words. But
+she repeated them, adding: 'Thou, O Gregory, canst still save Russia if
+thou wilt raise thy voice in warning. Peace must be effected. Let those
+who are in alliance with Russia fight on if they will, but let Russia
+remain holy for the sake of its innocent people and its great Imperial
+house. Warn His Majesty at once, warn his Ministers, to cut themselves
+adrift from those nations which are seeking to profit by their alliance
+with Russia. Compel them to make peace with the Emperor William. If this
+is not concluded within forty days, then God's wrath will fall upon this
+land. Thou art sent by God as His apostle, therefore take heed and take
+instant action!' And a second later she had faded out, and there was
+nothing but darkness."
+
+I could see how greatly our visitor was impressed.
+
+"The Emperor should surely know," he said, astounded.
+
+"Yes, but we must not alarm the public too greatly," Rasputin replied.
+
+"Already it is on everyone's lips," exclaimed the other. "The wildest
+stories are afloat concerning the Blessed Virgin's appearance to you. We
+certainly must have peace with Germany. That is what everyone is saying,
+except members of the Duma and the war party."
+
+Thus, by pretending to have seen a vision at an hour when, truth to tell,
+he had been snoring in a drunken sleep, half Russia grew alarmed,
+including the Emperor and Empress, who both hurried back to
+Tsarskoe-Selo, where Rasputin repeated with much embellishment what he
+had told the Procurator of the Holy Synod.
+
+Just at the moment Rasputin was engaged upon a piece of outrageous
+blackmailing, which I think ought to be recorded against him.
+
+The facts were briefly as follow. The German agent Lachkarioff, who with
+his accomplice had blown up the Obukhov steel works and was now safe in
+Sweden, had, while in Petrograd, made the acquaintance of a certain
+Madame Doukhovski, the young wife of the President of the Superior
+Tribunal at Kharkof. She was a giddy little woman, and the monk had
+plotted with old Countess Ignatieff to entice her to join the cult, but
+she had always refused. Lachkarioff was a good-looking, well-dressed man,
+who posed as a commercial magnate of Riga, and she, I suppose, fell
+beneath his charm. At any rate, for a long time the pair were
+inseparable.
+
+One day the German agent, who was an exceedingly wily person, came to
+Rasputin and told him that he had induced the young lady of Kharkof to
+reveal to him certain secrets concerning the dealings of Soukhomlinoff
+and the supply of machine-guns for the Army--facts which had been
+presented in strictest confidence by one of the War Minister's enemies to
+the President of the Kharkof tribunal.
+
+Rasputin smiled in triumph when he heard the exact details which Madame
+Doukhovski had divulged.
+
+"Sit down yonder, my friend, and put that into writing, and sign it,"
+said the monk, indicating the table by the window.
+
+"You will not punish her for her indiscretion, I hope," remarked the man,
+who was at the moment plotting that series of terrible disasters.
+
+"Not in the least," Rasputin assured him. "Your friend is my friend. But
+when such statements are made I like to have them on record. If
+Soukhomlinoff comes up for trial--which I very much doubt--then the
+memorandum may be of use to prove what silly and baseless gossip has been
+in circulation."
+
+In consequence of this assurance, Lachkarioff wrote down what had been
+told him by the judge's wife, a document which the "saint" preserved with
+much care--until the Obukhov catastrophe had taken place and its author
+was out of Russia. Then he wrote to Madame Doukhovski and asked her to
+call upon him upon an urgent matter concerning her husband.
+
+In surprise, and perhaps a little anxious, she kept the appointment one
+afternoon, and I ushered her into the monk's room.
+
+He rose, and, addressing her roughly, said:
+
+"So you have obeyed me, woman! And it is best for you that you have done
+so. Hitherto you have held me in contempt and refused all invitations to
+visit me. Why?"
+
+"Because I am not a believer," was her open, straightforward answer.
+
+"Then you will believe me ere I have done," he declared, with an evil
+grin, stroking his ragged beard, and fixing his eyes upon her.
+
+"You insult me," she cried angrily. "Why should you speak to me like
+this?"
+
+"Because you have been an associate of Felix Lachkarioff--a traitor and a
+spy," he declared in that deep, hard voice of his. "Oh! you cannot deny
+it. Your husband has no knowledge that you were an intimate friend of the
+man who has fled from Russia after causing that frightful disaster at
+Obukhov. Is not that so?"
+
+The handsome, dark-haired woman whom the spy had so grossly betrayed
+turned pale, and sat utterly staggered that her secret was out. She had
+never dreamed that the handsome, polite man who had one day been
+presented to her in the lounge of the Hôtel d'Europe was a German agent,
+that he was engaged in committing outrages on behalf of the enemy, or
+that he was friendly with the monk.
+
+"Your husband does not know that spy? Answer me?" demanded Rasputin
+roughly.
+
+"I have told my husband nothing," was her faltering reply.
+
+"That is not surprising, Madame," laughed the "saint," leaning back in
+the chair where he had seated himself, "especially when you have told
+that spy certain secrets of our Government, which you obtained by
+examining the dossiers which have been passing through your husband's
+hands."
+
+"What do you mean?" she cried, starting up in indignation.
+
+"Ah, no," he said; "it is useless to pretend ignorance, Madame. Read
+this!"
+
+And he handed her a copy of what the German agent had written, saying: "I
+have the original, which I am passing to the authorities, so that they
+may take what action they deem best against you as a traitor and against
+your husband for negligence!"
+
+The unfortunate woman, when she scanned the statement, went pale to the
+lips, fully realising the extreme seriousness of the nature of her
+offence, now that her admirer was known to be a spy of Germany.
+
+"But you won't do that?" she gasped. "Think, Father, what it would mean
+both to my husband and myself! Think!" she cried hoarsely.
+
+"You have revealed the contents of certain highly confidential documents
+to the Germans," the monk said. "You do not deny it. You, Madame
+Doukhovski, are a traitor to Russia, and evidence of your treachery is
+contained in that confession of a German spy whom you assisted and whom
+you----"
+
+"I looked at the dossiers on my husband's table because Monsieur
+Lachkarioff asked me to do so," she declared. "He told me he was a friend
+of Soukhomlinoff, and that he was doing all he could to assist in
+clearing him of the charges levelled against him. I believed him,
+alas!--I was foolish enough to believe that he spoke the truth. And now
+he has betrayed me!"
+
+"I suppose you were infatuated by the man," laughed the monk scornfully.
+"If you were so weak, then you must pay the penalty."
+
+"And that is--what?" she asked breathlessly, and pale as death.
+
+"Exposure," replied the charlatan who was the head of the traitorous
+camarilla around the throne. "Our dear land is in serious peril to-day,
+therefore those who attempt to betray her should be held up as examples
+to others."
+
+"But you will not--you'll not let anyone know of my indiscretion!" she
+begged.
+
+"That certainly is my intention," was his hard reply. "This statement was
+made to me by your lover, and it is but right that it should be
+investigated, so that we may know the extent of the harm that you have
+done."
+
+The frantic, despairing woman, bursting into tears, threw herself at the
+feet of the "miracle worker," begging hard for mercy.
+
+"Think!" she cried. "Think what it will mean to my husband and myself. He
+will probably be placed under arrest and lose his post, while I--I would
+rather die than face such exposure."
+
+"Ah! my dear Madame," said Rasputin tauntingly. "Life is very sweet, you
+know."
+
+"But you must not do this!" she shrieked loudly. "Promise me, Father,
+that you will not! Promise me--do!"
+
+Rasputin drew his hand roughly from her, for she had seized it as she
+implored him to show her mercy.
+
+"There may be some extenuating circumstances in your case--but I doubt
+it," he said.
+
+"There are!" she declared. "I grew to love the man. I was blind, mad,
+infatuated--but now I hate him! Would that I could kill the man who
+wrought such disaster in our land! Would that I could kill him with my
+own hand!"
+
+Rasputin drew a long breath. The wish she expressed had suddenly aroused
+within his inventive brain a means of executing a sharp and bitter
+revenge.
+
+"Perhaps one day, ere long, you may be afforded opportunity," he said in
+a changed voice. "If so, I will call you here again and explain what I
+mean."
+
+"Ah! Then I may hope for your pity and indulgence, eh?" she cried
+quickly, but still in deep anxiety.
+
+Yet Rasputin would not commit himself, for he was playing a very deep and
+intricate game.
+
+When the erring woman had gone the monk filled his glass with brandy,
+some of that choice old cognac which the Empress sent him regularly, and
+turning to me, said:
+
+"Féodor, the man Doukhovski is wealthy, I understand. Protopopoff has
+been making inquiry, and finds that he is owner of a large estate near
+Ryazhsk, and that from an uncle quite recently he inherited nearly a
+million roubles. He only retains his office because he does not regard it
+as patriotic to retire while the war is in progress. What will he think
+of his wife's betrayal when he knows of it?"
+
+"But you will not inform him," I exclaimed.
+
+"Not if Madame is reasonable. She is wealthy in her own right," replied
+the monk. "If women err they must be compelled to pay the price," he went
+on in a hard voice. "Felix Lachkarioff evidently deceived her very
+cleverly. But there--he is one of the most expert agents that the
+Königgrätzerstrasse possesses, and is so essentially a ladies' man."
+
+After a pause Rasputin, lighting a cigarette, laughed lightly to himself,
+and said:
+
+"The report furnished to me yesterday shows that Madame was one of the
+Plechkoffs of Lublin, and her balance at the Azov Bank is a very
+considerable one. The price of my silence is the money she has there. And
+I shall obtain it, Féodor--you will see," he added with confidence.
+
+So ruthlessly did he treat the unfortunate woman that, by dint of threats
+to place the original of that statement of Lachkarioff before the
+Minister Protopopoff, he had before a week had passed every rouble she
+possessed.
+
+I was present on the night when she came to him to make the offer, the
+negotiations having been opened and carried on by a man named Zouieff,
+one of the several professional blackmailers whom Rasputin employed from
+time to time under the guise of "lawyers." She was beside herself in
+terror and despair, and carried with her a cheque-book.
+
+The interview was a strikingly dramatic one. She penitent, submissive,
+and full of hatred of the spy under whose influence she had fallen; the
+monk cold, brutal, and unforgiving.
+
+"Yes," he said at last, when she offered him a monetary consideration in
+exchange for his silence. "But I am not content with a few paltry
+roubles. I am collecting for my new monastery at Kertch, and what you
+give will atone to God for your crime."
+
+Within ten minutes she had written out a cheque for the whole of her
+private fortune, while at the monk's dictation I wrote out a declaration
+that his allegations were false, a document which he signed and handed to
+her, together with Lachkarioff's original statement.
+
+Even then Rasputin's cunning was not at its limit.
+
+Lachkarioff's usefulness to Germany in Russia was at an end. He was in
+Gothenburg, and being a close friend of an English journalist there, it
+was feared lest he should allow himself to be interviewed, and reveal
+something of the truth concerning the subterranean working of Germany in
+Petrograd.
+
+"The man's lips ought to be closed," Steinhauer had written to Rasputin
+only a week before. "Can you suggest any way? While he lives he will be a
+menace to us all. Filimonoff is safe in an asylum in Copenhagen, though I
+believe he is perfectly sane. Only it is best that no risk should be
+run."
+
+Here were means ready to hand to close the mouth of Felix Lachkarioff,
+for the woman whom he had betrayed was furiously vengeful.
+
+"You said the other day that you would be ready to strike a blow at that
+enemy of Russia who has so grossly misled you," Rasputin said to her in a
+deep, earnest voice, as she sat in his room. "Would not such a course be
+deeply patriotic? Why not, as expiation of your sin, travel to Gothenburg
+and avenge those hundreds of poor people who were his victims at Obukhov?
+I can give into your hand the means," he added, looking her straight in
+the face.
+
+"What means?" she asked.
+
+He crossed to his writing-table, and, unlocking a drawer with a key upon
+his chain, he took out a tiny bottle of extremely expensive Parisian
+perfume, a pale-green liquid, which he handed to her.
+
+"It looks like scent," he remarked, with a grin, "but it contains
+something else--something so potent that a single drop introduced into
+food or drink will produce death within an hour, the symptoms being
+exactly those of heart disease. That is what deaths resulting from it are
+always declared to be. So there is no risk. Meet him, be friendly, dine
+with him for the sake of old days in Petrograd, and before you leave him
+he will be doomed," added Rasputin, in a low whisper. "He surely deserves
+it after deceiving you as he has done!"
+
+"He certainly does," she declared fiercely, unable to overlook how he had
+betrayed her. "And I will do it!" she added, taking up the little bottle.
+"Russia shall be avenged."
+
+"Excellent, my dear sister. You will indeed be rewarded," declared
+Rasputin, crossing himself. "When you return to Petrograd, give me back
+that precious little bottle of perfume, which I call the Perfume of
+Death."
+
+That the woman did not fail to carry out her promise was certain, for
+within a fortnight we heard in a secret dispatch that Hardt brought us
+from Berlin that the agent Lachkarioff had died suddenly from heart
+disease after dining with a Russian lady friend at the Grand Hotel in
+Stockholm.
+
+Truly, the grip in which Germany held Russia and its Government was an
+iron one, and death most assuredly came to those whom Berlin feared, or
+who were in any way obnoxious to the German war party.
+
+Ten days later a small packet was left at the house, addressed to the
+monk. When I opened it I found the little Parisian perfume bottle.
+
+One morning, a week later, I went with Rasputin to the Ministry of the
+Interior, where we were ushered into the small, elegant private room of
+"Satan-in-a-silk-hat" Protopopoff, who greeted us cordially. But as soon
+as the door was closed, and he had invited us to be seated, he rose,
+turned the key, and, facing us, gravely said:
+
+"Gregory, I fear something serious is about to happen. Late last night I
+received an urgent visit from the Under-director of Secret Police of
+Moscow, who had come post-haste to tell me that there has been a secret
+meeting between Miliukoff and the Grand Dukes Serge and Dmitri in that
+city, and it has been decided that at the reopening of the Duma Miliukoff
+will rise and publicly expose us."
+
+"What?" shrieked the monk, starting. "Is that what is intended?" he asked
+breathlessly.
+
+"Yes. He apparently knows the authors of the outrage at Obukhov and our
+association with them. It is believed that he actually holds documentary
+evidence of the money which we passed through the Volga-Kama Bank, in
+Tula."
+
+"But this must be prevented at all hazards," declared Rasputin. "We
+cannot allow him to denounce us. Not that anybody will believe him. But
+it is not policy at this moment. Public opinion is highly inflamed."
+
+"I agree. Of course, nobody will believe him. Yet he is dangerous, and if
+he denounces us in the Duma it will come as a bombshell. I called upon
+Anna Vyrubova early this morning, and she has gone to the palace," said
+Protopopoff.
+
+Rasputin remained silent, his hand stroking his ragged beard, a habit of
+his when working out some scheme more devilish than others.
+
+"Miliukoff will be supported by Purishkevitch, without a doubt," His
+Excellency the Minister went on. "Both are equally dangerous."
+
+The "saint" grunted and knit his brows, for he saw himself in a very
+perilous position. In three days' time the Duma would re-open, and
+Miliukoff would probably bring forth certain documentary evidence of the
+treachery of Stürmer, Fredericks, Soukhomlinoff, Anna Vyrubova, and a
+dozen others who formed the camarilla which was working for Russia's
+downfall.
+
+"The Duma must be prevented from opening," Rasputin declared at last.
+"The Emperor must rescind the order and further postpone it."
+
+"The Duma has been prohibited from meeting for over five months. It can,
+I agree, wait still further. His Majesty must find some excuse, or----"
+
+"I know what is passing in your mind, friend," interrupted the monk.
+"Yes, I will urge Nicholas further to prohibit it, and thus give us time
+to suppress our enemies."
+
+"Action must be taken at once," said the Minister. "I had a telephone
+message from the secret police in Moscow to say that Miliukoff left for
+Petrograd at nine o'clock this morning. The Grand Dukes have gone south."
+
+Two hours later, on our return to the Gorokhovaya, an Imperial courier
+arrived in hot haste from Tsarskoe-Selo with a sealed note for the monk,
+enclosed in two envelopes.
+
+These I tore open, and, signing the outer envelope as assurance of safe
+receipt, handed it to the courier, who left. Afterwards I read the
+message to Rasputin, it being as follows:
+
+     "HOLY FATHER,--Anna has just told me of Miliukoff's intention in
+     the Duma. The Emperor must further adjourn its re-assembling. I
+     have telegraphed to him urging him to do this. If not, let us
+     adopt Noyo's suggestion to pay the agents J. and B. ten thousand
+     roubles to remove him. I would willingly pay a hundred thousand
+     roubles to close his mouth for ever. This must be done. Suggest
+     it to P. [Protopopoff]. Surely the same means could be used as
+     with T. and L. and the end be quite natural and peaceful! You
+     could supply the means as before. But I urge on you not to delay
+     a moment. All depends upon Miliukoff's removal. If he reveals to
+     the Duma what he knows, then everything must be lost. I kiss your
+     dear hands. With Olga I ask your blessing.--Your dutiful
+     daughter,
+                                                                "A."
+
+It was thus evident that the Empress knew of what Rasputin gleefully
+called "The Perfume of Death." Ah! in how many cases, I wonder, was it
+used by the mock "saint" to stifle the truth and to sweep his enemies of
+both sexes from his path? Such a letter as this I have here given seems
+utterly incredible in this twentieth century, yet those who knew
+underground Russia immediately before the downfall of the Romanoffs will
+express no surprise.
+
+At once we went to Tsarskoe-Selo with all haste, and Rasputin had a long
+conference in private with the Empress and Anna, the outcome of which was
+that Alexandra Feodorovna dispatched an urgent message in cipher to the
+Tsar, who was still absent at South-West Headquarters.
+
+We remained at the palace all that day. At six o'clock Anna Vyrubova
+entered the room, where I sat writing some letters, and inquired for the
+monk.
+
+"He was here a quarter of an hour ago," I replied.
+
+"Then find him at once and give him this. It is most urgent," said the
+high-priestess of the cult of the "sister-disciples," handing me a sealed
+envelope.
+
+Ten minutes later I found Rasputin walking alone on the terrace,
+impatient and thoughtful, and opened the envelope. Within was a message
+in Their Majesties' private cipher, which had been deciphered by the
+Empress's own hand, and which read:
+
+     "Tell our dear Father [Rasputin] that to postpone the Duma would,
+     I fear, create an unfavourable impression, and I judge
+     impossible. Protopopoff has asked my authority to arrest
+     Miliukoff upon some technical charge, but I do not consider such
+     a course good policy. I agree that to-day's situation is grave,
+     and agree also that at the last moment some means should be taken
+     to prevent him from speaking.
+                                                              "NIKKI."
+
+The monk at once flew to the Empress's side, where Stürmer was being
+received in audience. Again the situation was eagerly discussed. That
+night, when we returned to Petrograd, although it was nearly midnight,
+Protopopoff was summoned by telephone, and when the pair met I learnt
+what had been arranged at the Palace.
+
+The Empress's wishes were to be carried out. The patriot Miliukoff was to
+be "removed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+MILIUKOFF'S EXPOSURE
+
+
+MATTERS were now growing daily more desperate in Russia. Suspense,
+unrest, and suspicion were rife everywhere, while the deluded people were
+kept quiet by promises of a great offensive in the near future.
+
+The Minister Protopopoff, wearing his gorgeous uniform, his breast
+covered with decorations--the man whom Great Britain regarded as so
+extremely friendly--had just paid a visit to the British Embassy, and on
+his way home called upon Rasputin.
+
+"It is just as we heard from Moscow," he said to the monk anxiously.
+"Miliukoff intends to denounce you at the opening of the Duma. He has
+been in communication with both the French and British Embassies, and as
+far as I can learn both are in entire agreement with him."
+
+"Then I must save myself," Rasputin declared, stroking his matted beard
+thoughtfully.
+
+"The British never dream that I have been assisting you in your schemes
+with Alexandra Feodorovna. That is why they are so friendly with me at
+the Embassy. Indeed, only yesterday the French Ambassador handed me the
+latest report upon the output of munitions in France, and the details of
+their long-range gun. These I copied, and Hardt has left with them for
+Berlin."
+
+"Truly, we have fooled the Allies exquisitely," laughed the Black Monk.
+"But if I am denounced, you also will be discovered as my associate, as
+well as Stürmer, Fredericks, and our other friends."
+
+"That is why the Empress urges you to resort to the 'perfume,'" said the
+much-decorated traitor.
+
+"Yes, but how?" asked Rasputin. "There is no time."
+
+"There is sufficient."
+
+"What do you suggest?" asked the monk.
+
+"You know little Xenie, who married the Councillor of State, Kalatcheff,
+last year? She is one of your 'sisters,' is she not?"
+
+The "saint" nodded.
+
+"Well, according to a secret report made to me, she has conceived a
+violent hatred of Miliukoff, who was once a friend of her husband, and
+who still admires her. Miliukoff visits her home sometimes, and one day
+quite recently while in her salon he denounced you. She has been going
+about declaring him to be your bitterest enemy. If so, could she not
+invite him to take tea with her--and then?"
+
+"An excellent idea!" cried Rasputin. "Xenie Kalatcheff warned me against
+Miliukoff some time ago, I recollect. I will see her and sound her upon
+the subject." Then, turning to me, he asked me to inquire over the
+telephone if Madame Kalatcheff was at home.
+
+Five minutes later I informed the monk that the lady was at home, and was
+ready to speak with him if he wished.
+
+At once Rasputin went to the instrument, and, after greeting her gaily,
+asked if she could possibly come round to see him "on a very urgent
+affair," to which she at once acceded.
+
+"I had better not see her, so I shall get off," said His Excellency. "Be
+careful how you treat her. Recollect, her mind may have been poisoned
+against you by Miliukoff. These members of the Duma are often very clever
+and cunning."
+
+"Leave the matter in my hands," said the "saint," with a grin. "I will
+soon ascertain her exact attitude, and act accordingly. First, we must
+remove Miliukoff, and next Purishkevitch--who is equally our enemy."
+
+About twenty minutes later I ushered into the monk's presence a pretty,
+handsomely-dressed woman of about twenty-eight, who often attended our
+reunions, and who was one of the best-known society women in Petrograd.
+
+I was about to turn and leave when Rasputin said:
+
+"You can remain, Féodor. The matter upon which I have to speak with our
+sister here concerns you as well as myself."
+
+Then, when the wife of the Councillor of State was seated, Rasputin
+carefully approached the subject of Miliukoff.
+
+"It has been whispered to me that he is my bitter enemy, and that he is
+about to speak against me in the Duma," he said. "I believe your husband
+and he are friendly. Do you happen to know if there is any truth in this
+rumour?"
+
+"Yes, Father, I do," was madame's instant reply. "I warned you of him
+three weeks ago, but you did not heed. I also told Anna Vyrubova, but her
+reply was that you, being divine, would be perfectly able to take care of
+yourself."
+
+"So I am. But it is against God's holy law that human tongues should
+utter lies against me," he said, cleverly impressing upon her the fact
+that if Miliukoff were suppressed it would be no crime, but an act of
+duty.
+
+"To me, in my own house, he has declared his intention of denouncing
+you--and also our dear Anna and the Empress."
+
+The monk was silent. While she was seated he stood before her with folded
+arms, looking straight at her. Suddenly, fixing her with those remarkable
+eyes of his, he asked in a deep, hard voice:
+
+"Xenie, will you permit this man to besmirch the name of him whom God
+hath sent to you?"
+
+"I don't understand!" she cried, surprised at his attitude. "How can I
+prevent it?"
+
+"It lies in your hands," declared the mock saint. "You are his
+friend--and also mine. He visits your house--what more easy--than----"
+
+"Than what?"
+
+"Than you should invite him to take tea with you to-morrow--to discuss
+myself. He knows that you are a 'disciple,' I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, he has somehow learnt it--but my husband is in ignorance, and he
+has promised not to reveal the truth to him."
+
+"If he knows of our friendship he might tell your husband. He is
+unprincipled, and probably will do so. That is why I suggest you should
+ask him to tea."
+
+As he spoke he crossed to the writing-table, and, opening a drawer with
+the key upon his chain, he took out the tiny bottle of exquisite Parisian
+perfume.
+
+"What is that you have there?" she asked, with curiosity, noticing the
+little bottle. "Scent?"
+
+"Yes," he said, with a mysterious grin. "It is, my dear sister, the
+Perfume of Death."
+
+"The Perfume of Death?" she echoed. "I don't understand!"
+
+"Then I will tell you, Xenie," he replied, his great hypnotic eyes again
+fixed upon her. "I do not use perfume myself, but others sometimes, on
+rare occasions, use this. It is unsuspicious, and can be left upon a
+lady's dressing-table. A drop used upon a handkerchief emits a most
+delicate odour, like jasmine, but a single drop in a cup of tea means
+death. For two hours the doomed person feels no effect. But suddenly he
+or she becomes faint, and succumbs to heart disease."
+
+"Ah, I see!" she gasped, half-starting from her chair, her face ashen
+grey. "I--I realise what you intend, Father! I--I----"
+
+And she sank back again in her chair, breathless and aghast, without
+concluding her sentence.
+
+"No!" she shrieked suddenly. "No; I could not be a poisoner--a murderess!
+_Anything but that!_"
+
+"Not for the sake of the one sent by God as saviour of our dear Russia?"
+he asked reproachfully, in a low, intense tone. "That man Miliukoff is
+God's enemy--and ours. In your hand lies the means of removing him in
+secret, without the least suspicion."
+
+And slowly the crafty, insinuating criminal took her inert hand, and
+pressed the little bottle into its soft palm.
+
+"One drop placed upon the lemon which he takes in his tea will be
+sufficient," he whispered. "Only be extremely careful of it yourself, and
+return the bottle to me afterwards. It is best in my safe keeping."
+
+"No! I can't!" cried the wretched woman over whom Rasputin had now once
+again cast his inexplicable spell.
+
+"But you shall, Xenie! I, your holy Father, command you to render this
+assistance to your land. None shall ever know. Féodor, who knows all my
+innermost secrets, will remain dumb. The world cannot suspect, because no
+toxicologist has ever discovered the existence of the perfume, nor are
+they able to discern that death has not resulted from heart disease."
+
+"But I should be a murderess!" gasped the unhappy woman beneath that
+fateful thraldom.
+
+"No. You will be fulfilling a duty--a sin imposed upon you in order that,
+by committing it, you shall purify yourself for a holy life in future,"
+he said, referring to one of the principles of his erotic "religion."
+
+She began to waver, and instantly I saw that Rasputin had won--as he won
+always with women--and that the patriot Miliukoff had been sentenced to
+death.
+
+"Go!" he commanded at last. "Go, and do my bidding. Return to-morrow
+night, and tell me of your--_success_!"
+
+Then he bowed out the reluctant but fascinated young woman, who in her
+silver chain-bag carried the small bottle of perfume.
+
+That night Rasputin, after drinking half a bottle of brandy, retired to
+bed, declaring that women were only created to be the servants of men.
+Then I sat down, and taking a sheet of plain and very common
+writing-paper, I typed upon it a warning to the man who, at the Empress's
+suggestion, was to be so ruthlessly "removed." The words I typed were:
+
+     "You will be invited to tea to-morrow by Xenie Kalatcheff. Do not
+     accept. There is a plot to cause your death. This warning is
+     from--A Friend."
+
+I typed an envelope with Monsieur Miliukoff's address, and then, slipping
+to the door quietly, I stole out and dropped it in the letter-box at the
+corner of the Kazanskaya.
+
+That I had saved the deputy's life I knew next afternoon when Madame
+Kalatcheff sent round a hurried note to Rasputin, explaining that, though
+she had invited him to her house, he had rather curtly refused the
+invitation.
+
+At this the monk telephoned her to come round, and once again she sat in
+his room explaining that she had sent Miliukoff a note urging him to see
+her at four o'clock, as she wished to make some revelations concerning
+the monk that might be useful to him when speaking in the Duma. The
+reply, which she produced, was certainly couched in most indignant terms.
+
+"Can he suspect, do you think, Féodor?" he asked, turning to me.
+
+"How can he?" I asked. "Perhaps, knowing madame to be a 'disciple,' he
+doubts the genuineness of her promised disclosures."
+
+"Perhaps so," Xenie said. "But what can I do if he suspects me? Nothing
+that I can see."
+
+The pair sat anxiously discussing the situation for the next half-hour,
+until at last the State Councillor's wife, handing back the little bottle
+of perfume to the monk, rose and left.
+
+I was secretly much gratified that I had been able to save the Deputy's
+life, yet Rasputin continued to discuss other plans with me, repeating:
+
+"The fellow must die. Alexandra Feodorovna has willed it. While he lives
+he will always be a constant menace. He must die! He _shall_ die!"
+
+Our national hymn, "Boje Tzaria khrani" ("God save the Tsar"), was being
+sung at the moment in the streets, because news of a victory in Poland
+had just been given out to the public.
+
+Already the foundation stone of the revolution had been laid, and M.
+Miliukoff, with purely patriotic motives, had assisted in cementing it.
+The Senatorial revision which was ordained to inquire into General
+Soukhomlinoff's treachery had, owing to Miliukoff's activity, ordered a
+search at the amorous old fellow's private abode early in the spring,
+with the result that he found himself incarcerated in the fortress of
+Peter and Paul. When the general was arrested, madame his wife--an
+adventuress named Gaskevitch, who had commenced life as a typist in a
+solicitor's office, and who was many years his junior--had a terrible
+attack of hysteria, for things had taken for her a most unexpected turn.
+The woman had been implicated in intrigue and treachery ever since. After
+copying some secret papers for a man in Kiev, she had blackmailed him,
+obtained a big sum of money, and then married a man named Boulovitch, a
+prosperous landed proprietor. By thus entering the higher circle of
+society in Kiev, she got to know General Soukhomlinoff, its
+Governor-General, who connived with her to obtain a divorce from
+Boulovitch, so that she subsequently married the bald-headed old Don Juan
+a few months after his appointment as War Minister.
+
+Madame and Rasputin were ever hand-in-glove. From the moment the general
+was arrested she had worked with singular energy and adroitness to
+retrieve her husband's fallen fortune, and in doing so she assisted to
+lay the beginning of the first Revolution. She enlisted the sympathy of
+Rasputin, Anna Vyrubova and the Empress, all of whom were gravely
+apprehensive as to what might come out at the general's trial. She even
+threw herself at the feet of Alexandra Feodorovna, imploring her to
+intercede with the Emperor so as to save her calumniated and injured
+husband. And at last she succeeded.
+
+The inquiries were suspended, the newspapers were silent regarding the
+scandal, and suddenly it became known that, "owing to the general's
+mental state," it had been decided, on the advice of a board of
+well-known medical specialists, to liberate him!
+
+This astounding news passed from mouth to mouth, and Miliukoff, the
+patriotic fire-brand, declared everywhere that it was Rasputin's work.
+The news produced the most sinister impression upon the people,
+especially on those connected with the Army. The man who had been the
+primary cause of Russia's reverses was to escape punishment! It was,
+indeed, this insensate act of folly on the part of the Tsar which had
+undermined the people's trust in their Emperor, and gave Rasputin's
+enemies--and more especially Miliukoff--opportunity for his bitter
+denunciation.
+
+On the afternoon of the day before the opening of the Duma, Rasputin
+received another letter from the Empress, in cipher, as follows:
+
+     "DEAR FATHER,--Nikki still refuses to postpone the Duma, though I
+     have done all I can to induce him to do so. Come to us at once
+     and try to force him to our views. Not a moment should be lost. I
+     have just heard that Miliukoff is still active, so conclude that
+     what you told me has failed.
+
+     "P. [Protopopoff] has told me an hour ago that Skoropadski [a
+     German agent living in Petrograd as a jeweller in the Nevski] has
+     betrayed us all, and has placed some most incriminating documents
+     in the hands of Miliukoff, who has, in turn, shown them to
+     Purishkevitch. They will be produced in the Duma to-morrow. The
+     police traced Skoropadski to Riga, but they have failed to arrest
+     him, and he has, alas! escaped to Sweden.
+
+     "Holy Father, do not delay a moment in coming to your daughter to
+     comfort her in this her blackest hour! Miliukoff must be
+     prevented from denouncing you. I cannot conceive how your
+     arrangement with Madame Kalatcheff has failed. The perfume has
+     never failed before. Alix is constantly asking for you, and Olga
+     kisses your dear hand. Seek the Emperor at once before coming to
+     me, or he may suspect us to be in collusion. I have quarrelled
+     with him, because by his obstinacy he will ruin us all. How I
+     wish that Miliukoff would be stricken down! Do not delay.
+     Come!--Your devoted daughter,
+                                                                   "A."
+
+Well I knew that the German-born Empress was sitting alone in the palace
+breathlessly anxious as to what disclosures were forthcoming. She was
+not blind to her increasing unpopularity and to the unkind things said
+openly of her. Somebody had just started a rumour that there was a secret
+wireless plant at the palace, by which she could communicate direct with
+Potsdam. Indeed, so many people believed this that, after the Tsar's
+abdication, every nook, corner and garret of Tsarskoe-Selo was searched,
+but without success. Stürmer, Fredericks, Protopopoff, the poison-monger
+Badmayev, Anna Vyrubova, and half-a-dozen others, who formed the dark and
+sinister forces that were rapidly hurling Russia to her doom, were that
+day as anxious and terrified as the Empress herself. Well they knew that
+if Miliukoff, armed with those incriminating documents--the exact nature
+of which they knew not--spoke the truth in the Legislature, then a storm
+of indignation would sweep over them in such a manner that they could
+never withstand it.
+
+Rasputin, thus summoned, went at once to the palace, and I accompanied
+him. He proceeded straight to the Emperor's private room, while I waited
+in a room adjoining.
+
+I heard their voices raised. The Emperor's was raised in protest; that of
+the monk in angry threats.
+
+"If thou wilt not postpone the Duma, then the peril will be upon thine
+own head!" I heard Rasputin shout. "Why allow these revolutionary
+deputies to criticise thy policy and undermine thy popularity with the
+nation? It is folly! Such policy is suicidal, and if thou wilt persist I
+shall withdraw and return to my home, well knowing that to-morrow the day
+of Russia's doom will dawn."
+
+"The people are clamouring for the reopening of the Duma," replied the
+Emperor weakly. "I can do nothing else but submit."
+
+"I have had a vision," declared the monk. "Last night there was revealed
+unto me the dire result of thy folly. I saw thee, the victim of thy
+nation's anger, dethroned, degraded and imprisoned."
+
+But even that lie failed to induce the Tsar to alter his decision, and
+naturally so, for he was afraid of the dark cloud which he saw rising,
+and which he believed to be due to the long adjournment of the Duma.
+Hence he was afraid to take the monk's advice.
+
+Again I heard both men's voices raised in hot argument.
+
+"I am Emperor!" cried the Tsar at last, angrily, in a high, shrill tone,
+"and I refuse to be thus dictated to!"
+
+Next second there was a loud crash of glass, and I heard Rasputin shout:
+
+"Thou refuseth to listen to good counsel! As I have smashed that bowl, so
+will the people, I tell thee, rise and smash the House of Romanoff!"
+
+With those words he turned, and a moment later rejoined me, his face
+flushed with anger, and his knotted fingers clenched.
+
+He went straight to the Empress and told her of his failure to move
+Nicholas from his decision.
+
+"But surely this man Miliukoff must be prevented from speaking!" cried
+the unhappy woman, who saw all her deep-laid schemes crumbling rapidly
+away, and herself branded as a traitress. "Father, you must work yet
+another miracle. He must be seized by a sudden illness--an accident must
+happen to him, or--or something!"
+
+Rasputin shook his head dubiously, declaring that there was no time to
+arrange a second attempt.
+
+"Have you put it to Protopopoff?" she asked. "He might suggest some
+means, now that the woman Kalatcheff has failed us. If not--he will
+speak--and we are lost! Think, Father, what it all means! There is
+already public unrest created by the rumours that we have unfortunately
+spread of pending disaster, and if they are followed by such charges
+supported by documents, then revolution is inevitable!"
+
+I saw that the Tsaritza, now that every means to secure Miliukoff's
+silence had failed, was terrified lest she be exhibited in her own true
+traitorous colours.
+
+Back we went to Petrograd, where we called at Protopopoff's house, and
+where still another attempt against Miliukoff's life was plotted.
+
+By telephone an ex-agent of Secret Police named Stefanovitch, who had
+done much work as an _agent-provocateur_ for the camarilla, was called,
+and a price was at once arranged for the murder of the Deputy.
+
+He was to be shot at and killed outside the Tauris Palace, just before
+two o'clock, as he was entering the Duma. He would probably be walking
+round to the Chamber from his house with his bosom friend M.
+Purishkevitch.
+
+"You will surely know somebody to whom the affair can be entrusted,
+Ivan," said the Minister of the Interior. "If arrested, he will be
+allowed ample opportunity to escape. Naturally he would not come up for
+trial. I would see to that. So you can give him my personal assurance."
+
+"I should suggest a woman," said the man Stefanovitch. "I know one who
+would not hesitate to act as we wish. Her name is Marie Grozdoff, a
+Polish Jewess. I can trust her. She has done something similar for us
+before."
+
+"And the price?"
+
+"The price will be all right," replied the provocating agent, with a
+business-like air.
+
+"Then we entrust the affair to you, Ivan," said His Excellency. "You will
+receive for yourself ten thousand roubles if Miliukoff dies."
+
+And the man went forth to find the woman, who, for money, would not
+hesitate to commit murder.
+
+That night proved a sleepless one for us all. I tried to warn Miliukoff
+again by sending him an anonymous letter, which I posted in secret after
+the monk had retired. But my great fear was lest the letter would not
+reach his hand in time. Probably it would not be delivered till the
+midday post--and if so, he would not see it till after the opening of the
+Duma!
+
+Next morning passed anxiously. Protopopoff had told us over the
+telephone that Stefanovitch had seen the woman Grozdoff, and that all was
+arranged.
+
+I went early to the Duma, and sat among the crowd in the public gallery,
+while Rasputin remained at home, and the Empress at the palace, with Anna
+near the telephone, she having arranged for brief reports of the
+proceedings to be telephoned to her at intervals of a quarter of an hour
+each during the sitting.
+
+M. Michael Rodzianko, the President, gravely took his seat on the stroke
+of two, and the House was crowded. The diplomatic boxes were filled to
+overflowing, the British, French, Italian and United States Ambassadors,
+together with the Ministers of most of the neutral countries, being
+present.
+
+The usual prayer was offered, but neither M. Miliukoff nor M.
+Purishkevitch was in his place!
+
+Had the attempt been successful? I held my breath and wondered. I had
+been listening for a shot, but heard nothing.
+
+Suddenly my heart gave a bound. A pleasant-looking, grey-haired man, in
+gold-rimmed spectacles, and carrying a big bundle of papers, had entered
+by the back way, and was walking to his seat. It was M. Miliukoff! He had
+had my anonymous letter, and had come in by the back way, being followed
+by his bearded, bald-headed friend. Once again had I been able to warn
+him of danger.
+
+The Government was now dancing upon a volcano.
+
+The sitting opened, the President Rodzianko made a speech in which he
+criticised severely the policy of the Stürmer Government, and everyone
+realised the seriousness of the situation now that the President of the
+Duma came out against the Prime Minister.
+
+"The Government must learn from us what the country needs," said
+Rodzianko fiercely. "The Government must not follow a path different from
+the people. With the confidence of the nation it must head the social
+forces in the march toward victory over the enemy, along the path that
+harmonises with the aspirations of the people. There is no other path to
+be followed."
+
+Then the President went on to declare that, though there was no discord
+among the Allies, yet there was no trick that the enemy would not play
+with the treacherous object of wrecking their alliance. "Russia will not
+betray her friends," he declared, "and I say she, with contempt, refuses
+any consideration of a separate peace."
+
+The speech was greeted with thunderous outbursts of applause, while
+Stürmer, who was present, rose and left after its conclusion.
+
+Then, when the applause and cheering of the Ambassadors of the Allies had
+died down; Paul Miliukoff, the brilliant leader of the Constitutional
+Democrats, rose gravely and began to speak.
+
+That speech, which the camarilla had vainly striven strenuously to
+suppress, proved historic, and was mainly the cause of Stürmer's
+overthrow. Boldly and relentlessly he showed his hearers the favour with
+which the Teutons regarded Stürmer and the consternation caused in the
+Allied camp by his activities. Reading extracts from German and Austrian
+newspapers, he brought out the fact that the Central Powers regarded
+Stürmer as a member "of those circles which look on the war against
+Germany without particular enthusiasm"; that Stürmer's appointment to the
+Foreign Ministry was greeted in the Teutonic countries as the beginning
+of a new era in Russian politics, while the dismissal of Sazonov produced
+in the Entente countries an effect "such as would have been produced by a
+pogrom."
+
+The crowning sensation, however, was what he revealed concerning
+Stürmer's connection with the blackmailing operations of his private
+secretary, Manasevitch-Manuiloff, who, a few weeks before, had been
+arrested on a charge of bribery. The secretary told the directors of a
+Petrograd bank that proceedings were being instituted against them by the
+Ministry of the Interior for alleged trading with the enemy, and offered
+to suppress the affair "through influential friends" for a large
+consideration.
+
+The representatives of the bank had special reasons to get even with the
+"dark forces," and especially Protopopoff, since the retired Minister of
+the Interior, A. N. Khvostov, was a brother of the bank's president.
+Khvostov owed his dismissal to a plot to kill Rasputin, which was
+investigated by Manuiloff. The directors of the bank, therefore, accepted
+the fellow's offer, handing him over a large sum of money in marked
+notes.
+
+Later Manuiloff was arrested by the military authorities with the bribe
+in his possession. His release, however, followed soon, and the name of
+Manuiloff was on everybody's lips. Miliukoff, in his speech, said,
+regarding Manuiloff's liberation:
+
+"Why was this gentleman arrested? That has been known long ago, and I
+shall be saying nothing new if I tell you what you already know, namely,
+that he was arrested for extorting bribes, and that he was liberated
+because--that is also no secret--he told the examining magistrates that
+he shared the bribes with the President of the Council of Ministers."
+
+Thus was Boris Stürmer denounced as a traitor and blackmailer!
+
+But worse was to follow. M. Miliukoff vehemently condemned the Empress
+for her support of the plan, originated in Germany, of a speedy and
+separate peace, regardless of circumstances, conditions, or national
+honour. He quoted further passages from German newspapers, in which "_die
+Friedens-partei der jungen Tzarin_" (the Peace Party of the young
+Tsaritza) was freely discussed. He was very outspoken in referring to the
+"dark forces" which surrounded the Throne and had lately assumed such
+overwhelming dimensions, and he openly declared "that man, the monk
+Gregory Rasputin, the ex-horse-stealer and pet saint of Alexandra
+Feodorovna, is, gentlemen, nothing more than an erotic charlatan, who is
+the catspaw of the Kaiser!"
+
+The effect of this was electrical. The House sat staggered.
+
+"Yes, gentlemen," he went on, striking the bundle of papers which lay
+upon the desk before him, "I have here documentary evidence of the
+traitorous actions of this camarilla, who are attempting to lead Russia
+to her doom--papers which shall be revealed to you all in due course. It
+is said that the Prime Minister has already left the Chamber to make a
+personal report to His Majesty of the President's speech. All I trust is
+that the words I have just uttered will also reach the Emperor's ears,
+and that he will trouble himself to examine the irrefutable evidence of
+Rasputin's diabolical work at the Palace and in the Ministries, and the
+crafty machinations of the 'black forces' in our midst."
+
+The Manuiloff disclosures were sufficiently dramatic, but this outspoken
+exposure of Rasputin, the more bitter, perhaps, because of my warnings of
+the two attempts to assassinate him, caused the House to gasp.
+
+The very name of Rasputin had only been breathed in whispers, and his
+cult was referred to vaguely as something mysterious connected with the
+occult. But in that speech, to which I sat and listened, Miliukoff hit
+straight from the shoulder, and called a spade a spade. One of his
+phrases was, "Russia can never win so long as this convicted criminal and
+seducer of women is allowed to work his amazing power upon the rulers of
+the Empire. Remove him!" he went on. "Let him be placed safely within the
+walls of Peter and Paul, together with his 'sisters,' and with all his
+brother-traitors, and then there will be no more suggestion of a separate
+peace. Remove his evil influence!" shouted the fine orator, his voice
+ringing through the Chamber. "I say, remove him from the Imperial circle,
+or Russia is doomed!"
+
+I left the Duma by that long stone staircase with a feeling that at last
+the power behind the Throne, nay, the very Throne itself, was broken.
+
+I sped to Rasputin's house, and with pretended regret related all that
+had occurred.
+
+Hearing it, he sprang to the telephone, declaring in a hoarse voice: "The
+Censor must prohibit every word of it from publication. I will demand
+this of Nicholas!"
+
+And a few moments later he was speaking with the Emperor, urging that an
+order to the Censor be immediately issued--a suggestion that was at once
+carried out.
+
+Meanwhile a dramatic scene was being enacted in the Empress's boudoir,
+for that day proved the beginning of the end of the holy Father's career,
+as well as that of Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE TRAITOR DENOUNCED
+
+
+THE Empress, on hearing what had happened in the Duma, had a fit of
+hysterics. Nicholas was present while the Court physician administered
+restoratives. Then, without a word, he turned, and, leaving his wife in
+the care of the traitress Anna Vyrubova, he left for General
+Headquarters.
+
+When Rasputin was informed by telephone of the Emperor's departure he
+became furious.
+
+"He fears to meet Stürmer!" he cried to me. "He is leaving him in the
+lurch."
+
+And this he did, for the next day the fate of Russia trembled in the
+balance, while the Black Monk went about to the Ministers in frantic
+haste, hoping and plotting to turn public opinion again in his favour.
+The charlatan, who could work miracles, and was the Heaven-sent saviour
+of Russia, had been exposed as a mere impostor. Stürmer's position had
+also become desperate under the concerted attacks of the Duma. A meeting
+of the Cabinet was held, at which the monk was present. Stürmer, with
+Protopopoff's support, proposed to dissolve the Duma. Some members
+opposed the suggestion, whereupon Stürmer resolved to execute it upon his
+own initiative.
+
+In Rasputin's room, and in my presence, he drew up a document to that
+effect, but to make it law it required the Tsar's consent, and Nicholas
+was far away. It was Stürmer or the Duma.
+
+Alexandra Feodorovna and Rasputin were both working with Stürmer to
+dissolve the people's representatives, and again prevent them from
+reassembling.
+
+As Rasputin put it to me clearly that night:
+
+"Féodor, this is a great crisis. The Duma and Stürmer are incompatible.
+The victory of the latter will mean revolution. The triumph of the Duma
+will indicate the winning of the battle by the democracy. To achieve his
+purpose, Stürmer needs an audience with the Tsar, and he must have it.
+Alexandra Feodorovna seems to be failing us, for Nicholas has hidden
+himself, hoping that the storm will blow over."
+
+Stürmer strained every effort to obtain audience with the Emperor, but he
+was elusive, and for days no one knew where he was. An audience would
+mean the dissolution of the Duma, and this Nicholas feared would bring
+revolution.
+
+As is well known, by a record published by an American journalist, there
+suddenly appeared in the Duma the Ministers of War and Marine, General
+Shuvaiev and Admiral Grigorovitch. They announced that they had a
+statement to make. The representatives of the people held their breath in
+suspense. The War Minister mounted the tribune, and paid a tribute to the
+people's efforts in the cause of national defence, requesting the Duma's
+and the country's future co-operation in the work of equipping the army.
+The Minister of Marine reiterated General Shuvaiev's demand for
+co-operation between the Government and the Duma. The latter, perhaps,
+never witnessed such a scene as that which followed the two Ministers'
+speeches. There was a great ovation, after which Miliukoff rose and said:
+
+"The War and Marine Ministers have declared themselves on the side of the
+Duma and the people. We, on our part, have said that the Duma is with the
+army and the people."
+
+This sealed the fate of Boris Stürmer. The people had achieved their
+first victory over the "dark forces," and Stürmer, driven out, came one
+night to us, and, pacing the room, tore his beard and cursed both the
+Emperor and Empress.
+
+Then, turning upon Rasputin, he cried with a sneer:
+
+"And you, the holy Father and our divine guide, have been powerless to
+save us! Where are your miraculous powers? Only in your own imagination,
+I am beginning to think."
+
+These words led to a serious quarrel and bitter recriminations, for the
+Empress, to save herself, had dropped Stürmer, so that Protopopoff had
+become instantly the favourite at Court, and, indeed, dictator.
+
+Two weeks went by, weeks of the tensest scenes in the contest between the
+democracy and the conspirators, of whom Rasputin and the Empress were the
+head. Protopopoff defied the new Premier, Alexander Trepov, a hide-bound
+bureaucrat, as well as the Duma, and it was then that the crisis was
+reached.
+
+Each day we went regularly to Tsarskoe-Selo, and there another plot was
+quickly hatched. While the public were daily expecting the downfall of
+Protopopoff as a natural outcome of Stürmer's denunciation and
+degradation, they were one day suddenly staggered by the news that the
+retired Premier was about to be appointed Ambassador to a neutral
+country.
+
+Everywhere I went I heard the most sinister dissatisfaction. The people
+knew what was meant, namely, that the Germanophile Stürmer was to
+negotiate a premature peace, and this within three weeks of his downfall!
+The whole Empire was agog at the news, yet Rasputin remained calm and
+silent, believing that his clever plot would be successful.
+
+Certainly it might have been had not the Duma continued its concerted
+attack on the "dark forces," demanding a responsible Ministry. Even half
+of the Extreme Right, the most rabid monarchical faction in the Duma,
+joined the Opposition, a fact which, when told to the Empress, sent her
+again into hysterics.
+
+I remember that day well. Hardt had arrived hot-foot from Berlin, and
+brought the monk a dispatch which, when deciphered, read as follows:
+
+     "MEMORANDUM FROM NO. 70. A.43,286.
+                                              "November 8th, 1916.
+
+     "The attitude of the Duma is creating much alarm for your
+     personal safety. As you have failed to suppress Miliukoff,
+     endeavour at once to remove his chief supporter Purishkevitch.
+     Inform A. [Anna Vyrubova] that Korniloff has revealed to P. her
+     duplicity in the Zarudni affair, and P. has in his possession
+     certain documents incriminating her. These should be secured at
+     all hazards. [G. Zarudni, active in political law cases, and who
+     was, after the Revolution, appointed Minister of Justice in the
+     Kerensky Cabinet.] P. intends to make use of these in the Duma.
+     It is suggested, therefore, that the woman X. [Xenie Kalatcheff]
+     be again given the perfume, with instructions from yourself. If
+     not, employ the girl Olga Bauer. She posed as a domestic servant
+     in the Princess Tchekmareff affair, and was successful. Why not
+     utilise her again?
+
+     "Inform Her Majesty that Stürmer must come back to power very
+     shortly. But this is impossible while Miliukoff and Purishkevitch
+     have the ear of the people. Not a second should be lost in
+     suppressing them. We have heard with satisfaction of the removal
+     of the woman Marya Ustryaloff and the man Paul Krizhitsky. Both
+     knew too much, and, though they served us faithfully, were not
+     further required. [When the sphere of usefulness of German secret
+     agents ends they generally meet with untimely deaths.]
+
+     "Also inform Her Majesty that she and her daughters should
+     exhibit a keener interest in the wounded in order to win back
+     public favour. You, too, should perform another miracle.
+
+     "We hear with regret that, though the allegations made by
+     Miliukoff were suppressed by the Censor, typewritten copies of
+     the speech are being widely distributed everywhere. If you do not
+     act with a firm hand, this will upset all our plans. The moment
+     is critical, and all depends upon your own drastic
+     actions.--Greeting,
+                                                     "S." [Steinhauer].
+
+That same evening the bearded blackguard communicated to the Tsaritza and
+the elegant _morphineuse_ Anna Vyrubova the contents of the secret
+dispatch.
+
+Both Empress and lady-in-waiting, in their rich evening gowns, came to
+the fine apartments which were allotted to the monk in the palace, and as
+they were seated I read over the message.
+
+"Yes," declared Her Majesty when I had finished; "I quite agree that the
+girl Olga Bauer should receive instructions. Order Protopopoff to make
+inquiry into the best means by which she can approach Purishkevitch. The
+fellow must be prevented from implicating our dear Anna in the Zarudni
+affair."
+
+"Yes," said Madame Vyrubova in alarm; "it would ruin not only myself, but
+the Empress also."
+
+"I will do thy bidding," Rasputin responded, standing with his hands
+behind his back, his great cross suspended from his neck scintillating
+beneath the light.
+
+"The girl Bauer, posing as a domestic servant, managed to ingratiate
+herself with Prince Tchekmareff, and gave the perfume to her mistress
+with success," remarked Anna. "And there was not the slightest suspicion.
+Xenie Kalatcheff failed, therefore I am not in favour of her being
+employed again."
+
+"True, Olga is a girl of great daring, and her lover has long been in the
+German service," Rasputin remarked. "I will see her to-morrow." Then,
+turning to me, he said: "Féodor, write to her and ask her to call on me
+to-morrow evening at eight. Send the letter by special messenger."
+
+This I did, and next evening the girl Bauer called. She was slim, very
+pretty, and dressed as she was, as a girl of the people, none would
+suspect her of having committed several secret murders at Rasputin's
+instructions.
+
+"Olga," he said, when she was shown into his room, "really you are
+growing prettier each day! I envy Ivan Ivanovitch, for he has good
+taste."
+
+"You flatter me, Father," said the girl, blushing.
+
+"I speak the truth," declared the monk, twisting the end of his beard in
+his fingers and fixing his strange eyes upon hers. "But," he went on, "I
+asked you here because I want you to help our cause once again--with the
+perfume."
+
+She grew serious in an instant.
+
+"Who is obnoxious?" she asked quickly, in a hard voice.
+
+"Purishkevitch," declared the monk. "The man has somewhere in his house
+certain incriminating papers regarding Madame Vyrubova. These, however,
+do not concern you. When the Deputy is dead I will have the police search
+the house at once, and the papers when found will be handed to me. You
+must repeat the rôle you played in Prince Tchekmareff's household."
+
+With these words he rose and took from a drawer he unlocked a small
+bottle containing a piece of cotton-wool, saying:
+
+"This wool has been soaked in the perfume and dried, so that it is more
+easily carried and less suspicious than in liquid form. Just place a
+little water on the wool and squeeze it out, when you have the perfume
+ready to hand."
+
+The pretty girl took the little wide-mouthed bottle and held it against
+the light.
+
+"The Deputy will be difficult to approach," she said. "He is not a
+fast-living man, like some with whom I have dealt."
+
+"He will not be able to resist a pretty face like yours," Rasputin said
+confidently.
+
+"Well," she said at last, "I will try, Father. Give me your blessing."
+
+And she went upon her knees, while the erotic blackguard placed his dirty
+hands upon her head, and, raising his eyes to Heaven, pretended to place
+upon her his benediction.
+
+Afterwards, before she left us, she told us that she knew that the Deputy
+had a young man-servant named Protzenko, and it would be her object to
+first attract his attention and become on intimate terms with him, by
+which means she would be enabled to visit the servants' quarters of
+Purishkevitch's house.
+
+"Excellent--if you do not think that you could obtain a place there as
+servant."
+
+"That would be difficult, for I happen to know that all the servants have
+been there for years, and that there is no vacancy."
+
+"Well, Olga, act just as you like," the monk said. "Only remove him, and
+then telephone instantly to me, so that the police can search
+immediately."
+
+Of the girl Bauer we heard nothing for a fortnight. Time after time I
+felt impelled to warn the doomed man, but I feared lest Rasputin should
+suspect me of treachery, the other plots having failed. One night, while
+at the palace, I was informed by a flunkey that someone wished to speak
+with the monk on the public telephone, therefore I went to the
+instrument.
+
+The voice I heard was that of Olga Bauer, who, when she recognised me,
+said:
+
+"Tell the Father that his wishes were carried out half an hour ago. You
+know what I mean--eh?"
+
+"Yes," I replied. "I know--I will tell him at once." And then I rang off.
+
+Returning to Rasputin's handsome room I repeated the message, whereupon
+he sprang up with eager delight, and ringing up Protopopoff at his house
+in Petrograd, told him to order an immediate police search of
+Purishkevitch's house, as had already been arranged.
+
+After that I had some business with the Master of the Imperial Household
+in the opposite wing of the palace, and it was not till half-an-hour
+later that I re-entered the "saint's" room.
+
+I found Rasputin foaming with rage and stamping up and down the room in
+fury.
+
+"I told the Empress and Anna the good news, now to find that it is
+false!" he cried. "The police made a domiciliary visit only to be greeted
+by Purishkevitch himself. Think of it!"
+
+"Then the fellow is not dead!" I gasped in amazement.
+
+"No. He is still alive. His valet Protzenko died an hour ago. That fool
+of a girl has blundered!"
+
+As he uttered these words the door opened and the Empress appeared,
+looking pale and desperate.
+
+"Father," she said, "this is a very serious contretemps for us all. How
+do we not know that the girl Bauer purposely removed the valet in place
+of his master? The visit of the police will arouse the suspicion of our
+enemy, and he may trace the crime to his valet's female acquaintance.
+What then?"
+
+"I had never thought of that!" replied the monk, halting erect before
+her. "She might, in that case, betray us! Truly thou hast spoken words of
+wisdom!"
+
+"Yes. In the girl I discern a possible enemy--and in this crisis we
+should take no risks."
+
+"I agree. I will take steps. If she has betrayed us, then she shall be
+tried for the murder of Princess Tchekmareff. Whatever allegations she
+makes against me will not be allowed to transpire at the trial."
+
+"Or get Nikki to sign an order for her banishment to Siberia as an
+exile," suggested the scheming Empress.
+
+"Ah! my daughter, thou art always wise. An excellent plan! I will first
+make inquiries, and then ask for the Emperor's signature."
+
+Though matters had assumed the most serious aspect in those last days of
+November, Rasputin, bent upon revenge and full of chagrin at being unable
+to obtain possession of those incriminating letters of the high priestess
+of his disgraceful cult, Madame Vyrubova, was busy making inquiries, and
+among those he questioned was Ivan Ivanovitch, a bookbinder in Petrograd,
+who was Olga's lover, and who regarded the monk with considerable
+disfavour, a fact of which Rasputin was unaware.
+
+The young man, in consequence of the nature of the questions put to him
+by the monk, guessed what was in his mind, and that same day told Olga
+that Rasputin disbelieved her story how the valet had drunk the glass of
+kümmel that had been poured out for his master, and that, full of
+chagrin, he was plotting a revenge.
+
+Of this we knew nothing till afterwards. But on the same night as Ivan
+Ivanovitch revealed the truth to her Olga called upon Rasputin, and I
+admitted her.
+
+"I wish to see the Father," she said, in a deep, earnest voice.
+
+"I will go and see if he will receive you," I answered, and I left her in
+the ante-room.
+
+Rasputin ordered her to be shown in, whereupon, as soon as she crossed
+the threshold, she drew a revolver, and, dashing toward him, fired. The
+bullet missed, and she fired again, also without effect, before I could
+rush up and seize her. She struggled with me with a strength born of
+madness.
+
+"What does this mean, woman?" asked the monk, standing with his arms
+folded, while I held her wrists, the weapon having fallen upon the
+polished floor during our wild struggle.
+
+"It means that I intend to rid the world of a base blackguard and
+betrayer of women!" she said. "I have been in your toils and done your
+dirty work, and now, because I have failed, you intend to denounce me,
+and so close my lips. But they will never be closed. The evidence which
+Purishkevitch holds is complete. I have seen it. Protzenko discovered me
+tampering with his master's papers, so I first assured him it was out of
+curiosity, and then I gave him a little of the perfume."
+
+We both stood aghast at learning the truth.
+
+"It surprises you!" she shrieked, still in my grip. "But you may be more
+surprised when you know that I have become a friend and partisan of the
+Deputy, and that with Ivan I have united to hasten the downfall of
+you--the Black Monk of Petrograd!"
+
+"Silence, woman!" thundered Rasputin, casting an evil glance at her.
+"Hold her, Féodor. I will lock the door!"
+
+Then, picking up the revolver, he strode to the door, which he locked and
+took the key. Passing to the telephone, he was soon speaking with
+Protopopoff, whom he ordered to send police officers to conduct the girl
+Bauer to the fortress of Peter and Paul.
+
+"And I also order you to arrest the girl's lover, Ivan Ivanovitch, as a
+dangerous political. You know his address," he said to the Minister.
+
+"Now you can release her!" he added, turning to me. "And write at my
+dictation."
+
+The girl stood staggered at hearing Rasputin's orders to the Minister of
+the Interior.
+
+"No, no!" she shrieked. "Forgive me! forgive me, Father! I--I was
+mad--_mad!_ Ivan urged me to do this--to kill you!"
+
+"Write as I tell you, Féodor," Rasputin ordered.
+
+Then, as I sat at the table, he dictated the following lines:
+
+     "It is by our order that the woman Olga Alexandrovna Bauer,
+     native of Orel, shall be deported without trial to Yakutsk, in
+     Eastern Siberia, and there sent to penal servitude for life. And
+     further, that Ivan Ivanovitch shall be confined for life in the
+     Fortress of Schlüsselburg. Given at our Palace of Tsarskoe-Selo,
+     December 1st, 1916."
+
+"The Emperor will sign that to-morrow," he added.
+
+The unfortunate girl, shrieking loudly, threw herself at the feet of the
+monk, imploring forgiveness.
+
+"No, my pretty one!" he replied. "You would open your lips if I gave you
+the chance. But you will not have it. You are my enemy, and the enemies
+of Gregory Rasputin never prevail for long, for he takes good care of
+that!"
+
+She had a fit of hysterics, but quickly came to consciousness again, only
+to find herself in the hands of six grey-coated police officers, who
+roughly bundled her out into the hall, shrieking and cursing the
+blasphemous blackguard who was the real ruler of the Empire.
+
+An hour after the girl Bauer had been taken away a secret messenger from
+Berlin brought us another dispatch in cipher, which, when I decoded it,
+read:
+
+     "MEMORANDUM FROM NO. 70. 68,428. G.
+
+     "Instructions from the Emperor William are to the effect that
+     Germany will deliver a peace offer to Russia on December 12th.
+     Inform Her Majesty of this, and tell her to use all her influence
+     with the Emperor and all the Ministers towards an acceptance.
+
+     "Instructions to our friend P. [Protopopoff] are to continue his
+     destructive activities. He must muzzle the Press more closely,
+     hold up all food, and continue provocative work in all quarters.
+     It is only by producing extreme suffering that you can bring
+     about an uprising for peace. Code now changed to No.
+     5.--Greetings,
+                                                                "S."
+
+Duly the German offer of peace was made on December 12th, and Russia was
+tottering to her doom. The offer, engineered by the "black forces," gave
+opportunity to the Duma to express its pent-up feelings. Both Miliukoff
+and his friend who had so narrowly escaped the "perfume" declared
+publicly that the camarilla favoured the acceptance of the offer.
+
+Of the truth of this I can myself vouch, for Alexandra Feodorovna had,
+since her holy Father had received the secret dispatch, spared no effort
+to induce the Emperor and the Cabinet to accept the olive branch.
+
+Nicholas refused. Whatever may be said of him, I know personally that on
+many occasions he proved his loyalty to the Allies against the evil
+counsels of Stürmer and the others.
+
+The nation, however, had to be pacified, so the Tsar called the
+newly-appointed Foreign Minister, Petrovsky, who represented the best
+type of bureaucrat, and instructed him how to act. In consequence, three
+days after the Teuton proposal was made, he announced Russia's rejection
+of a "premature peace." Immediately after the Foreign Minister's
+declaration, the Duma passed a resolution, which contained the following
+declaration:
+
+     "Having heard the statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
+     the Duma unanimously favours a categorical refusal by the Allied
+     Governments to enter, under present conditions, into any peace
+     negotiations whatever."
+
+Truly, public opinion was becoming more than ever inflamed.
+
+Yet "Satan in a silk hat," seated in the Ministry of the Interior, was
+working his evil machinations upon the nation to create the greatest
+possible suffering and unrest, as his taskmaster in Berlin had ordered.
+And in this he had an able assistant in the unwashed "saint," who a few
+days before, in collusion with his friend the ex-conjurer, had in a low
+quarter of Petrograd performed a trick which all believed to be a
+"miracle."
+
+One of Protopopoff's schemes, which he successfully carried out, was that
+of sowing discontent among the masses by spreading mysterious leaflets
+calling for rebellion on the issue of peace. By this he attempted to
+disrupt the organic life of the country and of the army. With Rasputin he
+was plotting to create a clamour which would justify the Government in
+opening separate peace negotiations and throwing the Allies overboard.
+
+Unfortunately for him, however, the unions of zemstvos and of towns
+remained patriotic. So he prohibited their meetings in order to cause
+demonstrations and riots.
+
+To all pleas and the warnings of those who saw the handwriting on the
+wall the Emperor remained deaf.
+
+One afternoon, while I was with Rasputin in his apartments at the palace,
+the Empress entered, flushed and excited.
+
+"Father! I have had such a blow. What do you think has happened?" she
+gasped. "Nicholas [the Grand Duke] has just had the audacity to read
+before Nikki and myself a statement which was outrageous. I snatched it
+from his hand and tore it up! Oh! it is infamous that I should be thus
+treated!"
+
+"What has happened?" asked the monk, in his slow, deliberate way. "Do not
+distress thyself, my sister." And he made the sign of the cross.
+
+"He has declared that you, our dear Father, have become the ruler of
+Russia; that Protopopoff was appointed through you, and that about you
+is centred a clique of enemy spies and charlatans, and he actually urged
+Nikki to protect Olga and myself from you! When he had finished his
+statement, fearing that he had gone too far, Nicholas said, 'Now call
+your Cossacks and have me killed and buried in your garden.' Nikki merely
+smiled."
+
+"He would hear nothing against thee, I hope," said Rasputin anxiously.
+
+"Nothing. Nikki assured him that I had nothing to do with politics, and
+dismissed the allegations by declaring that he entirely disbelieved
+them."
+
+"Excellent!" exclaimed the monk; but afterwards, when he sat in the room,
+he remained silent and thoughtful for a long time.
+
+At last he exclaimed aloud to me:
+
+"Miliukoff must be removed. While he lives we are all in danger. We must
+try another method."
+
+Matters had now reached a most desperate crisis, for on the following day
+Vladimir Purishkevitch, who had opposed the Government so strenuously in
+spite of his monarchical affiliations, came to see the Tsar to warn him
+also of the evil forces about him. But His Majesty took no heed.
+Therefore, two days later, he delivered from the tribune of the Duma some
+terrible allegations against the camarilla.
+
+Meanwhile Rasputin had been active, and, with Stürmer's aid, had got hold
+of a man named Dubrovin, the leader of "the Black Hundred" and a close
+associate of the "dark forces." This man had, in turn, induced a man
+named Prohozhi, a member of the organisation, to accept a sum of money in
+return for the assassination of Miliukoff by means of a bomb.
+
+All was arranged for the night of December 20th, and Rasputin sat with
+the Empress eagerly awaiting news that the deed had been accomplished.
+Instead of that, however, Protopopoff rang up from his house in Petrograd
+to say that Prohozhi had, on reflection, hesitated to harm Miliukoff, and
+moreover had revealed to young Prince Felix Youssoupoff and several
+others the whole of the conspiracy!
+
+When told of this the Empress fainted. She saw that all was now lost.
+Indeed, on the following day Miliukoff rose in the Duma and made a second
+and more powerful attack upon the camarilla, singling out Protopopoff as
+one of the worst offenders. Again he held in his hand his famous bundle
+of documents, evidence of the treachery of the "dark forces," and in a
+magnificent speech he defied the Government, and urged the people to
+judge matters for themselves in the light which those documents would
+cast upon events. In that latest denunciation of Rasputin and his friends
+there was a ring that resounded through Europe.
+
+The Tsar had again left for the front, while the Empress, nervous and
+trembling, held Rasputin and Anna ever at her side. The precious trio
+which had wrecked Russia were now seriously perturbed at the ugly state
+of public opinion. A dark storm-cloud had arisen, but Rasputin, with his
+boldness and contempt for the people, assured the Empress that there was
+no cause for anxiety, and that all would be well.
+
+The séances of the sister-disciples in Petrograd had been suspended, for
+the monk remained at the palace, and scarcely ever left it. Protopopoff
+came daily to consult with the Empress, with her mock-pious favourite and
+the treacherous pro-German Fredericks, for yet another fresh plot was
+being formed against those who were so antagonistic to the Government, a
+plot which was to be worked by unscrupulous _agents-provocateurs_, with
+the object of placing among their effects incriminating correspondence
+relating to a widespread conspiracy (which did not exist) to overthrow
+the monarchy and suppress the House of Romanoff. The idea, having
+originated in Rasputin's fertile brain, had been taken up with frantic
+haste, for each member of the "dark forces" had decided that "something
+must be done," and that the situation had become most perilous for them
+all.
+
+In those snowy December days, the people at last realised that they were
+being tricked, and that the German-born Empress was striving, with her
+sycophants and with the "holy" rascal, for a separate peace. Secret
+meetings were being held everywhere in Petrograd, the police were making
+indiscriminate arrests, and Schlüsselburg was already overflowing with
+its human victims whom Rasputin had indicated, for a hostile word from
+him meant imprisonment or death. He was, indeed, Tsar of All the Russias.
+
+Such was the breathless state of things at Tsarskoe-Selo in the last days
+of December.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Then came the final dramatic coup.
+
+Of its exact details I have no knowledge. I give--as I have given all
+through this narrative of fact--only what I _know_ to be actual truth.
+
+On December 29th, at eleven o'clock, I left the palace to take a message
+to Protopopoff, and to interview the much-travelled Hardt, who was coming
+to Petrograd from Stockholm with his usual fortnightly dispatch from
+Berlin. I returned to the Palace about eight o'clock in the evening, when
+I received a message through one of the silk-stockinged servants, whose
+duty it was to wait upon "his holiness," to the effect that the monk had
+gone suddenly to Petrograd upon urgent business, and would return on the
+morrow.
+
+Naturally, I accepted the message, ate my dinner, read the paper, and
+after a chat with Madame Vyrubova, who lived in the adjoining apartments,
+I retired to bed.
+
+Next day I returned to the Gorokhovaya, but the monk had not come back.
+Countess Ignatieff called upon him, but I had to express my ignorance as
+to his whereabouts. I told her that he might possibly have gone upon
+another pilgrimage.
+
+Late that night I went back to the palace, where I found Madame Vyrubova
+much perturbed.
+
+"It is strange, Féodor!" she exclaimed. "He never leaves Petrograd
+without first informing me."
+
+I set her mind at rest by suggesting that, as affairs were so critical,
+he was probably with Stürmer and Protopopoff plotting further
+manoeuvres.
+
+Next night, however, a thrill went through the Court, as well as through
+the Russian people, by the six-word announcement in the Exchange
+newspapers, which coldly said:
+
+"_Gregory Rasputin has ceased to exist._"
+
+I read the statement aghast. I saw Anna Vyrubova, who was beside herself
+with grief and anxiety, and for a moment I spoke with the distracted
+Empress. Then I left with all haste for the capital.
+
+On arrival I learnt at the Ministry of the Interior that a policeman on
+night duty along the Moika Canal had heard shots and cries coming from a
+house belonging to the young Prince Felix Youssoupoff, who had married a
+cousin of the Tsar, and who was well known in London, where he passed
+each "season." In the house were the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovitch,
+ex-Minister of the Interior Kvostov, Deputy Purishkevitch, and others.
+When the policeman went to ask what had happened, he received no
+explanation.
+
+A little later two motor-cars drove up to the door. In one of the cars a
+large bundle was placed. It was the body of Rasputin. Beside this bundle
+a man took his seat and ordered the chauffeur to drive to an island at
+the mouth of the Neva. Traces of blood were left in the garden. There
+were also marks of blood on the ice of the frozen Neva, where the car had
+stopped. Near these marks was a freshly made hole, and close to the hole
+lay a pair of blood-stained rubber shoes.
+
+Alexandra Feodorovna, frantic and bewildered, informed the Emperor by
+telegraph, and by the time he had returned the monk's body had been
+recovered from the river. I was present at the Mass served by the
+Petrograd Metropolitan Pitirim, an evil-liver of Rasputin's creation,
+after which I went with the body, which was conveyed to Tsarskoe-Selo.
+There, at the burial, Protopopoff was one of the chief mourners, and he,
+together with General Voyeykoff, Fredericks, and the Emperor himself,
+carried the silver coffin containing the remains of one of the worst
+rascals in Christendom, while the Tsaritza, Anna, and the whole Court
+followed in deep mourning.
+
+Such a scandal roused the ire of the people to fever heat, but it freed
+me of my hateful compact, and I cut myself adrift for ever from the
+fascinating Madame Vyrubova and her vicious circle.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Perhaps, in concluding this volume of strange and amazing reminiscences,
+which I have written with the sole purpose of revealing the truth to
+Europe, I cannot do better than summarise the career of Rasputin as
+Alexander Yablonovski, one of our ablest Russian critics, has done. He
+declared that the part of the Black Monk in history was an era in itself.
+
+Practically the entire historic rôle of Rasputin consisted of the fact
+that he united all Russia in a general hatred for the dark, irresponsible
+forces.
+
+The Imperial Duma, the Imperial Council, the united nobility, the social
+organisations, the Press--all were permeated by the same conviction,
+namely, that it was high time to remove from the Russian political arena
+the Government gamblers.
+
+More than that, Rasputin became even a matter of concern to Europe. The
+foreign Press printed articles about him. The foreign ambassadors cabled
+long reports in code to their Governments in connection with him. But, of
+course, to Europe he was more of a sad anecdote than an historical fact.
+To Russia, on the other hand, he was not only a fact, he was an era.
+
+Russia has experienced immeasurable humiliation on account of him. But
+this humiliation has fused the Empire into a single body, creating
+citizens out of human pulp.
+
+Russians all their lives have fought the irresponsible bureaucracy. Her
+literature, Press, science, parties, all, according to their resources,
+plucked the roots of this rotten plant. But how big were the results of
+their half-century of labour?
+
+And then a Siberian mujik appeared, and against his own will he cut the
+arteries of the dark force, he stamped it in the mud, spitting at the
+very principle, the very idea, of autocratic bureaucracy.
+
+Rasputin was killed for the purpose of cleansing Russia of the dark
+forces. Yet, alas! his evil influence lived to bear fruit in Germany's
+favour even after the Revolution and the downfall of the Romanoffs.
+
+No more sinister or astounding figure has ever appeared in all history,
+and the memory of no one is more bitterly hated in Russia than that of
+Gregory the ne'er-do-well, the erotic scoundrel and assassin, who held
+the fate of the Russian Empire within the hollow of his hand.
+
+
+PRINTED BY CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C.4
+
+450.818.
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Obvious punctuation errors have been corrected.
+
+Page 66, "off" changed to "of"
+Page 84, "camerilla" changed to "camarilla"
+Page 85, "Miliukof" changed to "Miliukoff"
+Page 89, "Geurassimof" changed to "Guerassimof"
+Page 105, "lght" changed to "light"
+Page 118, "Kirovchein" changed to "Krivochein"
+Page 134, "disicple" changed to "disciple"
+Page 149, "Vyruboya" changed to "Vyrubova"
+Page 221, "Purishkevich" changed to "Purishkevitch"
+Page 221, "denouncng" changed to "denouncing"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Minister of Evil, by William Le Queux
+
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Minister of Evil, by William Le Queux
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Minister of Evil
+       The Secret History of Rasputin's Betrayal of Russia
+
+Author: William Le Queux
+
+Release Date: September 22, 2007 [EBook #22720]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MINISTER OF EVIL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Michael Ciesielski and the booksmiths at
+http://www.eBookForge.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i"></a>[<a href="./images/i.png">i</a>]</span></p>
+
+<h1>The Minister of Evil</h1>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h2>The Secret History of<br />
+RASPUTIN'S<br />
+Betrayal of Russia</h2>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h2>William Le Queux</h2>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h4>
+Cassell and Company, Ltd<br />
+London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne</h4>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii"></a>[<a href="./images/ii.png">ii</a>]</span></p>
+
+<h5>
+First Published August 1918.<br />
+<i>Reprinted September 1918.</i></h5>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<h5>&#8251; Copyright, 1917, by William Le Queux, in the United States of America.</h5>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii"></a>[<a href="./images/iii.png">iii</a>]</span></p>
+
+
+<h2>TO THE READER</h2>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">After</span> the issue to the public of the curious chronicle of
+"Rasputin the Rascal Monk," based upon official documents,
+and its translation into a number of languages,
+I received from the same sources in Russia a bulky
+manuscript upon very thin paper which contained certain
+confessions, revelations, and allegations made by its
+writer, F&eacute;odor Rajevski, who acted as the mock-saint's
+secretary and body-servant, and who, in consequence, was
+for some years in a position to know the most inner
+secrets of Rasputin's dealings with those scoundrelly men
+and women who betrayed Holy Russia into the hands of
+the Hun.</p>
+
+<p>This manuscript, to-day before me as I write, is mostly
+in Italian, for Rajevski, the son of a Polish violinist, lived
+many years of his youth in Bologna, Florence, and old-world
+Siena, hence, in writing his memoirs, he used the
+language most familiar to him, and one perhaps more
+readily translated by anyone living outside Russia.</p>
+
+<p>In certain passages I have been compelled to
+disguise names of those who, first becoming tools of
+the mock-saint, yet afterwards discovering him to be a
+charlatan, arose in their patriotism and&mdash;like Rajevski
+who here confesses&mdash;watched patiently, and as Revolutionists
+became instrumental in the amazing charlatan's
+downfall and his ignominious death.</p>
+
+<p>These startling revelations of the secretary to the
+head of the "dark forces" in Russia, as they were known
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv"></a>[<a href="./images/iv.png">iv</a>]</span>
+in the Duma, are certainly most amazing and unusually
+startling, forming as they do a disgraceful secret page
+of history that will prove of outstanding interest to those
+who come after us.</p>
+
+<p>I confess that when first I read through the bald statements
+of fact, which I have here endeavoured to place in
+readable form for British readers, I became absorbed&mdash;therefore
+I venture to believe that they will be just as
+interesting to others who read them.</p>
+
+<p class="fsc">William le Queux.&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;</p>
+
+<p>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class="smcap">Devonshire Club, London</span>,<br />
+&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<i>January, 1918</i>.</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v"></a>[<a href="./images/v.png">v</a>]</span></p>
+
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<div class='centered'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Table of Contents">
+<tr><td align='right'><span class="smcap">chapter</span></td><td align='left'>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><span class="smcap">page</span></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_I">1.</a></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Rasputin Meets the Empress</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_II">2.</a></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Rasputin Enters Tsarskoe-Selo</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_III">3.</a></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Potsdam Plot Develops</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_36">36</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">4.</a></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Murder of Stolypin</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_V">5.</a></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Power Behind the Throne</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_68">68</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">6.</a></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Rasputin in Berlin</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">7.</a></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Scandal and Blackmail</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_100">100</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">8.</a></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Rasputin the Actual Tsar</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">9.</a></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Tragedy of Madame Svetchine</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_X">10.</a></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Traitorous Work</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">11.</a></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Poison Plots that Failed</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_163">163</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">12.</a></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Rasputin and the Kaiser</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_180">180</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">13.</a></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The "Perfume of Death"</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_197">197</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">14.</a></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Miliukoff's Exposure</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_214">214</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align='right'><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">15.</a></td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Traitors Denounced</span></td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_229">229</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a>[<a href="./images/1.png">1</a>]</span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">rasputin meets the empress</span></h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Spanish author Yriarte wrote those very true words:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"<i>Y ahora digo yo; llene un volumen</i><br /></span>
+<span class="ihalf"><i>De disparates un Autor famoso,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="ihalf"><i>Y si no alabaren, que me emplumen.</i>"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>For those who do not read Spanish I would translate
+the passage as:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Now I say to you; let an author of renown fill a
+book with twaddle, and if it is not praised by the critics,
+you may tar and feather me."</p></div>
+
+<p>I am not an author of renown. Indeed, I make no
+pretence of the delicacies of literary style, or the turning
+of fine phrases of elegant diplomacy. My object is merely
+to record in these pages the truth regarding the crumbling
+of Russia, and the downfall of our Imperial Throne.</p>
+
+<p>Anyone who cares to search the voluminous records
+in the Bureau of Police in the long Bibikovsky Boulevard,
+in Kiev, will find my <i>dossier</i> neatly filed and tabulated, as
+are those of most Russians. You will find that I, F&eacute;odor,
+son of F&eacute;odor Rajevski, musician temporarily abroad,
+and his wife Varvara, was born in the Via Galliera, at
+Bologna, in Italy, on July 8, 1880, and on March 3, 1897,
+entered the University in the Vladimirskaya. I venture
+to think that the police have but little inscribed to my
+detriment save perhaps a few students' pranks in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a>[<a href="./images/2.png">2</a>]</span>
+Kreshtchatik, and the record of that memorable night
+when we daubed with blue and white paint the equestrian
+statue in front of the Merchants' Club, and I was fined
+twenty roubles by the bearded old magistrate for the part
+I played in the joke.</p>
+
+<p>Had there been anything serious against me I doubt
+whether I should have occupied, as I did for some years,
+the post of confidential secretary to "Grichka," that
+saintly unwashed charlatan whose real name was Gregory
+Novikh, and whom the world knew by the nickname of
+"Rasputin."</p>
+
+<p>Of my youth I need say but little. After my student
+days I obtained, through the influence of a high Government
+official named Branicki, a friend of my father, a
+clerical post in the bureau of political police of the Empire,
+a department of the Ministry of the Interior, and for
+several years pursued a calm, uneventful life in that
+capacity. In consequence of a grave scandal discovered
+in my department&mdash;for my chief had secured the conviction
+of a certain wealthy nobleman named Tiniacheff, in
+Kharkoff, who was perfectly innocent of any offence&mdash;I
+was one day called as witness by the court of inquiry
+sitting in Moscow.</p>
+
+<p>It was at that inquiry early in 1903 that I first met
+General Kouropatkine, who at that time had risen to high
+favour with Her Majesty the Empress and was&mdash;as was
+afterwards discovered&mdash;urging the Tsar to make war
+against Japan, well knowing that any attacks by us would
+be foredoomed to failure. At the General's instigation I
+was transferred to the Ministry of War as an under-secretary
+in his Cabinet, and he sent me&mdash;on account of
+my knowledge of Italian&mdash;upon a confidential mission to
+Milan. This, I presume, I carried out entirely to his
+satisfaction, for on two other occasions I was sent to Italy
+with messages to a certain Baron Svereff, a rich Russian
+financier living in San Remo, and with whom no doubt
+Kouropatkine was engaged in traitorous dealings.</p>
+
+<p>One day, having been called by telephone to the house
+of His Excellency, I found, seated in his big luxuriously<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a>[<a href="./images/3.png">3</a>]</span>
+furnished room, and chatting confidentially, a strange-looking,
+unkempt, sallow-faced man of thirty or so, with
+broad brow, narrow sunken cheeks, and long untrimmed
+beard, who, as soon as he turned his big deep-set eyes
+upon mine, held me in fascination.</p>
+
+<p>His was a most striking countenance, broad in the
+protruding forehead which narrowed to the point of his
+black beard, and being dressed as a monk in a long,
+shabby, black robe I recognised at once he was one of
+those fakirs we have all over Russia, one of those self-sacrificing
+bogus "holy" men who wander from town to
+town obsessed by religious mania, full of fictitious self-denial,
+yet collecting kopecks for charity.</p>
+
+<p>Religion of all creeds has its esoteric phases, and our
+own Greek Church is certainly not alone in its "cranks."</p>
+
+<p>"Rajevski, this is the Starets, Gregory Novikh," said
+the General, who was in uniform with the cross of St.
+Andrew at his throat.</p>
+
+<p>I stood for a few seconds astounded. On being introduced
+to me, the unkempt, uncleanly fellow crossed his
+arms over his chest, bowed, and growled in a deep voice
+a word of benediction.</p>
+
+<p>I expressed pleasure at meeting him, for all Russia
+was at the moment ringing with the renown of the
+modest Siberian "saint" who could work miracles. For
+the past month or so the name of "Grichka" had been
+upon everyone's lips. The ignorant millions from the
+Volga to Vladivostok had been told that a new saint had
+arisen in Russia; one possessed of Divine influence; a
+man who lived such a clean and blameless life in imitation
+of Christ that he was destined as the spiritual Guide and
+Protector of Russia, and to eclipse even Saint Nicholas
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>As one level-headed and educated I had always had my
+doubts concerning all "holy" wanderers who meander
+across the steppes collecting alms. Knowing much of the
+evil life lived in our Russian monasteries and convents,
+and the warm welcome given to every charlatan who grows
+his beard, forgets to wash, lifts his eyes heavenwards,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a>[<a href="./images/4.png">4</a>]</span>
+and begs, I had, I confess at the outset, but little faith in
+this new star in Holy Russia's firmament now introduced
+to me by His Excellency the Minister of War.</p>
+
+<p>"I have been speaking with the Starets concerning
+you," the Minister said, as he turned in his padded chair,
+and flicked the ash from his exquisite Bogdanoff cigarette.
+"I have detached you from my department to become
+secretary to the Starets. Yours will be an enviable post,
+my dear F&eacute;odor, I assure you. Russia is in her degeneration.
+The Starets has been sent to us by Divine Providence
+to regenerate and reform her."</p>
+
+<p>"But, your Excellency, I am very content in my
+present post&mdash;I&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I issued the decree from the Ministry this morning,"
+he interrupted in his fierce, blustering manner, that manner
+which, years later, carried him through the war with
+Japan. "It is all arranged. You are the secretary of
+our protector whom Almighty God has sent to Russia for
+our salvation."</p>
+
+<p>My eyes met the piercing gaze of the unkempt
+scoundrel, and, to my surprise, I found myself held mystified.
+Never before had any man or woman exercised such
+an all-powerful influence over me by merely gazing at me.
+That it was hypnotic was without doubt. The fellow himself
+with his sallow cheeks, his black beard, his deep-set
+eyes, and his broad brow was the very counterpart of
+those portraits which the old cinquecento artists of Italy
+painted of criminal aristocrats.</p>
+
+<p>In the Pitti and the Uffizi in Florence, in the great
+gallery in Siena; in Venice, Rome, and Milan hung
+dozens of portraits resembling closely that of Gregory
+Novikh, the man who, to my own knowledge as I intend
+to here show, betrayed Russia, and destroyed the Imperial
+House of Romanoff.</p>
+
+<p>In that look I had foreseen in him something terrible;
+I had read the whole of his destiny in his glance. His
+gaze for the moment overwhelmed me. Once or twice in
+my life&mdash;as it comes to most men&mdash;I have met with that
+expression in the countenances of those I have come<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a>[<a href="./images/5.png">5</a>]</span>
+across: it presaged crime, and the prophecy, alas! has
+been verified. Crime was in Gregory Novikh.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps Rasputin&mdash;as the world called him and as I
+will call him&mdash;knew that crime was in him. I think he
+did. By his eyes I knew him to be a criminal sensualist
+with murder in his heart.</p>
+
+<p>I had heard a whisper of his sordid and miserable
+elemental passions, even though the Starets was, next to
+His Majesty the Tsar, the most popular man in all the
+Empire.</p>
+
+<p>To be appointed his confidential secretary was surely
+great advancement at a single bound, for though sensuality
+was to him as natural as the air he breathed, yet
+he had the highest society of Petrograd already at his
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>Compelled to accept my unwanted appointment, I
+bowed, and expressed gratification that I should have
+been chosen for such a post.</p>
+
+<p>"You must be discreet, my dear F&eacute;odor," said His
+Excellency, throwing his cigarette end into the great
+bronze bowl at his elbow. "When I have sent you upon
+confidential missions you have been as dumb as an oyster.
+This new post I give to you because I know that you are
+a true patriotic Russian, and if you see and know certain
+things you will never chatter about them to the detriment
+of myself, or of our very good friend Grichka. To him,
+remember, everything is permitted. You will learn much,
+but rather than speak let your tongue be cut out. And
+that," he added, looking at me very seriously as he
+lowered his voice, "and that, I warn you, will be the
+judgment upon you in the fortress of Schl&uuml;sselburg if you
+dare to divulge a single secret of Russia's saviour!"</p>
+
+<p>I stood aghast between this all-powerful War Minister
+in his glittering decorations, the Emperor's right hand
+and confidant, and the unkempt, ragged, wandering
+collector of kopecks&mdash;the man whose eyes held me in their
+fascination each time they met my gaze.</p>
+
+<p>The suddenness of it all bewildered me. The salary
+I was to receive, as mentioned by His Excellency, was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a>[<a href="./images/6.png">6</a>]</span>
+most generous, indeed, more than double that which I
+had been paid by the Ministry of War. It meant luxury
+beyond my wildest dreams; a life of ease, affluence, and
+influence.</p>
+
+<p>Is it any wonder therefore that I accepted it, little
+knowing in those days of peace that I was a pawn in the
+great game of the Hun?</p>
+
+<p>How shall I describe Rasputin? My pen fails me.
+He was one of a few great charlatans of saintly presence
+and of specious words, fascinators of women, and
+domineerers of men, who have been sent to the world at
+intervals through all the ages. Had he lived in the twelfth
+or thirteenth century of our era he would no doubt have
+been canonised. This rough, uncouth, illiterate Siberian
+peasant, who had been convicted of horse-stealing, and of
+immorality, who had served years of imprisonment in the
+gaol at Tobolsk, and who had only a month before we met
+been flung out of a monastery in Odessa and kicked half
+to death by its inmates as a fraud, had actually become
+the most popular person in Petrograd.</p>
+
+<p>With the women of the aristocracy he was well-known,
+but to the Imperial Court he had not risen. Yet, being a
+<i>prot&eacute;g&eacute;</i> of Kouropatkine, matters were no doubt being
+arranged, although I was, of course, in ignorance of the
+traitorous plans in progress.</p>
+
+<p>On the following morning, according to my instructions
+given me by my new chief, I called upon him at the
+small ground-floor flat which he occupied in the Poltavskaya,
+close to the Nicholas Station. The house, the remaining
+rooms of which were unoccupied, was a dark
+forbidding-looking one, with a heavy door beneath a
+portico, and containing deep cellars into which nobody
+ever penetrated save the Starets himself.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of my first visit there, I was, from
+the beginning, much mystified. The dining-room was
+quite a luxurious apartment, so was the "saint's" study&mdash;a
+den with a soft Eastern carpet, a big writing-table, a
+high porcelain stove of chocolate and white, and silk-upholstered
+settees. From this den a door opened into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a>[<a href="./images/7.png">7</a>]</span>
+the "holy" man's sleeping-room, an apartment of spartan
+plainness save for its big stove, a replica of the one in
+the study.</p>
+
+<p>The household, I found, consisted of one other person,
+an old Siberian peasant woman of about sixty, named
+Anna, who came from Pokrovsky, the "saint's" native
+village. She acted as housekeeper and maid-of-all-work.</p>
+
+<p>That first morning spent with Rasputin was full of
+interest. He was a dirty, uncouth, illiterate fellow who
+repelled me. His hands were hard, his fingers knotty,
+his face was of a distinctly criminal type, and yet in my
+bewilderment I remembered that General Kouropatkine
+had declared him to be sent by the Almighty as the Protector
+of Russia.</p>
+
+<p>His conversation was coarse and overbearing, and
+interlarded by quotations from Holy Writ. He mentioned
+to me certain ladies in high society, and related,
+with a broad grin upon his saintly countenance, scandal
+after scandal till I stood aghast.</p>
+
+<p>Truly the "saint" was a most remarkable personality.
+From the first I had been compelled to admit that whatever
+the Russian public had said, there was a certain
+amount of basis for the gossip. His was the most weird
+and compelling personality that I had ever met. Even
+Stolypin had been impressed by him, though the Holy
+Synod had declared him to be a fraud.</p>
+
+<p>My work consisted of reading to him and replying to
+letters from hundreds of women who had become
+attracted by his peculiar distorted emotional religion,
+many of whom desired to enter the cult which he had
+established. As secretary it was also my duty to arrange
+for the weekly reunions of the "sister-disciples," held in
+a big bare upstairs room, in which hung a holy ikon and
+several sacred pictures, and in which the mysteries of his
+"religion" were practised.</p>
+
+<p>Ere long, I found that to those weekly s&eacute;ances there
+flocked many of the wealthiest and most cultured women
+in Petrograd, who actually held the ex-horse-stealer in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a>[<a href="./images/8.png">8</a>]</span>
+veneration, and believed, as the peasants believed, that he
+could work miracles.</p>
+
+<p>One afternoon, after I had been nearly a month in
+Rasputin's service, Boris St&uuml;rmer, a well-known Court
+sycophant, with bristling hair and a sweeping goatee
+beard, was brought to the monk by Kouropatkine. Both
+were in uniform, and after ushering them into Rasputin's
+study I felt that some dark conspiracy was on foot.</p>
+
+<p>They remained in council for nearly an hour when I
+was called into the room, and to me, as the monk's right
+hand, the plot was explained so that I could assist in it.</p>
+
+<p>To me the German St&uuml;rmer, who afterwards rose to be
+Prime Minister of Russia, was no stranger. Indeed, it
+was he who, inviting me to be seated, explained what was
+in progress.</p>
+
+<p>"It is necessary, Rajevski, that the Father should
+meet Her Majesty the Empress. He is our saviour, and
+it is but right that he should come to the Imperial Court.
+But he cannot be introduced by any of the ordinary
+channels. Her Majesty must be impressed, and her
+curiosity aroused."</p>
+
+<p>I bowed in assent, little dreaming of the devilish
+scheme which, instigated from Potsdam, and paid for by
+German gold, was about to be worked. Already Germany
+had decided to conquer Russia, and already the far-seeing
+Kaiser had watched and recognised that he could use
+Rasputin's undoubted influence in our priest-ridden
+country for his own dastardly ends.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," continued St&uuml;rmer, stroking his beard as he
+looked at me. "We have just discovered that Her
+Majesty intends to pay a visit incognita next Friday to the
+shrine of Our Lady at Kazan, in order to pray for the
+birth of an heir to the Romanoffs. We have therefore
+decided that our Father shall go to Kazan, and be found
+by the Empress praying before the shrine beseeching the
+Almighty to grant Her Majesty her fond desire. He will
+appear to her a perfect stranger uttering exactly the same
+prayer as that in her mind."</p>
+
+<p>"They will not speak," Kouropatkine added. "Our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a>[<a href="./images/9.png">9</a>]</span>
+Father will apparently take no notice of her save to
+glance into her face, for why should he recognise in her
+the Empress?"</p>
+
+<p>I saw with what ingenuity the plan was being laid, for
+well I knew the amazing and quite uncanny fascination
+for women of all classes possessed by the Starets.</p>
+
+<p>At the time I naturally believed that St&uuml;rmer and his
+friend Kouropatkine were both convinced that it would
+be to the advantage of Russia if the holy man gained
+admission to the Imperial Court as spiritual guide to
+Nicholas II. Such a widely popular figure had the Starets
+become, and so deeply impressed had been the people of
+Moscow and Warsaw, where he had performed some
+mysterious "miracles," that there were hundreds of
+thousands of all classes who, like the two Ministers of the
+Crown who sat in that room, really believed that he was
+possessed of Divine power.</p>
+
+<p>As we walked in the Nevski, people, mostly women,
+would rush to him and kiss his dirty hand, or raise the
+hem of his greasy kaftan to their lips, asking for the
+Father's blessing. By the enlightened Western peoples
+the ignorance and superstitions of our great Russian
+people cannot be understood. You, who have travelled
+in our Holy Russia, know our trackless country where
+settlements are to distances, as one of our writers has put
+it, as fly-specks upon window-panes, where whole villages
+are the prey of disease, and where seventy-nine people out
+of every hundred cannot read or write. You also know
+how in the corner of every room hangs the ikon, how the
+gold or blue-domed basilica strikes you in every street,
+the long-haired priests chanting in their deep bass, the
+passer-by ceaselessly crossing himself, the peasantry
+crushed and down-trodden, and the middle and upper
+classes lapped in luxury and esteeming good manners
+more highly than morals. Such is Russia of to-day&mdash;Russia
+in the age of my employer Rasputin, the era of
+the downfall of the Imperial Romanoffs, and the fierce
+struggle with the barbaric Hun.</p>
+
+<p>In accordance with the plan formed by Boris St&uuml;rmer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a>[<a href="./images/10.png">10</a>]</span>
+I next day accompanied the Starets by rail direct to Nijni
+Novgorod, by way of Moscow, thence taking steamer
+down the great Volga, a twelve-hour journey, to that city
+where they make bells and ikons, Kazan.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin had put on his oldest and most ragged
+monk's habit, and carried a staff. Over his threadbare
+dress he wore another of finer texture which it was his
+intention to discard ere entering before the shrine, in
+order to appear most lowly and humble in the eyes of the
+shrewd Tsaritza. We left Petrograd at night, that our
+departure should not be known and commented upon, but
+ere we did so I received a note from the General to the
+effect that the director of Secret Police at Tsarskoe-Selo
+had telephoned that Her Majesty was not leaving till the
+following day.</p>
+
+<p>Hence we were travelling a day ahead of the Empress.</p>
+
+<p>Kazan is a city full of the odour of sanctity if judged
+by the number of priests and monks one meets in its
+streets. It is situated about seven versts from the river,
+an old-world picturesque place wherein one rubs shoulders
+with people in all sorts of curious costumes, especially in
+the Tartar suburb where the low houses border upon
+narrow unpaved streets dotted here and there with
+mosques.</p>
+
+<p>On arrival we drove up the hill to the great Preobrazhensky
+Monastery where Rasputin, as became a holy man,
+sought hospitality and was immediately very warmly
+welcomed, while I afterwards went on to the Hotel
+Frantsiya, in the long busy Vozkrensenkaya, where I took
+a room in order to watch the arrival of Alexandra Feodorovna,
+who would travel incognita, and of whose
+coming I was to give warning to Grichka.</p>
+
+<p>For two days I waited, ever on the alert, and, of
+course, interested in the adventure. It is not always that
+one waits in an hotel in expectation of the arrival of an
+empress. Meanwhile I had made friends with the hotel
+clerk, without, of course, explaining my business, and he
+had promised to tell me of all new arrivals.</p>
+
+<p>The Frantsiya is a very comfortable hotel, conducted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a>[<a href="./images/11.png">11</a>]</span>
+upon French lines, and the two days I spent in Kazan
+were certainly quite enjoyable ones.</p>
+
+<p>On the evening of the third day my friend the hotel
+clerk sent a message to my room, and in response I at
+once descended to the bureau, when he informed me that
+the ladies had just arrived, a Madame Strepoff, and her
+maid Mademoiselle Kamensky. He described the first-named,
+and I at once recognised her as the Tsaritza herself,
+though, of course, the tall, pale young man had no
+idea of her identity. I had merely told him that I expected
+the arrival of a lady whom I had met in Moscow
+some time ago.</p>
+
+<p>"Madame has taken the best suite of rooms in the
+hotel," the clerk said. "She is evidently an aristocrat
+though she is only Madame Strepoff. I have just sent
+their passports to the police."</p>
+
+<p>The hour was immediately before dinner, therefore I
+lounged about the entrance hall awaiting the appearance
+of the two travellers who, the clerk had told me, had not
+ordered dinner in their rooms, so evidently they intended
+to dine in the public restaurant.</p>
+
+<p>Just after half-past seven they descended the broad
+staircase. There was but little difference in their ages.
+In an instant I recognised the handsome Empress by the
+many photographs I had seen. The other, dark and also
+good-looking, was evidently a lady-in-waiting, a lady
+whom I afterwards met at Court.</p>
+
+<p>The pair, dressed inconspicuously in black, seated
+themselves at a little <i>table &agrave; deux</i> in the window, while I
+followed, and having selected a table opposite, ate my
+meal as I watched.</p>
+
+<p>The Empress in incognita seemed in high spirits,
+perhaps because she had escaped from the Imperial Court.
+She chatted confidentially with her companion, and more
+than once cast an inquiring glance in my direction, as
+though wondering whether I were not an agent of the
+Okhrana, the ubiquitous secret police of the Empire. It
+is only too true that wherever one goes in Russia one is
+"shadowed" by the police, and Her Majesty knew full<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a>[<a href="./images/12.png">12</a>]</span>
+well that the bureau of "personal police" at Tsarskoe-Selo
+would know that she had left the palace and would
+keep an eye upon her, because just about that period the
+air was full of plots against the dynasty.</p>
+
+<p>The Empress and her bosom friend Mademoiselle
+Z&eacute;neide Kamensky&mdash;whom I afterwards knew her to be&mdash;finished
+their meal unrecognised by the servants, or any
+of those in the restaurant, and then returned to their
+rooms. Afterwards I took a droshky up to the Preobrazhensky
+Monastery, which I reached about ten o'clock.
+The old monk who answered my ring at the barred door
+returned with a message from Rasputin to the effect that I
+was to tell him the object of my visit. This I refused to
+do, and became insistent upon seeing him. Such hesitation
+on Rasputin's part greatly surprised me. Indeed, it
+was not before nearly half an hour had elapsed that the
+long-bearded old janitor unwillingly conducted me through
+the long, bare corridors of the monastery where my footsteps
+on the flags awakened the echoes, and after several
+turns ushered me into a small, well-furnished room,
+wherein, in an armchair before the stove, sat the charlatan
+who was posing as the Saviour of Russia.</p>
+
+<p>In an instant I realised that he was in an advanced
+state of intoxication. As I entered he rose unsteadily,
+and addressing me declared that life in the Spasso-Preobrazhensky
+was most pleasant, and at once began
+singing a ribald song.</p>
+
+<p>I stood aghast. This was the man who, by the
+scheming of St&uuml;rmer and his catspaw, was to be introduced
+to the Imperial Court! So fuddled was he by
+vodka that he was unable to understand the purport of my
+visit. He merely laughed inanely and began to repeat
+parrot-like those curious prayers which he recited at the
+weekly reunions of the sister-disciples&mdash;passages culled
+haphazard from Holy Writ, interspersed with the most
+obscene and ribald allegations, a jumble of piety and
+blasphemy that none could ever understand.</p>
+
+<p>Soon I realised the hopelessness of the situation.
+This was the first I knew that the "saint" was addicted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a>[<a href="./images/13.png">13</a>]</span>
+to alcohol, although he drank wine freely at meals and
+always kept champagne for his friends, paid for out of his
+collections for charity. In his inebriated state his wild-looking
+eyes glowed like coals, and as he looked at me I
+experienced once more the strange sensation of being
+enthralled. Truly, there was something mesmeric about
+that gaze of his, a mystery that I have never solved.</p>
+
+<p>A priest entered after I had been there a few minutes,
+and to him I remarked that the Father being "rather
+unwell" I would return early next day. He smiled
+meaningly, and I departed.</p>
+
+<p>Having no knowledge of what hour the Empress intended
+to visit the shrine of Our Lady, I was back again
+at the monastery at dawn when I found the Starets had
+quite recovered. As soon as I told him of the presence
+of the Tsaritza he bustled about, and in his oldest robe,
+rusty, travel-worn and frayed, he accompanied me to the
+fine church of Bogoroditsky.</p>
+
+<p>It was then only seven o'clock, and we found the
+church with its many candles and its much venerated
+shrine quite deserted save for one or two peasant women
+who had halted to pray on their way to work.</p>
+
+<p>Outside we stood together gazing down the long white
+road which led from the direction of the Hotel Frantsiya.</p>
+
+<p>"Alexandra Feodorovna must certainly come this
+way," remarked the ragged "saint" as I stood at his
+side. "Remain here and keep watch. I shall go to
+yonder house and speak with the people. When the
+carriage approaches, let me know quickly."</p>
+
+<p>Then leaving me the Starets crossed to a small house
+which he entered to give its inmates his blessing&mdash;blessing
+forsooth from such an unholy, unwashed scoundrel!</p>
+
+<p>Through an hour I waited in patience, until in the
+distance I saw a carriage approaching, and at once gave
+warning, whereupon the Father entered the church and
+threw himself upon his knees devoutly before the holy
+shrine and began to pray earnestly aloud in his deep bass.</p>
+
+<p>I had entered after him, and secreting myself behind
+one of the massive pillars watched the arrival of the two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a>[<a href="./images/14.png">14</a>]</span>
+females in dead black, who, crossing themselves as they
+entered, approached the shrine.</p>
+
+<p>As they did so Rasputin, apparently unconscious of
+their presence, cried in a loud voice:</p>
+
+<p>"O God! in Thy gracious bounty give unto our Imperial
+House of Romanoff a son&mdash;one who shall in due
+time wear the glorious crown of the Tsars and become
+the Sovereign Defender of All the Russias against our
+enemies. In this my prayer I most humbly echo the
+voice of Russia's millions, whose dearest wish is that a
+son be born unto our Imperial House. O God, I beseech
+thee to grant us our request!"</p>
+
+<p>From my place of concealment I saw the Tsaritza start
+visibly. She wore a veil, so that I could not see her
+countenance. She had halted, entranced by overhearing
+that prayer uttered by the unkempt stranger. I noticed
+that she whispered a word to her companion, who, like
+herself, was veiled, and then Her Majesty threw herself
+upon her knees, an example followed by Mademoiselle
+Kamensky.</p>
+
+<p>The Empress, her head bowed in silence, knelt before
+the weird impressive shrine, side by side with the Starets.
+The great church was dark save for the light of the
+myriad candles, and silent save for the twittering of a
+bird, yet I could see that the pious exhortation of Rasputin
+had been taken as an omen by Her Majesty.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, the mock saint's voice again rang out
+clearly in the great cavernous basilica as he repeated the
+prayer in clear impassioned words&mdash;that same prayer
+which the Empress was repeating in silence.</p>
+
+<p>Only the three knelt there. For a full ten minutes
+silence again reigned. Neither of the kneeling figures
+stirred until Rasputin crossed himself slowly, and for a
+third time, raising his voice still higher he besought the
+Almighty to grant Russia an heir to the Throne.</p>
+
+<p>Then, at last, he rose with slow dignity as became
+a saintly priest, and again he made the sign of the cross.</p>
+
+<p>As he did so the Empress who had raised her veil
+turned her head, whereupon he halted for several seconds<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a>[<a href="./images/15.png">15</a>]</span>
+and gazed straight into her face with that intense,
+hypnotic stare which always held women in such mysterious
+fascination. I saw that the Empress was again
+startled, but folding his hands across his breast, an
+attitude habitual to him, the Starets passed out of the
+church without a second glance at her, leaving her breathless
+and trembling.</p>
+
+<p>When he had gone she turned in alarm and whispered
+with her lady-in-waiting. Both women rose, and, following
+the monk, stood gazing at his receding figure as he
+went down the long white road.</p>
+
+<p>"A strange man surely, Z&eacute;neide!" I heard the Empress
+exclaim. "How curious that, unconscious of my
+presence, he should be here, praying for me&mdash;a holy man
+without a doubt! We must discover who he is. What
+eyes! Did you notice them?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. His gaze really frightened me," her companion
+admitted.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! His is the face of a true saint&mdash;a wonder-worker!
+Of that I am certain. We must make inquiries
+concerning him," remarked Her Majesty. "I must see
+him again and speak with him!"</p>
+
+<p>Then the pair, entering the carriage, drove rapidly
+away.</p>
+
+<p>While standing upon the church steps they had discussed
+the Starets while I had lounged close by unnoticed,
+believing that we were alone.</p>
+
+<p>As the carriage moved off, however, I was startled to
+feel strong hands laid heavily upon me, as a rough voice
+exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Halt! You are under arrest!"</p>
+
+<p>Next second I became aware that I was in the hands
+of two rather well dressed men, no doubt agents of the
+Okhrana.</p>
+
+<p>"You have been loitering here with evil intent!"
+exclaimed the elder of the pair. "We have been watching
+you ever since you entered behind that good
+Father. We saw you secrete yourself. Have you
+any firearms?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a>[<a href="./images/16.png">16</a>]</span>
+I unfortunately had a revolver, and at once produced
+it.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" exclaimed the brown-bearded agent of Secret
+Police as he took possession of it. "I thought so! You
+had discovered the identity of the lady with the long veil,
+and have been here awaiting an opportunity to fire at
+her!"</p>
+
+<p>"What?" I gasped, aghast at the serious charge
+levelled against me. "I am no revolutionist! I carry
+that weapon merely for my self-protection."</p>
+
+<p>The bearded man gave a low whistle, and next moment
+three grey-coated policemen in uniform sprang up from
+nowhere, and I was unceremoniously marched through
+the streets to the head police bureau in the Gostiny
+Dvor, well knowing the seriousness of the allegation
+against me.</p>
+
+<p>Two hours later I was taken to the dark-panelled room
+of the Chief of Police, a bald-headed, flabby-faced functionary
+in a dark blue uniform glittering with decorations.
+Before his big table, standing between two policemen,
+I answered question after question he put to me, my
+replies being carefully noted by a clerk who sat at a side
+table. In the room were also the two officers of the
+Okhrana who had travelled, unknown to the Empress, in
+order to keep Her Majesty beneath their surveillance.</p>
+
+<p>"Why did you arrive at the Frantsiya and await the
+coming of the two ladies?" snapped the Chief of Police
+in his peculiarly offensive manner.</p>
+
+<p>I was at loss what to say. I was unable to tell the
+truth lest I should betray the plot of Boris St&uuml;rmer and
+General Kouropatkine. I recollected my friendship with
+the hotel clerk, and my eagerness for the arrival of the
+travellers.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! You hesitate!" said the all-powerful functionary
+with a sinister grin, and knowing what I did of
+the political police and their arbitrary measures towards
+those suspected, I realised that I was in very grave
+danger.</p>
+
+<p>"You had secret knowledge of Her Majesty's journey<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a>[<a href="./images/17.png">17</a>]</span>
+incognita, or you would not have been watching in the
+church with a loaded revolver in your pocket," he went
+on. "Your Brothers of Freedom, as you term them,
+never lack knowledge of Their Majesties' movements,"
+my inquisitor said.</p>
+
+<p>"I deny, your Excellency, that I was there with any
+evil intent," I protested. "Such a thing as you suggest
+never for a second entered my mind."</p>
+
+<p>The man in the brilliant uniform laughed, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"I have heard that same declaration before. It is a
+clever plot, no doubt, but fortunately you were watched,
+and the knowledge that you were being watched prevented
+you from putting your plans into execution. Come&mdash;confess!"</p>
+
+<p>"I had no idea that I was being watched until I was
+arrested," I declared.</p>
+
+<p>"But you cannot explain the reason why you travelled
+from Petrograd to Kazan. Let us hear your excuse," he
+said with increased sarcasm.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no excuse," was my very lame reply. I was
+wondering what had become of the Starets. It was quite
+evident that they knew nothing of my double journey up
+to the monastery, and further, there was no suspicion
+against Rasputin. That being so I hesitated to explain
+the truth, in the faint hope that Kouropatkine, as Minister
+of War, would hear of my arrest, and contrive to obtain
+my release. I saw that, at least, I ought to remain loyal
+to those who employed me, and further, even if I told the
+truth it would not be believed.</p>
+
+<p>"It will be best to make some inquiries in Petrograd
+regarding this individual," suggested the police agent
+who had arrested me.</p>
+
+<p>"I really don't think that is necessary," replied the
+Chief of Police of Kazan, tapping his desk impatiently
+with his pen, as he turned to me and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Now, tell me quickly, young man. Why are you
+here?"</p>
+
+<p>What could I reply?</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" he said, smiling. "I see that there are others<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a>[<a href="./images/18.png">18</a>]</span>
+whom you refuse to implicate. It is useless to send such
+people as you for trial."</p>
+
+<p>"But I demand a fair trial!" I cried in desperation,
+a cold sweat breaking out on my brow, because I knew
+that he had power to pass sentence upon me as a political
+suspect who refused information&mdash;and that his order
+would certainly be confirmed by the Minister of the
+Interior.</p>
+
+<p>Too well did I know the drastic powers of the Chiefs
+of Police of the principal cities.</p>
+
+<p>At my demand the bald-headed man simply smiled, and
+replied:</p>
+
+<p>"My order is that you be conveyed to Schl&uuml;sselburg.
+You will there have plenty of leisure in which to repent
+not having replied to my questions."</p>
+
+<p>To Schl&uuml;sselburg! My heart fell within me. Once
+within that dreaded fortress, the terrible oubliettes of
+which are below the surface of the Lake Ladoga, my
+identity would be lost and I should be quickly forgotten.
+From Schl&uuml;sselburg no prisoner ever returned!</p>
+
+<p>Would any of the conspiring trio, whose tool I had
+been, raise a finger to save me? Or would they consider
+that having served their purpose it would be to their
+advantage if my lips were closed?</p>
+
+<p>"Schl&uuml;sselburg!" I gasped. "No&mdash;no, not that!" I
+cried. "I am innocent&mdash;quite innocent!"</p>
+
+<p>"You give no proof of it," coldly replied the Chief of
+Police, rising as a sign that the inquiry was at an end.
+"My orders are that you be sent to Schl&uuml;sselburg
+without delay." Then, turning to the two agents of
+the Okhrana, he added: "You will report this to your
+director at Tsarskoe-Selo. I will send my order to the
+Ministry for confirmation to-night. Take the prisoner
+away!"</p>
+
+<p>And next moment I was bundled down to a dirty cell
+in the basement, there to await conveyance to that most
+dreaded of all the prisons in the Empire.</p>
+
+<p>By a single stroke of the pen I had been condemned
+to imprisonment for life!</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a>[<a href="./images/19.png">19</a>]</span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">rasputin enters tsarskoe-selo</span></h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">I confess</span> that I felt my position to be absolutely hopeless.</p>
+
+<p>I was a political suspect, and therefore I knew full
+well that to attempt to communicate with anyone outside
+was quite impossible. The Chief of Police of Kazan,
+honestly believing that he was doing his duty and unearthing
+a subtle plot against the life of the Empress, on
+account of the revolver in my possession, had condemned
+me to imprisonment in the Fortress of Schl&uuml;sselburg. Its
+very name, dreaded by every Russian, recurred to me as
+I recollected Kouropatkine's significant words. Had he
+not threatened that, if I revealed one single word of the
+secret doings of the holy Starets, my tongue would be
+cut out within those grim dark walls of that prison of
+mystery?</p>
+
+<p>We Russians had from our childhood heard of that
+sinister fortress, the walls of which rise sheer from the
+black waters of Lake Ladoga&mdash;that place where the cells
+of the political prisoners, victims of the thousand and one
+intrigues of the Russian bureaucracy, consequent upon
+the autocracy of the Tsar, are deep beneath the lake's
+surface, so that they can&mdash;when it is willed by the
+Governor or those higher Ministers who express their
+devilish desire&mdash;be flooded at will.</p>
+
+<p>Hundreds of terrified, yet innocent and nameless
+victims of Russia's medi&aelig;val barbarism, persons of both
+sexes&mdash;alas! that I should speak so of my own country&mdash;have,
+during the past ten years of enlightenment, stood
+in their narrow dimly-lit oubliette and watched in horror
+the black tide trickle through the rat holes in the stone
+floor, slowly, ever slowly, until water has filled the cell
+to the arched stone roof and drowned them as rats in a
+trap.</p>
+
+<p>And all that has been done by the accursed German
+wirepullers in the name of the puny puppet who was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a>[<a href="./images/20.png">20</a>]</span>
+Tsar, and from whom the truth was, they said, ever carefully
+hidden.</p>
+
+<p>The Kazan police treated me just as inhumanly as I
+expected. By my own experience as an official in the
+Department of Political Police, and knowing what I did
+in consequence, I was expecting all this.</p>
+
+<p>Four days I spent in that gloomy, but not very uncomfortable
+cell in Kazan, when, on the fifth morning, I was
+taken, handcuffed to another prisoner who I found afterwards
+had murdered his wife, to the Volga steamer which,
+after twelve hours of close confinement, landed us at Nijni.</p>
+
+<p>A hundred times I debated within myself whether it
+were best to remain silent, and not reveal my past career
+in the Department of Political Police, or to state the
+absolute facts and struggle by that means to obtain a
+hearing and escape.</p>
+
+<p>One fact was patent. General Kouropatkine and Boris
+St&uuml;rmer both trusted in my silence, while the rascal monk
+had found in me a catspaw who had remained dumb. In
+truth, however, my secret intention was to watch the
+progress of events. Of the latter, Rasputin had, of course,
+no suspicion. If I were&mdash;as I had already proved myself&mdash;his
+willing assistant, then he and his friends might
+endeavour to save me.</p>
+
+<p>Such were my thoughts as I sat in the train between
+two police agents on the interminable journey from Nijni
+to the capital.</p>
+
+<p>On arrival at the Nicholas Station the murderer to
+whom I was manacled and myself were shown no consideration.
+We had been without food for twelve hours,
+yet the three men in charge, though they ate a hearty meal
+in the buffet, gave us not a drink of water. Humanity is
+not in the vocabulary of our police of Russia when dealing
+with political suspects, so many of whom are entirely innocent
+persons who have proved themselves obnoxious to
+the corrupt bureaucracy.</p>
+
+<p>We had two hours to wait in Petrograd, locked in one
+of the waiting-rooms where we were at last given a hunk
+of bread and a piece of cold meat. Then we were driven<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a>[<a href="./images/21.png">21</a>]</span>
+out to Schl&uuml;sselburg in a motor-car, arriving there in the
+grey break of dawn and being conveyed by boat to the
+grim red-brick fortress which rose from the lake.</p>
+
+<p>Stepping from the boat on to the floating landing-stage
+we were conducted by armed warders through the iron
+gate and along innumerable stone corridors where, ever
+and anon, we passed other warders&mdash;men who, criminals
+themselves, spent their lives in the fortress and were never
+allowed to land in order that they might not reveal the
+terrible secrets of that modern Bastille. Those who would
+form a proper opinion of our Empire should remember
+that this horrible prison was at the disposal of each of the
+Ministers and their sycophants, and that hundreds of
+entirely innocent people of both sexes had for years been
+sent there out of personal spite or jealousy, and also in the
+furtherance of Germany's aims for the coming war.</p>
+
+<p>Within those dark, gloomy walls, where many of the
+dimly lit cells were below the lake, hundreds of patriotic
+Russians had ended their lives, their only offence being
+that they had been too true to their Emperor and their
+own land!</p>
+
+<p>Ever since my childhood I had been taught to regard
+Schl&uuml;sselburg as an inferno&mdash;a place from which no victim
+of our corrupt bureaucracy had ever emerged. Only His
+Excellency the Governor and the under-Governor had for
+years landed from that island fortress. To all others communication
+with the outside world was strictly forbidden.
+Hence I was fully aware that now I had set foot in the
+hateful place my identity had become lost, and only death
+was before me.</p>
+
+<p>And such deeds were being done in the name of the
+Tsar!</p>
+
+<p>At the time I believed in His Majesty, feeling that he
+was in ignorance of the truth. Nowadays I know that he
+was, all the time, fully aware of the crimes committed in
+his name. Hence, I have no sympathy with the Imperial
+family, and have welcomed its well-deserved downfall.</p>
+
+<p>Into a small room where sat an official in uniform I
+was ushered, and later, after waiting an hour, was com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a>[<a href="./images/22.png">22</a>]</span>pelled
+to sign the big leather-bound register of prisoners.
+Already my crime had evidently been written down in a
+neat official hand, yet I was given no opportunity to
+read it.</p>
+
+<p>"Enough!" said the big bearded officer with a wave
+of the hand. "Take him to his cell&mdash;number 326."</p>
+
+<p>Whereupon the three men who had conveyed me there
+bundled me down two steep flights of damp stone steps,
+worn hollow by the tread of thousands of those who had
+already gone down to their doom, into a corridor dimly
+lit by oil-lamps&mdash;a passage into which no light of day ever
+penetrated.</p>
+
+<p>There we were met by an evil-looking ex-convict who
+carried a key suspended by a chain.</p>
+
+<p>"Three-two-six!" shouted one of my guardians,
+whereupon the gaoler opened a door and I was thrust into
+a narrow stone cell, the floor of which was an inch deep
+in slime, faintly lit by a tiny aperture, heavily barred,
+about ten feet above where I stood.</p>
+
+<p>The door was locked behind me and I found myself
+alone. I was in one of those oubliettes which at the will
+of my captors could be flooded!</p>
+
+<p>I held my breath and glanced around. Within me
+arose a fierce resentment. I had acted honestly towards
+my scoundrelly employers&mdash;though, be it said, my object
+was one of patriotic observation&mdash;yet they had allowed me
+to become the victim of the secret police who would, no
+doubt, obtain great kudos, and probably a liberal <i>douceur</i>,
+for having unearthed "a desperate plot against Her
+Majesty the Empress!"</p>
+
+<p>That there was a plot was quite true&mdash;but one unsuspected
+by the Chief of Police of Kazan.</p>
+
+<p>My paroxysm of anger I need not here describe.
+Through the hours that passed I sat upon the stone seat
+beside the board that served me as bed, gazing up at the
+small barred window.</p>
+
+<p><i>Clap&mdash;clap&mdash;clap</i> was the only sound that reached me&mdash;and
+with failing heart I knew the noise to be that of
+waves of the lake beating upon the wall within a few<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a>[<a href="./images/23.png">23</a>]</span>
+inches of my window, the dark waters which in due time
+would no doubt rise through my uneven floor and engulf
+me. Big grey rats ran about in search of fragments of
+food&mdash;of which there was none. I was a "political," and
+my food would certainly not be plentiful.</p>
+
+<p>In those awful nerve-racking hours, never knowing
+when I might find my floor flooded as signal of a horrible
+death, I paced my cell uttering the worst curses upon those
+who had employed me, and vowed that if they gave me
+the grace&mdash;for their own ends&mdash;to escape I would use
+my utmost endeavours to destroy them.</p>
+
+<p>I did not blame the Okhrana or the Chief of Police of
+Kazan. They had both acted in good faith. Yet I remembered
+that I was the catspaw of Kouropatkine and
+of St&uuml;rmer, either of whom could easily order my release.
+And that was what I awaited in patience, although in
+terror.</p>
+
+<p>Days went by&mdash;hopeless, interminable days. The
+lapping of the waters above me ever reminded me of the
+fate that had been of the many hundreds who had previously
+occupied that same fearsome oubliette and had been
+drowned, deliberately murdered by those into whose bad
+graces they had fallen.</p>
+
+<p>When the grey streak of light faded above me the
+gruff criminal in charge would unbolt my door and bring
+me a small paraffin lamp to provide me with light and
+warmth for the night. When the lamp was brought each
+night I thought of Marie Vietroff whose name was still
+upon everyone's lips. The poor girl, arrested though innocent
+as I had been, had been confined in a cell in the
+fortress of Peter and Paul, and her fate was known in
+consequence of certain revelations admitted by the Assistant
+Public Prosecutor. This official, the tool of higher
+and more corrupt officials, had admitted that the girl,
+though entirely innocent of any crime, had been arrested
+out of spite and sent to the fortress where, to escape a
+doom more horrible than death itself, she had emptied
+the oil from her lamp over herself while in bed, and then
+set fire to it.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a>[<a href="./images/24.png">24</a>]</span>
+Often, even in that deep oubliette, the sounds of
+woman's shrieks reached me, and each time I thought of
+the girl-victim of an official's revenge.</p>
+
+<p>Days passed&mdash;so many that I lost count of them&mdash;until
+I had abandoned hope. The scoundrels whom I had
+served had forsaken me now that I had served their purpose.
+Rasputin had fascinated the Empress by that
+mesmeric glance of his, and it had probably been deemed
+wiser that my mouth should be at once closed. At any
+moment I might discover the water oozing up between
+those green slime-covered stones.</p>
+
+<p>One day, however, at about noon the gruff uncommunicative
+peasant who was my gaoler&mdash;a man incarcerated
+for murder in Moscow&mdash;unlocked the door and
+bade me come out.</p>
+
+<p>In surprise I was taken along the corridors to that
+same small room in which I had put down my name in
+that Book of Fate they called the Prison Register, and
+there the same official informed me that it was desired
+to interrogate me at the Ministry of the Interior in
+Petrograd.</p>
+
+<p>Another interrogation! My spirits rose. If my
+captors meant to have the truth, then they should have it.
+I would expose the plot, let me be believed or disbelieved.</p>
+
+<p>Escorted by two agents of police, I was taken out
+into the dazzling light of day back to Petrograd, and to
+the Ministry of the Interior, where in a private room&mdash;one
+that was in a wing of the great building familiar to
+me&mdash;I was left alone.</p>
+
+<p>I had only been there for a few minutes, looking out
+of the window in wonder, when the door opened, and
+before me stood the goat-bearded man Boris St&uuml;rmer.</p>
+
+<p>"Welcome back, my dear Rajevski!" he exclaimed,
+coming towards me and shaking my hand warmly. "We
+only knew yesterday where you were. Those fools in
+Kazan spirited you away, but that idiot the Chief of
+Police has been to-day dismissed the service for his
+meddling. I do hope you are none the worse for your
+adventure," he added with concern.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a>[<a href="./images/25.png">25</a>]</span>
+"Surely Grichka knew of my arrest!" I said. "Did
+he not inquire?"</p>
+
+<p>"He did not dare to do so openly, lest he himself
+should be implicated," replied the German. "We were
+compelled to wait and inquire with due judiciousness.
+Even then we could not discover whither you had been
+sent&mdash;not until yesterday. But it is all a mistake, my
+dear Rajevski&mdash;all a mistake, and you must overlook it.
+The Father is eagerly awaiting your return."</p>
+
+<p>"I must first go home and exchange these dirty
+clothes," I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. But first accept the apologies of the General
+and myself. You, of course, knew that we should extricate
+you&mdash;as we shall again, if any other untoward
+circumstances happen to arise. Recollect that we can
+open any door of prison or palace in Russia," and then
+he smiled grimly as I took my leave.</p>
+
+<p>I returned to my own rooms to find that they had,
+during my absence, been searched by the police, and some
+of my correspondence, of a private and family nature, had
+been taken away. At this I felt greatly annoyed, and
+resolved to obtain from Kouropatkine immunity from such
+domiciliary visits in future.</p>
+
+<p>Upon my table lay a letter which had, I was told,
+arrived for me that morning. On opening it I found that
+it was from the head office of the Azof-Don Commercial
+Bank, in the Morskaya, officially informing me that a
+sum of fifty thousand roubles had been placed to my credit
+there by some person who remained anonymous.</p>
+
+<p>The present was certainly a welcome one, made no
+doubt as reparation for the inconvenience I had suffered.</p>
+
+<p>Half-an-hour later I arrived at the Poltavskaya where
+old Anna admitted me, and I at once went to the monk's
+sanctum.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin sprang from his chair and, seizing both my
+hands, cried:</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! my dear F&eacute;odor! So here you are back with
+us! This relieves my mind greatly."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," I said. "Back from the grave."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a>[<a href="./images/26.png">26</a>]</span>
+"The infernal idiots!" declared the monk, his wide-open
+eyes flashing as he spoke. "I will see that it does
+not occur again. But you quite understand, F&eacute;odor, that
+it was not wise to reveal that I had gone to Kazan on
+purpose to pray in the Empress's presence."</p>
+
+<p>I smiled, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Somebody has placed fifty thousand roubles to my
+account at the Azof-Don Bank."</p>
+
+<p>In turn the rascal smiled, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"You need not seek its source. It is out of the
+Government funds, and is yours. Keep a still tongue,
+and there may be other payments." Then, turning to his
+table, he showed me quantities of correspondence which
+had been left unattended in my absence, and urged me
+to get to work, adding: "I have to be at the Baroness
+Tchelkounoff's this afternoon, and there is a s&eacute;ance here
+to-morrow&mdash;five neophytes to be initiated."</p>
+
+<p>So five more silly, neurotic and, of course, wealthy
+women were to be initiated into the mysteries of the
+mock saint's religion. Grichka had no use for those whose
+pockets were not well lined, for he was accumulating vast
+sums from those weak, fascinated females who believed
+in his divinity as healer and spiritual guide.</p>
+
+<p>Presently I seated myself at the table and recommenced
+my secretarial duties, while he went forth. In many
+letters were drafts for subscriptions for Rasputin's convent
+in far-off Pokrovsky in Siberia, a place which no
+one had ever visited, yet in support of which he had
+obtained hundreds of thousands of roubles. I might
+here state that later on, when I visited Pokrovsky, I
+found the wonderful convent, of which he told me such
+pious stories, consisted of a plain house cheaply furnished
+in which lived his peasant wife and children, together
+with twelve of his chosen sister-disciples, foolish women
+who had made over their money to him and devoted their
+lives to piety as set forth in his new "religion."</p>
+
+<p>A fortnight passed. Of Kouropatkine we saw little.
+He had, at last, assisted by the traitor St&ouml;ssel and at
+Germany's instigation, succeeded in forcing war with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a>[<a href="./images/27.png">27</a>]</span>
+Japan, and the streets of the capital were filled with
+urging, enthusiastic crowds bent upon pulling the Mikado
+from his throne.</p>
+
+<p>Kouropatkine had, according to what Rasputin told
+me, assured the Emperor that the victory would be an
+easy one, and that the Japanese would fly at first sight
+of our troops. The General had quite recently returned
+from the Far East, and had presented a personal report
+to the Tsar describing Japan's war preparations. He
+had declared that if Russia meant victory she must strike
+at once. Hence war was declared; you know with what
+disastrous results to both the Army and Navy of Russia.</p>
+
+<p>It was, however, on the day before the declaration
+of war that Rasputin's real triumph came. The Empress,
+who had been searching Russia high and low for the
+pious Father beside whom she had knelt in Kazan, had
+at last discovered him, and he received a command to
+an audience at the Palace of Tsarskoe-Selo.</p>
+
+<p>The monk, his eyes shining with glee, showed me the
+letter from Count Fredericks, Minister of the Court, and
+said: "You must accompany me, F&eacute;odor."</p>
+
+<p>At noon on the day appointed we therefore left
+Petrograd together. The monk wore, in pretended
+humility, his oldest and most rusty robe&mdash;though beneath
+it, be it said, his under garments were of silk of the finest
+procurable in the capital&mdash;while suspended by a thin brass
+chain around his neck was a cheap enamelled cross. He
+was unkempt, unwashed, his face sallow and drawn, yet
+those wonderful brilliant eyes stared forth with uncanny
+intensity of expression. His hands were grimy, and his
+long tapering finger-nails had not been cleaned for weeks.
+Such was the man whom Alexandra Feodorovna, fascinated
+by his glance, had called to her side.</p>
+
+<p>On arrival at the station of Tsarskoe-Selo we found
+one of the Imperial carriages awaiting us, with footman
+and coachman in bright blue liveries, with outriders.</p>
+
+<p>Two flunkeys, also in blue, advanced, and, placing
+their hands beneath the saint's arms, lifted him into the
+carriage, an honour always paid to those who are special<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a>[<a href="./images/28.png">28</a>]</span>
+guests of His Majesty the Tsar. As for myself I climbed
+in afterwards, smiling within myself at the spectacle of
+the unwashed monk being lifted in as though he were an
+invalid. With us was an officer in uniform and a civilian&mdash;an
+agent of the Okhrana.</p>
+
+<p>The moment we had seated ourselves the Imperial
+servants took off their cocked hats and replaced them
+crosswise on their heads as sign that within the carriage
+was a guest of His Majesty, and in order to signal to
+passers-by as we drove along to remove their hats or
+salute.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin had already been given instructions by
+General Erchoff, Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod, as
+to how we should act in the presence of Her Imperial
+Majesty. We had both attended before him, Rasputin
+well knowing that Erchoff was one of his most bitter
+enemies, but who on account of the Tsaritza's interest
+was now posing as a friend.</p>
+
+<p>After our drive back to Rasputin's house the monk,
+flinging himself into a chair and lighting a cigarette,
+thoughtfully remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"That puppet Erchoff will later on regret that he
+denounced me a year ago. His term of office is at its
+limit."</p>
+
+<p>The mock saint was possessed of an almost supernatural
+intuition. In everyday life he would tell me of
+things that would happen socially and politically, and sure
+enough they would happen. The gift of looking into the
+future is given to a few men and women in the world,
+those persons who sometimes when they look into the face
+of another hold their breath and remain silent, because
+they see death written upon the countenance before them.
+This curious faculty was possessed by Rasputin to a very
+marked degree&mdash;a faculty which has puzzled scientists
+through all the ages, a faculty which usually runs side by
+side with an overweening vanity and an amazing self-consciousness.
+Sometimes the possessor of that most
+astounding and mysterious intuition is also possessed of
+a humble and retiring disposition. But it is seldom.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a>[<a href="./images/29.png">29</a>]</span>
+Grichka, as all Russia called him, was an outstanding
+personality, clever, scheming, and as unscrupulous as
+he was avaricious. His mujik blood betrayed itself
+every hour.</p>
+
+<p>Even as we sat there in the Imperial carriage as we
+drove to the Palace, he smiled with self-conscious sarcasm
+when the people saluted or doffed their hats to him as
+an Imperial guest.</p>
+
+<p>At last we arrived before huge prison-like gates,
+which opened to allow us to pass, sentries saluted, the
+doors swung back again, and we found ourselves in the
+great well kept park of the Alexander Palace.</p>
+
+<p>I saw two civilians walking together along the drive,
+which led into a wood. They were agents of the secret
+police patrolling the grounds, for every precaution was
+being taken to guard the persons of Their Majesties. The
+death of the girl Vietroff had aroused the indignation
+of Russia to such an extent that the atmosphere was
+charged with anarchism.</p>
+
+<p>Our road lay through woods, past a model dairy.
+Thence we went past two large farms, and out into open
+meadow lands, everything being kept most spick-and-span
+by the hundreds of servants.</p>
+
+<p>The system of defence of Tsarskoe-Selo struck me as
+amazingly well designed. The road we had driven along
+seemed to be a maze, for twice we had left what appeared
+to be the main road, and passing three guard-houses&mdash;small
+fortresses in themselves, in case of an attack by
+the revolutionists&mdash;we at last arrived before the main
+entrance of the royal residence, guarded by a detachment
+of fierce-looking Kubansky Cossacks. These were drawn
+up standing at the salute, with their officers, as we
+approached. It was surely a picturesque guard of honour,
+with their quaint, old-fashioned pointed headgear, their
+smart comic-opera tunics, and their long, shiny boots.</p>
+
+<p>In a great high white wall is an elegant gate of
+delicately wrought ironwork, with the usual striped
+sentry boxes on either side. Around are seated Chinese
+statues in bronze, each upon its pedestal. Over the gate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a>[<a href="./images/30.png">30</a>]</span>way
+is the Imperial cipher in bronze, and beyond in the
+holy of holies is the long two-storied palace of Tsarskoe-Selo,
+that spot forbidden to all save to the guests of Their
+Majesties.</p>
+
+<p>I give this in detail because few outsiders, very few
+indeed&mdash;save ambassadors and other jackanapes in
+uniform&mdash;had, until the arrest of the Romanoffs, ever
+trod within the hallowed precincts of the palace-fortress,
+the bomb-proof home of the incompetent weakling who
+had been crowned Tsar of All the Russias.</p>
+
+<p>As we passed through that last gate I saw before us
+a building very much like a French ch&acirc;teau of the
+sixteenth century, a long low building with sloping slated
+roofs, few chimneys, and a clock&mdash;which, by the way,
+had stopped&mdash;high over the entrance.</p>
+
+<p>Everywhere since we had entered the Imperial domain
+all was most scrupulously well kept. Not a gravel stone
+was out of place. Gangs of men were, indeed, kept
+to rake over instantly the gravel drives so as to obliterate
+the track of the wheels of the carriages.</p>
+
+<p>At last with due pomp we drew up before the long
+portico of the comfortable but not imposing house in
+which lived Their Imperial Majesties.</p>
+
+<p>As we descended an attendant took Rasputin's staff,
+when instantly there came forward a lieutenant of Cossacks,
+a curiously crafty-looking fellow, who asked us
+if we desired to wash, or wished for a drink or for food.</p>
+
+<p>The fellow was repulsive, even to the charlatan himself.
+The latter gazed at him, and replied in his deep,
+serious tones:</p>
+
+<p>"I am here to see our Empress. I have no need for
+thy ministrations."</p>
+
+<p>At this rebuke the evil-looking officer looked daggers,
+and seeing that I was but a menial as secretary he did
+not deign to address me.</p>
+
+<p>A few seconds later we were taken in charge by the
+"skorochodi," servants who are so intelligent that they
+are nicknamed the "quick-walkers." The palace contains
+hundreds of servants and hangers-on, but these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a>[<a href="./images/31.png">31</a>]</span>
+are the ones picked to take visitors through the semicircular
+built palace to audience of either the Tsar or his
+spouse.</p>
+
+<p>Through a long corridor we were conducted past the
+doors of a number of rooms. At each were two sentries,
+one a big Abyssinian negro in blue and gold&mdash;called an
+"Araby" in the palace&mdash;and the other a stolid Cossack
+sentry with his fixed bayonet.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the corridor we were met by one of the
+Emperor's personal servants who came forward in all
+humility, and bowing before Rasputin, asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Can I be of service, Father, before you have
+audience?"</p>
+
+<p>Both of us were surprised. Here, in the midst of all
+the pomp and ceremony was an ordinary Russian peasant,
+as unlettered and as uncouth as Rasputin himself, and a
+personal attendant of his Majesty.</p>
+
+<p>He ushered us into a pretty room, with a long balcony
+upholstered in pale grey silk, with thick soft carpet to
+match, an apartment which might have been the boudoir
+of the Empress herself.</p>
+
+<p>"I am here at Her Imperial Majesty's command," replied
+the Father, ready for the crowning of the slow and
+subtle plot which St&uuml;rmer had engineered with Kouropatkine.
+"She desires to speak with me."</p>
+
+<p>Next instant the servant, who no doubt knew of
+Grichka's wonder-working with his mock miracles, threw
+himself upon his knees, and craved:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, our Father, I beseech thee to place thy blessing
+upon me, and upon my wife and my invalid child. The
+doctor who came yesterday said that she is suffering from
+phthisis, and that the case is serious. I beg of thee to
+cure her."</p>
+
+<p>"Thy name?" he asked quickly, looking straight into
+his face with those wonderful eyes.</p>
+
+<p>"Aivasoff&mdash;Ivan Aivasoff."</p>
+
+<p>"Whence do you come?"</p>
+
+<p>"From Ossa, in the Government of Perm."</p>
+
+<p>"And you are His Majesty's valet, eh?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a>[<a href="./images/32.png">32</a>]</span>
+"I am one of His Imperial Majesty's valets. He
+told me that the Tsaritza had commanded you here, and
+that I was to introduce you and your secretary, F&eacute;odor
+Rajevski."</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin halted, and assuming his most pious demeanour&mdash;that
+same attitude which had attracted Petrograd
+society&mdash;and incidentally extracted hundreds of
+thousands of roubles from its pockets&mdash;crossed his hands,
+muttered some words, and bestowed his blessing upon
+the Tsar's body servant.</p>
+
+<p>A minute later the man Aivasoff straightened himself
+and, pointing to a door on the opposite side of the
+room, asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Are you both ready? The Tsaritza is awaiting you."</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin, though pretending to be careless of his
+personal appearance, stroked his long beard, and then
+announced his readiness to pass into the presence of
+the Empress.</p>
+
+<p>"You will go first, and bow," said our attendant.
+"Your secretary will remain within the door with hands
+crossed before him," he said.</p>
+
+<p>Then with his knuckles he rapped thrice upon the
+white enamelled door, and, turning the handle of the lock,
+entered, walking before to announce us.</p>
+
+<p>In front I saw a deep glow of electricity shaded with
+daffodil silk, a pretty artistic room with high palms,
+choice cut flowers, and soft luxurious couches upholstered
+in grey and gold brocade. There sat two ladies, one
+of whom was in a silk gown of bottle green, which was,
+no doubt, the latest creation of the Rue de la Paix&mdash;the
+Empress&mdash;while the other, who was in elegant
+black, I afterwards recognised as her bosom friend who
+had accompanied her to Kazan, Mademoiselle Z&eacute;neide
+Kamensky.</p>
+
+<p>Ivan Aivasoff bowed low as he uttered his stereotyped
+words of introduction. He was one of those ignorant
+persons with whom the unscrupulous bureaucrats had
+surrounded the person of the Tsar. He was an honest,
+well-meaning fellow from the Urals, who had been selected<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a>[<a href="./images/33.png">33</a>]</span>
+to pose as a palace official, and to act just as I was
+acting, as the tool of others; a peasant chosen because
+he would naturally be less affected by revolutionary and
+progressive influence.</p>
+
+<p>Aivasoff was, as I afterwards learnt, but one of many
+peasants in immediate contact with the Emperor and
+Empress, the other servants being German.</p>
+
+<p>As we bowed before the two ladies they rose smiling,
+while the Father with raised hands pronounced upon them
+his blessing in that pious, slightly hoarse, but deeply
+impressive voice of his. Then, after the Empress had
+welcomed him he fixed her with that impelling, hypnotic
+gaze of his, and in pretence of never having met her
+before, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"O Gracious Lady, I have come here at thy bidding,
+though I am but a poor and unlettered wanderer, unfamiliar
+with palaces. My sphere is in the houses of
+the very poor in order to direct, to advise, and to succour
+them. Such is God's will."</p>
+
+<p>"Already, Father, we have heard of you," responded
+the Empress, fascinated by the extraordinary thraldom of
+his gaze. "Your great charitable works are well known
+to us, as they are known through the length and breadth
+of our Empire. It is said by many that you have been
+sent unto us as saviour of Russia."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;it is so, by God's Almighty grace," the mock
+saint said, bowing low at the Empress's words, while
+Mademoiselle Kamensky exchanged inquiring glances
+with myself.</p>
+
+<p>That scene was, indeed, a strange one, the dirty,
+unkempt monk in his faded, ragged habit, greasy at
+collar and sleeves, his black matted beard sweeping across
+his chest, and his hair uncombed, standing erect and
+rather imperious, posing as a Divine messenger, in that
+luxurious private apartment of the Empress herself.</p>
+
+<p>"It is but right that you, as our spiritual guide,
+should be in direct touch with the Emperor and myself,"
+she said, without, however, referring to the meeting at
+Kazan, to which I had certainly expected she would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a>[<a href="./images/34.png">34</a>]</span>
+allude. "From our friend St&uuml;rmer I have learnt much
+concerning your good works, Father, and I wish to
+support them financially, if I may be permitted, just as
+I did those of Father Gapon."</p>
+
+<p>"Truly I thank thee, O Lady," he replied, bowing
+low again. "My convent at Pokrovsky is in urgent need
+of funds."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I shall give orders for you to receive a donation
+immediately," she said in a low voice, and with that
+pronounced German accent which always reminded those
+with whom she came into contact that she was not a
+true-born Russian. "Stolypin, too, has told me of the
+wonderful miracle you performed in Warsaw."</p>
+
+<p>I knew of that miracle, an outrageous fraud which
+had been perpetrated upon an assembly of ignorant
+peasants by means of a clever conjuring trick in which
+Rasputin's friend, the chemist Badmayev, and another,
+had assisted. St&uuml;rmer had been laughing heartily over
+it at Rasputin's house on the previous night.</p>
+
+<p>"God hath given me strength," replied the monk
+simply, and with much humbleness. "I am His servant,
+sent by Him unto Russia as her guide and her deliverer.
+As such I am before thee."</p>
+
+<p>As he stood there with devout piety written upon his
+sallow, shrunken countenance, he certainly presented a
+most saintly, picturesque appearance, his attitude being
+that of a most humble ascetic of the Middle Ages. Saint
+Francis of Assisi could not have been humbler.</p>
+
+<p>That Her Majesty was much impressed by the crafty
+charlatan was quite apparent. In that strange jumble of
+quotations from the Scriptures which he so often used,
+he declared to her that by Divine command he intended
+to guide Russia in her forthcoming progress and prosperity,
+so that she should rise to become the all-powerful
+nation of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>"It is well, O Lady, that thou hast sent for me,"
+he added. "I am thy most devoted servant. I am
+entirely in thy hands."</p>
+
+<p>And again crossing his begrimed hands upon his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a>[<a href="./images/35.png">35</a>]</span>
+breast he raised his eyes to Heaven, and repeated his
+blessing in that same jumbled jargon which he used at
+the weekly s&eacute;ances of the sister-disciples.</p>
+
+<p>"O Father, I sincerely thank you," replied Her
+Majesty at last. "The Emperor is unfortunately away in
+Moscow, but when he returns you must again come to us,
+for I know he will welcome you warmly. We are both
+striving for the national welfare, and if we receive your
+goodwill we shall have no fear of failure."</p>
+
+<p>"There are, alas! rumours of plots against the
+dynasty," said Rasputin. "But, O Lady, I beg of thee
+to heed these my words and remain calm and secure,
+for although attempts may be made, desperate perhaps,
+it is willed that none will be successful. God in His
+grace is Protector of the House of Romanoff, to whom
+a son will assuredly soon be born."</p>
+
+<p>Alexandra Feodorovna held her breath at hearing those
+words. That scene before the shrine of Our Lady of
+Kazan was, no doubt, still vivid in her mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Are you absolutely confident of that?" she asked
+him in breathless suspense.</p>
+
+<p>"The truth hath already been revealed unto me.
+Therefore I know," was his reply. "I know&mdash;and I
+here tell thee, O Lady. The Imperial House will have
+a son and heir."</p>
+
+<p>That prophecy, duly fulfilled as it was later on,
+caused the Empress to regard the dissolute "saint" as
+a "holy" man. In that eventful hour at Tsarskoe-Selo
+the die was cast. The Empress had fallen irrevocably
+beneath the spell of the amazing rascal, and the death-knell
+of the Romanoffs as rulers had been sounded.</p>
+
+<p>When we backed out of the Empress's presence the
+peasant Ivan, who had introduced us, handed us over
+to the Tsar's chief valet, an elderly grey-bearded man
+in the Imperial livery, a man whose name we understood
+was Tchernoff, and who had been valet of the old
+Emperor Alexander III.</p>
+
+<p>The Starets left the palace full of extreme satisfaction,
+and indeed, when an hour later we were alone together<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a>[<a href="./images/36.png">36</a>]</span>
+in the train returning to Petrograd, he grinned evilly
+across at me, and said meaningly:</p>
+
+<p>"Alexandra Feodorovna did not forget our meeting
+at Kazan, though she did not allude to it. Ere long,
+though she is Empress, I intend that she shall sit at
+my feet and do my bidding!"</p>
+
+<p>And he chuckled within himself as was his peasant's
+habit when mightily pleased.</p>
+
+<p>Truly, that meeting with the Tsar's valet Tchernoff
+was quite as fateful to Russia as the meeting with the
+neurotic spiritualistic Empress herself.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">the potsdam plot develops</span></h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">About</span> a week after Rasputin's first audience of the
+Empress Alexandra, the Bishop Theophanus, confessor of
+the Imperial family, paid him a visit at the Poltavskaya.</p>
+
+<p>The Bishop, a big, over-fed man, had a long chat
+with the Starets in my presence.</p>
+
+<p>"Her Majesty was very much impressed by you, my
+dear Grichka," said the well-known cleric to the man
+who, having pretended to abandon his profligate ways,
+had parted his hair in the middle and become a pilgrim.
+"She has daily spoken of you, and you are to be commanded
+to audience with the Tsar. Hence I am here to
+give you some advice."</p>
+
+<p>The "holy" man grinned with satisfaction, knowing
+how complete had been the success of St&uuml;rmer's plans.
+At the moment Theophanus was in ignorance of the
+deeply laid plot to draw the Empress beneath the spell
+of the Starets whom the inferior classes all over Russia&mdash;as
+well as the well-to-do&mdash;believed was leading such a
+saint-like, ascetic life in imitation of Christ.</p>
+
+<p>Truly, Grichka dressed the part well, and gave himself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a>[<a href="./images/37.png">37</a>]</span>
+the outward appearance of saintliness and godliness.
+Even the Bishop was bamboozled by him, just as Petrograd
+society was being mystified and electrified by the
+rising of "the Divine Protector" of Russia.</p>
+
+<p>Of his doctrine I need not here write. Dark hints
+of its astonishing immorality have already leaked out to
+the world through chattering women who were members
+of the cult. My object here is to expose the most subtle
+and ingenious plot which the world has known&mdash;the
+Teutonic conspiracy against our Russian Empire.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin's "religion" was not a novel one, as is
+generally supposed. It was simply a variation conceived
+by his mystically-inclined mind upon the one devised by
+Marcion in the early days of the Christian era. He
+had conceived the theory that the only means by which
+the spirit could be elevated was to mortify and destroy
+the flesh.</p>
+
+<p>The Bishop Teofan, or Theophanus, was a mock
+ascetic, just as was Rasputin. Bishop Alexis of Kazan,
+after Rasputin's visit there, had introduced him to the
+Rector of the Religious Academy, and already the mock
+saint had established a circle of ascetic students, of whom
+Teofan and another Starets named Mitia the Blessed (a
+name derived from Dmitry), who came from Montenegro,
+were members. But Rasputin, although the leader, had
+entirely imposed upon Teofan.</p>
+
+<p>In all seriousness the Bishop told the Starets of the
+interest in him which the Empress had aroused in the
+mind of the Tsar.</p>
+
+<p>"He is a keen spiritualist, just as is the Empress,"
+said the confessor. "At Court everyone has heard of
+your marvellous powers. I can promise you great success
+if you carry out the views I will place before you. You
+must form a Court circle of disciples. The woman most
+likely to assist you is Madame Vyrubova, who, with
+Mademoiselle Kamensky, is Her Majesty's greatest
+confidante."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, I will meet her. You arrange it."</p>
+
+<p>"To-morrow is Monday, and there will be the usual<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a>[<a href="./images/38.png">38</a>]</span>
+clerical reception at the Countess Ignatieff's. I will see
+that she is there to meet you."</p>
+
+<p>"Excellent, my dear Teofan!" said the "saint." "In
+this affair we will help each other. I will form a circle
+of believers at Court, and Alexandra Feodorovna shall
+be at their head."</p>
+
+<p>The fact is that Teofan knew that Rasputin was
+possessed of a marvellous hypnotic power, and, being
+aware of the vogue of hypnotists at Court, saw in the
+Starets an able assistant by whom to gain power in the
+immediate entourage of Their Majesties. Thus, quite
+unconsciously, he was furthering the plans of Kouropatkine
+and St&uuml;rmer, who were receiving money from
+Berlin.</p>
+
+<p>Already one of Rasputin's principal disciples was
+Madame Golovine, the elder sister of the Grand Duke
+Paul's morganatic wife, Countess Hohenfelsen, a woman
+who had become his most ardent follower, and who never
+failed to attend, with her two daughters, the famous
+s&eacute;ances held weekly in that big upstairs room.</p>
+
+<p>On the following evening I went with Rasputin to the
+great house of the Dowager Countess Ignatieff to attend
+the usual Monday gathering of prelates and ascetics, for
+her salon was a rendezvous for all kinds of religious
+cranks, theologians, and people interested in pious
+works. Rasputin's unexpected appearance there caused
+a sensation.</p>
+
+<p>Outside his circle of "disciples" he was unapproachable.
+The instructions given me by Boris St&uuml;rmer were
+absolute and precise. The reason that I was always at the
+charlatan's right hand was because he could only write
+with difficulty, and was therefore unable to make any
+memoranda. His letters were the painful efforts of an
+unlettered mujik, as indeed he was.</p>
+
+<p>And yet already he had become the most renowned man
+in the Russian capital!</p>
+
+<p>Our Empire's quarrel with Japan had not been finally
+settled. The country was in a state of serious unrest.
+While the revolutionary spirit, started by the death of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a>[<a href="./images/39.png">39</a>]</span>
+girl Vietroff, was seething everywhere, the dynasty was
+threatened on every hand. Yet the ever-open eye of the
+Okhrana was upon everyone, and arrests of innocent persons
+were still continuing.</p>
+
+<p>That night the salon of the Countess Ignatieff was
+responsible for much concerning the downfall of the
+Romanoffs. In the great luxurious drawing-room there
+were assembled beneath the huge crystal electroliers a
+curious, mixed company of the pious and the vicious of
+the capital. There was the Metropolitan in his robes
+and with his great crucifix, Ministers of State in uniforms
+with decorations, Actual Privy Councillors and their
+wives, and dozens of underlings in their gaudy tinsel,
+prelates with crosses at their necks, and women of all
+classes, from the highest aristocracy to the painted sister
+of the higher demi-monde.</p>
+
+<p>The gathering was characteristic of Petrograd in those
+times of Russia's decadence, when Germany was preparing
+for war. The fight with Japan had already been
+engineered through Kouropatkine as a preliminary to the
+betrayal and smashing of our Empire.</p>
+
+<p>Of the conflict with the Mikado I have no concern.
+My pen is taken up in order to reveal what I know regarding
+the astounding plots conceived in Potsdam and
+executed in Petrograd, in order fearlessly to expose those
+who were traitors to their country, and to whom the
+<i>d&eacute;b&acirc;cle</i> of 1917 was due.</p>
+
+<p>In that great well-lit saloon, crowded by religious personages
+of all kinds, the old Dowager Countess Ignatieff,
+in stiff black silk, came forward to receive the popular
+Starets as the newest star in Russia's religious firmament.
+With St&uuml;rmer behind him to advise and to plot, aided by
+an obscure civil servant named Protopopoff&mdash;who afterwards
+became Minister of the Interior and a spy of Germany&mdash;the
+"saint" never held himself cheap. That was
+one of the secrets of his astounding career. Though he
+possessed no education and could scarcely trace his own
+name, he possessed the most acute brain of any lawyer or
+banker in Petrograd. In every sense he was abnormal,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a>[<a href="./images/40.png">40</a>]</span>
+just as abnormal as Joan of Arc, Saint Anthony, Saint
+Francis, or a dozen others who have been beatified.</p>
+
+<p>The rheumatic old countess, after shaking hands with
+us both, introduced us to a dozen other persons around
+her. Suddenly she said:</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! Here is my dear friend the Lady-of-the-Court
+Anna Vyrubova. Allow me to introduce you, Father."</p>
+
+<p>The Starets instantly crossed his hands piously over
+his breast and bowed before a good-looking, sleek-faced
+woman of forty, who was elegantly dressed, and who
+greeted him with a humorous smile. Having heard much
+of the woman's scandalous past, I naturally regarded her
+with considerable curiosity. She was a woman of destiny.
+Petrograd had not long before been agog with the scandal
+following her marriage with a young naval officer, who
+had gone to the Baltic, and unexpectedly returning to his
+wife's room in the palace at Tsarskoe-Selo, had been shut
+out by the Empress herself. The husband had afterwards
+died in mysterious circumstances, which had been hushed
+up by the police, and madame had remained as the personal
+attendant upon Her Majesty with her inseparable
+friend Z&eacute;neide Kamensky.</p>
+
+<p>As I watched the monk's meeting with this woman of
+adventure, I saw that he had at once fascinated her, just
+as completely as he had hypnotised her Imperial mistress.
+She stood before him, using her small black fan slowly,
+for the room was overpoweringly hot, and began to chat,
+assuring him that she had for a long time been desirous
+of meeting him.</p>
+
+<p>As I stood beside Rasputin I heard him say, in that
+humble manner which always attracted society women:</p>
+
+<p>"And, O Lady, I have heard of thee often. It is with
+sincere pleasure that I gaze upon thy face and speak with
+thee. It is God's will&mdash;let Him be thanked for this our
+meeting."</p>
+
+<p>The blasphemy of it all appalled me. I knew of certain
+deep plots in progress, and I watched the handsome lady-in-waiting,
+with whom the monk crossed the room, nodding
+self-consciously to the bishops, prelates, and mock<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a>[<a href="./images/41.png">41</a>]</span>-pious
+scoundrels of all sorts, with their female victims. I
+held my breath in wonder.</p>
+
+<p>As I followed I saw St&uuml;rmer, the goat-bearded traitor,
+standing chatting to a pretty young girl in turquoise blue.
+Then I overheard Madame Vyrubova say to the Starets:</p>
+
+<p>"I came here to-night, Father, especially to meet you.
+Her Majesty gave me a message. She is in despair. She
+requires your help, prayers, and advice."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! my dear lady, I regret; I am fully alive to the
+high honours which our Tsaritza has done me to command
+me to Court. But my sphere is with the poor. My
+life is with them&mdash;for their benefit and guidance."</p>
+
+<p>"I bear you a message," said the well-preserved
+woman of whom a thousand tongues had gossiped evilly
+in Petrograd. "To-morrow the Empress expects you informally.
+She will take no refusal."</p>
+
+<p>"Refusal&mdash;how can I refuse my Empress?" he replied.
+"I can beg of her to excuse me. I have to
+attend a meeting in the lowest quarter of the city to-morrow
+among those who await me. And in the evening
+I go upon a pilgrimage. Her Majesty will not
+begrudge the poor my ministrations. Please tell her
+this. My sphere, as designed by God, is with the masses
+and not in the Imperial Palace."</p>
+
+<p>That was all I overheard. St&uuml;rmer called me aside
+to whisper, and as he did so I saw that the Starets had
+at once become surrounded by women, of whom he
+always became the centre of attraction, with hands
+crossed so humbly over his breast.</p>
+
+<p>His refusal to go to Court was in accordance with
+his extraordinary intuition and acumen, though his meeting
+with the woman Vyrubova marked another milestone
+in the history of Russia's betrayal.</p>
+
+<p>The days passed. The world was, of course, in
+ignorance, but we in the Poltavskaya, the monk and
+myself, knew of the despatch of Admiral Rozhdestvensky's
+blundering fleet on its voyage half-way round
+the world, how he was ordered to fire upon anything he
+saw in the North Sea, and how, as soon came out, he fired<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a>[<a href="./images/42.png">42</a>]</span>
+upon some of your British trawlers on the Dogger Bank,
+for which our Government paid quite willingly sixty-five
+thousand pounds in compensation.</p>
+
+<p>But let the first war-chapter of Russia's history pass.
+With it Rasputin had but little to do. The person who,
+unwilling or not, carried out the will of Potsdam's Kaiser
+was the Empress Alexandra. And having done so she,
+with her curious nature, suddenly turned from gay to
+grave. She became strange in her conduct and discarded
+her wonderful Paris gowns&mdash;in which, by the way, she
+was eclipsed by "Liane," the dark-haired diva of the
+Paris <i>caf&eacute;s chantants</i>, in whom Nicholas II. took such a
+very paternal interest.</p>
+
+<p>Time after time I had been present when St&uuml;rmer and
+Rasputin, chuckling over the undoubted success of their
+conspiracy, discussed the situation.</p>
+
+<p>Since Her Majesty had met the rascal monk at
+Tsarskoe-Selo she had never appeared in public. On
+certain occasions, when a Court pageant or function had
+to be held according to custom and the calendar, it was
+the Emperor's mother who, with her well-known charm
+and honesty, received the guests. Excuses were made
+for Alexandra Feodorovna's non-appearance. The truth
+was that the Empress, full of spiritualistic beliefs, had
+suddenly developed a religious mania, centred around the
+amazing personality of the mock monk.</p>
+
+<p>Thrice had Her Majesty sent him commands through
+her pro-German puppet Fredericks, and thrice he, at
+St&uuml;rmer's suggestion, refused to comply. This illiterate
+Siberian monk, ex-horse-thief and betrayer of women,
+actually disregarded the Imperial order! He had declared
+himself to be the saviour of Russia, and greater
+than the Romanoffs.</p>
+
+<p>"The Empress is furious!" declared the Bishop
+Teofan one day as, with his heavy bejewelled cross upon
+his breast and wearing clothes of the richest texture, he
+sat with the rascal in his den. "Sometimes she is in
+anger, at others in despair. Anna Vyrubova is frantic.
+Why do you not come to audience?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a>[<a href="./images/43.png">43</a>]</span>
+"She promised that I should see Nicholas," was
+the reply. "After I have spoken with him I will see
+her. It does a woman good to wait."</p>
+
+<p>"I agree, but your refusal may be stretched too far,"
+said the Bishop.</p>
+
+<p>"None will tell the truth concerning her," Rasputin
+said. "I hear on one hand that she thinks herself too
+fat and is taking the 'Entfettungscur' against the
+advice of the Court physician. Others say that she has
+eczema and dare not show her face, while others say she
+is mad. What is the truth?"</p>
+
+<p>"Come and ascertain for yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"Her devotion is that of a fanatic&mdash;I take it?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. She lives only for the entertainment of
+monks and pilgrims. You are lucky, my dear Grichka.
+Madame Vyrubova was evidently entranced by you at
+Countess Ignatieff's. She will do your bidding. Only,
+I beg of you to come to Court."</p>
+
+<p>The charlatan, however, steadily refused the Bishop's
+advice. Instead, he left Petrograd that night alone, and
+went away to his wife and sister-disciples at Pokrovsky,
+in Siberia.</p>
+
+<p>For more than two months he was absent from Petrograd.
+One day a frantic message came to me over the
+telephone from Madame Vyrubova, who inquired the
+whereabouts of the Starets.</p>
+
+<p>"The Father has gone to his convent at Pokrovsky,
+Madame," I replied.</p>
+
+<p>"What!" she gasped. "Gone to Siberia! Why,
+Her Majesty is daily expecting him here at the Palace.
+When will he return?"</p>
+
+<p>"I regret, Madame, that I cannot say," was my
+reply. "He has told me nothing."</p>
+
+<p>"Will you please take a confidential message to Boris
+St&uuml;rmer for me?" she asked. And when I replied in
+the affirmative, she went on:</p>
+
+<p>"Please go at once to him and ask him to come to
+the Palace this evening without fail. I am very anxious
+to see him concerning a highly important matter. A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a>[<a href="./images/44.png">44</a>]</span>
+carriage will meet the train which arrives at seven-thirty."</p>
+
+<p>I promised to carry out the wishes of the Tsaritza's
+favourite lady-in-waiting, and half an hour later called
+upon St&uuml;rmer at his fine house in the Kirotshnaya, where
+I delivered the message.</p>
+
+<p>During the next few weeks I merely called at the
+Poltavskaya each morning for the monk's letters, which
+I opened and dealt with at my leisure.</p>
+
+<p>His correspondence was truly amazing. The letters
+were mostly from wealthy female devotees, missives
+usually couched in pious language. Some contained
+confessions of the most private nature, and asking the
+Father's advice and blessing. All these latter he had
+given me strict instructions carefully to preserve. Any
+letter which contained self-condemnation by its writer,
+or any confession of sin, was therefore carefully put
+away, after being duly replied to. At the time, it did
+not occur to me that the impostor ever intended to allow
+them to see the light of day, and, indeed, it was not until
+several years later that I discovered that he was using
+them for the purpose of extracting large sums from
+women who preferred to pay the blackmail he levied
+rather than have their secrets exposed to their sweet-hearts
+or husbands.</p>
+
+<p>While Rasputin, having thrown off his cloak of piety,
+was leading a dissolute life in far-off Pokrovsky, and
+refusing to obey the Empress's repeated invitations, the
+guns of Peter and Paul one day boomed forth salvo after
+salvo, announcing to the world that the prayer uttered
+by the Starets before our Lady of Kazan had been
+granted.</p>
+
+<p>An heir had been born to the Romanoffs!</p>
+
+<p>There was but little public rejoicing, however, for
+Russia was, at the moment, plunged into grief over the
+disastrous result of her attack upon Japan. Nevertheless,
+the event more than ever impressed upon the
+neurotic Empress that Grichka was possessed of some
+mysterious and divine influence. Her Majesty believed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a>[<a href="./images/45.png">45</a>]</span>
+entirely in his saintliness, and her faith in the power of
+his prayers was complete. God had granted his prayer
+and sent an heir to the Romanoffs because of his purity
+and perfect piety. Already she was wondering whether,
+in some mysterious way, the child's life was not linked
+with that of the holy Father whom the Almighty had
+sent to protect her son's existence.</p>
+
+<p>Because of this the Empress sent to Rasputin, at
+Pokrovsky, a number of telegrams, which eventually the
+monk gave over to me to docket and put away with the
+incriminating letters of his foolish and fascinated
+admirers. The women of Russia, from the Empress to
+the lowly superstitious peasant, were now at the charlatan's
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>One telegram from Alexandra Feodorovna read as
+follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Father and Protector of our House, why do you refuse
+to come and give us comfort? God has given the Romanoffs
+an heir, and we desire your counsel and your prayers. Do,
+I beg of you, return to sustain us with your presence. When
+we met our conversation remained unfinished. I confess that
+I doubted then, but I now believe. Make haste and come
+at once to us. From your sister&mdash;<span class="smcap">Alexandra</span>."</p></div>
+
+<p>Of this appeal the Starets took no notice. He preferred
+the society of his sister-disciples at Pokrovsky to
+that of the Tsaritza. Besides, was it not part of his
+clever plan to place the Empress beneath his influence
+by bringing her to the brink of despair? He had not yet
+met Nicholas II., and it was his intention to place his
+amazing and mysterious grip upon him also at the crucial
+moment. So again the Empress sent him a communication&mdash;a
+letter written in her own hand, and delivered by
+one of the Imperial couriers.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Why do you still hesitate?" she asked. "I sent you
+word by Anna [Madame Vyrubova] that I desired eagerly to
+see you again. Your good works are to-day in everyone's
+mouth. All at Court are speaking of you and your beautiful
+soul-inspiring religion, of which I am anxious to know more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a>[<a href="./images/46.png">46</a>]</span>
+details from your own lips. It is too cruel of you to sever
+yourself from Petrograd when all are longing for your
+presence. What can I do in order to induce you to come?
+Ask of me anything, and your wish shall be granted. Do
+reply.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Alexandra</span>."</p></div>
+
+<p>Again he treated her invitation with contempt, for
+following this, ten days later, she sent him another
+telegram:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"If you still refuse to come I will send Anna to you to
+try and induce you to reconsider the situation. Nicholas is
+extremely anxious to consult you. Father, I again implore
+you to come to us.&mdash;A."</p></div>
+
+<p>Rasputin, who had created such a favourable impression
+upon the lady-in-waiting Vyrubova, certainly had no
+intention of allowing her to go to Pokrovsky and see
+the sordid home which Russia believed to be a wonderful
+"monastery," and to which Petrograd society had subscribed
+so freely. He therefore sent Her Majesty a
+message&mdash;the first response she extracted&mdash;to the effect
+that he was leaving for Petrograd as soon as it was
+possible to fulfil his Divine "call."</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime I had been introduced by Boris
+St&uuml;rmer, whom I met almost daily, to Stolypin, a friend
+of Rasputin's principal disciple in Petrograd, Madame
+Golovine, and to Monsieur Raeff, who afterwards, by
+Rasputin's influence, received the appointment of Procurator
+of the Holy Synod. At St&uuml;rmer's fine house there
+were, in the absence of the Starets, constant meetings of
+Raeff, General Kurloff, the Chief of the Political Police,
+and a beetle-browed official named Kschessinski, who
+was director of that secret department of State known as
+"the Black Cabinet," a suite of rooms in the central
+postal bureau in Petrograd, where one's correspondence
+was daily under examination for the benefit of the corrupt
+Ministers and their place-seeking underlings. In addition,
+at these dinners, followed by the secret conferences,
+there attended a certain smart, well-set-up officer named
+Miassoyedeff, a colonel stationed at Wirballen on the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a>[<a href="./images/47.png">47</a>]</span>
+East Prussia frontier, and who had received gracious invitations
+from the Kaiser to go shooting and to hob-nob
+with him. This man afterwards became a spy of Germany,
+as I will later on reveal.</p>
+
+<p>Kurloff, as head of the Political Police, had, before
+my appointment as secretary to the Starets, been my
+superior, and therefore I well knew the wheels within
+the wheels of his department. Naturally he was hand-in-glove
+with the director of the Black Cabinet, the doings
+of which would require a whole volume to themselves,
+and to me it was evident that some further great and
+deep laid plot was in progress, of which Rasputin was to
+be the head director.</p>
+
+<p>One day in the Nevski I met Mitia the Blessed, the
+Starets who ran Rasputin so closely in the public favour.
+I saw he was hopelessly intoxicated, and was being followed
+by a crowd of jeering urchins. I did not, however,
+know that St&uuml;rmer and his friends had arranged this disgraceful
+exhibition of unholiness in order to discredit and
+destroy Grichka's rival. Five minutes later I met the
+Bishop Theophanus walking with the Procurator of the
+Holy Synod, who, like myself, witnessed the degrading
+sight, and from that moment Mitia the Blessed no
+longer exercised power, and was not further invited to
+the salons of those mystical members of the aristocracy.
+He had been swept into oblivion in a single day.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin at last returned, forced to do so by the determined
+attitude of the Empress, who without doubt
+was suffering from serious religious mania, as well as
+an acute form of neurotic heart disease. The monk arrived
+quite unexpectedly at the Poltavskaya, and rang me up
+on the telephone late one evening.</p>
+
+<p>The Bishop Theophanus was, I found, with him. He
+knew of his arrival, and had come from Peterhof to meet
+him and urge him to go next day and see the Empress.</p>
+
+<p>"If it is thy wish, I will," replied the "saint" with
+some reluctance, for he knew too well that already he
+wielded an unbounded influence over the Tsaritza. The
+fellow whose record was the worst imaginable, and whose<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a>[<a href="./images/48.png">48</a>]</span>
+very nickname, "Rasputin," meant in Russian "the dissolute,"
+was regarded by the Empress as possessed of
+divine power, and as saviour of Russia and protector of
+the Imperial family and its heir.</p>
+
+<p>"I hear that Alexis, Bishop of Kazan, has turned your
+enemy, and has written to the Holy Synod regarding your
+questionable monastery at Pokrovsky," remarked Theophanus.
+"It is very regrettable."</p>
+
+<p>"Bah! my dear friend. I have no fear," declared the
+man whose vanity was so overweening. "Soon you will
+see that Nicholas himself will do my bidding. I shall
+play the tune, and he will dance. All appointments will,
+ere long, be in my hands, and I will place one of our
+friends as Procurator of the Holy Synod."</p>
+
+<p>At the moment I was inclined to laugh at such bombastic
+assertion. Little, indeed, did I dream that within
+twelve months his prophecy would be fulfilled, and that
+the ex-horse-stealer, whose secretary I had become, would
+actually rule Russia through the lethargic weakling who
+sat upon the throne as Tsar Nicholas II.</p>
+
+<p>A week later I accompanied the Starets to have his
+first audience with His Majesty the Emperor at the Palace
+of Peterhof, that wonderful Imperial residence where the
+great Samson Fountain in gilded bronze throws up from
+the lion's jaws a thick jet seventy feet high, in imitation
+of Versailles, and where nearly six hundred servants were
+employed in various capacities. We passed the Marly
+Pond, where the carp were called by the ringing of a bell,
+and the Marly Cascade, where water runs over twenty
+gilded marble steps. Truly, the beauties of Peterhof were
+a revelation to the Starets and myself. On the previous
+day he had had audience of the Empress at Tsarskoe-Selo,
+but I had not been present, therefore I remained in
+ignorance of what had transpired. All I know is that he
+returned home and drank a whole bottle of champagne
+to himself, in full satisfaction&mdash;not that he cared
+for the wine, for his peasant taste favoured the fiery
+vodka.</p>
+
+<p>On entering Peterhof we were met by the valet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a>[<a href="./images/49.png">49</a>]</span>
+Tchernoff, who greeted Rasputin very warmly with some
+meaning words, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"His Majesty is in his private cabinet expecting you.
+Come."</p>
+
+<p>Another valet took our hats and overcoats, and then
+Tchernoff led us up a great flight of marble stairs, and
+on through nearly a dozen panelled rooms with historic
+portraits, much like those I had once passed through at
+Fontainebleau, until he entered the blue drawing-room, a
+great, old-fashioned, eighteenth-century apartment adorned
+by a number of magnificent pictures by Saltzmann.</p>
+
+<p>Your British public have never truly realised the gorgeousness
+of the Palace at Peterhof, or the fact that in
+the Imperial service at the various residences there were
+no fewer than four thousand domestics, most of them useless
+and all uniformed. The "Arabys," imported especially
+from Abyssinia, and who wore fantastically embroidered
+blue and gold uniforms with a great crimson sash, and a
+kind of turban upon their heads, were simply well-paid
+puppets, who added pomp to the gorgeous salons, the
+doors of which they guarded.</p>
+
+<p>As we passed through the great rooms on our way to
+the Tsar's private cabinet, a hundred servants and
+officials bowed to us, but Rasputin remained quite unimpressed.
+He was possessed of a most astounding intuition,
+and he knew that by his mystical practices, his mock
+piety, and by apparently ignoring the Imperial pair that
+success was assured.</p>
+
+<p>At last we stood before the door of the autocrat's
+room, which Tchernoff threw open unceremoniously, when
+we were confronted by His Majesty, who wore a rough
+tweed shooting-suit, presenting anything but an Imperial
+figure. I had expected to see him in uniform, like the
+thousand and one pictures which purport to represent
+him, instead of which I found a very ordinary-looking,
+bearded man, with deep-set eyes, a wan countenance, and
+rather lank hair. He was square-built, a trifle below the
+medium height, and a man whom, had you passed him in
+the Nevski, you might have taken for a Jew tailor or a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a>[<a href="./images/50.png">50</a>]</span>
+small tradesman. But the room itself was a beautiful
+one, like all the apartments in Peterhof, semicircular in
+shape, with a great bay window looking out upon the
+wonderful fountains, all of which were throwing up their
+jets, with a great vista of greenery beyond.</p>
+
+<p>The Tsar bowed as the Starets, crossing himself, bestowed
+his blessing upon him. The owner of twenty
+palaces and seven hundred million acres of land turned
+his eyes to the carpet humbly as the mock saint uttered
+those words of incomprehensible jargon which half Russia
+believed to be inspired by the Divine will.</p>
+
+<p>When Rasputin spoke His Majesty seemed cowed and
+thoughtful. Over his whole frame was written fear and
+exhaustion. His voice was hollow when he replied, and
+his glance was full of anticipation. At every gesture of
+the Starets he seemed startled.</p>
+
+<p>Was it any wonder when one recollected, so many
+were the plots against the dynasty, that at the moment
+he had removed from Tsarskoe-Selo, where a gang of a
+thousand men were engaged in digging deep trenches
+around the palace because the Okhrana had got wind of a
+desperate plot to tunnel beneath the Imperial residence
+and blow it up together with its Imperial occupiers.</p>
+
+<p>His Majesty addressed the Starets as "thee" and
+"thou."</p>
+
+<p>"I know, Father, that thou art our guide and
+saviour," said the autocrat, when together we were seated
+in the window, Rasputin explaining that he always took
+me with him in order that I might take mental notes of
+conversations and decisions.</p>
+
+<p>"F&eacute;odor is mute," he added. "And he is part of
+myself."</p>
+
+<p>Then His Majesty referred to Rasputin's "miracles"
+which he had performed in Warsaw, Kiev, and other
+places, mere conjuring tricks which had held the peasants
+speechless in amazement.</p>
+
+<p>"Theophanus has told us of them. Thou hast healed
+the sick and cured the lame," said His Majesty. "Truly,
+thou art greater in Russia than myself."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a>[<a href="./images/51.png">51</a>]</span>
+"Pardon, your Majesty," replied the impostor humbly,
+"I am but God's messenger, but thou art Tsar. It is not
+for me to exert authority, only to pray unceasingly for the
+Empire and for the well-being of its Imperial House.
+Theophanus hath, I hope, told thee that I seek no emoluments,
+no advancement, no favour, no honour; I am but
+the humble Starets&mdash;a pilgrim who hopes one day to see
+Mount Athos, there to retire in devotion."</p>
+
+<p>"Theophanus has told me much," said the Emperor.
+"He has told me how at spiritualistic s&eacute;ances thou canst
+work thy will with our departed, and how at the house
+of our dear St&uuml;rmer not long ago thou didst obtain communication
+with the spirit of my dear father Alexander.
+Truly, thy powers are great, and we have need of thee.
+Why didst thou refuse to come to us even though the
+Empress sent thee so many commands?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because, as I have replied to Her Majesty, I am no
+courtier. My work lies in the homes of the poor, not in
+the palaces."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, no," laughed the autocrat with good humour.
+"Thou art truly sent to us to save Russia. Thy place is
+here, in our own home."</p>
+
+<p>I drew a long breath when I heard the Tsar pronounce
+those words, for they showed quite plainly the
+strong, invincible grip the impostor had, by posing with
+unconcern, already obtained upon the Imperial family and
+the Court.</p>
+
+<p>The Starets crossed himself, and again bowed. I was
+amazed to witness the crass ignorance and astounding
+superstition displayed by the Emperor of Russia, whom
+all Europe believed to be a progressive, wideawake
+monarch. That he possessed a spiritualistic kink, as did
+also his German wife, was quite apparent. Any bogus
+medium or charlatan could easily impose upon him. A
+dozen men and women who, by their vagaries and pretended
+powers, had brought psychic studies into ridicule,
+had given s&eacute;ances before the Emperor, and had told him
+things which his crafty entourage had already paid them
+to "reveal."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a>[<a href="./images/52.png">52</a>]</span>
+On the night of the declaration of war with Japan,
+Kouropatkine brought to Peterhof the French medium
+Jules Verrier, who received a handsome fee for pretending
+to get into touch with the spirit of Peter the Great,
+who declared that Russia, in declaring war, had carried
+out his wishes. And Nicholas was at once in high glee,
+and mightily enthusiastic to know that his historic ancestor
+approved of his action.</p>
+
+<p>The Imperial Court was full of frauds, traitors, and
+sycophants. In all of them Nicholas had the fullest confidence,
+while his wife was possessed of certain knowledge
+which sometimes caused her to discriminate.</p>
+
+<p>The commonplace-looking man in tweeds, who was the
+entire reverse of one's idea of an Emperor, grew confidential,
+and it was plain that he was quite as much
+impressed by Grichka as the Empress had been, for
+throughout the audience the monk had used to the full
+his inexplicable hypnotic power.</p>
+
+<p>"Our good Theophanus and Helidor favour us with
+their counsel, but, Father, thou hast our most complete
+confidence. I beg of thee to grant the Empress another
+interview to-morrow, for she is daily longing for counsel
+from thee. I will fix the audience. So, as our friend,
+please keep the appointment. But before we part I wish
+to grant to thee any request that thou mayest desire&mdash;any
+appointment or advancement of any friend. Speak,
+and thy wish shall be at once granted."</p>
+
+<p>The monk reflected. It was, indeed, the moment of
+his first triumph.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a young and extremely able friend named
+Protopopoff in the Ministry of the Interior," he replied.
+"He is a loyal son of Russia, and a pious believer. Cannot
+he be advanced?"</p>
+
+<p>"He shall be. I will make a note of the name," and
+turning to his desk, he scribbled it upon the blotting-pad
+with a stubby pencil, repeating the words:</p>
+
+<p>"Protopopoff&mdash;in the Ministry of the Interior."</p>
+
+<p>And such was the manner in which the man who was
+the most audacious spy that Germany employed in Russia<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a>[<a href="./images/53.png">53</a>]</span>
+was placed in the path of advancement, subsequently in
+1915 becoming Minister in his own Department, and betraying
+his country for German gold.</p>
+
+<p>Truly, the Potsdam plot was rapidly maturing, and
+its amazing ramifications I intend to disclose.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">the murder of stolypin</span></h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Within</span> a fortnight of the mock monk's audience of the
+Tsar he found himself installed in a fine suite of rooms
+in the Palace at Tsarskoe-Selo, one apartment being
+assigned to myself as his secretary.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin's ascendancy over the Imperial couple became
+daily more marked. I was the onlooker of a very
+curious and clever game. Spiritualistic s&eacute;ances were held
+frequently, at which the Emperor and Empress assisted.
+In Petrograd the monk also continued the weekly receptions
+of his "disciples," chief among them being Madame
+Golovine and the Princess Paley. The Empress fell more
+and more beneath the evil influence of the Starets, for she
+felt convinced that his prayer had been answered by the
+birth of an heir.</p>
+
+<p>To one man&mdash;even though of the Germanophile party&mdash;the
+intrusion of Rasputin into the Court circle caused
+great annoyance. That was Count Fredericks.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Vyrubova one day told me that the count
+had that afternoon, in her presence, inquired of the
+Emperor:</p>
+
+<p>"Who is this new Starets of whom everybody is
+talking?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! merely a simple mujik whose prayers carry
+right to Heaven," was His Majesty's answer. "He is
+endowed with most sublime faith."</p>
+
+<p>The count then warned the Tsar of the displeasure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a>[<a href="./images/54.png">54</a>]</span>
+which Rasputin's presence at Court was creating on every
+hand, adding:</p>
+
+<p>"There are rumours that he is a mere drunken libertine.
+Make inquiries for yourself of his doings in Petrograd."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear Count," laughed the Emperor carelessly,
+"better one Starets than ten hysterics."</p>
+
+<p>This seemed to me to prove that Rasputin's presence
+often saved the Emperor from the hysterical outbursts of
+his wife.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, only the previous day the monk put about a
+story in Petrograd to account for the Empress's hysterical
+state. He started a rumour that Her Majesty was,
+against the advice of the Court physicians, following a
+system of German <i>Entfettungscur</i>, or cure for obesity,
+the result having been a complete breakdown of the
+nervous system.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, by slow degrees, the artful monk ingratiated
+himself with the Imperial family, just as years ago, when
+a mere cabdriver, in his pre-saintly days, he happened
+to ingratiate himself with Alexis, Bishop of Kazan, who
+became greatly struck with him, and later pushed him
+forward as a holy man, yet for his trouble afterwards
+found himself swept away, and his successor appointed
+by Rasputin's own hand. The monk was relentless, overbearing,
+suspicious of any persons who did him a favour,
+and at the same time ready to lick the boots of Germany's
+War Lord.</p>
+
+<p>The "Dark Forces" were now strenuously at work.
+Little did I enjoy the quiet of my own rooms in Petrograd.
+My "saintly" master was ever active holding
+conferences, often hourly, with Ministers of State, councillors,
+and the "disciples" of his own secret cult.</p>
+
+<p>Very soon I noted that his closest friend was Stolypin,
+a good-looking man with beard and curled moustache,
+who was President of the Council of Ministers.</p>
+
+<p>At that period Stolypin and the Emperor were inseparable.
+His Majesty gave him daily audiences, and
+sometimes, through Mademoiselle Z&eacute;neide Kamensky, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a>[<a href="./images/55.png">55</a>]</span>
+Empress's chief confidante, he had audience of Her
+Majesty.</p>
+
+<p>I met Stolypin often. His Excellency was a bluff but
+elegant bureaucrat, who had succeeded Count Witte, a
+man of refinement, belonging to a very old boyar family.
+He was an excellent talker, and with his soft, engaging
+manners he could, when he wished, exercise a personal
+charm that always had a great effect upon his hearers.
+His Excellency's great virtue in the Emperor's eyes was
+that he never wearied him, and that was much in his
+favour; he always curtailed his business. Whatever he
+had to report to the Emperor was done quickly, without
+unnecessary comment, and the conference ended, they
+smoked together on terms of almost equality.</p>
+
+<p>I beg the reader's pardon if I here digress for a
+moment. After Stolypin we had a well-meaning statesman
+as Prime Minister in Kokovtsov, who endeavoured
+to follow the same lines as his master. He was a talented
+and eloquent man, whom I often met, and who at first
+impressed the Tsar by his crystallised reports. But
+Emperor and Prime Minister had no personal attraction
+towards each other, as they should have if an empire is
+to progress. Nicholas never gave him his confidence.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps I may be permitted to reveal here a scene
+historic in the history of the Empire, being present with my
+master Rasputin in the Tsar's private cabinet. It was a
+very curious incident, and revealed much concerning the
+attitude of Nicholas towards the nation.</p>
+
+<p>Kokovtsov, who had allowed Akimoff to be present&mdash;the
+latter, I believe, in eager anticipation of a triumph&mdash;read
+to the Emperor his new project for enlarging the
+Government monopoly system for the sale of vodka. This
+would have greatly increased the Government's exchequer,
+but would inevitably have ruined the people.</p>
+
+<p>In the room Rasputin sat in his black robe and his
+big jewelled cross suspended by its chain, while I stood
+beside him.</p>
+
+<p>The Emperor, with a cigarette in his mouth, sat in a
+big arm-chair at his desk, tracing circles and squares<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a>[<a href="./images/56.png">56</a>]</span>
+upon a sheet of paper, his habit when distracted. Now
+and then he scratched his head. He was attentive to the
+report, still drawing his circles, but making no comment,
+except that his lips relaxed in a faint smile.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly he turned to Rasputin and asked: "Well
+Father, what do you understand in all this?"</p>
+
+<p>Kokovtsov ceased reading his project, and stood in
+wonder. Not a single item of the project had been criticised,
+no comment had been offered, therefore His Excellency
+naturally believed that his efforts were receiving
+approbation. Rasputin was silent.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly the Tsar rose from his chair with a sigh of
+weariness, and slowly selected a fresh cigarette from the
+big golden box upon his writing-table. Then he shook
+hands with Kokovtsov as a sign that the audience was
+at an end, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Really, my dear Excellency, I do not agree with your
+project at all. It is all utter rubbish, and will only lead
+the Empire into further difficulties. Surely Russia has
+sufficient alcohol!"</p>
+
+<p>I watched the scene with wide-open eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Kokovtsov, so well meaning, bowed in assent
+and crumpled up before the Tsar of all the Russias. The
+blow was quite unexpected. When I left the Emperor's
+presence with Rasputin, the latter said:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my dear F&eacute;odor. The day of Kokovtsov is
+ended. One may be thankful for it, because it will mean
+less friction between the Emperor and the Empress."</p>
+
+<p>Three days later His Majesty dismissed his Prime
+Minister, but gave him the title of Count. He had no
+son, therefore the distinction was a mere empty one.</p>
+
+<p>With this digression, for which I hope I may be
+pardoned, I will return to Stolypin. The mystery of his
+assassination has always been carefully hushed-up by the
+Secret Police, but I here intend to lift the veil, and, at
+the risk of producing certain damning evidence, disclose
+the whole of the amazing and dastardly plot.</p>
+
+<p>Few people know of it. Rasputin knew it, I know
+it, the Empress knows it, and a certain woman living in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a>[<a href="./images/57.png">57</a>]</span>
+seclusion in London to-day knows it. But to the world
+the truth which I here write will, I venture to believe,
+come as a great surprise.</p>
+
+<p>The cry "Land and Liberty" was being heard on every
+hand in the Empire. Peter Arkadievitch Stolypin, son
+of an aide-de-camp general of Alexander II., was in the
+zenith of his popularity. He had become a <i>vermentchik</i>,
+the traditional appellation applied to the favourite of the
+Emperor, and as such he loomed largely in the eyes of
+Europe. He had entered the public service as a youth,
+and had later on become governor of the province of
+Samara, where he had attracted the notice of Count Witte
+because of the drastic way in which he had suppressed
+some serious riots there. In due course he was called to
+Petrograd, where he was introduced to the Emperor, and
+later on the mantle of Count Witte had fallen upon him.</p>
+
+<p>Though in high favour with the Emperor he was clever
+enough to court the good graces of Rasputin, knowing
+full well what supreme influence he wielded over the
+Imperial couple. For that reason I frequently had conversation
+with him both at Court and at the Poltavskaya.
+He was a man of complex nature. A lady-killer of the
+most elegant type, refined and determined, yet lurking
+in the corners of his nature was a tyrannical trait and a
+hardness of heart.</p>
+
+<p>In Samara he had distinguished himself by various injustices
+to the population, and hundreds of innocent
+persons had, because they had been denounced by the
+<i>agents-provocateurs</i> of the secret police, been sent to
+prison or to Siberia by administrative order. At first
+there was a rivalry between him and General Trepoff in
+the Tsar's good graces, but Trepoff died, leaving Stolypin
+master of the situation.</p>
+
+<p>Though Rasputin behaved graciously towards him
+and often dined at his table, he was in secret his enemy.
+So cleverly did the monk form and carry out his plot
+that to the last he never believed but that the holy man,
+who prayed so fervently for his success in the guidance
+of Russia, was his most devoted friend.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a>[<a href="./images/58.png">58</a>]</span>
+Many crimes have been committed in Russia beneath
+the shadow of the Black Wings, but perhaps none more
+ingenious than the one under notice.</p>
+
+<p>The first I knew of the deep conspiracy was in the
+spring of 1911, by the visit one night to Rasputin's house
+in the Poltavskaya of a tall, fair-haired man named Hardt,
+whom I knew as a frequent visitor to the monk. He was
+a merchant in Petrograd and a man of considerable means,
+but, as I afterwards discovered, was an agent of Potsdam
+specially sent to Russia as the secret factotum of the
+Tsaritza. He was ever at her beck and call, and was the instrument
+by which she exchanged confidential correspondence
+with the Kaiser and other persons in Germany.</p>
+
+<p>On that evening when Hardt called quite half-a-dozen
+of the sister-disciples were taking tea with the saint and
+gossiping, for each Thursday he would hold informal receptions,
+and with horrible blasphemy bestow upon the
+society women who attended his accursed blessing. The
+ladies there on that night were all of the most exclusive
+circle in Petrograd.</p>
+
+<p>On Hardt's arrival the reception was cut short after
+he had whispered some words to the Starets, who made
+excuse that he had to leave to return to the palace.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, he went to the telephone at the farther end
+of the room and held a conversation with the Tsaritza's
+confidante, Mademoiselle Kamensky. None knew, however,
+that that private telephone by which the charlatan
+so impressed his visitors was merely a fake one, its
+wires not extending farther than the end of the garden.</p>
+
+<p>Grichka sometimes when alone rehearsed those conversations,
+until he succeeded in producing a perfect series
+of answers which would strike the hearer as a most
+intimate conversation concerning either Emperor or
+Empress.</p>
+
+<p>From the chatter upon the mock telephone the
+assembly concluded that his presence was required at the
+palace immediately, therefore they rose and retired, leaving
+the mysterious Hardt alone with us.</p>
+
+<p>Instead of going to Tsarskoe-Selo we retired to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a>[<a href="./images/59.png">59</a>]</span>
+saint's little den, where we opened a bottle of champagne,
+of which we all three drank.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, my friend Hardt?" asked the monk, flinging
+himself carelessly into his easy chair and unbuttoning his
+long black coat for comfort. "What has happened?
+You can, as you know, speak before our faithful F&eacute;odor,"
+he added.</p>
+
+<p>"I have waiting outside a young woman whom I want
+you to see," replied the German agent.</p>
+
+<p>"Does she wish to enter our circle?" inquired the
+monk, adding with his usual avariciousness: "Has she
+money?"</p>
+
+<p>"No&mdash;neither," was Hardt's reply. "She does not
+want to become one of your disciples; indeed, the less
+you say on that matter the better!"</p>
+
+<p>"Then why should I trouble to see her?"</p>
+
+<p>"I will tell you all after you have chatted with her. May
+F&eacute;odor invite her in? She is sitting in a droshky outside."</p>
+
+<p>"If you wish," growled Rasputin. "But why all this
+mystery? I have much to do. I am due at Countess
+Ignatieff's&mdash;and am already late."</p>
+
+<p>"Remain patient, I beg of you, Father," urged the
+German suavely. "I am acting upon instructions&mdash;from
+Number Seventy."</p>
+
+<p>"From Number Seventy!" echoed the monk, instantly
+realising that Hardt, an agent of the German
+Secret Service, was carrying out some well-concealed and
+ingenious project. "Very well," he said. "I rely upon
+you not to delay me longer than necessary. F&eacute;odor," he
+added, turning to me with that lofty air which his low
+mujik mind sometimes conceived to be superiority, "go
+and find this mysterious young person."</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes later I conducted into the saint's presence
+a dark-haired, extremely handsome young woman
+of about thirty, who spoke with considerable refinement
+and whose arrival mystified me greatly.</p>
+
+<p>Hardt introduced her to the holy man, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"This is Mademoiselle Vera Baltz, of Stavropol, a
+friend of His Excellency Peter Stolypin."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a>[<a href="./images/60.png">60</a>]</span>
+"Ah! Welcome, my dear mademoiselle," exclaimed
+the monk affably. "So you are a friend of His Excellency&mdash;when
+he was Governor of Samara, I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I have come here because I crave your assistance.
+Monsieur Hardt knows all the circumstances, and
+will explain."</p>
+
+<p>The saint turned to the fair-haired man seated opposite
+him, Mademoiselle Baltz having been given an easy-chair
+close by Rasputin's table. It was a writing-table,
+but the scoundrel never wrote. Sometimes he pretended
+to do so, but the truth was that it was a long and painful
+procedure with him. He preferred to scrawl his initials
+to any typewritten letter which I prepared.</p>
+
+<p>"The explanation is briefly this, Father," said Hardt
+in his businesslike way. "Mademoiselle has been the
+dupe of His Excellency, who, while Governor, often went
+to Stavropol, where he stayed at an hotel under another
+name. Mademoiselle never knew his identity until a year
+ago, when she saw his photograph in the papers as Prime
+Minister. She never knew that he was married&mdash;though
+I have here a letter in which he proposes marriage to
+her."</p>
+
+<p>And he produced from his pocket a note, bearing the
+heading of the Centralnaya Hotel at Samara, which
+Rasputin read through.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" asked the Starets, blowing a cloud of
+cigarette smoke from his bearded lips.</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle is anxious to meet His Excellency."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I see," exclaimed the monk, whose mind at
+once turned to blackmail, a course which he himself was
+actively pursuing. "Mademoiselle wishes for money&mdash;eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, Father," replied the young woman stoutly. "Not
+money&mdash;only justice! Peter Stolypin misled me, as you
+see according to his letter. I am but one of his many
+victims, and I desire to expose him."</p>
+
+<p>"H'm!" grunted Rasputin, who, having ascertained
+that no monetary consideration was forthcoming, was
+not particularly interested in the affair. He never did<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a>[<a href="./images/61.png">61</a>]</span>
+anything without reward. Those who could pay him well
+obtained through his influence at Court high office and
+big emoluments. Within my own knowledge in at least
+twenty cases he was already receiving heavy percentages
+upon the salaries, including those of two bishops and
+three under-secretaries, who had been dug out from nowhere
+and pitchforked into office by him.</p>
+
+<p>By his influence with Nicholas the rascal ruled Russia
+with a relentless recklessness unparalleled in all history.</p>
+
+<p>"Mademoiselle has already had audience of Her
+Majesty, who has sent her here to interview you," Hardt
+explained. "I am placing her case in the hands of our
+friend Altschiller."</p>
+
+<p>The latter was a well-known lawyer, who, by the way,
+was afterwards proved to be a spy of Austria.</p>
+
+<p>"What do you desire of me, my dear young lady?"
+asked Rasputin in the paternal manner he so often
+assumed towards the fair sex who hung about the hem of
+his ragged robe, and knelt so constantly before him for
+his blessing.</p>
+
+<p>"You, Father, are all-powerful in Russia," replied
+Vera Baltz. "Her Majesty told me that you would help
+me to&mdash;to destroy Stolypin," she said with a fierce expression
+in her black eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin exchanged glances with the secret agent of
+Potsdam who, I knew, did so much dirty work on the
+Empress's behalf.</p>
+
+<p>"What Her Majesty desires, I am here to obey," was
+the monk's quiet response. "I pray that no injustice be
+done," the blasphemer added, piously crossing himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Injustice!" cried the girl angrily. "He deceived
+me, and left me to starve when he received his advancement
+and came here to Petrograd. He became the Tsar's
+favourite because of his cruel and harsh treatment of our
+poor people of Samara, and has climbed to office over the
+bodies of those shot down in the streets at his orders.
+Injustice! There is assuredly no injustice to drag the
+ghastly truth concerning him into the light of day."</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all! I quite agree," said Rasputin, rising<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a>[<a href="./images/62.png">62</a>]</span>
+and shaking her hand. "You can tell your lawyer from me
+that you have my assistance, but in strictest secrecy, of
+course. Not a soul must know of it, remember!" he
+added, looking straight at her with that strange hypnotic
+glance of his, a gaze beneath which she quivered visibly.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall remain silent," she promised.</p>
+
+<p>"If the truth leaks out that you have seen either Her
+Majesty or myself, then I shall instantly become your
+enemy, and not your friend," the monk declared.</p>
+
+<p>"Only Monsieur Hardt knows," the girl said. "It
+was he who took me to Peterhof."</p>
+
+<p>"You may rely upon the silence of both my friends,"
+Rasputin assured her, and a moment later I conducted
+her downstairs and out into the street.</p>
+
+<p>When I returned to where Rasputin was still seated
+with his visitor, the latter was, I found, making explanation
+how he had, after considerable difficulty, traced the
+woman Baltz at the Empress's orders and taken her to
+the Palace, first, however, prompting her to seek revenge
+upon the Prime Minister.</p>
+
+<p>"I cannot understand it at all," Hardt added.</p>
+
+<p>"I do. Cannot you see that Stolypin is violently anti-German
+and openly disapproves of the Germanophile
+party at Court?"</p>
+
+<p>"But he is closeted daily with the Emperor, I understand.
+And the Empress grants him frequent audiences."</p>
+
+<p>"Because she is endeavouring to ascertain the true
+extent of His Excellency's knowledge of her own dealings
+with our friends in Berlin," was the monk's reply. "Alix
+pretends to be most gracious to him, yet she is distinctly
+antagonistic, more from fear than anything else. To-day
+he is a favourite at Court, to-morrow&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>And Grichka made a wide sweep with his dirty
+knotted hand without concluding his sentence.</p>
+
+<p>"Has Her Majesty spoken to you concerning her fears
+that Stolypin has discovered something?" asked the
+man Hardt eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>The monk grinned meaningly.</p>
+
+<p>"Her Majesty is taking precautions," he replied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a>[<a href="./images/63.png">63</a>]</span>
+evasively. "Possibly Stolypin has discovered the reason
+you travelled to Berlin a month ago. I have an idea that
+you were watched by the Okhrana."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you really think so?" gasped the German in
+quick apprehension. "Why do you suspect?"</p>
+
+<p>"From something whispered to me a week ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Then Stolypin may know that Alexandra Feodorovna
+is behind the traitorous dealings of Colonel Miassoyedeff
+on the frontier&mdash;eh?"</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin, his eyes fixed upon his visitor, slowly nodded
+in the affirmative.</p>
+
+<p>"That means ruin&mdash;perhaps imprisonment for me!"
+Hardt gasped, his face pale and anxious.</p>
+
+<p>"I might say the same thing," remarked the saint,
+stroking his long, untrimmed beard. "But I do not. We
+are both strong enough to resist all attacks. Any suspicion
+against Miassoyedeff must be removed. I will see
+that the Emperor promotes him to-morrow. Our one
+stumbling-block is Peter Stolypin."</p>
+
+<p>"One that, I take it, must be removed?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;at all costs. That is why the Empress has
+sought out this woman Baltz, who, if my estimate of her
+sex is correct, is a wild firebrand."</p>
+
+<p>"She certainly is viciously vindictive."</p>
+
+<p>"One thing is certain, our friend Stolypin has no idea
+that he is seated on the edge of a volcano," remarked the
+monk. "He lives extremely happily with his wife and
+children in that beautiful villa over on the Islands of the
+Apothecaries, and has no suspicion of the coming storm.
+I promised his wife to go to her salon to-morrow night."</p>
+
+<p>"And will you go?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course. There must be no suspicion. Are we
+not, all of us, his best friends?" asked the monk, grinning
+evilly.</p>
+
+<p>"I am returning to Berlin by way of Stockholm on
+Thursday," Hardt said, for he gave as the reason for his
+frequent visits to Germany and Scandinavia that he bought
+leather in those countries. "Have you anything to
+report?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a>[<a href="./images/64.png">64</a>]</span>
+"Yes. One or two things," replied the Starets, who
+ordered me to write at his dictation as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><h4>"<span class="smcap">Memorandum.</span></h4>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">From Gregory to Number Seventy.</span></p>
+
+<p>"Have acted upon your instructions regarding the
+Kahovsky affair. Some important correspondence was seized
+by the police at his arrest, and for two days matters looked
+extremely unpromising. I paid T. twenty thousand roubles
+to close his lips, and induced the Emperor to release
+Kahovsky and restore his papers. I suggest that he should
+be recalled from Russia and sent to London, where, being
+unknown, he might be extremely useful to you.</p>
+
+<p>"Madame Zlobine is at the Adlon Hotel in your city.
+She has quarrelled with the General, and strict watch should
+be kept upon her. She has been heard to express very
+decided views against Her Majesty. It may be found that
+she is in communication with J. If so, it is in the interests
+of Stolypin's anti-German campaign!</p>
+
+<p>"Hardt will explain verbally the position of the latter,
+and the discovery of the woman Baltz. Meanwhile His
+Excellency is unsuspicious that we are aware of his hostile
+intentions towards us.</p>
+
+<p>"Please do me the favour to assure His Majesty the
+Emperor of my continued efforts in the service of Alexandra
+Feodorovna, even though matters are daily growing more
+complicated. Anna [Madame Vyrubova], moreover, is more
+difficult to please.</p>
+
+<p>"Both St&uuml;rmer and Protopopoff are under my protection,
+and I have already contrived to advance them. Kokovtsov
+is growing in favour and will be a force to be reckoned with
+in the immediate future. Urge Miassoyedeff, from your side,
+to exercise the greatest caution. There are whispers, but I
+have endeavoured to stifle them by contriving his advancement
+through the Emperor, who yesterday decorated him.</p>
+
+<p>"The Imperial pair will shortly visit the Danish and
+Swedish Courts, and probably go for a cruise in Norwegian
+waters, though there is, as yet, no announcement.</p>
+
+<p>"I am still working upon the project you set out when
+we met in Helsingfors two months ago regarding the reduction
+and weakening of the army. I have already initiated
+the matter through ladies whose husbands are in the Ministry
+of War. It will mean the expenditure of a considerable sum
+of your money, but I know it will be a mere bagatelle if your
+object is accomplished.</p>
+
+<p>"I have to acknowledge a payment of one hundred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a>[<a href="./images/65.png">65</a>]</span>
+thousand roubles into the Azof Bank from an unknown
+source. Please remember that S. in Paris and J. in Rome
+are making big claims upon me, and that next month I must
+receive a similar sum.</p>
+
+<p>"Hardt has told me that matters are progressing well at
+Carlton House Terrace, and also in Paris. Of that I am glad
+to hear. Let our next meeting be at the Ph&oelig;nix Hotel in
+Abo, where I am unknown, and which you can reach without
+notice. At present I dare not leave Russia, as Her Majesty
+will not hear of it.</p>
+
+<p>"It would be as well to make the next payment through
+the Aktiebank in Abo. They would not suspect.</p>
+
+<p>"Do not fail to impress upon both Sukhomlinoff and
+Miassoyedeff the necessity for the utmost caution. Till we
+meet."</p></div>
+
+<p>When I had typed this at his dictation I handed it to
+him, and he managed painfully to append his illiterate
+signature.</p>
+
+<p>Then I placed the sheets in an envelope and gave them
+to Hardt to convey in secret to the headquarters of the
+German Secret Service in the K&ouml;niggr&auml;tzerstrasse in
+Berlin.</p>
+
+<p>"And, friend Hardt," Rasputin said, as the Kaiser's
+emissary placed the letter carefully in his wallet, "please
+impress upon Number Seventy what I have said about
+money. All this costs much. Tell him that sometimes
+when inordinate demands are made upon me&mdash;as you
+know they are often are&mdash;I have to use my own funds
+in order to satisfy them. Smith in London receives unlimited
+funds through the Deutsche Bank, I know, so
+please tell our friend from me that I expect similar treatment
+in future."</p>
+
+<p>The Starets was one of the most far-seeing and mercenary
+scoundrels. He had accounts in different names
+in half-a-dozen banks in Petrograd and Moscow, into
+which he constantly made payments as the result of his
+widespread campaign of espionage and the blackmailing
+of silly women who fell beneath his uncanny spell.</p>
+
+<p>When Hardt had left, the saint opened another bottle
+of champagne and drank it all from a tumbler, afterwards
+consuming half a bottle of brandy. I was busy with three<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a>[<a href="./images/66.png">66</a>]</span>
+days' accumulation of letters, and did not notice it until, an
+hour later, I found him dead asleep on the floor of the
+dining-room&mdash;a pretty spectacle if presented to the millions
+of our patriotic Russians who believed in the Tsar
+as their "Father" and in the divinity of the "holy man"
+who directed the Empire's affairs.</p>
+
+<p>The saint filled me with increasing disgust, yet I confess
+I had become fascinated by the widespread and
+desperate conspiracies which he either engineered himself
+or of which he pulled the most important strings.</p>
+
+<p>In the plot against Stolypin, though none dreamed of
+it, he had been the most active agent. Stolypin, a purely
+honest and loyal Russian, who, on taking office as Prime
+Minister, was actuated by a firm determination to do his
+level best for the Empire, was an unwanted statesman.
+He was too honest, and, therefore, dangerous to the
+Court camarilla set up and paid by Potsdam.</p>
+
+<p>As the days passed the monk frequently referred to
+him as a thorn in the side of the Empress.</p>
+
+<p>"The fellow must be got rid <ins class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'off'">of</ins>!" he declared to me
+more than once. "He suspects a lot, and he knows too
+much. He is dangerous to us, F&eacute;odor&mdash;very dangerous!"</p>
+
+<p>One night, when we were together in his room at
+Tsarskoe-Selo, after he had been dining <i>en famille</i> with
+the Imperial family, he remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"Things are going well. I saw the lawyer Altschiller
+to-day. All is prepared for the coup against Stolypin,
+who is still ignorant that Vera Baltz is in Petrograd."</p>
+
+<p>I knew Altschiller, who often called at the Poltavskaya.
+He was a close friend of Monsieur Raeff, whom Rasputin,
+when all-powerful a little later on, actually appointed as
+Procurator of the Holy Synod, having placed the appointment
+upon the Emperor's desk to sign!</p>
+
+<p>The law case was, however, delayed. Hardt was on
+one of his frequent absences&mdash;in Germany, no doubt&mdash;and
+matters did not move so rapidly as to satisfy the Empress.
+The whole plot was to keep the Prime Minister in the
+dark until the moment when the skeleton of his past
+should be dragged from its cupboard.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a>[<a href="./images/67.png">67</a>]</span>
+As announced by Rasputin, the Emperor and Empress
+had visited Denmark and Norway on board the <i>Standart</i>,
+and were back again at Peterhof, when one day Rasputin
+received his friend Boris St&uuml;rmer, the bureaucrat, at that
+time struggling strenuously for advancement. In the
+monk's den St&uuml;rmer, chatting about Stolypin and the vindictive
+woman who had come to Petrograd to destroy
+him&mdash;for he was one of the paid servants of Potsdam, and
+in consequence knew most of the secrets&mdash;said:</p>
+
+<p>"Have you, Father, ever met a Jew named Bagrov?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never to my knowledge. Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I know from my friend Venikoff, one of the
+assistant-directors of Secret Police, that the man, a discharged
+<i>agent-provocateur</i> and incensed at the way he has
+been treated by Stolypin, has joined forces with some
+mysterious young woman named Baltz. There is a
+whisper that between them they are engineering a plot to
+assassinate the Prime Minister!"</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin's strange eyes met mine. Both of us knew
+more than this struggling sycophant.</p>
+
+<p>"Bagrov?" the saint repeated. "Who is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! A fellow who was assistant to Azeff in some
+disgraceful matters in Warsaw&mdash;an <i>agent-provocateur</i>
+who lived afterwards for some time in Paris and on the
+Riviera. He attributes his downfall to Stolypin, and
+hence is most bitter against him. He has, I hear, fallen
+in love with the woman Baltz, who hails from Samara."</p>
+
+<p>"Well?" asked the saint.</p>
+
+<p>"Well?&mdash;nothing," laughed the man with the goat-beard.
+"I simply tell you what I know. There is a
+plot&mdash;that is all! And as far as I can discern the swifter
+Stolypin leaves the Court, the easier it will be for Her
+Majesty and ourselves&mdash;eh? While Stolypin is daily with
+the Emperor there is hourly danger for us."</p>
+
+<p>"In that I certainly agree," declared Rasputin. "We
+must be watchful&mdash;very watchful."</p>
+
+<p>We remained alert&mdash;all of us. That same night Rasputin
+informed the Empress of the secret plot of the
+black-haired Vera and her lover Bagrov.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a>[<a href="./images/68.png">68</a>]</span>
+The Court left for the Crimea next day, and Rasputin
+travelled with the Imperial family. Stolypin, in ignorance
+of what was in progress, was of the party, I being left
+in Petrograd to follow three days later.</p>
+
+<p>On arrival at Kiev, where the Emperor had arranged
+to review the troops, a gala performance was held in the
+theatre that night. Opposite the Imperial box sat Stolypin,
+with two other high officials of the Court, when,
+during the entr'acte, a man dashed in, and in full view of
+the Emperor and Empress fired a revolver at the Prime
+Minister.</p>
+
+<p>The confusion this caused was terrible. Her Majesty
+fainted and was dragged out of the box by Mademoiselle
+Kamensky, while the Tsar swiftly jumped to his feet and
+regarded the scene calmly.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm done!" gasped the patriotic and honest Stolypin,
+as those present seized the assassin, who was none
+other than the ex-<i>agent-provocateur</i> Bagrov.</p>
+
+<p>Six hours later the Prime Minister breathed his last,
+a victim of the Empress and her Potsdam camarilla, while
+Vera Baltz fled to Switzerland.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin afterwards told me that he urged the Court
+to leave Kiev at once, adding:</p>
+
+<p>"It was far best for Alix and Nicholas to pretend
+horror of the tragedy than to offer condolences."</p>
+
+<p>And so ended another chapter of Russia's underground
+history.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">the power behind the throne</span></h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> murder of Stolypin, though unsuspected by the
+chancelleries of Europe, was, as I have explained, the
+work of the Hidden Hand of Germany. Stolypin had
+suspected the true state of affairs at the Russian Court,
+therefore the success of Germany in the coming war de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a>[<a href="./images/69.png">69</a>]</span>pended
+upon closing his mouth; so Potsdam, using the
+erotic monk Rasputin as its catspaw, effected a coup
+which had, alas! sad result to Holy Russia.</p>
+
+<p>Stolypin was but one of many persons of both sexes
+who, because they knew too much of Germany's secret
+propaganda in Russia, fell victims in those constant conspiracies
+whereby they were swept either into the net of
+the corrupt police or into their graves.</p>
+
+<p>As servant of the head of Russia's "Dark Forces"&mdash;as
+Rasputin and Protopopoff were afterwards denounced
+in the Duma&mdash;I was compelled to be ever at the saint's
+elbow; hence I saw and heard much that was astounding.</p>
+
+<p>One night, a few months after Stolypin's assassination,
+we had been bidden to dinner by the great Polish
+landowner Ivan Volkhovski, who had a beautiful villa
+outside Petrograd. There I met a smart, middle-aged
+Russian officer, who, over our champagne, declared to me
+that things were growing critical in Europe over the
+Balkan question, but that France and Russia were united
+against any attack that Germany might secretly engineer.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you think that war is really coming?" I asked
+him in surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"Think!" he echoed. "You are a cosmopolitan,
+surely! Don't you know? Are you really blind?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I am blind politically," I replied with a wink.
+"I see that on all sides people are getting rich quickly
+and receiving ironmongery&mdash;as I call the tin decorations
+from the Sovereign&mdash;as reward for closing their eyes to
+the true facts."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I see that you are quite wideawake, my dear
+Rajevski," said the officer, whose name was Colonel
+Dubassoff. "Our friends here in Petrograd will continue
+to remain asleep, for they have every incentive, thanks
+to the great pro-German propaganda and the generous
+distribution of German gold. To-day our enemies in
+Berlin have their hands outstretched and clutching upon
+Paris, New York, Rome and London, just as they have
+here in Petrograd. War must come&mdash;depend upon it.
+The English Lord Roberts has forecast it. He knows!"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a>[<a href="./images/70.png">70</a>]</span>
+"Then you believe that Germany is at work actively
+arming in preparation for war?"</p>
+
+<p>"Most certainly I do," replied the colonel. "Only
+a month ago I was in London and afterwards in Paris.
+In London the authorities are not so entirely asleep as
+we are in Russia."</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly, as he spoke, I noticed that Rasputin, who
+was in whispered conversation with Bishop Theophanus,
+a fellow-guest, had been listening very attentively.</p>
+
+<p>Two hours later, when I returned home with Rasputin,
+he ordered me to sit down and write a note, which the
+scoundrel dictated as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Please listen to N.N. Colonel Paul Dubassoff, of the
+Pr&eacute;obrajensky Regiment, has expressed in my presence to-night
+disloyalty to the Sovereign, and he is a serious danger
+to the State. He should be suppressed."</p></div>
+
+<p>To this lie the monk scrawled his initials, and next
+morning the letter was sent to the Chief of the Secret
+Police. Within twelve hours the unfortunate colonel who
+had dared to pronounce his opinion concerning Germany's
+activities was already lodged in the fortress of Peter
+and Paul, where, I believe, he remained until the Revolution
+of 1917.</p>
+
+<p>At that moment, however, the German propaganda in
+Russia found itself in an extremely critical state. By
+Stolypin's murder a new difficulty had arisen. All the
+colleagues of the late Prime Minister believed themselves
+entitled to become his successor, and as each had his own
+particular circle of friends, each naturally pulled all the
+political wires possible. Intrigues arose on every hand,
+and though everybody realised the personal danger of
+anybody appointed to the dead man's position, yet ambition
+was apparent everywhere.</p>
+
+<p>The Empress, who had now returned from her fateful
+journey to the Crimea, was in daily consultation with
+the monk, it being their intention to obtain the appointment
+of some hard-up Minister who, by being well paid
+with German gold, would remain inert and keep his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a>[<a href="./images/71.png">71</a>]</span>
+mouth closed regarding the world-plot in progress.
+Being at Tsarskoe-Selo, and conducting the Starets's correspondence,
+I know how deep was the intrigue to keep
+out and discredit the Minister of Finance, Vladimir
+Nicholaievitch Kokovtsov, who was known to be the only
+strong man who could succeed Stolypin.</p>
+
+<p>The whole machinery of the pro-German propaganda
+had been set to work from Berlin to prevent the mantle
+of Stolypin falling upon Kokovtsov. Yet one afternoon,
+while I sat writing at Rasputin's dictation in his elegant
+sitting-room in the palace of Tsarskoe-Selo, the Empress,
+who was dressed ready to go for her daily drive, burst
+angrily in, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Nikki has just appointed that hateful money-grubber
+Kokovtsov! I tried all I could to prevent it, Father.
+But I have failed!"</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin smiled at her words, and with that sinister
+calmness that characterised him in moments of chagrin,
+he replied:</p>
+
+<p>"Pray do not distress thyself, O lady! Kokovtsov
+will assuredly not be long in office when the hand of
+Gregory is lifted against him."</p>
+
+<p>"He must not remain long. He may get to know too
+much, as others have done. In Berlin his appointment
+will give the greatest offence," she said.</p>
+
+<p>"I will ask the Almighty's intercession, for I see,
+O lady, that thou art nervous and unstrung. Compose
+thyself, I beg of thee. All will be well," and the "healer"
+crossed himself piously.</p>
+
+<p>Truly, the condition of our dear land was in parlous
+state. A vogue for asceticism had sprung up, just as
+other vogues have become popular in other European
+countries.</p>
+
+<p>As head of this circle of ascetic followers the monk
+had, with the connivance of Badmayev the herbalist, invented
+an expedient to deaden the flesh so as to render it
+benumbed as with cocaine. Hundreds of weak-minded
+women were flocking about him. Some of them were
+wives and daughters of the wealthy manufacturing class,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a>[<a href="./images/72.png">72</a>]</span>
+but most were of the high aristocracy, who all regarded
+my employer as the Saviour of Russia, sent by Heaven to
+reform and deliver the "Holy" land from the toils of
+unrest and desolation.</p>
+
+<p>We Russians are always idealists. That is our curse.
+Our religion is, unfortunately, an obsession, for any
+drunken scoundrel can become a "holy man" by simply
+making such declaration, and ever afterwards "sponging"
+upon his neighbours. Rasputin was but an example
+of this.</p>
+
+<p>After all, it was but natural that, with the bevy of
+female devotees ever at his knees, he should attract the
+gossip of the scandalmongers. Much, indeed, of what
+they said was true, for I happen to know that personally.</p>
+
+<p>But on that day at Tsarskoe-Selo I noted the Empress's
+agitation that Kokovtsov had been appointed,
+and began to suspect that the camarilla would take drastic
+action in order to defeat him. Indeed, when the Empress
+had left the room, Rasputin grew thoughtful in turn, and
+stroked his unkempt beard as he paced the floor, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, F&eacute;odor! We must crush this jackanapes. I
+must see what we can do."</p>
+
+<p>Weeks went by. The usual meetings of the monk's
+"sister-disciples" were held at the house in the Poltavskaya,
+and often in the presence of a stranger or a female
+novice about to be admitted to the cult he pretended to
+speak to Alexandra Feodorovna over his mock telephone.</p>
+
+<p>Every action of the monk was that of an arrogant
+and erotic swindler. His intelligence was, however, extremely
+perceptive, and he was not wanting in finesse of
+the mujik order, combined with a sense of foresight that
+was utterly amazing. These, with his suave manner, his
+affectation of deepest piety, and his wonderful fascination
+over women of every age and every class, had now
+brought him to the position of the power behind the
+Throne.</p>
+
+<p>He already ruled Russia. Tsar and Tsaritza were his
+puppets, so cleverly did he play his cards, yet as he frequently
+remarked to me in the weeks that followed:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a>[<a href="./images/73.png">73</a>]</span>
+"Kokovtsov is against me. We are enemies. He
+must go."</p>
+
+<p>I knew that if the Premier had an enemy in Grichka,
+then the statesman was doomed.</p>
+
+<p>Now, the plot which Rasputin formed against the
+new Prime Minister was an extremely clever and subtle
+one.</p>
+
+<p>While it was being carried out I often met Vladimir
+Nicholaievitch, who was naturally compelled to curry
+favour with the Father, and consequently sometimes
+visited him even against his inclination, no doubt. He
+was a long, rather narrow-faced, bearded man, with a
+pair of deep-set eyes and a secretive air, subtle by temperament,
+and keenly alive to his own interests as well
+as those of the Empire.</p>
+
+<p>His one sin in the eyes of Alexandra Feodorovna was
+that he hated Germany.</p>
+
+<p>"He once lost money in a German financial concern,"
+Rasputin declared to me one day with a laugh. "That is
+why he cannot bear the Germans."</p>
+
+<p>The Premier, risen from the middle-class, was a dandy
+who never looked one in the face, and whose eyes were
+ever upon his own clothes, as though expecting to find
+specks of dust upon them. He was always immaculately
+dressed, and his newly-acquired manners were so perfect
+that I often wondered if he carried a book of etiquette in
+his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>My own estimate of him was that he was too neat,
+too well groomed, too civil, too bowing, and too anxious
+not to forget what he should say at the right moment.
+In a word, he was an elegant who had suddenly entered
+the Court entourage, in which there was no place for him.</p>
+
+<p>The Tsar had no affection for him, and had merely
+appointed him because he believed that he might worry
+him less than others whose names and abilities had been
+put forward.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Kokovtsov! He was in complete ignorance of
+the clever plot which Rasputin, at the Empress's suggestion,
+was engineering against his patriotic activities.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a>[<a href="./images/74.png">74</a>]</span>
+Germany intended to rule Russia in the near future, and
+woe betide any statesman who would not remain
+inert and be spoon-fed by Teutonic propaganda, or
+place in his pocket the German marks held out so temptingly
+to him. In that way lay advancement, emoluments,
+decorations, and the Tsar's favour. To be Russian was,
+alas! to court disaster and ignominy.</p>
+
+<p>Monsieur Kokovtsov was typically a good Russian.
+He had no fighting spirit, but was essentially a man of
+peace, entertaining a horror of bloodshed or of sanguinary
+deeds. His placid temper caused him to avoid all questions
+in dispute. He was prepared to do all possible to
+benefit our country. He had cleverly conducted the election
+campaign, and had all the governors of each province
+with him. The Emperor trusted him; the Empress hated
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Besides, Kokovtsov was a worker. He did not believe
+in that favourite expression among Russians,
+"<i>nechevo</i>," which really means "nothing," but is equivalent
+to "don't bother" or "don't worry." In Russia we
+unfortunately always have a "<i>zarftra</i>," or to-morrow. For
+that reason he was disliked also by the people.</p>
+
+<p>It was not many months after his appointment when
+one night, at the Poltavskaya, Rasputin received a visit
+from General Rogogin, the Director of the Black Cabinet,
+the <i>cabinet noir</i>, the existence of which was rigorously
+kept secret until the Revolution afforded the public a
+glimpse of Russia behind the scenes.</p>
+
+<p>Even from the tribune of the Duma it was declared
+that the Black Cabinet was a fiction. Yet I happened
+to know that it existed, for later that evening I accompanied
+Rasputin and the Director to the General Post
+Office, where in three rooms on the second floor of the
+building the mysterious department, where correspondence
+was opened and read, was situated. Here was the most
+secret establishment of the Imperial Police. For over a
+hundred years had this mysterious department been at
+work examining the letters of all classes of people whose
+thoughts or doings could be of interest to the Tsar, his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a>[<a href="./images/75.png">75</a>]</span>
+Minister of the Interior, or the Okhrana. Indeed, I
+learned from the general's conversation with the monk&mdash;I
+first having taken an oath never to divulge anything of
+what I saw or heard&mdash;that even the correspondence of the
+Tsar, his relatives, or friends was not immune from examination.</p>
+
+<p>Then I instantly realised the reason that the Tsaritza
+and Rasputin, in communicating with their friends in
+Germany, sent their letters by hand.</p>
+
+<p>On the night in question I stood watching with interest
+how letters for secret examination were taken from
+a lift which passed up and down from the sorting-rooms
+above to the distributing room below. The basket was
+taken off the lift during its slow descent, and another
+basket substituted containing letters already examined,
+so quickly that the man in charge of the lift below noticed
+nothing.</p>
+
+<p>We saw several processes of opening letters by steaming
+them, first taking an impression in plaster of any
+seal, and also by cutting off the end of the envelope by
+means of a small guillotine. The letters were dexterously
+opened, photographed, replaced in their respective
+envelopes, refastened and new seals made, or in other
+cases the ends of the cut envelopes were resealed by
+means of paper pulp to match the colour of the envelope,
+and placed under pressure in a hot press, thus actually
+remaking the paper!</p>
+
+<p>The watchman of this secret chamber was an illiterate,
+deaf and dumb peasant.</p>
+
+<p>"Each functionary on being first admitted here," said
+Rogogin, "is compelled to take a solemn oath never to
+divulge its existence to a living soul&mdash;not to his wife,
+father, sister, brother, or dearest friend."</p>
+
+<p>All was remarkable, a spying system of which I had
+never dreamed.</p>
+
+<p>When we entered the Director's well-furnished private
+room and the door was closed, Rogogin took from a
+locker drawer a letter which he handed to the monk,
+saying:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a>[<a href="./images/76.png">76</a>]</span>
+"Here is the letter of which I spoke; if I hold it
+back it may arouse suspicion."</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin, who could only read with difficulty, looked
+at the letter, and then, handing it to me with that lofty
+air he assumed in the belief that he could conceal his
+ignorance, said:</p>
+
+<p>"F&eacute;odor, read it to me."</p>
+
+<p>It was on grey paper, and was as follows:</p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p class="figright">"<span class="smcap">Imperial Russian Embassy,</span>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<br />
+                   "<span class="smcap">Unter den Linden,</span> 7.<br />
+                    "June 8th.&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Secret.</i></p>
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Your Excellency</span>,&mdash;In accordance with your instructions
+I beg to report confidentially as follows: On arrival
+here I presented my credentials of His Excellency our Ambassador,
+and in consequence was allowed to conduct a
+confidential inquiry among the staff of the Embassy, and in
+other quarters, in which I have been actively assisted with
+excellent results by P. Ostrovski, agent of the Okhrana in
+Berlin, whom I recommend for advancement.</p>
+
+<p>"My discoveries are several, and of an interesting nature.
+First, a person named Hardt, who is often resident in Petrograd,
+is the secret courier of the Empress between Potsdam
+and Tsarskoe-Selo. Secondly, a sum of one hundred thousand
+marks was paid by the Dresdner Bank on March 11th last
+to the account of one Boris St&uuml;rmer, who has an account in
+Riga at the Disconto Gesellschaft. Thirdly, the Emperor
+William on April 2nd gave audience in secret at the Berlin
+Schloss to M. Protopopoff, for which no reason can be
+assigned. Fourthly, I have learned on the best authority
+that if Herr Hardt were arrested on any of his journeys to
+Sweden or Germany, some highly interesting private correspondence
+would be found upon him. Fifthly, there is no
+doubt whatever that the monk Rasputin is in receipt of
+money from this city, as I have in my possession a receipt
+given by him for two hundred thousand roubles paid him
+by the Deutsche Bank, and this I am bringing with me on
+my return.</p>
+
+<p>"Further, I have documentary evidence of a widespread
+German intrigue in Russia, facts which will, I feel confident,
+amaze your Excellency. When I return I shall place in
+your hands weapons by which the enemy may be combated.
+I hesitate to send any documents through the post in case
+they miscarry, and I am addressing this letter to Mademoiselle
+Pauline, as your Excellency suggested.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a>[<a href="./images/77.png">77</a>]</span>
+"I have yet some further inquiries to make on your
+Excellency's behalf, but I intend to leave Berlin in any case
+on the twenty-second. I have the honour to remain, your
+Excellency's obedient servant,&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;
+<span class="smcap">Ivan Botkine."</span></p></div>
+
+<p>The monk listened attentively, his big, strange eyes
+wearing a sly, crafty expression. He fingered the jewelled
+cross suspended from his neck&mdash;a habit of his.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! So Botkine leaves Berlin on the twenty-second.
+It is well that we know this, my dear Rogogin&mdash;eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," laughed the traitorous general. "He must not
+reach Russia."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not," agreed the monk. "We must obtain
+possession of this documentary evidence that he will
+carry upon him. Who is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Botkine is a confidential agent in Kokovtsov's
+employ," was the Director's reply. "He was, I find,
+assistant-director of police in Nijni before the Minister
+was appointed, and is now in His Excellency's private
+service."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it is excellent that by your astuteness, my dear
+General, we are forewarned. If not, there might very
+easily have resulted a serious contretemps&mdash;eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly."</p>
+
+<p>"And who is this Mademoiselle Pauline?" asked Rasputin,
+his clever criminal brain already at work to defeat
+a revelation of the truth.</p>
+
+<p>"Pauline Lahure, the little French dancer at the Villa
+Rode."</p>
+
+<p>"Lahure!" cried Rasputin. "I know her, of course,
+a music-hall artiste. She has been lately taken up by
+the old Countess Bronevski. She was at my house only
+a fortnight ago, and wanted to become a 'sister'!"</p>
+
+<p>"As spy of Kokovtsov&mdash;eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Without a doubt," I chimed in. "From all I hear
+His Excellency is a gay dog."</p>
+
+<p>"True, my dear F&eacute;odor," remarked the monk, fingering
+the cross nervously, and then taking a cigarette which
+the general offered him. "But had not our friend Rogogin
+been on the alert and opened the dainty dancer's letters,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a>[<a href="./images/78.png">78</a>]</span>
+what a trap we should have fallen into&mdash;not only ourselves,
+but the Empress also! Vladimir would have presented
+the documents to the Emperor, and an unholy
+domestic scene would have resulted. This fellow Botkine
+must never reach Russia!" he added seriously.</p>
+
+<p>"I agree," replied the general. "Let us see Gutchkoff
+at once," he added. General Gutchkoff was a Jew
+and the director of the dreaded political police, with whom
+Rogogin, of course, worked hand-in-glove.</p>
+
+<p>It was then nearly eleven o'clock at night, but we
+all three drove to General Gutchkoff's house in the
+Spaskaya. He was out, his man informed us.</p>
+
+<p>"I must see him at once," said the monk loftily.
+"Where is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"He went out to dinner, Holy Father, and he is
+probably now at the Krestovsky or at the Bouffes."</p>
+
+<p>"Go at once and find him," said the monk. "It is
+a matter of extreme urgency, and we will await him
+here."</p>
+
+<p>Thus ordered by Gregory Rasputin&mdash;who was all-powerful
+in the capital&mdash;the general's servant ushered
+us into a cosy little salon, placed a box of cigarettes
+and some liqueurs before us, and then himself left in a
+droshky to find his master, who was so well known in
+Petrograd as a <i>bon viveur</i>.</p>
+
+<p>For half an hour Rasputin, much worried by the secret
+inquiries of the Premier into the doings of the pro-German
+camarilla, chatted with the general, more than
+once expressing fear regarding the perilous situation.</p>
+
+<p>"Revelations seem imminent," he exclaimed anxiously.
+"The man Botkine must never arrive in Russia&mdash;you
+understand that, Rogogin!"</p>
+
+<p>"I quite agree," said the Director of the Black
+Cabinet. "But Gutchkoff must see to it. I have done
+my part in the affair."</p>
+
+<p>"You have done excellently, my dear friend&mdash;most
+excellently," declared the monk. "Nothing could have
+been better. I will mention your great services to the
+Empress. Yes, we must rely upon Gutchkoff."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a>[<a href="./images/79.png">79</a>]</span>
+In half an hour the servant returned with his master,
+the head of the political police, a short, fat man in
+general's uniform, with decorations, who, when he
+entered the room, betrayed unmistakable signs of having
+dined well. Indeed, he had been unearthed from a midnight
+carouse at a questionable restaurant.</p>
+
+<p>At sight of Rasputin, a power to be reckoned with
+and a person of whom even the greatest in the land
+craved favours, he pulled himself together and cast himself
+into a chair to listen.</p>
+
+<p>The monk was clever enough not to enlighten the
+Police Director regarding the plot to upset Kokovtsov's
+undue inquisitiveness. He merely told him that a certain
+secret agent named Botkine was leaving Berlin for
+Petrograd on the twenty-second.</p>
+
+<p>"The man is dangerous," he added, "extremely
+dangerous."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" asked Gutchkoff, somewhat surprised at our
+midnight visit.</p>
+
+<p>"Because&mdash;well, because I happen to know that he
+is in possession of certain facts concerning very high
+personages. He is a blackmailer, and has been to Berlin
+to endeavour to sell some documents to Maximilian
+Harden&mdash;documents which, if published, would place a
+certain member of our Imperial family in a very unsatisfactory
+light," Rasputin said. "My friend Rogogin
+here will bear me out."</p>
+
+<p>The Police Director, after a few minutes' silence,
+asked:</p>
+
+<p>"Has he sold the documents in question?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think not," was Rasputin's reply. "If he has not,
+he will have them in his possession on his return. We
+must secure them at all costs."</p>
+
+<p>"You wish to close his mouth&mdash;eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. He must be suppressed at all hazards," declared
+the monk. "It is the wish of the Emperor," he
+added, a glib lie always ready upon his tongue. "Further,
+I need not add that if this affair be conducted in secrecy
+and scandal in the Imperial House avoided, His Majesty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a>[<a href="./images/80.png">80</a>]</span>
+will certainly see that you are adequately rewarded. I
+can promise you that."</p>
+
+<p>General Gutchkoff was again silent. He well knew
+that if the Tsar had ordered the man Botkine to be
+silenced there must be some very unsavoury affair to be
+hushed up.</p>
+
+<p>"There is an agent of yours in Berlin named
+Ostrovski, is there not?" the monk asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Then he must also be removed at once to another
+post. Transfer him to Constantinople, or, better still, to
+Yokohama. He must not remain in Berlin another
+twenty-four hours, and he must, not, at any cost,
+be allowed to return to Russia," Rasputin said
+decisively.</p>
+
+<p>"I scarcely follow you, Holy Father," was the amazed
+general's reply. "Ostrovski is very reliable, and has been
+entrusted with the most delicate affairs. He has always
+given me the greatest satisfaction."</p>
+
+<p>"I regret if he is under your protection, but that
+does not alter matters. He and Botkine have been
+acting in unison, and hence Ostrovski knows more of
+this scandal concerning a certain member of the Imperial
+family than is good for him to know. Promote him with
+increased salary to Yokohama, and send him there by
+way of Marseilles upon some confidential mission. But
+on no account must he return to Russia before going to
+Japan&mdash;you understand? He will no doubt wish to travel
+by way of Siberia, but this must be forbidden. If you
+will write out his appointment, I will obtain the Emperor's
+signature to it to-morrow morning."</p>
+
+<p>"You wish me to write out the order now&mdash;eh?"
+asked Gutchkoff, still much puzzled, but eager to get scent
+of the particular scandal known to Botkine.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, now," replied the monk, pointing to the writing-table,
+whereupon the Police Director sat down and wrote
+out the order transferring the agent Ostrovski to Japan,
+an order which Rasputin, after pretending to read it,
+handed to me to place in my pocket.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a>[<a href="./images/81.png">81</a>]</span>
+"And now, what about this person Botkine?" asked
+Gutchkoff. "How do you wish me to act towards
+him?"</p>
+
+<p>"In the way that I will direct to-morrow," replied
+the monk. "I must have time to devise some plan&mdash;a plan
+which will be secret and arouse no suspicion," he added
+grimly, with a sinister smile.</p>
+
+<p>Early next morning I accompanied him to Peterhof,
+where the Imperial Court happened to be. Anna Vyrubova
+was away in Moscow, but without delay he sought
+the Empress and remained in her boudoir for a full hour,
+no doubt explaining the discovery of Kokovtsov's inquiries
+in Berlin.</p>
+
+<p>I met the Prime Minister himself in the long corridor
+guarded by "Araby" servants which led to the Emperor's
+private cabinet, and with him was General Gutchkoff,
+who had evidently also been summoned to audience regarding
+some matters concerning the police administration.
+Kokovtsov had no suspicion of what Rasputin had
+learned, or that Gutchkoff had promised to act as he
+directed against his trusted agent Ivan Botkine.</p>
+
+<p>The pair strolled along the softly carpeted corridor,
+chatting affably, for they were apparently going to consult
+His Majesty together. Truly, the Court world is a
+strange life of constant intrigue and double-dealing, of
+lack of morals and of honesty of purpose and of
+patriotism. In our Holy Russia many good men and
+women have, because of their love for their own land,
+been sent to drag out their lives in the dreariness of the
+Siberian prison camps.</p>
+
+<p>When the monk returned to me he asked for Ostrovski's
+appointment, written on the previous night, which
+I carried in my pocket. This he took at once to
+the Tsar. His Majesty was at that moment closeted
+with the Prime Minister, Gutchkoff having already seen
+the Emperor and, transacting his business, been dismissed.</p>
+
+<p>Five minutes later Rasputin returned with the Emperor's
+scribbled signature still wet, and in my presence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a>[<a href="./images/82.png">82</a>]</span>
+handed it to the Director of Political Police. Ostrovski
+had been transferred to Japan, where he would be harmless,
+even though he might have learned facts from Botkine.
+But what had Rasputin decided should be the
+fate of the latter? For the sake of Alexandra Feodorovna
+and the whole camarilla Botkine's lips must, I knew, be
+closed. That had been decided. I longed to learn what
+the Empress had said when the monk had revealed the
+truth to her and pointed out her peril.</p>
+
+<p>No doubt Her Majesty would see to it that the affair
+was hushed up. I knew full well that she understood
+that once Kokovtsov obtained evidence too many people
+would be implicated, and perhaps a public trial might
+result. Both she and Rasputin, no doubt, realised that
+it would be unwise to allow a member of the Okhrana&mdash;as
+Botkine had been&mdash;to be arrested, for fear of the
+scandal public revelations would cause. The capital
+teemed with Germans like St&uuml;rmer and Fredericks,
+traitors like Protopopoff and Soukhomlinoff, men like
+Azeff, Guerassimoff and Kurtz&mdash;one day the bosom
+friend of Ministers and powerful noblemen, and the next
+cast into the fortress of Peter and Paul&mdash;Rogogin, the
+sycophant Raeff&mdash;whom Rasputin had made Procurator
+of the Holy Synod&mdash;and the drunken "saint" Mitia the
+Blessed&mdash;at last dismissed&mdash;spiritualists, charlatans, and
+cranks. Upon such fine society was the Throne of the
+Romanoffs based! Was it any wonder that it was
+already tottering preparatory to its fall?</p>
+
+<p>I left Peterhof with Rasputin at about three o'clock
+that afternoon, and on our return to the Poltavskaya I
+spoke over the telephone, at the monk's orders, to
+Doctor Badmayev, the expert herbalist who prepared
+those secret drugs with which Madame Vyrubova
+regularly doped the little Tsarevitch, keeping him in a
+constant state of ill-health and in such a condition that
+he puzzled the most noted physicians in Europe.</p>
+
+<p>Badmayev, a small, ferret-eyed man, his features of
+Tartar cast, came and dined with us, after which Rasputin
+signed a cheque for twenty-eight thousand roubles,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a>[<a href="./images/83.png">83</a>]</span>
+a sum to which "the doctor" was entitled under an
+agreement. Well did I know that the sum in question
+was payment for his active assistance in supplying certain
+drugs of which the monk in turn declared that he
+himself held the formula. The drugs&mdash;which he pretended
+to be the secret of the priests of Tibet&mdash;were those which
+he doled out in small quantities to his sister-disciples,
+and which produced insensibility to physical pain, drugs
+which were so baneful and pernicious that the monk
+always warned me against them, and never took any
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>After dinner, at which they both drank deeply of
+champagne, the monk and his friend went out to spend
+the evening at a low-class variety theatre, while I was
+left alone until midnight.</p>
+
+<p>In consequence I visited some friends in the Ivanovskaya,
+and returned to Rasputin's at about a quarter-past
+twelve. Twenty minutes later he returned in a hopeless
+state of intoxication; therefore I did not speak to
+him till next morning.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the fellow's vitality that he was up before
+six o'clock. At seven he went out, and returned about
+nine, when he called me to his den.</p>
+
+<p>"F&eacute;odor," he said, "I wish you to leave to-day for
+Vilna, and go to the Palace Hotel there. Remain until
+a friend of ours named Heckel calls upon you."</p>
+
+<p>"Who is Heckel?" I asked, surprised at being sent
+upon such a long journey in that sudden manner.</p>
+
+<p>"A friend of Hardt and myself. Do not be inquisitive&mdash;only
+obey. When Heckel calls please give him
+this letter," and he handed me a rather thick letter in an
+official cartridge envelope of the Imperial Ministry of
+Foreign Affairs. "Heckel will tell you that he is from
+'Father Gregory.' He is tall, fair, and rather slim&mdash;a
+German, as you may guess from his name. Your train
+leaves at two-forty this afternoon. Be careful of that
+letter and to whom you deliver it in secret. Heckel,
+after finding you at the hotel, will produce an English
+five-pound note and show it to you. That will be his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a>[<a href="./images/84.png">84</a>]</span>
+passport. If he does not do so, then do not give him the
+letter."</p>
+
+<p>That afternoon I left for Vilna by the Warsaw express,
+and after a long journey through the endless
+pines and silver birches duly arrived at the hotel indicated,
+and there awaited my visitor. He arrived next
+day, a fair-haired, slim man, just as Rasputin had described
+him, evidently an <i>agent-provocateur</i> from Berlin.
+After he had been ushered into my bedroom by a
+waiter, he greeted me warmly, and inquired if I had anything
+to hand him.</p>
+
+<p>To this I made an evasive reply, in pretence of being
+in ignorance of his meaning, whereupon he said in
+German:</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I forgot. You wish first to establish my
+identity," and laughingly he produced from his wallet an
+English five-pound note, which he showed to me.</p>
+
+<p>In consequence I handed him the letter from the
+Ministry, which he placed unopened in his pocket and
+then left, while that same night I returned to Petrograd.</p>
+
+<p>Three days later I learned the truth.</p>
+
+<p>Ivan Botkine, the trusted secret agent of the Prime
+Minister Kokovtsov, who had left Berlin on the twenty-second
+for Petrograd, had been found dead in one of the
+sleeping compartments on the arrival of the train at the
+frontier station of Wirballen. His pockets and valise
+had been rifled, and an inquiry had been opened. Though
+the doctors disagreed as to the exact cause of death, it
+was apparent that one of the dishes he had eaten in the
+restaurant car an hour before had been poisoned.</p>
+
+<p>Further, I have since established the horrifying fact
+that the mysterious letter from the Ministry which I
+handed to Heckel in Vilna contained a secret poison!
+That it was used to remove poor Botkine, Rasputin afterwards
+admitted to me. Such were the methods of the
+<ins class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'camerilla'">camarilla</ins> who were ruling Russia!</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a>[<a href="./images/85.png">85</a>]</span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">rasputin in berlin</span></h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Truly</span>, our Russia was a country of blood and tears under
+the last of the Romanoffs. Its creed and its motto was
+"Gallows and Siberia!"</p>
+
+<p>No man's life was safe under a r&eacute;gime run by
+scoundrels, of whom "Grichka," my chief, was the worst.</p>
+
+<p>An unlimited secret fund was placed at the disposal
+of the Ministry of the Interior for purposes of the Secret
+Police, and when I say that Rasputin controlled that
+Ministry as well as the Emperor himself, it can easily be
+understood that all who were loyal Russians were "suspect,"
+and denunciation throve on all sides. The
+Okhrana recruited its agents from all quarters. That is
+why one was never sure that the stranger who denounced
+Rasputin and his friends was not an <i>agent-provocateur</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Every Russian subject of any note, and every foreign
+traveller, was watched, not because of his disloyalty, but
+because Rasputin and his camarilla, including the Empress,
+feared lest he should discover how they were
+daily betraying Russia and its Tsar.</p>
+
+<p>I have been, at Rasputin's orders, many times in the
+central bureau of the Secret Police in search of the
+index-card of some person who had fallen beneath the
+monk's displeasure. In these indices and in the corresponding
+files the persons concerned were, I found, never
+designated by their own names, but by code-names that
+could be telegraphed if necessary from city to city.
+Thus the Deputy Cheidze (since become famous) was
+registered under the name of "drawing-room" (gostini),
+Lenin (also since famous) as "symbol," <ins class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Miliukof'">Miliukoff</ins> as
+"grass," and the traitor Soukhomlinoff as "glycerine."</p>
+
+<p>Those were indeed terrible days in Holy Russia&mdash;days
+when the innocent were sent to their death, while Rasputin,
+the religious fraud, laughed and drank champagne
+with his high-born devotees, who believed him, even in
+this twentieth century, to be divine!</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a>[<a href="./images/86.png">86</a>]</span>
+I remember that on May 16th, 1914, when the political
+horizon was cloudless and no one dreamed of war, I sat
+in the visitors' gallery of the Duma, having been sent
+there by Rasputin to listen to the debate and report to
+him.</p>
+
+<p>The labour leader Kerensky, who afterwards became
+Minister of Justice in the Provisional Government, rose
+and from the tribune proclaimed the infamy of the police.
+He did not mince matters. He said:</p>
+
+<p><ins class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: added missing quotation mark">"</ins>The most notorious jailers of the period of Alexander
+III. knew how to respect in their political enemies
+the man who thought differently, and when they shut him
+up in the fortress of Schl&uuml;sselburg they would sometimes
+come to chat with him. And some of those martyrs,
+those men struggling for liberty, have been able to return
+to us with the glamour about them of twenty years' hard
+labour. But now, the sons of those famous jailers do
+not hesitate to seize young men of seventeen or eighteen
+and make them die slowly, but surely, under the blows of
+the knout, under the strokes of the rod, or by the burns
+of a red-hot iron. Are we not returning to the days when
+political prisoners were walled up alive? And you
+imagine, gentlemen, that you can claim for this country
+the civilising mission of a European nation!"</p>
+
+<p>He spoke of a man whom I knew well, one of the most
+sinister persons in all Russia, a man who, like Rasputin
+and St&uuml;rmer, accepted German gold. The man's name
+was Evno Azef, upon whom unfortunately the French
+Government bestowed the Legion of Honour.</p>
+
+<p>Before he went to Paris, Azef was a close friend of
+Rasputin and of St&uuml;rmer. He was a criminal of the
+worst type, an expert in crime, though he was a recognised
+agent of the Russian Political Police. And yet so
+clever was he as an <i>agent-provocateur</i> that he actually
+managed to get himself elected as director of the Terrorist
+organisation of Petrograd, and as a member of the
+Central Committee of the Socialist Party!</p>
+
+<p>In my presence he one night, when in his cups, boasted
+to the merry monk what he had to his credit as a revolu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a>[<a href="./images/87.png">87</a>]</span>tionary.
+He organised the murders of the Minister of
+the Interior, Plehve, and of the Grand Duke Sergius. It
+was he who prepared the attempted murders of Admiral
+Dubassof, the Governor-General Guerchelman, and the
+attempt on Nicholas II. The latter was with Rasputin's
+knowledge and consent! Perhaps Alexandra Feodorovna
+knew of it. Who knows? That she was not so devoted
+to "Nikki" as she pretended is well known to everyone
+who was at the Imperial Court at the time. Happily,
+however, the plot failed because of circumstances which
+Azef could not control.</p>
+
+<p>The scoundrel also assisted in the drawing up of the
+plans for the military mutinies at Moscow, Viborg, and
+Kronstadt, while he knew beforehand of the preparations
+for the assassination of General Sakarof, and of Governor
+Bogdanovitch at Ufa, as well as a number of Terrorist
+crimes which succeeded.</p>
+
+<p>One of his crimes in conspiracy with Rasputin I will
+here relate, because it is a mystery which has long puzzled
+the London police.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of January 11th, 1909, the London
+newspapers contained a report of a strange discovery.
+Four days before there had arrived at Victoria Station a
+young French lady, dark-haired and extremely good-looking,
+who took a cab to a small but highly respectable
+private hotel in the vicinity. There she gave the name
+of Mademoiselle Thomas, and her profession as governess.
+Next morning a tall, thin young foreigner called for her,
+and they went out together, she returning very late that
+night apparently exhausted after a long motor journey.
+Next day she remained in her room all day. On the
+third day an elderly man called, and she went out with
+him, being absent about a couple of hours. On her
+return she went straight to her room and nothing was
+seen of her further until the next day at noon the chambermaid
+failed to arouse her by knocking. The police
+were informed, the door was forced, and Mademoiselle
+Thomas was found dead. She was lying upon the floor
+fully dressed.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a>[<a href="./images/88.png">88</a>]</span>
+The medical evidence at the inquest was that the
+pretty French governess had been dead fully eighteen
+hours. Upon her or in her small hand-luggage there
+was nothing to establish her identity. That she had
+taken poison was the opinion of the expert medical witness.
+Yet the poison could not be established. Apparently
+it was a case of suicide, for the laundry marks
+and names of the makers of her clothing had been
+deliberately removed.</p>
+
+<p>One thing, however, was extremely mysterious.
+Upon the marble top of the washhand-stand in the bedroom
+the police found some scrawled words in a character
+they could not decipher. Experts were brought in, when
+it was found that the writing was in Russian character,
+and the words were: "The holy Starets is&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>This conveyed nothing to the London police, who, of
+course, knew nothing save that a "Starets" in Russia
+is a "saint."</p>
+
+<p>Therefore the experts at Scotland Yard were, after
+much patient investigation, compelled to dismiss it as
+one of London's unsolved mysteries.</p>
+
+<p>Now for the truth.</p>
+
+<p>One night, a year before, when I had returned with
+Rasputin from Tsarskoe-Selo, we found awaiting us the
+somewhat dandified man of a hundred aliases and as many
+disguises, the notorious Azef. He greeted us both
+warmly, and being a close friend of Rasputin, the monk
+took him into his cosy little den, where for over an hour
+they remained closeted together.</p>
+
+<p>I was one of the few who knew the secret of Azef's
+crimes. Indeed, when I entered the room while the pair
+were talking I heard him ask with a laugh:</p>
+
+<p>"What if we give him a taste of the necktie of Stolypin&mdash;eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"It certainly would be best, my dear Evno," the monk
+agreed. "That is if you think the accusation can be well
+made."</p>
+
+<p>"Trust me," laughed the great <i>agent-provocateur</i>.
+"A denunciation, the discovery of papers&mdash;you have those<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a>[<a href="./images/89.png">89</a>]</span>
+of Buchman in your safe, by the way, and they could be
+used&mdash;arrest, trial, and the necktie! It would be quite
+easy, and his mouth would be closed."</p>
+
+<p>"He is growing dangerous," growled Rasputin.
+"What you say is perfectly true."</p>
+
+<p>Then turning to me, he said:</p>
+
+<p>"F&eacute;odor, bring those papers which Manuiloff brought
+me a week ago&mdash;the papers used for the arrest of Professor
+Buchman in Warsaw."</p>
+
+<p>I obeyed, well knowing how that file of incriminating
+correspondence with an Anarchist group in Zurich had
+been forged by St&uuml;rmer's secretary Manuiloff, and how it
+had been found among the professor's effects.</p>
+
+<p>"The necktie of Stolypin," was Azef's playful allusion
+to the ever-ready gallows to which he, plotting with Rasputin,
+Manuiloff, <ins class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Geurassimof'">Guerassimof</ins>, and others, was so constantly
+sending innocent persons. Truly, Russia was a
+strange country even before the outbreak of war.</p>
+
+<p>The immediate object of Azef's activities, combined
+with Rasputin's, was at Germany's direction to extend
+the Terrorist action and thus cause trouble and unrest in
+the Empire. By every fresh success he obtained more
+money from Berlin, and at the same time strengthened
+his privileged position in the ranks of the Terrorists, while
+his worth was increased in the eyes of both the Minister
+of the Interior and of the Emperor. The scoundrel's revolutionary
+career and his police career were inseparable.
+He was a Terrorist to-day, a police official to-morrow, but,
+like Rasputin, a secret agent of Germany always!</p>
+
+<p>Terrible as it may seem, the Okhrana, with the connivance
+of the Wilhelmstrasse, and with the Empress's
+full knowledge&mdash;of this there is no doubt, because documentary
+evidence exists which proves it&mdash;caused the
+highest personages in Russia to be murdered or hanged
+in order to prove to those lucky ones who survived how
+necessary was the organisation for their own existence!</p>
+
+<p>A hundred dramas could be written upon the intrigues
+of Grichka and Azef. Some of them were
+amazing; all were disgraceful. The life of the most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a>[<a href="./images/90.png">90</a>]</span>
+upright and honest man or woman was not safe if marked
+down by the pair of scoundrels. The attempt upon
+Admiral Dubassof, in which Count Konovnicin met his
+death; the attempt upon General Guerchelman, Governor-General
+of Moscow; the assassination of General Slepzof
+at Tver, with half a dozen other murders of the same
+kind, were all the work of Azef. Why? Because both
+Azef and General Guerassimof, chief of the Secret Police,
+were in the toils of Germany. The Wilhelmstrasse paid
+well, but threatened exposures if this or that person were
+not removed. Hence Azef, as one of the heads of the
+Terrorists, received his orders through Rasputin, and,
+obeying, was paid his blood-money.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the dastardly crimes which Azef, aided by
+the monk, committed at Germany's orders will never be
+known. Hundreds of innocent persons were arrested,
+and when the police searched their homes the most incriminating
+documents were found concealed&mdash;documents
+which when produced they had never before seen. Hundreds
+of men and women were hurried to Siberia, and
+hundreds of others were sent to rot in jails and fortresses,
+while upon dozens there was placed "the necktie of
+Stolypin."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! my dear Gregory," Azef said, after he had lit a
+fresh cigarette, "there will be no security until that man's
+mouth is closed. I see that you agree with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite," replied the monk, who, I saw, was rather
+agitated because of something which the police spy had
+told him.</p>
+
+<p>"Good! Then I will go further. To-day I have proposed
+to the Council of Workmen's Delegates that we
+should blow up the Central Bureau of the Okhrana, with
+Guerassimof in the centre of it. The killing of Guerassimof
+appealed to them. They hate him&mdash;as you know.
+Really, those people are humorous. They think I am
+their friend, and yet each day the police arrest one or
+two members regularly but quietly, and they disappear
+no one knows whither. I have suspicions of Menchikof,
+of the Okhrana at Moscow. The other day I met him at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a>[<a href="./images/91.png">91</a>]</span>
+Princess Kamenskoi's, and what he told me set me
+wondering. He poses as your friend, but I feel convinced
+he is your enemy."</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin's bearded face relaxed into that strange,
+sardonic grin of his as he replied:</p>
+
+<p>"I know Menchikof. He is harmless. The only man
+we may fear is Burtsef. He knows far too much of the
+police organisation and the deeds of our provocating
+agents."</p>
+
+<p>"I agree. But he lives in Paris, and hence the
+Okhrana cannot lay hands upon him. If only he would
+return to Russia, then he would not be long at liberty.
+That I assure you."</p>
+
+<p>"He is in Paris. Could we not send him a message
+that his daughter Vera&mdash;who married young Tchernof
+last year&mdash;has been taken suddenly ill, and thus summon
+him at once to Vilna? Once on Russian soil he could
+be arrested."</p>
+
+<p>Azef smiled. "Our friend Burtsef knows a little too
+much of our methods to fall into such a trap. He would
+recognise my hand in it in an instant. No, some other
+means must be found. Meanwhile we must deal with
+the person under discussion. We were agreed that he
+must be suppressed at all hazards, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. And we must suppress Burtsef afterwards."</p>
+
+<p>Paris, Lausanne, Geneva, Zurich and Nice swarmed
+with Russian secret agents, who, at orders from Azef
+and Rasputin, kept constant vigil upon the doings
+of everyone. The directors of the foreign service of our
+political police were Ratchkovsky in Paris, and Rataef in
+London. The latter posed as a Russian journalist, and
+usually spent his afternoons over cups of coffee in the
+cosmopolitan Caf&eacute; Royal in Regent Street.</p>
+
+<p>All this I knew, and much more. I knew that Ivan
+Manuiloff, who was now secretary to St&uuml;rmer, had begun
+his lucrative career as the agent and catspaw of Ratchkovsky
+in Paris. But he intrigued against his chief,
+and was then transferred to Rome. Of that man and his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>[<a href="./images/92.png">92</a>]</span>
+dastardly doings I will tell more later. Suffice it
+to say that the Emperor so deeply believed in him that
+one day he gave him a gold cigarette-case with his initials
+in diamonds "as a mark of his esteem"!</p>
+
+<p>Having listened attentively to the conversation between
+the two scoundrels, I at last came to the conclusion
+that they were conspiring against some mysterious person
+named Krivochein.</p>
+
+<p>After the pair had consumed a bottle of champagne,
+Azef rose and, shaking his friend's dirty paw, said:</p>
+
+<p>"I hope to have everything arranged when we meet.
+I would not yet mention the matter to the Empress."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I shall not," remarked Rasputin, with
+that crafty grin of his. "She would only worry over it&mdash;and
+just now she is greatly troubled over the Tsarevitch.
+He has had another attack."</p>
+
+<p>The monk did not mention the fact that the cause of
+the attack was one of Badmayev's secret drugs which
+Anna Vyrubova had dissolved in his milk!</p>
+
+<p>After Azef had left, Rasputin flung himself into his
+easy chair, and as he lit a cigarette remarked to me:</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, F&eacute;odor! What a man! There is nothing he is
+unable to accomplish."</p>
+
+<p>"He is very daring," I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, it is not daring&mdash;it is deep cunning. He has
+the police at his back; I have Alexandra Feodorovna&mdash;so
+we win always. But," he added, with a snarl, "we
+have enemies, and those must be dealt with&mdash;dealt with
+drastically. I hear they are setting about more scandals
+in Petrograd concerning me. Have you heard them?"
+he asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Gossip is rife on every hand, and all sorts of wild
+stories are being circulated," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"Bah! Let the fools say what they will of Gregory
+Rasputin," he laughed. "It only makes him the more
+popular. It is time, however, that I performed some
+more miracles among the poor," he added reflectively.
+"Let us arrange some, F&eacute;odor. Do not forget it."</p>
+
+<p>The miracles were arranged a fortnight later. With<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>[<a href="./images/93.png">93</a>]</span>
+the assistance of a clever German conjurer named Brockhaus,
+from Riga, who with others helped the mock saint
+on the occasions when he imposed upon the credulity of
+the mujiks, he pretended to "heal" a child of lameness,
+while a female assistant of Brockhaus, having posed as a
+blind peasant, was restored to sight.</p>
+
+<p>The miracles took place out at Ligovo, a village outside
+Petrograd, and like wildfire the news was spread
+that the Holy Father had again taken compassion upon
+the people. Hundreds of men and women now flocked
+round him to kiss the edge of his ragged robe, and as he
+passed in the streets everyone crossed themselves. By
+such means did Rasputin retain the favour of the people
+and of the Empress herself.</p>
+
+<p>One night he received a telegram in cipher, which he
+gave me to decode. It had been despatched from Paris
+and read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"The appointment is at Savignyplatz, 17, Charlottenburg.
+Do not fail. Please inform A. [Alexandra Feodorovna]
+and obtain instructions.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Evno.</span>"</p></div>
+
+<p>At once Rasputin became active. He went to Peterhof,
+where the Court was at that moment, and carried out
+Azef's desire. He was with the Empress and Madame
+Vyrubova for a couple of hours ere he rejoined me, and
+we took the evening train back to the capital.</p>
+
+<p>That night he called upon St&uuml;rmer, who had with
+him his sycophant and ex-policeman Manuiloff, and they
+held counsel together. Then, next afternoon, we both
+left Petrograd for Berlin.</p>
+
+<p>We had no difficulty in discovering the house in the
+Savignyplatz. It was a good-sized one on the corner of
+the Kantstrasse, and the old woman who opened the
+door at once ushered us into a pretty drawing-room,
+where we were greeted by a rather tall, dark-haired and
+refined young lady, who welcomed us in Russian, and
+whose name Rasputin had told me was Mademoiselle
+Paula Kereicha.</p>
+
+<p>"You must be very tired after your long journey,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a>[<a href="./images/94.png">94</a>]</span>
+Father," she said, bowing her head and crossing herself
+as the monk mumbled a blessing upon her.</p>
+
+<p>"No; travelling is very easy between Petrograd and
+Berlin," he replied affably; and then he introduced me.</p>
+
+<p>I could see that somehow she resented my intrusion
+there. She glanced at Rasputin inquiringly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, no," laughed the monk. "I quite understand,
+mademoiselle; you need have no fear." Then lowering
+his voice to a whisper, he said: "I know full well that
+living here as secret agent of the Okhrana you have to
+exercise every caution."</p>
+
+<p>Paula Kereicha&mdash;who I afterwards found was a
+second-rate variety actress who sometimes took engagements
+in order to blind people to her own calling, that
+of police-spy&mdash;smiled and admitted that she had to be very
+careful.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not the Germans that I fear," she said. "They
+know me well at the Wilhelmstrasse, and I am never interfered
+with. Indeed, they assist me when necessary.
+No. It is the Terrorists who would do me harm if they
+could. There is a dangerous group here&mdash;as you know."</p>
+
+<p>"I know well," said the monk; "only last week
+Tchapline and Vilieff were given Stolypin's necktie owing
+to your denunciations. They came to Russia from Berlin,
+and were arrested immediately they set foot across the
+frontier."</p>
+
+<p>"No," she protested. "Azef was here. It was he
+who put papers into their baggage, and then telegraphed
+to the police at Wirballen. Neither of the men was
+dangerous as far as I could see, but our friend Evno
+believed them to be; hence he deemed them better out
+of the way."</p>
+
+<p>I could see that the young woman had some scruples
+regarding the dirty work for which she received money
+from the Ministry of the Interior in Petrograd. And
+surely hers was a highly dangerous profession.</p>
+
+<p>Apparently it was not desired that Rasputin's arrival
+in Berlin should be known, for we were shown to our
+rooms by the stout old Russian woman, and I heard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a>[<a href="./images/95.png">95</a>]</span>
+the handsome Paula speaking on the telephone in a
+guarded manner.</p>
+
+<p>"And you will call at half-past nine to-night, eh?" I
+heard her ask, and presently she rang off.</p>
+
+<p>We ate our dinner together, the monk being very
+gracious towards his mysterious hostess; and almost
+punctually at half-past nine the door of the drawing-room
+opened, and there entered a rather shabbily dressed man,
+whom I at once recognised as Count von Wedel, the inseparable
+companion of the Kaiser, and titular head of
+the German Secret Service. With him was no less a
+person than the German Foreign Minister, Kiderlen-Waechter.
+Our visitors were the two Men Behind the
+Throne of Imperial Germany. Standing with them was
+that man of kaleidoscopic make-up, the great Azef
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>That meeting was indeed a dramatic one. Rasputin,
+taking bribes on every side from officials in Russia who
+desired advancement, and from the Germans to betray
+Russia into the hands of the Wilhelmstrasse, sat that
+evening in the elegant little room listening to the conversation,
+with all the craft and cunning of the Russian
+mujik. He made but few remarks, but sat with his
+hands upon his knees, his deep-set, fiery eyes glancing
+everywhere about him, his big bejewelled cross scintillating
+beneath the electric light of the pretty Paula's
+elegant, tastily furnished little room.</p>
+
+<p>Von Wedel, though dressed so shabbily, was the chief
+spokesman. Kiderlen-Waechter, who had so cleverly
+pulled the strings of Germany's diplomacy in the Near
+East, and had now been recalled to Berlin and placed
+at the helm of the Fatherland's double-dealing with the
+Powers, spoke little. He seemed to be learning much
+of the Kaiser's duplicity.</p>
+
+<p>"The Emperor William, I can tell you frankly,
+Father, is displeased," von Wedel said to Rasputin
+reprovingly. "Only by an ace has the whole of our
+arrangements with your Empress, and with yourself as
+our agent, been suppressed from Downing Street. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a>[<a href="./images/96.png">96</a>]</span>
+that by steps taken by our friend here, Monsieur Azef.
+But we are not yet safe. I tell you quite frankly that
+though you are a good servant of ours, yet your habit
+of taking intoxicants is dangerous. You boast too much!
+If you are to succeed you must assume an attitude of
+extreme humility combined with poverty. Be a second
+St. Francis of Assisi," added the Count, with humour.
+"You can act any part. Imitate a real saint."</p>
+
+<p>"It surely is not through a fault of mine that any
+secret has leaked out," the monk protested.</p>
+
+<p>"But it is," the Count declared severely. "I am
+here to-night at the Emperor's orders to tell you from
+him that, though he appreciates all your efforts on his
+behalf, he disapproves of your drunkenness and your
+boastful tongue."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not boastful!" the monk declared. "Have
+you brought me here to Berlin to reprimand me? If so,
+I will return at once."</p>
+
+<p>And he rose arrogantly from his chair, and crossed
+his hands over his breast piously in that attitude he
+assumed when unusually angry.</p>
+
+<p>Von Wedel saw that he was going too far.</p>
+
+<p>"It is not a matter of reproof, but of precaution,"
+he said quickly. "Happily the truth has been suppressed,
+though a certain agent of Downing Street&mdash;a
+man known by the nickname of 'Mac'&mdash;very nearly
+ascertained the whole facts. Fortunately for us all he
+did not. But his suspicions are aroused, together with
+those of Krivochein."</p>
+
+<p>"Cannot this man Mac&mdash;an Englishman, I suppose&mdash;be
+suppressed?" asked Rasputin. "If he is in Russia
+I can crush him as a fly upon the window-pane."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! but he is not in Russia," replied the Count.
+"He is a very elusive person, and one who tricks us
+every time. 'Mac the Spy,' as they call him at Whitehall,
+is the first secret agent in Europe&mdash;next, of course,
+to our dear Steinhauer."</p>
+
+<p>"I disagree," interrupted the Foreign Secretary.
+"The man Mac is marvellous. He was in Constantinople<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a>[<a href="./images/97.png">97</a>]</span>
+and in Bucharest recently, and he learned secrets of
+our Embassy and Legation which I believed to be sacred.
+He even got hold of our diplomatic telegraph code
+a week after it had been changed. No, the English
+Mac is the most astute secret agent in Europe, depend
+upon it!"</p>
+
+<p>Paula Kereicha sat listening to the conversation, but
+without making any remark. I noticed that Azef seemed
+very uneasy at her presence, and presently sent her
+from the room to ask for a telephone call. The instant
+she had gone he exclaimed in a low voice:</p>
+
+<p>"It is a pity to have spoken before Paula! She
+knows too much. One day, when it suits her, she may
+reveal something unpleasant concerning us."</p>
+
+<p>"But you made the appointment here, at her house!"
+Kiderlen-Waechter protested.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, because it is the safest meeting-place,
+but I did not know that matters were to be freely
+discussed before her."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you do not trust the woman?" remarked
+Rasputin. "You are like myself, I never trust women,"
+and he grinned. "Shall we drop our conversation when
+she returns?"</p>
+
+<p>Azef reflected for a few moments.</p>
+
+<p>"No," he said. "She knows most of the details of
+the affair. There is no reason why she should not know
+the rest. Besides, I may require her to assist me."</p>
+
+<p>In the discussion which ensued I gathered that Rasputin
+and Azef had resolved, with the connivance and
+at the instigation of the German Foreign Office, to
+assassinate a certain well-known British member of
+Parliament who had been in Russia and had learned,
+through the British secret agent Mac, the betrayal of
+Russia into the hands of the Wilhelmstrasse. It was
+believed that this Englishman&mdash;whom Rasputin had nicknamed
+"Krivochein," so that in correspondence his
+identity should not be revealed&mdash;would place certain facts
+before the British Government to the detriment of the
+plans of the pro-German party in Russia.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a>[<a href="./images/98.png">98</a>]</span>
+Of the actual identity of the unfortunate member of
+Parliament whom Azef and Rasputin had marked down
+as their victim I could not learn. No doubt Paula knew
+who "Krivochein" was. And it was certain also that
+both von Wedel and the German Foreign Secretary were
+privy to the plot.</p>
+
+<p>Apparently the Empress had been informed of the
+danger, and knew of the steps the conspirators were
+taking. Indeed, Rasputin declared:</p>
+
+<p>"Alexandra Feodorovna is very anxious as to the
+future. She has had a violent quarrel with Nicholas
+regarding his refusal to dismiss Sheglovitof."</p>
+
+<p>"He must be dismissed," declared von Wedel. "The
+Emperor William insists upon it. Each hour he remains
+in office he becomes more dangerous."</p>
+
+<p>"I am already engineering disagreements in the
+Duma," the monk replied. "If he does not fall by
+them, then he will go naturally, for he is not a puppet
+hypnotised by the wishes of Tsarskoe-Selo, as are so
+many of our Ministers. The Tsar, who so quickly takes
+offence nowadays, prefers flunkeys to Ministers whose
+personality is too marked. Besides, we have the Woman
+[the Empress] ever on our side. No, Sheglovitof's hour
+has come."</p>
+
+<p>The meeting lasted nearly three hours, until at last
+Azef and the two German officials left, and Rasputin
+went to his room, where he consumed half a bottle of
+brandy. Meanwhile I sat chatting with Mademoiselle
+Paula until it was time to retire.</p>
+
+<p>Next day, in consequence of a telephone message, I
+left with Rasputin for Paris, where we put up at the
+Grand Hotel, being visited on the day following our
+arrival by Azef, who, dressed differently, I would certainly
+have passed in the street unrecognised. The two
+scoundrels retired to Rasputin's room, where they remained
+for half an hour, and then we all three went
+forth into the sunshine of the boulevard.</p>
+
+<p>"It is about his time to pass," the notorious spy
+remarked to the monk, who, by the way, wore an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a>[<a href="./images/99.png">99</a>]</span>
+ordinary suit of tweeds and a soft felt hat. "Let us
+sit here&mdash;at the Grand Caf&eacute;."</p>
+
+<p>In consequence we took seats at one of the little tables
+on the <i>terrasse</i> and ordered "bocks."</p>
+
+<p>Presently, as we watched the stream of passers-by,
+Azef raised the newspaper he had been pretending to
+read, so concealing his face, and whispered:</p>
+
+<p>"Here he is! That is our friend Krivochein!"</p>
+
+<p>I looked and saw a well-dressed, quiet-looking English
+gentleman passing along with his wife, who had apparently
+been shopping. Little did he dream that the
+eyes of the two most evil men in Europe were upon
+him.</p>
+
+<p>"He leaves to-night on his return to London," remarked
+Azef, when five minutes later we rose and returned
+to the hotel.</p>
+
+<p>That same afternoon Rasputin, who declared that he
+had a bad headache, sent me to an English chemist's in
+the Avenue de l'Op&eacute;ra for a bottle of tabloids of aspirin.
+I was rather surprised, for he never took drugs. When
+I gave him the little bottle he drew out the plug of
+cotton-wool and extracted a tabloid, which he put upon
+his dressing-table, afterwards replacing the wool.</p>
+
+<p>About six o'clock a lady was announced, and when
+she was shown up to our sitting-room I found to my
+surprise that it was Paula Kereicha.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin was out with Azef, so Paula declared that
+she would wait till their return.</p>
+
+<p>"I am staying at the H&ocirc;tel Chatham, and have to
+go to London to-morrow," she told me. "Krivochein
+has left the Chatham with his wife, and I am to follow."</p>
+
+<p>"The Father and Azef have gone round to the
+Chatham," I said. "They are evidently hoping to find
+you there."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! Then I will return and see if they are there,"
+she said, and, rising, she left.</p>
+
+<p>I did not see her again. She went to London next
+day, according to Azef's instructions, and as a French
+governess took a room in that quiet hotel near Victoria<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a>[<a href="./images/100.png">100</a>]</span>
+Station&mdash;the room wherein she was afterwards found
+dead.</p>
+
+<p>At the time I had no knowledge of the tragedy, but
+later on I learned from Rasputin's own lips, while in one of
+his drunken, boastful moods, how he had introduced into
+the bottle of aspirin a single tabloid of one of Badmayev's
+secret poisons, made up to resemble exactly the other
+tabloids. With Azef he had gone to the H&ocirc;tel Chatham
+on purpose to extract from her dressing-case her own
+bottle of aspirin&mdash;which she had purchased on the previous
+day from the same chemist in the Avenue de l'Op&eacute;ra&mdash;and
+replace it by the one containing the fatal dose.</p>
+
+<p>The latter she had swallowed in ignorance because
+of a headache, death ensuing in a few seconds, and
+the post-mortem revealed nothing.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! my dear F&eacute;odor, that girl knew far too much!
+Besides, we discovered that, though she had been sent
+by our friend Azef to assist two of our friends to bring
+'Krivochein's' career to a sudden end, she had actually
+warned him, so that he has succeeded in escaping to
+America to avoid us!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">scandal and blackmail</span></h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">As</span> the power of the monk Rasputin increased, so also
+my own social position became advanced, until as the
+"saint's" confidential secretary, and therefore as one
+who had his ear, I became on friendly terms with half
+the nobility of Petrograd.</p>
+
+<p>The pious fraud declared to true believers, "If you
+do not heed me, then God will abandon you."</p>
+
+<p>Leading as he was, freely and openly, a life of
+shameless debauchery, wholesale blackmail and political
+intrigue, it is marvellous how his power became so un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a>[<a href="./images/101.png">101</a>]</span>limited.
+To those who disbelieved in his doctrine or
+in his divinity, he simply smiled evilly, and said: "If
+you fail to do my bidding you will be punished by
+my friends."</p>
+
+<p>Such warning was sufficient. Everyone knew that
+Rasputin's power was already, in 1912, greater than
+that of the Tsar Nicholas himself. Day after day
+ambitious men called at the house in the Gorokhovaya,
+to which we had now moved, all of them anxious for
+ministerial and clerical appointments, which he obtained
+for them at prices fixed by himself. The highest in the
+land bowed before the rascal, while any man who dared
+to belittle him, or attempt to thwart his evil designs,
+was at once removed from office. Through Madame
+Vyrubova, who received her share of the spoils and
+acted upon the Empress, Rasputin reigned as Tsar,
+the Emperor doing little but sign his name to documents
+placed before him.</p>
+
+<p>Thus Russia was compelled to witness a regular procession
+of officials whom the "man of God" appointed,
+in accordance with value received. Even Goremykin was
+compelled to bow before the mystic humbug. Rasputin
+for five years caused to be appointed or dismissed all
+the bishops, and woe betide any person who attempted
+to interfere with his power.</p>
+
+<p>The Archbishop Theophanus, full of remorse at having
+lent a helping hand to the scoundrel, tried to overthrow
+him by publicly denouncing his evil practices, while the
+Bishop Hermogenes, who knew of the monk's past,
+attempted to reveal it. In an instant the vengeance of
+Rasputin fell upon them, Theophanus being sent to
+Tadriz, and Hermogenes confined to a monastery. Helidor
+was hunted by the police and sought asylum abroad;
+while a man named Grinevitch, who had also known
+Rasputin long ago at Pokrovsky, was invited to dinner
+by the monk one night, and next morning was found
+dead in his bed; while another was arrested by the police
+on a false charge of conspiracy, and sent to prison for
+ten years, though perfectly innocent.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a>[<a href="./images/102.png">102</a>]</span>
+Rasputin's overbearing insolence knew no bounds.
+Now that he was the power behind the Throne, he
+compelled all to bow to him, the educated as well as the
+peasantry. On entering a house, whether that of prince
+or peasant, he would invariably kiss the young and
+pretty women, while he would turn his back upon and
+refuse even to speak with those who were older.</p>
+
+<p>Our new house was larger and more luxurious than
+the old one. But it also had the false telephone in the
+study, which was supposed by the "saint's" dupes to
+be a private wire to the palace of Tsarskoe-Selo! The
+house had been furnished entirely at the expense of the
+Empress, with valuable Eastern carpets, fine furniture,
+tasteful hangings of silk, beautiful pictures, autographed
+portraits of their Majesties, and, of course, ikons of all
+sorts and sizes to impress the pious.</p>
+
+<p>An example of the rogue's impudence occurred on
+Easter Day in 1912. We were breakfasting with
+Madame Vyrubova's sister at her house just off the
+Nevski. With us was Boris St&uuml;rmer and two minor
+officials of the Court, and we were awaiting the coming
+of the Tsaritza's favourite lady in waiting.</p>
+
+<p>At last she arrived from Tsarskoe-Selo bearing a
+parcel for Grichka, which she gave him merrily, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"The Empress has made this for you with her own
+hands. She spent part of last night in finishing it for
+you, so that you should have it as an Easter present."</p>
+
+<p>The "saint" cut the string and withdrew a blue silk
+coat of the kind he was in the habit of wearing, in the
+Russian style, over loose trousers and high boots of
+patent leather.</p>
+
+<p>"Alix wishes you to wear it to-day," Madame Vyrubova
+went on, "after you have taken Holy Communion."</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin, with a disappointed look, cast it and its
+paper upon the floor, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"Now let us have breakfast," and promptly began
+to eat with his fingers, as he always did, in order to
+show his contempt for the more refined manners of
+those about him.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a>[<a href="./images/103.png">103</a>]</span>
+A few weeks after this incident there occurred the
+Ganskau affair, which was a most disgraceful transaction,
+and which was very carefully hushed up. Though there
+were many rumours in Petrograd concerning it, I am
+able to place the whole of the astounding facts on record
+here for the first time.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin, tiring of his lascivious pleasures, also
+became bored by those who called in order to enlist his
+influence in their cause for monetary consideration. Hence
+he surrounded himself with a trio of expert swindlers.
+They consisted of a certain adventurous prince named
+Gorianoff, a man named Striaptchef&mdash;who had been his
+companion in his early horse-stealing days in his native
+Pokrovsky&mdash;and a notorious woman named Sabler. These
+precious persons constituted a sort of bodyguard, and
+they first interviewed any petitioner, fixed the amount
+of the gift proposed to the "holy man" for the exercise
+of his influence, and carried out the "deal."</p>
+
+<p>If a wealthy man desired a Government appointment;
+if an under-secretary desired a portfolio; if a wife desired
+her husband's advancement or his appointment to an
+office at Court; if a father desired a lucrative job for his
+profligate son; or if a rich man, who was being watched
+by the police because of some crime he had committed,
+wished to escape scot-free, then they interviewed the
+elegant Prince Gorianoff at his house in the Zacharievskaya.
+This individual, whom the police of Europe know
+as a Continental swindler, would quickly gauge the
+petitioner's means, and screw from him every rouble
+possible before putting the matter before the caster out
+of devils.</p>
+
+<p>One day, as I sat alone at lunch with Rasputin,
+the prince called, and sitting down at the table unceremoniously
+declared:</p>
+
+<p>"I have done a very good stroke of business this
+morning, my dear Gregory. You have probably heard
+of Ganskau of Tver."</p>
+
+<p>"The great banker, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"The same. He is one of the wealthiest men in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a>[<a href="./images/104.png">104</a>]</span>
+Russia. He wants something, and he can afford to pay,
+though he seems very close-fisted at present."</p>
+
+<p>"What does he want?" growled the monk.</p>
+
+<p>The scoundrel who bore the title of prince made a
+grimace, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"He wants to put a suggestion before you. He
+refuses to tell me what it is&mdash;except that it is very
+urgent and brooks no delay. I told him that he would
+have to pay five thousand roubles if he desired to have
+an interview&mdash;and he has paid it. Here is the money!"
+And he drew from his pocket a bundle of banknotes.</p>
+
+<p>"But, my dear Peter," exclaimed the pious fraud,
+"I have no time to barter with these people. I cannot
+see him."</p>
+
+<p>"Take my advice, Gregory, and listen to what he
+has to say," replied the adventurer, who had lived all
+his life on his wits in London, Paris and Rome&mdash;and had
+lived well too. "If I am not mistaken he will tell you
+a strange thing, and if you get it down in writing&mdash;in
+writing, remember&mdash;that letter will be worth a very large
+sum of money in the near future. As I have said&mdash;he
+wants something urgently&mdash;and he must be made to pay."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," Rasputin replied grudgingly. "I will
+see him&mdash;at four o'clock this afternoon. F&eacute;odor," he
+added, turning to me, "make a note that I see this
+banker man."</p>
+
+<p>At four o'clock punctually a fine car drew up, and
+a stout, overdressed, full-bearded man alighted and was
+shown into the room where I awaited him with the
+prince.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" cried the latter, welcoming him warmly. "You
+had my message over the telephone. I have, after great
+difficulty, induced the holy Father to consent to see you.
+He is due at Tsarskoe-Selo, but he has just telephoned
+to the Empress that he is delayed. And the delay is
+in order to hear you."</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure I am most grateful, Prince," declared
+the banker, who seemed very pale and much agitated.
+His wealth was proverbial in Russia, and even in banking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a>[<a href="./images/105.png">105</a>]</span>
+circles in Paris and London. His brother was one of
+the secretaries of the Russian Embassy in Paris.</p>
+
+<p>With due ceremony, after the banker had removed
+his <ins class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'lght'">light</ins> overcoat, I conducted him into the monk's
+presence.</p>
+
+<p>As Ganskau bowed towards the mysterious influence
+behind the Imperial Throne, I saw the quick, inquisitive
+hawk's glance which Rasputin gave him. Then I turned
+and, closing the door, left the pair together, and returned
+to where the prince was waiting. Gorianoff was a clever
+and unscrupulous scoundrel of exquisite manners and
+most plausible tongue. It was for that reason that the
+holy Father employed him.</p>
+
+<p>As he leaned back in a padded arm-chair, smoking
+lazily while he awaited his victim's reappearance, he
+laughed merrily and whispered to me that the rich man
+from Tver would, "if properly handled," prove a gold
+mine.</p>
+
+<p>"Mind, F&eacute;odor&mdash;be careful to impress upon the
+Father to obtain something incriminating from the banker
+in writing. He is hard pressed, I know, and in order to
+save himself he will commit any folly."</p>
+
+<p>"Men who are pushed into a corner seldom pause
+to think," I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"If the police are upon them, as I know they are in
+this case, then no time is afforded for reflection."</p>
+
+<p>By the prince's manner I knew that he felt confident
+of making big profits. The great Ganskau, the Rothschild
+of Russia, desired Gregory's aid, and Gregory
+would assist him&mdash;at a price. While we were talking
+Madame Vyrubova rang on the telephone to inquire if
+Rasputin had left for Tsarskoe-Selo.</p>
+
+<p>I replied in the negative, whereupon she said: "Tell
+him not to come to-night. The Emperor has quarrelled
+with Alix, and it will be best for him to be absent.
+The boy [meaning the little Tsarevitch] will be taken
+ill in the night, and then he can come to-morrow and
+heal him."</p>
+
+<p>I understood. The woman Vyrubova, so trusted by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a>[<a href="./images/106.png">106</a>]</span>
+the Tsaritza, was about to administer another dose of
+that baneful drug to the poor invalid boy&mdash;a drug which
+would produce partial paralysis, combined with symptoms
+which puzzled every physician called to see him.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until nearly half an hour later that
+Rasputin opened the door of his room, and, crossing
+himself piously, laid his hands upon his breast and
+dismissed his petitioner.</p>
+
+<p>"Your desire shall be granted," he said in final
+farewell. "But you must write me the reason you desire
+my assistance. I always insist upon that in every case."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;well, it is not nice to confess," declared the
+desperate man, pausing on the threshold of the room.</p>
+
+<p>"Probably not. But you do confess to me, and
+surely you can trust me, a servant of Heaven, with
+your secret? If not, please do not rely upon Gregory
+Rasputin," he added proudly.</p>
+
+<p>For a second the victim hesitated. Then he said in
+a low, hard voice: "I will do as you wish&mdash;well knowing
+that you will keep the truth a secret."</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin, his hands still crossed upon his breast,
+bowed stiffly, and the banker, recognising us standing
+at the end of the passage, walked towards us.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he had left the house, Rasputin called
+us, and throwing himself into a chair became unduly
+hilarious.</p>
+
+<p>"Really, Peter, you are extremely clever!" he declared.
+"Where you find these people I do not know.
+You said you had done a good stroke of business, but
+I did not believe you. Yet now I see that the banker's
+millions of roubles are entirely at our disposal. We
+must be diplomatic&mdash;that is all!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why does he require your influence?" inquired
+the prince.</p>
+
+<p>"In order to extricate himself from a very dangerous
+position. At any moment he may be arrested for
+murder!"</p>
+
+<p>"For murder!" Gorianoff echoed. "Is he guilty
+of murder?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a>[<a href="./images/107.png">107</a>]</span>
+"Yes. He has confessed the truth to me as a father
+confessor. Now he has promised to put his confession
+down in black and white."</p>
+
+<p>In an instant I saw the trend of Rasputin's evil
+thoughts. By the written confession he would, through
+his princely friend, be able to extort money without
+limit.</p>
+
+<p>"Of what is he in fear?" asked the prince eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Of arrest for the murder of a young French girl,
+Elise Allain, who had been singing at the Bouffes in
+Moscow," Rasputin replied. "He has just told me how
+he committed the crime three months ago, in order to
+rid himself of her, and escaped to Brussels believing
+that the police would never be able to establish his
+guilt. On his return to Tver three days ago, however,
+he found that the police had been making active inquiries,
+having discovered in one of the dead girl's trunks that
+had been left at the station cloak-room in Warsaw, certain
+letters from him. Indeed, he has received a visit from
+the Chief of Police at Tver, who closely questioned him."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! Then he may be arrested at any moment&mdash;eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"That is what he anticipates," said the monk. "He
+has gone to his hotel to write his confession, and will
+return here in an hour with a banker's draft for one
+hundred thousand roubles."</p>
+
+<p>"Did I not say that I had been doing some good
+business, Gregory?" asked his friend.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;and it will prove better business later&mdash;you
+will see."</p>
+
+<p>At Rasputin's orders I went round to Malinovsky,
+Assistant Director of Police, who at the monk's request
+telephoned to Tver to inquire what suspicions there were
+against the banker Ganskau. When Malinovsky returned
+to where I was sitting, he told me that the reply of the
+Chief of Police of Tver was to the effect that there
+was no doubt that Ganskau was guilty of a very brutal
+murder, committed in most mysterious circumstances.
+The banker's wife, with whom he lived on very disagreeable
+terms, had discovered a letter from the girl<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a>[<a href="./images/108.png">108</a>]</span>
+Elise, and duly handed it to the police out of revenge.
+This led them to find the box at Warsaw wherein were
+other letters, one of which forbade her to come to Russia,
+and threatening her with violence if she disobeyed.</p>
+
+<p>I returned at once to the Gorokhovaya, where the
+monk and the prince sat with a bottle of champagne
+between them, and gave them the message.</p>
+
+<p>A quarter of an hour later the banker returned excitedly,
+and was ushered in to Rasputin, who saw him
+alone. They remained together for about ten minutes,
+and then the victim departed.</p>
+
+<p>At once the monk came to us, waving in one hand
+Ganskau's confession of guilt, and in the other a draft
+on the Azov Bank for one hundred thousand roubles.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose we had better pretend to do something&mdash;eh,
+Peter?" asked the monk, with an evil grin.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," was the reply.</p>
+
+<p>Then I sat down, and at the "holy man's" dictation
+wrote to the Minister of the Interior as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"There is a charge of murder against Nicholas Ganskau,
+banker, of Tver. I wish to see all documents concerning the
+crime. Orders must be given not to arrest the assassin for
+one month, and that due notice be given me before any
+action is taken."</p></div>
+
+<p>To this the monk scrawled his illiterate signature.</p>
+
+<p>From that moment the unfortunate banker was irretrievably
+in Rasputin's hands, and I saw much of his
+dealings with him. Pretending to leave everything with
+his friend Prince Gorianoff, he refused to see the guilty
+man again. In the meantime the prince, whom I accompanied
+as the monk's secretary, went to Tver three
+weeks after the first transaction, and we saw the victim
+in secret. Gorianoff told him that, although the monk
+had been able to prevent his arrest, the police were not
+satisfied, and pressure was being placed upon them by
+one of his enemies in high places.</p>
+
+<p>This, of course, greatly alarmed him.</p>
+
+<p>"All is unfortunately due to your wife!" the prince<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a>[<a href="./images/109.png">109</a>]</span>
+remarked. "It is a pity you have not made peace with her.
+It was she who took one of the girl's letters to the police."</p>
+
+<p>The banker started up as though electrified.</p>
+
+<p>"My wife!" he gasped. "Is it her doing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Most certainly," was the prince's cool reply.
+"F&eacute;odor knows it. He had it from the Chief of Police
+of this city himself."</p>
+
+<p>I confirmed my companion's statement, while the
+banker, terror and despair written upon his pale features,
+stood staring like one who saw death before him.</p>
+
+<p>"My wife left me a fortnight ago!" he stammered.
+"That is why. She expected me to be arrested. What
+can I do? How can you help me? Who is this enemy
+in a high position who is determined upon my arrest?"</p>
+
+<p>"The holy Father alone knows; I do not," declared
+the prince very seriously. "It is somebody at Court&mdash;somebody
+who is a friend of his and who let the fact
+drop in the course of conversation. I regret it, but I
+may as well tell you that your arrest is imminent."</p>
+
+<p>"But what can I do to avoid the scandal?" cried the
+murderer in despair.</p>
+
+<p>"Well&mdash;the only way is to propitiate your unknown
+enemy," replied the prince insinuatingly.</p>
+
+<p>"I gave the Father a hundred thousand roubles,"
+he remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"True; and the Father used his influence so that
+the inquiries were dropped. He had no knowledge of
+the fact that you had such a bitter and relentless enemy
+in the higher Court circle."</p>
+
+<p>"Nor had I. I wonder who it can be&mdash;except, perhaps,
+Boyadko, with whom I once had some financial
+dealings over which we quarrelled."</p>
+
+<p>As a matter of fact, the unknown enemy only existed
+in Rasputin's fertile imagination.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, as I have said, the Father may find means
+of propitiating him&mdash;if the payment is a liberal one,"
+said Gorianoff. "I suggest that you return with us to
+Petrograd at once, and I will endeavour to accomplish
+something."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a>[<a href="./images/110.png">110</a>]</span>
+Eagerly he acted upon the adventurer's advice. During
+the journey the banker was nervous lest at any moment
+the police might lay hands upon him. At each station
+the sight of a grey uniform caused him to hold his
+breath. Thus to work upon his nerves was part of
+the prince's game, for he well knew that the more
+terrified Ganskau became, the greater amount of money
+he would be prepared to pay.</p>
+
+<p>Back in Petrograd he begged of Rasputin to receive
+him, and the monk, after two refusals on the plea that
+he was too busy, at last consented ungraciously.</p>
+
+<p>The result of that interview was that Nicholas
+Ganskau disgorged a further hundred thousand roubles
+for the bribing of an enemy who did not exist!</p>
+
+<p>After the banker had left, Rasputin, full of satisfaction
+as he held the draft for the amount in his dirty
+paw, dictated to me another letter addressed to the
+Minister of the Interior, which read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"His Majesty the Emperor, having full knowledge of the
+charge of murder made against Nicholas Ganskau of Tver,
+orders that the inquiries concerning the case be abandoned
+and that the person suspected be not further molested."</p></div>
+
+<p>This was duly signed by the monk and delivered by
+me at the Ministry an hour later.</p>
+
+<p>Such orders Rasputin frequently gave in the name
+of His Majesty, who, even if he knew of them, never
+questioned them.</p>
+
+<p>This, however, did not end the affair, for twelve
+months afterwards Ganskau, who, scot-free, had taken
+up his residence in the Avenue Villiers, in Paris, where
+he was leading a very gay life, received an unexpected
+visit from Prince Gorianoff, who, making pretence that
+he had severed his friendship with Rasputin, hinted that
+as the monk held in his possession the written confession
+of his crime, it might be worth while to obtain
+and destroy it.</p>
+
+<p>This suggestion Ganskau at once welcomed, thanking
+the prince for his kindly intervention.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a>[<a href="./images/111.png">111</a>]</span>
+Then the latter made a remark which in itself showed
+how expert a blackmailer he was.</p>
+
+<p>"You see, as the girl Elise was a French subject,
+if the French police ever get hold of the truth it would
+go very badly with you," he declared.</p>
+
+<p>The banker's face went pale as death.</p>
+
+<p>"I never thought of that!" he gasped. "Yes, I
+must get that confession at all hazards," he cried.</p>
+
+<p>"I am prepared to assist you," said the scoundrel
+coolly. "Of course to obtain it from such a man as
+Rasputin presents many difficulties. He will never part
+with it willingly."</p>
+
+<p>"Then how shall we get it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It must be stolen."</p>
+
+<p>The banker remained silent for a few moments.</p>
+
+<p>"You see," went on the prince, "one can never tell
+into whose hands may fall that collection of confessions
+which the Father has extracted from those who
+are guilty."</p>
+
+<p>"And you think you can obtain it for me?" asked
+the banker.</p>
+
+<p>"I am still friendly with many of Rasputin's friends.
+It is merely a matter of payment&mdash;another hundred
+thousand roubles, and surely it is worth it."</p>
+
+<p>The banker, seeing himself in great danger should
+either Rasputin or his visitor turn against him, at length
+consented, and before Gorianoff left he had in his pocket
+a draft upon the Cr&eacute;dit Lyonnais for the sum mentioned.
+The assassin had at first made it a condition that the
+confession should be handed to him before he paid,
+but the prince pointed out that the money was required
+for bribery, and would have to be paid before
+the confession could be extracted from Rasputin's
+safe.</p>
+
+<p>Needless to say, the banker never received back his
+written confession of his crime, and so constant was
+the strain of his guilty conscience and his hourly dread
+of arrest and capital punishment, that a year later he
+shot himself at an hotel in Plymouth.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a>[<a href="./images/112.png">112</a>]</span>
+Another illustration of the monk's greed and unscrupulousness
+was the Violle affair.</p>
+
+<p>Monsieur Felix Violle, a Frenchman who had become
+a naturalised Russian, and who carried on business as a
+wholesale furrier in the Nevski in Petrograd, had a very
+pretty young wife. One day, at one of the weekly
+reunions of the sister-disciples, this young woman was
+brought by Madame Vyrubova's sister, she having expressed
+her desire to enter Rasputin's cult. There were
+present on that occasion about thirty other women,
+mostly young and good-looking, and nearly all of the
+highest society in Petrograd. The youngest present was
+about seventeen, the daughter of a certain countess who
+was one of Rasputin's most attached devotees.</p>
+
+<p>After Madame Violle had been initiated into the
+secrets of the erotic sect, the whole party sat down to
+tea, when a photograph was taken by one of the ladies,
+which showed Madame Violle seated by the "holy
+Father."</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin, from that day, took a great deal of interest
+in the furrier's wife. He introduced her to Anna Vyrubova,
+who presented her to the Empress. Hence, from
+being a tradesman's wife, Olga Violle, within a fortnight,
+had entered the vicious Court circle which revolved around
+Alexandra Feodorovna, and which was rapidly conspiring
+to betray Russia into the hands of the Germans.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Violle told her husband nothing of her social
+advancement. The furrier was in a large way of business,
+a man of means who liked to see his wife well dressed;
+therefore she was able to cut an elegant figure at Court.
+She accounted for her absences from home by the fact
+that she frequently visited a married sister living about
+twenty miles outside Petrograd.</p>
+
+<p>Under the evil hypnotic influence of Rasputin, the
+smart little woman, who often called at the house and
+whom I sometimes met at the palace, was quickly
+transformed from a steady tradesman's wife into a giddy,
+pleasure-loving and intriguing degenerate, perhaps even
+more vicious than the rest. Indeed, it was this very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>[<a href="./images/113.png">113</a>]</span>
+fact which caused the Empress to look upon her with
+favour. Thus she soon had the run of the private
+apartments, and became upon friendly terms with both
+St&uuml;rmer and Fredericks.</p>
+
+<p>This went on for some months, and even at the
+Imperial Court, where nobody was over-squeamish, the
+conduct of little Madame Violle&mdash;who came from nowhere
+and whose past was quite obscure except to Rasputin,
+Madame Vyrubova, her sister and myself&mdash;was looked
+upon somewhat askance.</p>
+
+<p>Violle, who was most devoted to his extremely pretty
+wife, one day had a sudden shock. By some means a
+copy of the photograph of the sister-disciples went astray
+in the post. A photographer obtained possession of it
+and promptly made some picture post-cards, which were
+quickly upon the market, much to Rasputin's chagrin.
+Somebody, recognising Madame Violle in the picture,
+sent one anonymously to her husband. The result was
+a terrible domestic scene.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Olga came to Rasputin in great distress,
+and in my presence, falling upon her knees before him,
+in tears, kissed his unwashed hands and begged him
+to advise her.</p>
+
+<p>"Your precious husband has made a fool of himself,"
+the monk remarked grimly. "Let him take warning
+lest Gregory Rasputin lift his hand against him. Return
+home, and tell him that from me."</p>
+
+<p>That was all the advice he would give her. He was
+full of anger that the woman who had taken the picture
+should have been so negligent as to allow a copy to
+fall into the hands of others. Always elusive, he hated
+to be photographed, as he feared that it might constitute
+evidence against him.</p>
+
+<p>The pretty woman, still much agitated, went out,
+and took train to Tsarskoe-Selo, where she had audience
+of Her Majesty, who, in turn, urged her to defy her
+husband.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the latter was going about Petrograd in
+a state of fury at discovering that his wife was one of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a>[<a href="./images/114.png">114</a>]</span>
+the monk's followers. But he was not the first furious
+husband who had had cause to hate the hypnotic peasant.
+The man Striaptchef and the woman Sabler, who constituted
+Rasputin's bodyguard, assisted by Prince
+Gorianoff, quickly heard of the furrier's anger and told
+the monk. Therefore it was not with any degree of
+surprise that, when a ring came at the door late that
+same night, I found myself face to face with the
+wronged husband.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to see the Father," he said quite coolly.</p>
+
+<p>"I regret that he is out," was my prompt reply.</p>
+
+<p>"You lie!" he shouted. "He is at home. This
+house has been watched ever since six o'clock, when he
+returned. I will see him, and you dare not stop me."</p>
+
+<p>Then, ere I was aware of it, he seized me by the
+throat, hurled me back into the entrance-hall, and before
+I could prevent him marched straight to Rasputin's
+room.</p>
+
+<p>I dashed after him, hearing the monk's shouts for
+assistance, and on entering found the "holy man" lying
+on the floor and the infuriated Violle lashing him with a
+short whip he carried. The scene was a dramatic
+one. The scoundrel was shrieking with pain, and in
+endeavouring to avoid the blows succeeded in rising, but
+as he did so the furrier administered another sound
+whack, which sent the Empress's pet "saint" skipping
+across the room howling.</p>
+
+<p>"You dog of a mock monk!" cried the furrier.
+"Take that!&mdash;and that!&mdash;<i>and that!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>So beside himself with anger was he that I believe he
+would have beaten Rasputin to death had not Striaptchef
+dashed in, and together we succeeded in dragging the
+angry man off and turning him out of the house.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the "saint" had recovered from the <i>fracas</i>,
+he gave vent to a volley of fearful oaths, cursing the
+pretty woman who had been the cause of the assault.</p>
+
+<p>"She shall be kicked out. I will see that she goes
+to the palace no more," he declared. "If a woman cannot
+manage her husband then she is dangerous. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a>[<a href="./images/115.png">115</a>]</span>
+Olga Violle has proved herself to be dangerous. I will
+see that Alix dismisses her to-morrow. And all on
+account of that thrice-accursed picture-making. To think
+that I&mdash;the Saviour of Russia, sent to these people by
+the Almighty&mdash;should be whipped like a dog!"</p>
+
+<p>He strode up and down foaming with fury.</p>
+
+<p>"The skin-dealer shall suffer!" he cried. "I'll make
+him pay dearly for this!"</p>
+
+<p>Then, turning to me, he ordered me to go at once to
+Manuiloff, St&uuml;rmer's secretary, adding: "Bring him to
+me. Tell him that it is a matter of greatest urgency."</p>
+
+<p>I had great difficulty in finding the man he had indicated,
+and who was one of Russia's "dark forces."
+He was not at his house, but by bribing the doorkeeper
+I learned that he would be found in a very questionable
+gambling-house in the vicinity. There I discovered him
+and drove him to the Gorokhovaya.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen," the monk said as I ushered him in. "There
+is a furrier in the Nevski named Violle. Both he and
+his wife are dangerous revolutionists and must be arrested
+at once. You understand&mdash;eh?"</p>
+
+<p>Manuiloff, the catspaw of both St&uuml;rmer and Rasputin,
+and who was well paid to do any dirty work allotted to
+him, did not quite understand.</p>
+
+<p>"You denounce him&mdash;eh?" he asked. "There are
+reasons, of course."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course there are reasons, you fool, or I should
+not bring you here at this hour to tell you of the conspiracy
+against the Throne. I make the allegation; you
+must furnish the proofs. Do you now understand?"
+asked the "saint."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I see! You want some documents introduced
+into the furrier's house incriminating both him and his
+wife?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. And at once. They must both be arrested
+before noon to-morrow," Rasputin said. "I shall leave
+all the details to you, well knowing that they will be in
+good hands, my dear Manuiloff," laughed Rasputin
+grimly. "One thing is important. There must be no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a>[<a href="./images/116.png">116</a>]</span>
+loophole for either of them to escape. The Empress wills
+it so. Both must be sent to Schl&uuml;sselburg. Tell His
+Excellency so from me. We want no trial or attempt at
+scandal. The pair are dangerous&mdash;dangerous to us.
+Now do you understand?"</p>
+
+<p>Manuiloff, who had forged incriminating documents
+many times, and who had a dozen underlings who assisted
+him in these nefarious deeds, understood perfectly. He
+was paid to act as his two chiefs directed, and dozens
+of innocent persons were rotting in prison at that moment
+because they had fallen beneath Rasputin's displeasure.</p>
+
+<p>So it was that by noon next day both Violle and his
+pretty wife&mdash;who had only the day before been a close
+friend of the Tsaritza&mdash;were on their way to Schl&uuml;sselburg
+as dangerous to the State.</p>
+
+<p>Truly, the monk had neither scruples nor honesty,
+neither compunction nor pity; for the woman who was
+his favourite he had turned upon and sent to that grim
+island fortress, where in one of those terrible oubliettes
+below the level of the lake her death took place eight
+months later.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">rasputin the actual tsar</span></h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> tragi-comedy of Tsarskoe-Selo was being played
+with increasing vigour just prior to the war. Berlin,
+through Rasputin, piped the tune to which the Imperial
+Court was dancing&mdash;the Dance of Death!</p>
+
+<p>One night, after Rasputin had dined with Madame
+Vyrubova and myself, General Soukhomlinoff, Minister of
+War, entered, swaggering in the uniform of the Grodno
+Hussars.</p>
+
+<p>This man, who, as I write, is in a convict prison as a
+traitor, had only a week before assured the Emperor that
+the army was ready "to the last button" for a possible<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a>[<a href="./images/117.png">117</a>]</span>
+war, and the troops devoted to him. I happen to know
+how many thousand roubles passed into his banking
+account from the Deutsche Bank in Berlin as price of
+that lie!</p>
+
+<p>Poor weak Nicholas! On the day following, Protopopoff,
+the wily schemer and spy of Germany, who was
+admitted to all the secrets of the Allies, went to the
+Emperor and echoed what Rasputin had declared to His
+Majesty, namely, that God was with Russia and that the
+Holy Spirit approved of the righteous work accomplished
+under the guidance of St&uuml;rmer and Soukhomlinoff. Truly
+the camarilla were supporting each other, and I, an onlooker,
+stood amazed and astounded. All four were half-mad
+with wild dreams of the prosperity which war would
+bring to them, for the bribes promised by Berlin were
+heavy, and Hardt and other secret messengers were constantly
+passing between the two capitals bearing confidential
+orders from the Wilhelmstrasse, of which the
+War Minister's assurance to the Tsar had been one.</p>
+
+<p>But Soukhomlinoff, whose wife was declared to be the
+most <i>chic</i> and extravagant woman in all Petrograd,
+strode up and down the room that night in a fury of
+rage.</p>
+
+<p>"Gregory!" he cried. "An untoward incident has
+happened. Your enemy Vorontsof Dachkof has been at
+work against you this afternoon."</p>
+
+<p>"Curse him! How?" growled the monk, for the
+Lieutenant-General of the Caucasus had been a personal
+friend of Alexander III.</p>
+
+<p>"I was at audience with Nicholas after luncheon, and
+the count was there. After he had presented his report
+he became familiar, and said: 'Now I must talk to thee.
+Dost thou know that, with thy Rasputin fellows, thou art
+going to thy doom, that thou art gambling away thy
+throne and the life of thy child?'"</p>
+
+<p>"What?" gasped the monk, starting up. "Did he
+openly say that?"</p>
+
+<p>"He did."</p>
+
+<p>"Then the count shall be disgraced!" declared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a>[<a href="./images/118.png">118</a>]</span>
+Rasputin. "He has long been my enemy; but I will
+suffer this no longer."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, when the count spoke, Nicholas huddled himself
+up on a settee and sobbed. 'Oh! why did God
+confide to me this heavy task!'"</p>
+
+<p>"The fool!" laughed Rasputin. "To-morrow he shall
+see me playing with the Tsarevitch in the Park, and
+Nicholas shall be with us."</p>
+
+<p>And indeed Rasputin carried out his plan, and the
+count saw them together.</p>
+
+<p>The monk was not blind to the fact that he was
+surrounded by enemies, all of whom were jealous of his
+power and sought his downfall. By bribery, blackmail,
+and the unscrupulous use of the secret police, which was
+under Protopopoff as Minister of the Interior, the
+camarilla were waxing fat, and woe betide any who dared
+utter a warning to the Emperor.</p>
+
+<p>Monsieur Gutchkoff had denounced, before the Duma,
+the scandal of the sexually-perverted peasant's presence
+at Court and prophesied the direct disaster. Kokovtsov
+had loyally warned his master of the effect upon the
+country which the low intrigues of his courtiers was
+producing. Then, when Goremykin urged the Tsar to
+prorogue the Duma, General Polivanof had the courage
+to sign an address to His Majesty urging him not to
+do so, as it would be a highly dangerous measure.
+Rodzianko, too, regardless of consequences, took to
+Tsarskoe-Selo a full report of the accusations made in
+the Duma, and urged His Majesty to put an end to
+the outrageous scandals.</p>
+
+<p>The monk had noted all this, and had already marked
+down all his enemies for destruction. He well knew
+what aversion the Tsar had to anyone who spoke what
+was unwelcome. Weak and vacillating, His Majesty hated
+to be told the plain truth, and for that reason he was
+so constantly kept in the dark. Even his loyal Ministers
+knew that by being outspoken they would be seeking
+dismissal. Indeed, with Rasputin's clever intriguing,
+Kokovtsov, Sazonov, <ins class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Kirovchein'">Krivochein</ins> and Polivanof all paid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a>[<a href="./images/119.png">119</a>]</span>
+for their sincerity by the loss of their offices and the
+displeasure of their Imperial master. Again, it was the
+monk who had contrived to dismiss Monsieur Trepof,
+for I actually wrote out the order, which Nicholas signed,
+dismissing him! And, in addition, Rodzianko, whom
+the Emperor nicknamed "the Archdeacon" because of
+his deep, impressive voice, lost the sympathy of his
+sovereign because he had prophesied evil.</p>
+
+<p>And now yet another enemy had arisen in the person
+of Count Vorontsof Dachkof.</p>
+
+<p>"The count shall pay for this, and dearly!" repeated
+Rasputin, as he sat with his brows knit, stroking his
+unkempt beard.</p>
+
+<p>"At least he can be dismissed, just as you sent into
+disgrace Prince Orlof, the fidus Achates of the Emperor,"
+remarked Anna Vyrubova, who was handsomely dressed
+and wearing some fine diamonds.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin gave vent to an evil laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"And Witte also," he said. Then, with his unbounded
+egotism he rose, and added: "Yes, Anna, I
+am Tsar, though Nicholas bears the title!"</p>
+
+<p>Only on the previous night the Tsar, accompanied
+by Soukhomlinoff and Rasputin, had dined at the mess
+of the officers of the Guard, and all three, His Majesty
+included, had become highly hilarious, and later on
+hopelessly drunk.</p>
+
+<p>"True!" exclaimed the Minister of War, who had
+so misled Russia and the Tsar into a belief that all was
+prepared for hostilities against Germany. "You are the
+most powerful person in the land to-day, Gregory. That
+is why you must not only suppress Vorontsof Dachkof,
+but also Yakowleff&mdash;who is his friend, remember."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Yakowleff! I had quite forgotten, General!
+How foolish of me!" cried the monk. "The concession
+for the gambling casino at Otchakov has been granted
+to him, but we must have it. It will be a second Monte
+Carlo, and a mine of wealth for us."</p>
+
+<p>"I quite agree, my dear Gregory. And it lies entirely
+with you whether we stand in Yakowleff's place<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a>[<a href="./images/120.png">120</a>]</span>
+or not," exclaimed the woman who was the evil genius
+of the Tsaritza.</p>
+
+<p>The fact was that a rich financier, Ivan Yakowleff,
+who had offices in Petrograd and in London, for certain
+personal services rendered to the Tsar&mdash;the buying off
+of an unwelcome female entanglement, it is said&mdash;had
+been granted a concession to establish public gaming-rooms
+at Otchakov, on the Black Sea, not far from
+Odessa. The financier, who was elderly, had recently
+married a young and rather pretty wife, and being a
+friend of Count Vorontsof Dachkof, was in the happiest
+circumstances, well knowing that a huge fortune
+awaited him.</p>
+
+<p>"At the moment Yakowleff is in London, I hear,
+forming a syndicate to take over the concession," the
+general remarked.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin smiled evilly, and after a pause said:</p>
+
+<p>"Anybody who puts money into the venture will never
+see that money again. I will take care of that."</p>
+
+<p>"Good!" laughed His Excellency the Minister, flicking
+some dust from the sleeve of his uniform. "We
+must have that concession for ourselves. But ought not
+we to know what is in progress in London&mdash;eh? Shall
+we get Protopopoff to send instructions to his agents
+in England?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. Something might leak out. I do not trust the
+Okhrana in London," replied the wary woman, Vyrubova.
+"Have you forgotten the Meadows affair, and how they
+betrayed me and very nearly caused a scandal by their
+bungling? No, if we are to watch Yakowleff, let us
+do it ourselves. Why should you not go, F&eacute;odor?" she
+suggested, suddenly turning to me.</p>
+
+<p>"I? To London!" I exclaimed, in no way averse
+to the journey, for I had been in England on three
+occasions previously.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Rasputin. "You shall go. Start to-morrow.
+Telegraph to Madame Huguet. She will help
+you, for she is not suspected, and all believe her to be
+French. Besides, she is pretty, and therefore useful."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a>[<a href="./images/121.png">121</a>]</span>
+"As a decoy, you mean?" I exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"Of what other use is a woman?" laughed the
+scoundrel, whose unscrupulousness where the fair sex
+were concerned was notorious. He rose, and, unlocking
+a drawer, took out a book in which were registered
+many addresses of those who were in his pay, and
+hence under his thraldom.</p>
+
+<p>I searched the pages eagerly and found the address,
+together with notes of certain payments. Madame, I
+saw, lived in a flat in Harrington Gardens, South
+Kensington.</p>
+
+<p>There and then I received instructions to leave next
+day by the through express to Ostend, seek the lady, and
+then watch the movements of the Russian, who was busily
+forming the syndicate for the new Monte Carlo.</p>
+
+<p>"If we are to strike against him we cannot know
+too much of his doings. Besides, when we do strike
+we must not blunder&mdash;eh, General?" laughed the monk,
+after which he opened a bottle of champagne, of which
+we all drank.</p>
+
+<p>A week later I was in London, and one afternoon
+called upon Madame Huguet, who was expecting me.
+She was a vivacious, dark-haired young Frenchwoman,
+who had been one of the Father's sister-disciples in
+Petrograd, and whom he had sent to London upon some
+secret mission, the purpose of which was not quite clear
+to me. She had lived for some years in London before,
+and was well known in certain go-ahead circles of society.
+Seated in her cosy, well furnished drawing-room, with
+its silken curtains and bright chintzes in the English
+style, I told her exactly what Rasputin and Anna had
+instructed me to say.</p>
+
+<p>"The Father wishes you to lose no time in becoming
+acquainted with the financier Yakowleff," I said. "He
+has offices in Old Broad Street, and he lives in Fitzjohn's
+Avenue, Hampstead, when in London."</p>
+
+<p>"He is there now," she said. "I saw something
+about him in the papers three days ago&mdash;something
+concerning a concession for a gaming casino."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a>[<a href="./images/122.png">122</a>]</span>
+"Oh!" I cried. "Then it is in the papers&mdash;eh?"</p>
+
+<p>She obtained the copy of the newspaper, and I saw
+it was announced that an "Establishment" was about to
+be constructed at Otchakov, which was to be a formidable
+rival to Monte Carlo, and that Monsieur Yakowleff,
+of Petrograd, was the originator of the scheme.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately Yakowleff did not know me by sight;
+therefore, while Madame Huguet set to work to scrape
+acquaintance with him, I spent my days watching his
+movements when he came to his City office, and noting
+his constant and busy peregrinations to and fro. Certainly
+his scheme was attracting around him many
+influential and wealthy men, to whom the prospect of
+huge profits proved alluring.</p>
+
+<p>He was short, stout, rather Hebrew in appearance,
+unscrupulous no doubt, or he would not have stooped
+to do such dirty work as he did for Nicholas; nevertheless,
+he seemed highly popular in financial circles. He
+had left his wife in Petrograd; therefore the life he was
+leading was, I found, a pretty gay one. Each day he
+lunched at the best restaurants with his business friends,
+and discussed the great Otchakov scheme, and each night
+he took one of his lady friends out to dinner, the theatre,
+and the Savoy, Ritz or Carlton afterwards.</p>
+
+<p>Within ten days of my arrival in London I found
+that his guest at dinner at the Ritz one night was the
+sprightly young Frenchwoman, Julie Huguet!</p>
+
+<p>Next day she called me by telephone to Harrington
+Gardens, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"I discovered a good deal last night. The syndicate
+is already formed. One hundred thousand pounds has
+been subscribed, and next week Yakowleff is leaving for
+Paris, and thence back to Petrograd."</p>
+
+<p>Within half an hour I had telegraphed the news to
+Box 296, Poste Restante, Petrograd, which was the one
+used by Rasputin.</p>
+
+<p>In reply I received from the monk a message which
+read:</p>
+
+<p>"Obtain names of subscribers."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a>[<a href="./images/123.png">123</a>]</span>
+This I succeeded in doing after some considerable
+trouble, and they were the names of some of the shrewdest
+speculators in the City, none of them over-scrupulous,
+no doubt. To Rasputin I wired that I had the list, and
+asked for instructions, to which I received the reply:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Excellent! Return without delay.&mdash;<span class="smcap">Gregory.</span>"</p></div>
+
+<p>On my way back, during those many hours in the
+Nord Express between Ostend and Petrograd, I reviewed
+the whole affair, and saw the sinister working of the
+monk's mind. That Count Vorontsof Dachkof was in
+danger I knew full well. The monk never allowed any
+person to express open enmity without retaliating quietly
+and patiently, but with a crushing blow.</p>
+
+<p>I wondered what was being planned between the
+Ministers of War and Interior. No doubt the Empress
+had been informed of what the count had told the
+Emperor, and she would at once conspire with the holy
+Father to cast him into social oblivion&mdash;or worse!</p>
+
+<p>That the cupidity of Rasputin knew no bounds I was
+well aware. He intended to obtain that most lucrative
+gambling concession for himself, for Russians are born
+gamblers, especially the better classes, and the establishment
+of a casino on the Black Sea, with French hotels
+and restaurants, pretty villas, and an opera house in
+imitation of Monte Carlo, would in summer attract those
+thousands of rich Russians who in winter went to the
+Riviera to gamble.</p>
+
+<p>It was a chance which Rasputin would never allow
+to slip. Of that I was quite certain.</p>
+
+<p>The evening I returned to Petrograd the monk had
+left me a message to go to Tsarskoe-Selo; therefore I
+took my green pass, which admitted me past the many
+guards of the innermost holy-of-holies, the Imperial
+apartments, where I knew I should find the real ruler
+of Russia.</p>
+
+<p>He had been spending the evening with the Empress,
+her daughter Olga, and Anna, and when I sent word
+to him he joined me in a small ante-room, and, closing
+the door, eagerly questioned me.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a>[<a href="./images/124.png">124</a>]</span>
+"When does Yakowleff return from Paris?" he asked
+when I had read over to him the list of those adventurous
+London financiers who had put their money into
+the Otchakov scheme.</p>
+
+<p>"Next Thursday he leaves," I said. "Madame has
+gone to Paris on pretence of shopping, but in reality to
+keep watch. 'Axanda, Poste Restante, Avenue de
+l'Op&eacute;ra,' will find her. She arranged it with me before
+we parted."</p>
+
+<p>"Then this money-bag has really formed an influential
+syndicate in London to exploit our country&mdash;eh?" asked
+the monk grimly. "I have been speaking to the Empress
+about it, and she declares that the whole circumstance
+of Nicholas granting a concession, and for such service,
+is scandalous."</p>
+
+<p>Scandalous! Surely Alexandra Feodorovna knew that
+her own actions had caused her name to be execrated
+through the length and breadth of Russia. Helidor and
+the "Blessed Mitia" had both attempted to reveal
+what they knew. Helidor and Mitia had many powerful
+friends, so they were severely left alone by the police;
+yet others who but opened their mouths and criticised
+had been sent to prison without trial, while those
+who had gained undue knowledge and might transmit
+it to England or America were sent to those dreaded
+oubliettes of Schl&uuml;sselburg&mdash;worse even than the Bastille,
+and not one has ever returned across the lake alive.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin was at that moment occupied by two
+matters&mdash;first, the fierce antagonism of Vorontsof Dachkof;
+and secondly, his avariciousness concerning the
+concession for gambling at that pretty little town east
+of Odessa.</p>
+
+<p>So wide was the monk's influence that, hearing at
+that moment that the King of the Hellenes had granted
+to another British syndicate a concession to open public
+gaming-tables in Corfu, Rasputin had already been to
+St&uuml;rmer, the President of the Council, and contrived
+to have diplomatic pressure brought through Prince
+Demidoff, Russian Minister at Athens, to bear upon the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a>[<a href="./images/125.png">125</a>]</span>
+King to cancel the concession as opposed to public
+morals! This view Rasputin contrived to have supported
+by the Wilhelmstrasse, because the Kaiser had
+his spring palace in the vicinity, and, with his mock
+piety, he discountenanced any Temple of Fortune. The
+result was that the Corfu casino was prohibited.</p>
+
+<p>Thus the Otchakov scheme was the only one in
+Europe. San Sebastian was declared by the monk to
+be only on a par with Ostend, and Otchakov was to
+be the great rival of Monte Carlo, with more varied
+and added attractions.</p>
+
+<p>In that room, while he was hearing me through,
+Protopopoff, who had been making a report to the
+Emperor, joined us, and listened to what I had to say.</p>
+
+<p>"I was looking at Yakowleff's <i>dossier</i> to-day, as
+you wished," remarked the Minister to the monk. "He
+seems a very honest, clean-living man for a financier.
+There are no suspicions of disloyalty, or even of
+anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Then they must be made," declared Rasputin. "I
+intend to hold that concession. He would never have
+had it had it not been for Dachkof. But the latter is
+already out of favour. The Emperor has promised me
+to dismiss him to-morrow. His Majesty prefers cheerful
+people, not men who are pessimists," he laughed.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, next day the count, who was one of the
+most loyal and devoted servants of the Romanoffs, and
+who had risked everything in an attempt to open the
+Emperor's eyes, was actually dismissed. Such was the
+power of Rasputin.</p>
+
+<p>But the plot against Yakowleff to dispossess him of
+the concession for Otchakov was a much more deeply-laid
+and evil one. The financier had returned to Petrograd,
+flushed with his success with his moneyed friends in
+London. Already news had gone round that a wonderful
+casino was to be built to eclipse Monte Carlo, and
+he had given an interview to the <i>Novoye Vremya</i>
+concerning it.</p>
+
+<p>One afternoon, while in the handsome room set apart<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a>[<a href="./images/126.png">126</a>]</span>
+for Rasputin's use at Tsarskoe-Selo, I was sitting writing
+at his dictation, when there suddenly entered the Emperor,
+who had just come in from one of his frequent solitary
+walks in the park.</p>
+
+<p>His Majesty flung himself wearily in a chair, and
+began to discuss a diplomatic matter concerning Austria,
+and to ask the Father's advice, for he now scarcely ever
+acted upon his own initiative.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin reflected for a few moments as he stood
+gazing out of the window, and then, having given his
+opinion as to the proper course to pursue, he added:</p>
+
+<p>"There is another matter which should have thy
+attention&mdash;a matter which is being hidden very carefully
+from thee."</p>
+
+<p>"And pray what is that, Father?" inquired the
+Emperor.</p>
+
+<p>"It is the secret and traitorous dealings which one
+Yakowleff is having with British agents with a view to
+betraying Russia into the hands of the English," declared
+the sinister monk.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not follow."</p>
+
+<p>"To this man Yakowleff thou gavest the concession
+for improvements at Otchakov. On pretence of obtaining
+financial assistance he has been to London, and there,
+according to what my friends tell me, has been in consultation
+with certain British agents, whose intention it
+is to obtain our military and naval secrets."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you denounce Yakowleff as a traitor&mdash;eh?"
+snapped the Emperor.</p>
+
+<p>"I certainly do. If thou doubtest me, order Protopopoff
+to make a police search at his house in the
+Vosnesensky. Something will certainly be found there,"
+he said, with insidious cunning, well knowing that Protopopoff's
+<i>agents-provocateurs</i> had already taken steps to
+secure the financier's undoing.</p>
+
+<p>"I have here the names of two Englishwomen who
+are in the British Secret Service, and who were recently
+in Petrograd with Yakowleff." And he produced a piece
+of paper upon which he had scrawled the two names<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a>[<a href="./images/127.png">127</a>]</span>
+in his illiterate calligraphy. "The women are back in
+London, but he was with them a fortnight ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you quite certain of all this?" asked Nicholas
+dubiously. "I always believed Yakowleff to be my friend.
+Indeed, he has already shown his loyalty to me."</p>
+
+<p>"And in return thou gavest him the valuable concession
+for Otchakov," growled the monk.</p>
+
+<p>"If you assure me, Father, that what you have said
+is the truth, and not mere hearsay, I will call Protopopoff,
+and he shall make full inquiry."</p>
+
+<p>"It is a pity that the Otchakov scheme should be
+given into the hands of thy enemy," the monk declared,
+and thus the matter dropped.</p>
+
+<p>In Petrograd late that night, after the usual evening
+assembly of the sister-disciples, when all the women had
+departed and I was again alone with the monk, Protopopoff
+arrived, and said jubilantly:</p>
+
+<p>"Your words to Nicholas have borne fruit regarding
+Yakowleff. The Emperor spoke to me on the telephone,
+and, acting on his instructions, I ordered a police search,
+when some documents in cipher were found in a drawer
+in his writing-table."</p>
+
+<p>"And you arrested him?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. He seems to have somehow got wind of what
+was in progress, for he left Petrograd yesterday for
+Helsingfors, and has escaped!"</p>
+
+<p>"Escaped!" shrieked Rasputin, springing to his feet
+in dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Gone back to London, I believe."</p>
+
+<p>The monk knit his brows and stood stroking his
+unkempt beard. He was thinking out some further
+devilish plot.</p>
+
+<p>"F&eacute;odor," he said at last, turning to me, "write
+down what I say."</p>
+
+<p>I crossed to the table, and when I was ready he
+dictated the following:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"In consequence of his traitorous dealings with emissaries
+of a foreign Power, I, Nicholas, refuse to grant Ivan Yakowleff
+his application for a concession for improvements at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a>[<a href="./images/128.png">128</a>]</span>
+Otchakov, and hereby grant the privilege unreservedly to
+Alexander Klouieff, of 48 Kurlandskaya, Petrograd. Further,
+I order the arrest of Ivan Yakowleff and the confiscation of
+all his property."</p></div>
+
+<p>Alexander Klouieff! The fellow was an ex-agent of
+secret police, a man ready to do any dirty work, even
+murder, for Rasputin, if paid for it&mdash;a low-bred criminal
+of the worst possible type! So the concession was to
+be given to him, and he, of course, would in due course,
+in exchange for payment, hand it over to the monk, who
+would share the huge profits with his friends.</p>
+
+<p>"Nicholas shall sign that to-morrow," Rasputin remarked
+with confidence. "As soon as he has done so
+I will see that copies be sent to each of the men in
+London who have subscribed, and they will no doubt
+prosecute Yakowleff for fraud. In any case, he is ruined
+and cast out, so he no longer stands in our path."</p>
+
+<p>"Excellent!" said Protopopoff. "Does Klouieff
+know?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course not. I shall pay him something for the
+use of his name before he knows exactly what has transpired,"
+was the crafty reply of the "blessed Gregory"&mdash;as
+so many termed him.</p>
+
+<p>Two days later I went as usual to the palace with
+my master, and he took me with him along to the
+Emperor's room, in case any writing was to be done.
+The monk's first words were of the escape of Yakowleff.</p>
+
+<p>"The traitor has gone back to his English pay-masters!"
+said the Starets. "I have written here the
+order for his arrest and the confiscation of his property."</p>
+
+<p>And he placed before the Emperor the document I had
+written. To Rasputin's dismay, however, His Majesty
+seemed disinclined to append his signature. To me,
+Nicholas, who was wearing an old grey tweed suit,
+seemed very doubtful regarding the whole transaction.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is this person Alexander Klouieff?" he demanded.
+"I must know something more of him."</p>
+
+<p>"He is a man of considerable wealth&mdash;upright,
+honourable, and devoted to thee," Rasputin assured him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a>[<a href="./images/129.png">129</a>]</span>
+"Canst thou not place thy trust in those I recommend?
+If not, I say no more."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, Father; but the concession was granted&mdash;while
+this order makes it appear that it was only
+applied for."</p>
+
+<p>"Surely it is not wise that thou shouldst be known
+to have granted favour unto a traitor?" was the monk's
+clever reply.</p>
+
+<p>Still Nicholas hesitated, at which Rasputin grew
+furious, declaring that he had no time to waste in idle
+discussion.</p>
+
+<p>Dropping the familiar form of speech he was in
+the habit of using to the Emperor, he stood erect and
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"You know the message which your dead father gave
+you at the s&eacute;ance last night! If you refuse to sign this
+decree, then I will abandon Russia to-day and leave you,
+the Empress and the lad to your fate. Remember, I
+am God's messenger and your divine guide!"</p>
+
+<p>The Tsar stood terror-stricken and in fear lest the
+real ruler of Russia should once again depart from
+Petrograd and refuse to return. Further refusal to sign
+was useless; therefore he bit his lip in chagrin and
+appended his signature to the document, which not only
+deprived the unfortunate Yakowleff of his concession,
+but also denounced him as a traitor and a swindler.</p>
+
+<p>The result was that not only did Rasputin obtain
+possession of the concession for Otchakov, but he sold
+it a month later for a huge sum to a syndicate of
+bankers in Vienna, who still hold it. The monk, after
+paying a dole to the ex-agent of police, divided up the
+spoils with Protopopoff, St&uuml;rmer and Soukhomlinoff, and,
+in addition, he bought a very valuable diamond necklace
+for Anna Vyrubova.</p>
+
+<p>As for poor Yakowleff, he was, as Rasputin had
+plotted, prosecuted in London for fraud, and sentenced
+at the Old Bailey to a term of imprisonment.</p>
+
+<p>As the months went on, in the first half of 1914, I
+noticed that the acquaintanceship between Rasputin and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a>[<a href="./images/130.png">130</a>]</span>
+his well-paid chemist-friend, Badmayev, became closer.
+Badmayev held the formula of the poisonous concoction
+which at intervals Anna Vyrubova secretly introduced
+into the food of the Tsarevitch, causing the poor lad
+those mysterious illnesses which were puzzling the
+physicians of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>That some fresh plot of a diabolical nature was in
+progress I felt confident, but of its actual motive I
+could ascertain nothing. Yet it turned out to be a
+conspiracy&mdash;no doubt inspired and suggested by Potsdam&mdash;of
+a peculiarly devilish character.</p>
+
+<p>It was on that fateful day that the "Germanisation"
+of Russia became complete. Thanks to the traitorous
+assurances of Soukhomlinoff, Minister of War, Russia,
+alas! found herself suddenly plunged into hostilities.
+Petrograd, of course, went wild with excitement. Our
+loyal Russians, who believed in official declarations and
+in their Tsar, were ready to fly at the Teutons, little
+dreaming that already, before a single shot was fired,
+Germany held all the honours of the game, and had
+the Russian bear shackled hand and foot.</p>
+
+<p>At four o'clock in the afternoon Rasputin called me,
+and handing me an envelope which seemed to contain
+some small object&mdash;a lady's silver powder-puff case I
+afterwards knew it to be&mdash;said:</p>
+
+<p>"F&eacute;odor, I want you to go to the booking-office of
+the Finnish station at the departure of the train for
+Helsingfors at five-thirty. There you will meet a fair-haired
+young man who knows you by sight. He will
+say the word 'Anak,' and when he does, hand him this
+in secret. He will quite understand."</p>
+
+<p>This order I carried out. I had not been at the
+crowded station five minutes when a young man, carrying
+a small handbag, elbowed his way through the excited
+crowd and uttered in an undertone the word "Anak."
+I greeted him, and surreptitiously handed him the little
+packet, for which he thanked me and disappeared on
+to the platform.</p>
+
+<p>My curiosity being aroused I waited until after the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a>[<a href="./images/131.png">131</a>]</span>
+departure of the train, when I watched the mysterious
+young man return from the platform, hurry out of the
+station, and jump into a droshky and drive off.</p>
+
+<p>When I returned and reported my meeting with the
+young man, Rasputin seemed much gratified, and even
+telephoned to St&uuml;rmer, who was at that moment at
+the palace, having been called to the War Council which
+the Emperor&mdash;who had again consulted his dead father's
+spirit at a further s&eacute;ance on the previous night&mdash;was
+now holding.</p>
+
+<p>It appeared that a dinner had a week before been
+arranged by Prince Galitzine, to which the Grand Dukes
+Nicholas Nicholaievitch, Constantin Constantinovitch, and
+Michael Alexandrovitch, together with Generals Arapoff,
+Daniloff, Brusiloff, and Rennenkampf, had been invited.
+At first it was proposed to cancel the engagement owing
+to the critical position of affairs, but on the suggestion of
+the Grand Duke Nicholas it was not abandoned, for, as
+he pointed out, it would bring together the loyal leaders
+of the army on the eve of great events, and that, after
+dinner, views might be exchanged in confidence for the
+national benefit.</p>
+
+<p>Now earlier that same day Rasputin had given me
+a note to deliver to the Grand Duke Michael, whom I
+had failed to find, but was told that he was to dine at
+Prince Galitzine's. So about half-past six o'clock I took
+it to the prince's house, when, to my surprise, as I
+passed into the great hall I saw the same fair-haired
+young man to whom I had delivered that envelope in
+secret an hour before. He was one of the prince's
+servants, but he had not seen me!</p>
+
+<p>A sudden suspicion seized me. I asked to see the
+prince, and when shown up to his room I delivered the
+note for the Grand Duke.</p>
+
+<p>Then, having seen that the door was closed, I asked
+permission to say something in strictest confidence, and
+told him of the mysterious envelope I had delivered to
+his servant.</p>
+
+<p>He heard me through, gave me his hand in promise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a>[<a href="./images/132.png">132</a>]</span>
+that he would not betray my confidence, thanked me,
+and dismissed me.</p>
+
+<p>Next day the prince called me to him in secret, and
+told me that in the possession of the young man was
+found a lady's silver powder-puff box filled with what
+looked and smelt like toilet-powder. This, on being
+examined, was discovered to be a most subtle and
+dangerous poison&mdash;one evidently prepared by that
+diabolical poisoner, Badmayev.</p>
+
+<p>The young man had been forced by his master to
+swallow some, and had died in great agony. Thus it
+was proved that Rasputin and the camarilla had, on
+the very night of the outbreak of war, plotted to sweep
+off at one blow our most famous Russian generals, and
+leave our country practically without any military leaders
+of experience and at the mercy of the Huns!</p>
+
+<p>The vile plot would no doubt have succeeded, and
+the deaths put down to ptomaine poisoning, as so many
+have been, had I not so fortunately recognised the young
+valet as he crossed the hall of Prince Galitzine's house.</p>
+
+<p>Thus it will be seen that Rasputin and his friends
+hesitated at nothing in their frantic endeavours to
+gain their own sordid ends and to secure victory for
+Germany.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">the tragedy of madame svetchine</span></h3>
+
+
+<p>"<span class="smcap">Sister!</span> thou who hast chosen to become the bride
+of Heaven, listen unto me, and repeat these words after
+me!" exclaimed the monk Rasputin, holding over the
+kneeling countess the big bejewelled cross which the
+Empress had given him, and in which were set some of
+the finest jewels of the Romanoffs.</p>
+
+<p>"I will, O Father," replied Paula Yakimovitch, a
+pretty young woman, whose husband was Governor of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a>[<a href="./images/133.png">133</a>]</span>
+Yakutsk, far off in Siberia, and who had begged him
+to leave her in Petrograd.</p>
+
+<p>"Then repeat these words," said the bearded saint,
+fixing his weird, hypnotic eyes upon her. "Thou art
+my holy Father&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art my holy Father&mdash;&mdash;" exclaimed the
+Governor's wife in obedience.</p>
+
+<p>"To thee I bow, and to thee I acknowledge that thou
+art sent by Almighty God to save our holy Russia."</p>
+
+<p>She repeated the words amid the silence of that
+afternoon assembly of the sister-disciples at the Starets'
+house, a gathering which included Madame Vyrubova
+and her sister, Madame Soukhomlinoff; Madame Katacheff,
+wife of the Governor-General of Finland; pretty
+little Madame Makotine, to whose salon everyone
+scrambled; and old Countess Chapadier, bedecked, as
+always, with diamonds.</p>
+
+<p>"I hereby swear in my belief that God has sent to
+our Russia his divine saviour in the human form of
+Gregory Rasputin, and that the sin I commit in my
+belief is the sin which is easiest forgiven, and that by
+prayer and fasting my sins will be remitted, even as I
+am admitted to the sect of the righteous and holy."</p>
+
+<p>These blasphemous words the young woman repeated
+after the unwashed saint, who, standing upon a sort of
+dais in the big upstairs salon, still held up the jewelled
+cross suspended from his neck in front of him.</p>
+
+<p>"Salvation is in contriteness," the monk went on, for
+that was what the sly scoundrel had invented. "Contriteness
+can only come after we have sinned. Let us
+therefore sin, my sisters, in order to gain salvation! By
+sinning with me," he added, having reached the apogee
+of his influence, "salvation is all the more certain to
+come to you for this reason&mdash;that I am filled with the
+Holy Spirit!"</p>
+
+<p>"God be thanked! God be thanked!" fell from the
+lips of those thirty or so bamboozled and hysterical
+women, who, seated on forms as school-children might
+sit, had assembled to assist at the admission of Countess<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a>[<a href="./images/134.png">134</a>]</span>
+Yakimovitch to the secret and disgraceful cult of the
+blasphemous charlatan.</p>
+
+<p>The date was September the 7th, 1914.</p>
+
+<p>Russia had been at war with Germany for a month,
+and the Press of the Allies was full of cheerful optimism
+regarding what one of your London journalists had called
+"the Russian steam-roller." We in holy Russia believed
+in "the mills of God," and the nation as a whole was
+confident that it could resist the Teuton invasion.</p>
+
+<p>The neophyte, beneath the extraordinary hypnotism
+of the "saint," felt the dirty fingers upon her brow,
+as, in a strange jargon of religious phrases and open
+blasphemy, he pronounced a kind of benediction upon
+her, adjuring her carefully to preserve the secrets of the
+sect "from your own mother and father, sister, brother,
+husband and child." Then he added: "In me, Gregory
+Rasputin, you see the One sent by Heaven as the Healer
+and Deliverer of Russia from the hands of the oppressor.
+To me the Emperor, but an earthly king, hath delegated
+his imperial powers. I am the saviour of Russia. Believe
+in me and in my teachings and ye shall have life, health
+and prosperity&mdash;with the life beyond the grave. Disobey,
+and thou shalt be eternally damned, together with all
+thy family. I, Gregory Rasputin, who hath been sent
+to thee as saviour," he added, "take unto me as sister
+Paula Vladimirovna to be my <ins class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'disicple'">disciple</ins>!"</p>
+
+<p>"May God forbid!" cried a woman's voice from
+among those assembled. "Let us end this blasphemy!"</p>
+
+<p>The effect was almost electrical. Rasputin started,
+and gazed at the rows of elegantly-dressed women, his
+disciples, and the few good-looking young women whom
+he had invited to be present.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," went on a young and pretty woman seated
+at the back of the little audience. "I repeat those
+words!"</p>
+
+<p>Startled myself at the boldness of the young lady,
+I saw that she was dark, extremely good-looking, and
+refined. Rasputin had met her a week before at the
+salon of old Countess Lazareff, and she having expressed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a>[<a href="./images/135.png">135</a>]</span>
+a desire to know more of the secret cult of which so
+many curious rumours were rife in Petrograd society, he
+had allowed Madame Trevetski, the wife of the ex-Commander-in-Chief
+in the Caucasus, to bring her that
+afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>Now, it must be said that no lady was admitted to
+those weekly reunions of the sister-disciples unless she
+first had the full approval of the Starets. She must be
+good-looking and possessed of either wealth or influence,
+but in preference wealth. And it was certain that no
+woman was ever invited unless it was Rasputin's intention
+to admit her to the secrets of his "religion."</p>
+
+<p>Yet here was open defiance! This lady, whose name
+was Madame Anastasia Svetchine, was the wife of
+Colonel Svetchine, who was on the Staff of the Etat-Major
+at Vilna, and who was already at the battle front.
+Before Rasputin had allowed her to be brought to his
+house it had fallen to my lot to make some inquiries
+concerning her, and I had found that she was of good
+family, that her husband was possessed of fair means,
+and that besides their house in Vilna they had a comfortable
+residence in the Kirotshnaya, in Petrograd. She
+moved in that rather gay, go-ahead set of which, prior
+to the war, the reckless Madame Soukhomlinoff was the
+centre, and she had recently become quite a notable
+figure in Petrograd society.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin, furious at her interruption, roared:</p>
+
+<p>"Silence, woman! Go out of the room at once!"</p>
+
+<p>But Madame Svetchine, springing to her feet, cried:
+"It is monstrous! Disgraceful! Blasphemous! It is
+true what Purichkevitch has said in the Duma&mdash;that
+you are the evil force in Russia! Though a woman,
+I will have none of your mock piety and disgraceful
+licentiousness!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I see, madame, that you are an enemy&mdash;eh?"
+he said in a slow, deliberate way. "And let me
+tell you, when Gregory Rasputin has an enemy, he does
+not rest until that enemy is swept from his path. If
+you defy me, you defy your God!"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a>[<a href="./images/136.png">136</a>]</span>
+"I defy you!" cried the woman shrilly, making a
+dramatic scene. "But I fear my God, and Him alone."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! be silent, I beg!" cried Countess Lazareff in
+French, wringing her hands, she having introduced her,
+while all were horrified that the holy Father should be
+thus openly denounced before his "sisters."</p>
+
+<p>"What is that woman saying?" the monk shouted
+across to me, for he did not know French, and was
+suspicious that the words contained yet another insult
+until I translated them to him.</p>
+
+<p>"I refuse to be silent!" declared the colonel's young
+wife. "I will describe to all whom I meet what has
+taken place here to-day&mdash;the mockery of it all. It is
+shameful how any woman in her senses, refined and
+educated, should fall beneath the fascination of such
+a brute!"</p>
+
+<p>This was greeted with wild exclamations of surprise
+and indignation. Indeed, so furious became the "sisters"
+at such open insult that I was, at Rasputin's orders,
+compelled to conduct her out.</p>
+
+<p>In the hall the young lady, who was certainly very
+pretty, became quite quiet again, and turning to me said:</p>
+
+<p>"Monsieur Rajevski, I came here on purpose to
+denounce that infernal charlatan who is your employer.
+I am not without friends&mdash;and influential ones. I have
+spoken my mind fearlessly and openly. No doubt I
+have made an enemy of Grichka, but for that I care
+nothing, so long as I have exposed him."</p>
+
+<p>Little did the unfortunate young lady know of Rasputin's
+low cunning and diabolical unscrupulousness when
+she had uttered those words. I made no reply, for I
+feared that she would live to regret having created that
+scene in the monk's holy-of-holies.</p>
+
+<p>Late that evening, having been out, I returned to find
+the "saint" seated with the Minister Maklakoff, the man
+whom the newspaper <i>Utro Rossy</i> described as "The
+love-sick Panther." Both were in an advanced state
+of intoxication, and when I entered, Rasputin, in a thick
+voice, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a>[<a href="./images/137.png">137</a>]</span>
+"Ah! my dear F&eacute;odor, I have just been describing
+the scene to-day with that woman Anastasia Svetchine&mdash;the
+little spitfire! But a pretty woman, F&eacute;odor&mdash;very
+pretty woman, eh? It's a pity"&mdash;he sighed&mdash;"a great
+pity!"</p>
+
+<p>"Why?" asked the long-moustached Minister, who
+had just come from an official reception, and was in
+his hussar uniform, with gold braid and many decorations.
+"Are you not better rid of her, my friend?
+Women of her sort are usually dangerous."</p>
+
+<p>"I know she is dangerous," growled the holy Father,
+taking a deep gulp of champagne. "That is why I
+intend that she shall pay dearly for her defiance."</p>
+
+<p>"Is she worth troubling about?" I queried. "You
+have so many affairs to attend to just now."</p>
+
+<p>"Gregory Rasputin always attends to his enemies first,
+F&eacute;odor," he replied huskily.</p>
+
+<p>The eyes of "The love-sick Panther" twinkled through
+his rimless pince-nez. Well he knew the bitter revenge
+which the Starets wreaked upon any who dared to
+challenge his divinity.</p>
+
+<p>Maklakoff was at the time the Tsar's favourite
+Minister, and it was quite usual after a Cabinet Council
+for the Emperor to ask him and Soukhomlinoff to remain
+behind, as both were voted "really jolly fellows." Then
+Their Majesties would unite with the children and a few
+intimates, including the Father and Anna of course, and
+they would have a little fun. Maklakoff was famed for
+his power of mimicry. He could imitate the barking
+of dogs, and frequently announced his presence to the
+Imperial family by barking in the corridors of Tsarskoe-Selo,
+while his most famous imitation was that of a
+panther. And this of a Cabinet Minister in days of
+war!</p>
+
+<p>"O Nicholas Alexievitch, <i>do</i> let us see you as a
+panther!" the Emperor would often say.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Minister of State would coil himself up
+beneath a sofa and roar like a panther. Then, crawling
+slowly out on all fours, he would suddenly take a leap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a>[<a href="./images/138.png">138</a>]</span>
+and land in an arm-chair or upon a sofa, greatly to the
+delight of the Imperial family, while the Grand Duchesses
+and the Tsarevitch would go wild with glee.</p>
+
+<p>When, by the way, Maklakoff was dismissed in 1915,
+as a result of the anti-German riots in Moscow, the paper
+<i>Utro Rossy</i> was fined three thousand roubles for publishing
+an article headed "The Leap of the Love-sick
+Panther."</p>
+
+<p>Maklakoff was a bosom friend of Rasputin, a dissolute
+evil-liver after the monk's own heart, and more
+than once had, in my presence, mentioned the names of
+certain good-looking women in various classes of society
+who might be invited to become disciples of the sadic
+Anti-Christ.</p>
+
+<p>Within a week of the scene created by Madame
+Svetchine, Rasputin had already commenced to seek his
+revenge in a deep and cunning way. He had heard
+from several persons that Madame Anastasia was going
+about Petrograd openly denouncing him, and that she
+had been in communication with Monsieur Miliukoff of
+the Cadets, and also Count Bobrinski. For the time
+being Rasputin was devoting his days to the reorganisation
+of his "disciples." His traitorous interference in
+politics had already borne fruit in favour of Germany.</p>
+
+<p>The events that were happening at that very moment
+mercilessly showed up the faults of our Russian administration,
+which was Germanic by origin in its
+traditions and its sentiments. Indeed, at that moment,
+when the enemy at the gates was knocking over the
+fortresses of Poland like ant-hills, intrigues for place
+and honour were rife everywhere, and Maklakoff was
+playing the "panther" to amuse the ladies of Tsarskoe-Selo!</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin one day called to him one of his half-dozen
+sycophants of the secret police, whom the Minister
+Protopopoff had placed at his disposal for purposes of
+personal protection, but in reality to act as his spies and
+<i>agents-provocateurs</i>.</p>
+
+<p>To this fellow, Depp by name, he had given in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a>[<a href="./images/139.png">139</a>]</span>structions
+that the <i>dossiers</i> of both Colonel Svetchine
+and his wife should be brought to him. Next day they
+arrived, and for half an hour Depp sat reading over
+to him the various police reports from Vilna and those
+of Petrograd.</p>
+
+<p>The monk, leaning back in his arm-chair, stroked
+his unkempt beard, his eyes fixed out of the window,
+brooding over his devilish scheme.</p>
+
+<p>An hour later, after he had dispatched Depp to make
+certain inquiries in Petrograd concerning the doings of
+the colonel's young wife, he said to me:</p>
+
+<p>"F&eacute;odor, I must see Soukhomlinoff to-night. Telephone
+to him at the Ministry. If he is not there, you
+will find him at the palace. If so, tell him to call here
+at once when he returns to Petrograd."</p>
+
+<p>I found the Minister of War was at Tsarskoe-Selo,
+and spoke to him there, giving him Rasputin's message,
+and receiving a reply that he would be with us at ten
+o'clock that night.</p>
+
+<p>I had to keep an appointment, at Rasputin's orders,
+with Protopopoff&mdash;to deliver a letter and receive a reply;
+therefore I was not present when His Excellency the
+General arrived. What the pair arranged I had no
+idea, for when I returned to the Gorokhovaya the general
+was just stepping into his big car with its brilliant
+headlights.</p>
+
+<p>"Good night, F&eacute;odor!" he shouted to me merrily,
+for he was of a genial nature, and next moment the
+powerful car drove away.</p>
+
+<p>Events marched rapidly during the next fortnight.
+I had gone with Rasputin to the General Headquarters
+of the Army at the Polish front, a journey which the
+intriguer had been sent upon by those at Court whose
+mouthpiece he was&mdash;to discuss a peace necessary for the
+Empire, he declared.</p>
+
+<p>Truth to tell, I knew that three days before the
+secret messenger Hardt had arrived from Berlin by way
+of Sweden, bearing a dispatch with elaborate instructions
+to the Starets.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a>[<a href="./images/140.png">140</a>]</span>
+The Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaievitch received us
+on the evening of our arrival at Headquarters, and, of
+course, the monk was full of one of those fantastic tales
+which succeeded so well with many, either the ignorant
+or credulous, or those to whose personal advantage it
+was to pretend to believe him.</p>
+
+<p>The Grand Duke received the Starets politely but
+stiffly, for he well knew the power he wielded in the
+Empire, and that his will was law.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Highness!" exclaimed the monk, "war is indeed
+a calamity. Alas! that Russia hath offended God
+by entering upon it. But thou, in thy wisdom, must
+put an end to it. The Holy Virgin appeared to me in
+a dream, and told me we must conclude peace. I come
+to inform thee of her will."</p>
+
+<p>"When didst thou see the Virgin?" asked the
+Grand Duke.</p>
+
+<p>"Three days ago."</p>
+
+<p>"Now that's odd," he replied. "I, too, saw her,
+but it was only two days ago, and she said to me:
+'Gregory is coming to see thee. He will advise peace.
+Don't listen to him, but expel him like the scoundrel
+he is. If he goes on troubling and intriguing have him
+thrashed.'"</p>
+
+<p>The monk went livid.</p>
+
+<p>"And further," continued Nicholas Nicholaievitch, "if
+you remain here, you infernal charlatan and blackmailer,
+that is what I shall do. So you can return to Alexandra
+Feodorovna and tell her what I say. My soldiers are
+fighting for Russia, and they will continue to do so,
+however many visions you may have&mdash;and however
+much German gold you may grab with your filthy paws.
+Get out!"</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin stood speechless for a moment. Then, with
+an imprecation upon his lips, he turned and retired.</p>
+
+<p>Three days later we were back in Petrograd, but
+the monk, who never forgot, at once set about plotting
+the Grand Duke's retirement.</p>
+
+<p>One morning, among the monk's correspondence, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a>[<a href="./images/141.png">141</a>]</span>
+found a letter for Rasputin, which had been brought by
+hand from the Ministry of War, marked "Strictly
+private." On opening it, I read the following, which
+bore as signature the initials of Soukhomlinoff:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"In a further reference to the suspicions against Colonel
+Svetchine, inquiries made fully confirm your view. The
+political police who made domiciliary visits to his house in
+Petrograd and his apartments in Vilna found nothing of
+importance. In Vilna, however, it has been discovered that,
+immediately prior to the war, he had established friendly
+relations with Elise Isembourg, who was an agent of Germany
+and a friend of Miassoyedeff. At my instructions we
+have allowed the Colonel leave, and he returned to Vilna
+to meet the woman, who had, at our orders, written to him.
+She, acting upon our instructions, offered him a sum of
+money to betray certain plans of the defences of Grodno,
+agents of secret police being concealed during the interview.
+At first he stoutly refused, but next day he met her again
+and succumbed to the temptation, so at the present moment
+he is preparing the information she seeks."</p></div>
+
+<p>I read this over to the monk, who at once rubbed
+his hands together in satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! all goes well, my dear F&eacute;odor!" he exclaimed.
+"That woman will be sorry she denounced me, I assure
+you."</p>
+
+<p>I could discern the motive of the conspiracy, but as
+yet had no idea of its true depth.</p>
+
+<p>It was not until a week later, when one night the
+Minister of War called upon the monk, and in my presence
+they discussed the Svetchine affair.</p>
+
+<p>"You did well, General," declared Rasputin, with an
+evil smile. "What has really happened in Vilna?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, the woman Isembourg, though she was a spy
+of Germany, is now on our side in the contra-espionage
+service," was his reply. "From the first she assured
+me that the colonel was extremely honest and patriotic.
+Though before the war she had several times tried to
+induce him to give her military information, yet he always
+declined and endeavoured to avoid her."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a>[<a href="./images/142.png">142</a>]</span>
+"Well, that difficulty can be overcome, surely?" asked
+the monk.</p>
+
+<p>General Soukhomlinoff, a traitor himself, laughed
+lightly as he replied:</p>
+
+<p>"Of course. There were other means. Elise, three
+days ago, handed over to me a typewritten document
+revealing the secrets of the defences of Grodno, which
+she reported had been given to her by Colonel Svetchine
+in return for a promise of ten thousand roubles when
+she could obtain the money from a secret source in
+Petrograd."</p>
+
+<p>"Then he is a traitor!" exclaimed the monk eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>The general winked, and replied: "Elise Isembourg
+declares that he is, and that he gave her the document."</p>
+
+<p>"He, of course, denies it?"</p>
+
+<p>"He knows nothing as yet," said His Excellency.
+"I have issued orders for his arrest to-day, and have
+given instructions for the court martial to be held here,
+in Petrograd."</p>
+
+<p>The evil monk laughed gleefully.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I see," he remarked. "And probably the
+colonel has never yet seen this typewritten document?"</p>
+
+<p>"Probably," replied the Minister of War, with a
+mysterious smile. "There have been such cases. I have
+fixed the court martial for next Thursday, and I assure
+you it will be difficult for the colonel to prove his
+innocence!"</p>
+
+<p>From that conversation I gathered the diabolical
+nature of Rasputin's plot against a perfectly innocent
+man, as revenge for his wife's insults.</p>
+
+<p>Next day we were called to the palace, for the
+Empress was sorely worried over the health of the Tsarevitch,
+and she implored the holy Father to pray for
+him, little dreaming that the ever-recurring attacks were
+due to the subtle poison administered in secret by her
+most trusted favourite, Madame Vyrubova. For several
+days we remained at the palace, while Rasputin performed
+one of his "miracles," namely, the restoration
+of the lad to his normal condition.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a>[<a href="./images/143.png">143</a>]</span>
+What if the Empress had known that the "miracles"
+in which she so fervently believed were merely performed
+by the administration of certain antidotes to the poison
+already given!</p>
+
+<p>While at the palace on that occasion I witnessed some
+strange doings at a spiritualistic s&eacute;ance to which Bossant,
+the notorious French medium, had been commanded.
+The Emperor, Empress and their intimates were present,
+including Rasputin and myself, and when the circle was
+formed and the s&eacute;ance in full swing the Tsar consulted
+the spirit of his dead father as to how he should act
+in the conduct of the war against Germany.</p>
+
+<p>The reply, of course, arranged by the Empress and
+her friends, was something as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Thou hast done well, my son, and thou art worthy
+the throne of the Romanoffs. Continue to defend our
+beloved land. Trust in the counsels of those about
+thee, of thy wife, of thy Ministers, especially St&uuml;rmer,
+Protopopoff and Soukhomlinoff, as well as the advice
+which the holy Father is ever giving thee. All have been
+sent to thee as good and faithful guides. My blessing is
+upon thee, O my son!"</p></div>
+
+<p>Such was the "message" so cleverly given to the
+credulous monarch by the traitors and intriguers about
+him. And alas! he believed truly and absolutely,
+ignorant of the fact that some thousands of roubles
+had gone into the medium's pocket as price of his
+connivance.</p>
+
+<p>On returning to Petrograd late on Thursday night
+I found among the monk's correspondence a letter from
+Madame Svetchine, a long, regretful letter, in which she
+expressed the greatest sorrow for the words she had
+uttered at the assembly of the sister-disciples, and begged
+to be forgiven. Further, she announced her intention
+of calling upon the Father "upon a serious and urgent
+matter."</p>
+
+<p>I told him this, whereat he growled:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a>[<a href="./images/144.png">144</a>]</span>
+"Ah! the woman is coming to her senses. Yes. If
+she comes I will see her. She is pretty, F&eacute;odor&mdash;pretty&mdash;yes,
+very pretty."</p>
+
+<p>I drew a long breath. The unfortunate woman knew,
+no doubt, the serious charge against her husband, but
+never dreamed that Rasputin was the cause of that
+false accusation.</p>
+
+<p>Just before I ascended to my room to retire&mdash;the hour
+being about one o'clock in the morning&mdash;the telephone
+bell rang, and I answered it.</p>
+
+<p>One of the officials at the War Office was, I found,
+at the other end.</p>
+
+<p>"His Excellency the Minister has an urgent message
+to transmit to the Father," said the voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," I said, stating who I was.</p>
+
+<p>"Then listen, please. The message he has written
+reads: <ins class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: original reads '&quot;'">'</ins>Colonel Ivan Svetchine has been tried by court
+martial, which sat until half an hour ago. He has been
+condemned on a charge of dealing with the enemy and
+revealing military secrets to Germany, and ordered to be
+executed for treason. The execution is fixed to take place
+in the Peter and Paul Fortress at dawn on Saturday.'"</p>
+
+<p>I replaced the telephone receiver with a heavy heart.
+Yet another innocent man was to die as victim of
+Rasputin's overweening vanity and evil influence in every
+quarter.</p>
+
+<p>When I entered and told the monk, who was already
+in bed in a half-drunken state, he merely turned over
+and continued snoring.</p>
+
+<p>On Friday night, when, as usual, we had returned
+from Tsarskoe-Selo in one of the Imperial motor-cars,
+I was told that a lady was waiting to see the Starets,
+but she would give no name. She was persistent that
+she must see him, and had already waited nearly three
+hours.</p>
+
+<p>When I entered the waiting-room, a small chamber
+at the end of a corridor, I found it to be the wife of
+the condemned man. She was dressed in dead black, her
+beautiful face tear-stained and deathly pale.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a>[<a href="./images/145.png">145</a>]</span>
+"Ah! Monsieur Rajevski!" she cried, rushing towards
+me. "You know me&mdash;Madame Svetchine&mdash;eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, madame," I said. "I remember you."</p>
+
+<p>"You will let me see him&mdash;won't you?" she cried
+in great distress, as she gripped my hand nervously.
+"He has, I hope, forgiven me; surely he&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I gave him your letter," I said.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;and what did he say?" she gasped in
+eagerness.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, the truth is that he said nothing," I replied,
+adding: "He was much occupied with other things."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I must see him!" cried the frantic woman.
+"I was wrong to speak as I did. The Father is the great
+power in Russia. I must throw myself upon his mercy."</p>
+
+<p>I promised to take her to him, and left her to inform
+Rasputin of the arrival of his expected visitor.</p>
+
+<p>With an evil glint in those terrible eyes of his, he
+rubbed his hands together.</p>
+
+<p>"Good, F&eacute;odor!" he said, striding across the room.
+"I will see the woman. Oh, yes, if she wishes to see
+me I will not deny her that pleasure," he added with
+biting sarcasm. Truly, he was weird and horrible in the
+hour of his triumph.</p>
+
+<p>A few moments later I ushered the pale, wan woman
+in black into his presence.</p>
+
+<p>"Holy Father!" she cried wildly, "forgive me&mdash;say
+that you forgive the unconsidered words of a weak and
+unworthy woman."</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive&mdash;why?" he asked, standing erect and fingering
+his bejewelled cross. "I do not understand why I
+am honoured by this visit, madame."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! Of course you do not know. Pardon, I have
+forgotten to explain. My husband&mdash;&mdash;" And she broke
+into tears. "My dear husband&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, what of your husband?" asked Rasputin.
+"He is at the front. Has he been wounded&mdash;or&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no&mdash;not that!" she cried. "They have made
+a false charge against him. Some woman named Isembourg,
+whom he knew in Vilna before the war, has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a>[<a href="./images/146.png">146</a>]</span>
+made an allegation against him of traitorous dealings
+with the enemy. She has given over to the Ministry
+of War some documents containing the plans of the
+defences of Grodno, which she declares he has sold to
+her! But it is lies&mdash;all lies. I know it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Really, this is quite a romantic story, madame,"
+said Rasputin, quite unmoved. "Why should this woman
+make such charges?"</p>
+
+<p>"How can I tell? Ah! but you do not know the
+worst!" she went on. "The court martial actually
+accepted this woman's statements&mdash;statements that were
+lies&mdash;all of them! My husband is devoted to me, and
+I love him&mdash;ah, so dearly! He is all in all to me.
+And&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"But the woman&mdash;Isembourg, I believe you say&mdash;she
+is a friend of his, eh?" interrupted the monk, his hands
+crossed over his breast in that pious attitude he always
+assumed when listening.</p>
+
+<p>"She says she was his friend before the war&mdash;before
+we married, indeed. Perhaps she was," answered the
+condemned man's wife. "But she is undoubtedly an
+<i>agent-provocateuse</i> of police set to tempt men to their
+downfall."</p>
+
+<p>"Of that I have no knowledge," was Rasputin's cold
+reply.</p>
+
+<p>"But you will help me, holy Father! Do&mdash;for the
+sake of a man who is innocent&mdash;for the sake&mdash;the sake
+of his unborn child! Ah! you will show mercy, won't
+you?" she begged.</p>
+
+<p>"I do not follow you," was the monk's reply, in
+pretence of ignorance.</p>
+
+<p>In a frenzy of despair the wretched wife flung herself
+upon her knees before the scoundrel, and cried:</p>
+
+<p>"My husband! There is yet time to save him! He&mdash;he
+is to be shot&mdash;to-morrow&mdash;as soon as it is light!
+You&mdash;and you alone&mdash;can induce the Emperor to order
+a revision of the sentence or a new trial. You will&mdash;you
+are all-powerful and divine!"</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon, madame, that is not your true estimate of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a>[<a href="./images/147.png">147</a>]</span>
+Gregory Rasputin," he said, with biting sarcasm. "Only
+a short time ago I was a charlatan and a fraud! No;
+your opinion cannot have altered in so short a time."</p>
+
+<p>"But you&mdash;if you are sent by God to Russia&mdash;will
+never allow an innocent man to be murdered in this
+fashion&mdash;condemned upon the word of a notorious
+woman."</p>
+
+<p>"The affair does not concern me, I assure you," he
+laughed. "If your husband has been condemned to death
+he must have had a fair and impartial trial by his brother
+officers. I am not a military man, and know nothing
+of such matters. If he has been found to be a traitor,"
+added the unholy spy of Germany, "then the sentence
+is just."</p>
+
+<p>"But he is no traitor. He is as patriotic as you
+are yourself, Father! He has ever been so," cried the
+despairing woman.</p>
+
+<p>"I have no means of knowing that," he replied in a
+hard voice, gazing at her with those strange, wide-open
+eyes, and endeavouring to put that spell upon her
+that few women could resist. "Nevertheless, I will
+forgive you, and, further, I will exercise my influence
+to save your husband's life if you will consent to enter
+the circle of our holy disciples."</p>
+
+<p>The desperate young woman held her breath for a
+few seconds, staring at him wildly as upon her knees
+she still knelt, clutching the "saint's" dirty hands.</p>
+
+<p>"No," she replied. "That I will never do."</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin saw that his plot had failed. Here at least
+was one woman over whom he was powerless, one who
+regarded him as a fraud. In an instant he flew into a
+sudden rage.</p>
+
+<p>"Enough!" he cried, throwing her off. "You refuse
+to accept my condition&mdash;therefore your husband shall
+die!"</p>
+
+<p>The wretched woman, her countenance pale as death,
+tried to speak. Her lips moved, but no sound came
+from them. Next moment, by dint of supreme effort, she
+struggled to her feet and rose stiffly. Then, a moment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a>[<a href="./images/148.png">148</a>]</span>
+later, her hands clenched and despair in her splendid
+eyes, she turned and staggered out.</p>
+
+<p>Four hours later Colonel Svetchine boldly faced a
+firing-party in the yard of the fortress. There was a
+word of command, and next second the gallant soldier
+fell forward on his face&mdash;dead.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">traitorous work</span></h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> true story of the tragic death of a Russian civil
+servant named Ivan Naglovski, and of the mysterious
+explosion which destroyed the great munition works at
+Okhta and killed over four hundred and fifty persons
+and injured seven hundred, has never been told.</p>
+
+<p>There have been sinister whisperings in Russia, but
+I am here able to unfold the amazing truth for the
+first time.</p>
+
+<p>I had accompanied Rasputin to the Verkhotursky
+Monastery at Perm; the house in the Gorokhovaya was
+closed, its wooden shutters were fastened, and the
+Empress was desolate without her "holy Father." St&uuml;rmer,
+the Prime Minister, was with the Emperor, daily plotting
+and striving for the betrayal of our nation to the Germans,
+and "Satan in a silk hat"&mdash;as one of the Grand Dukes
+had nicknamed the Minister of the Interior, Protopopoff&mdash;had
+gone on a mission to London, ostensibly in Russian
+interests, but really as a spy of Germany. The latter
+was, of course, not known at the time, for the British
+Government sent him on a tour of munition and other
+centres, showed him what they were preparing, and
+f&ecirc;ted him in London as the representative of their ally.
+We now know that, on his return to Petrograd, he at
+once became violently anti-British, and made a full report
+of all he knew to the Wilhelmstrasse!</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a>[<a href="./images/149.png">149</a>]</span>
+The purpose of the monk's pilgrimage to Perm was
+to form a branch of his believers in that city. He had
+left Petrograd dressed as a pilgrim, with hair-shirt and
+staff complete, and as such he posed to everybody. The
+world, however, did not know that the rooms allotted
+to him in the monastery by the rascally bishop, whom
+he had himself appointed, were the acme of luxury, and
+that in them he held drunken orgies every night.</p>
+
+<p>After we had been there three weeks an Imperial
+courier brought him a letter from Peterhof. It was night,
+and the monk was in an advanced state of intoxication
+with his companions, three other mock-pious rascals like
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>When I handed him the letter he glanced at the
+Imperial cipher on the envelope, and, grinning, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"It is from the Empress. Read out what the woman
+says."</p>
+
+<p>I hesitated, suggesting that it would be better if
+I read it to him in private.</p>
+
+<p>"Bah!" he laughed. "There is nothing private in it.
+Read it, F&eacute;odor."</p>
+
+<p>So, thus ordered, I obeyed. The letter was written
+in Russian, but with mistakes in grammar and orthography,
+for the Empress had never learned to write
+Russian correctly. These are the words I read for the
+delectation of the dissolute quartette:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Holy Father</span>,&mdash;Why have you not written? Why this
+long dead silence when my poor heart is hourly yearning
+for news of you and for your words of comfort?</p>
+
+<p>"I am, alas! weak, but I love you, for you are all in
+all to me. Oh! if I could but hold your dear hand and lay
+my head upon your shoulder! Ah! can I ever forget that
+feeling of perfect peace and blank forgetfulness that I
+experience when you are near me.</p>
+
+<p>"Now that you have gone, life is only one grey sea of
+despair. There was a Court last night, but I did not attend.
+Instead Anna [Madame <ins class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Vyruboya'">Vyrubova</ins>] and I read your sweet
+letters together, and we kissed your picture.</p>
+
+<p>"As I have so often told you, dear Father, I want to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a>[<a href="./images/150.png">150</a>]</span>
+a good daughter of Christ. But oh! it is so difficult. Help
+me, dear Father. Pray for me. Pray always for Alexis
+[the Tsarevitch]. Come back to us at once. Nikki [the
+Tsar] says we cannot endure life without you, for there are
+so many pitfalls before us. For myself, I am longing for
+your return&mdash;longing&mdash;always longing! Without our weekly
+meetings all is gloom&mdash;&mdash;"</p></div>
+
+<p>Here I broke off. What followed ought, I saw, not
+to be read aloud to that trio, who might at any moment
+turn to be enemies of the Starets.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said, smiling in gratification. "The woman
+evidently misses me. It places a woman in her proper
+position to discard her for a while," he added with a
+drunken laugh. "What else does she say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only that they are due to go to Yalta, but that Her
+Majesty awaits your return," I replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Then let her wait. I am very comfortable here.
+Perm is pleasant as a change."</p>
+
+<p>I knew well that he was enjoying himself hugely
+and had already formed a great circle of hysterical women
+who believed in his divinity and practised the rites of his
+disgraceful "religion."</p>
+
+<p>The final words of that amazing letter, which in itself
+showed the terms upon which Alexandra Feodorovna
+was with the convicted horse-stealer from Pokrovsky,
+were as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Here, O dear Father, we have only the everlasting toll
+of war! Germany is winning&mdash;as she will surely win. She
+must. You will see to that! But we must all of us maintain
+a brave face towards our Russian public. In you alone
+I have faith. May God bring you back to us very soon.
+Alexis is asking for you daily. We are due to go to Yalta,
+but shall not move before we meet here. I embrace you, and
+so do Nikki and Anna.&mdash;Your devoted daughter, <span class="smcap">Alix</span>."</p></div>
+
+<p>The unkempt quartette, treating the Empress's expressions
+of affection as a huge joke, filled their glasses
+with champagne and drank heavily again, while Rasputin
+began to regale his "saintly" companions with stories
+of the intimate life of the pro-German Empress.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a>[<a href="./images/151.png">151</a>]</span>
+Truly, it was a gay, dissolute life that the verminous
+rascal was leading at the Verkhotursky Monastery, and
+many were the women over whom he exercised his weird,
+uncanny fascination.</p>
+
+<p>"Believe in me and you will receive God's blessing,"
+was his constant blasphemous declaration to every woman
+whose looks were even passable. "Doubt me and you
+will be damned."</p>
+
+<p>By Russia's millions in the provinces he was looked
+upon as the holy man sent by God to the Tsar. Did
+not the "saint" eat at the Emperor's table, and did he
+not prompt His Majesty in fighting the Germans? None
+ever dreamed that the unkempt miracle-worker, whose
+fascination for women was so astounding, was the secret
+ambassador of the Assassin of Potsdam.</p>
+
+<p>Two of those companions of his nightly drinking
+bouts at Perm were named Rouchine and Yepantchine,
+brawny fellows whose evil life was almost as notorious
+as Rasputin's. Rouchine had been a conjurer before he
+adopted a "holy" life, and by reason of his knowledge of
+magic and illusions he frequently assisted the Starets in
+performing those "miracles" that so astounded the
+mujiks who witnessed them with open mouths.</p>
+
+<p>Whenever things grew a little dull, or Rasputin believed
+that his divinity was being doubted, he would
+calmly announce:</p>
+
+<p>"I have had a vision. Last night the Holy Virgin
+appeared unto me and declared that I must again perform
+a miracle so that the world should be made aware
+that God, through me, is protecting our dear nation
+Russia."</p>
+
+<p>Instantly the news would spread from mouth to mouth&mdash;Rasputin's
+name being forbidden to be mentioned in
+the newspapers&mdash;that the Starets was about to perform a
+miracle, and thousands would assemble in some open
+place, where one of Rouchine's conjuring tricks would
+be performed.</p>
+
+<p>By this time so deeply had Rasputin corrupted the
+Russian Church in its centres of power and administra<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a>[<a href="./images/152.png">152</a>]</span>tion
+that half the highest ecclesiastical dignitaries were
+of his creation, his fellow-thief in Pokrovsky having been
+appointed to a bishopric.</p>
+
+<p>Very naturally, Rasputin had made many enemies.
+His overbearing vanity, his relentlessness in dealing with
+any who stood in his path, and the exposure of his use
+of <i>agents-provocateurs</i> in securing the conviction and
+imprisonment of anyone who displeased him, had aroused
+against him a fierce hatred in certain quarters both in
+Petrograd and Moscow. Many of those who had sworn
+to be avenged were wronged husbands and fathers, a
+number of whom it had been my duty to endeavour to
+pacify even at personal risk to myself as the rascal's
+secretary.</p>
+
+<p>It was while at Perm that Rasputin received news
+that a man named Ivan Naglovski had been in Pokrovsky
+busily inquiring into his past, and interviewing his sister-disciples
+who were living there. Further, it was reported
+that he had been in communication with the monk
+Helidor, a man named Golenkovski, whose young wife
+was a "disciple" in Petrograd, and with Marie Novitski,
+who was preaching loudly against the erotic doctrine
+of the new "religion."</p>
+
+<p>It was plain that Ivan Naglovski was a secret enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Acting upon the monk's instructions I returned to
+Petrograd, and at the headquarters of the Secret Police
+made application that Naglovski's movements should be
+watched. Three days later I was assured that a small
+league of patriotic men and women had been formed,
+with Naglovski at their head, determined to unveil and
+unmask the traitorous rascal who was my employer.</p>
+
+<p>I was compelled to return to Perm and inform Rasputin
+of the result of my investigations. Before doing
+so I went, at Rasputin's instructions by telegraph, to
+Peterhof and was admitted by Madame Vyrubova to the
+Empress's presence.</p>
+
+<p>The handsome woman was resting in a gorgeous
+neglig&eacute;e gown prior to dressing for dinner, but she was
+quickly eager and interested when I explained that I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a>[<a href="./images/153.png">153</a>]</span>
+had come from the monk and was returning to Perm at
+midnight.</p>
+
+<p>"When will the Holy Father's pilgrimage end?" she
+inquired with a sigh. "He has been away weeks, and
+never replies to my letters."</p>
+
+<p>"His time is no doubt fully occupied with constant
+devotion," remarked Anna Vyrubova in excuse.</p>
+
+<p>"The Father is much occupied, Your Majesty," I
+said.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him for me that I am daily longing for his
+return," she said. "But wait. I will write to him and
+you shall convey the letter," at which order I bowed.</p>
+
+<p>"The Father is much troubled and perturbed," I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"About what?" asked Her Majesty.</p>
+
+<p>"He has enemies. Some men and women have
+leagued themselves with the object of doing him harm."</p>
+
+<p>"Harm!" she echoed. "What harm can come to
+him when, being sent to us by God, he is immune from
+any harm that can befall us who are merely human? I
+do not understand."</p>
+
+<p>Her words were in themselves sufficient to reveal
+how completely and implicitly the Empress of Russia believed
+in the pretended divinity of the blasphemous ex-convict.</p>
+
+<p>"All I know, Your Majesty, is that the holy Father
+is unduly perturbed."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! surely he can have no apprehension?" she said.
+"Tell him from me that as Christ had enemies so, of
+course, he has. But his enemies cannot do him injury."
+Then rising and going across to a beautiful buhl escritoire,
+she added: "I will write to him. I sent him another
+letter by messenger only yesterday&mdash;eight letters, and not
+a line of response!"</p>
+
+<p>For ten minutes or so, while the Empress sat writing,
+I chatted with Madame Vyrubova, and gave to her news
+of the monk.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him to return as quickly as possible," the
+woman said in a low, confidential voice. "If there really<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a>[<a href="./images/154.png">154</a>]</span>
+is a plot on foot against him he is safer in Petrograd
+than in Perm. Besides, being on the spot, he will be able
+to combat his enemies with a swift and relentless hand."</p>
+
+<p>As Her Majesty was writing the telephone rang.
+Next moment it was plain that she was speaking with
+the Emperor, who was away at the headquarters of the
+army in Poland.</p>
+
+<p>Having listened to something he told her, she said:</p>
+
+<p>"The holy Father's secretary is here with me. The
+Father still remains at Perm. I am writing him urgently
+asking him to return to us. I wish you also to send a
+messenger to him to induce him to come back to Petrograd.
+You will be back here next Friday, and is it not
+wise to hold another s&eacute;ance next day, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>Then she listened eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" she exclaimed. "I am glad you agree with
+me, Nikki. Yes, let us try and get the Father back by
+Saturday at latest. Good-bye."</p>
+
+<p>And having rung off, she calmly finished the letter and
+secured it with the well-known big seal of black wax.</p>
+
+<p>"Remember," she said as she gave it to me, "the
+Father must be here next Saturday for the s&eacute;ance, which
+the Emperor will attend. He wishes again to consult the
+spirit of his father Alexander. Urge the Father to return
+at once."</p>
+
+<p>I promised to do her bidding, and, retiring, at once
+left the palace, and at midnight was on my way back to
+the far-off town on the Kama.</p>
+
+<p>On the evening of the following day I drove up to the
+monastery and there found Rasputin at dinner with the
+ex-conjurer Rouchine. When I entered the cosy little
+room in which the pair were seated, Rasputin had removed
+his long robe and was seated in his shirt-sleeves like the
+peasant he was. I handed him the letter from the German-born
+Empress, whereupon he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! read it to me, F&eacute;odor. The woman's handwriting
+is always a puzzle to me."</p>
+
+<p>I knew how illiterate he was and the reason of his
+excuse.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a>[<a href="./images/155.png">155</a>]</span>
+I tore open the envelope and quickly scanned the
+scribbled lines.</p>
+
+<p>"No," I replied, "not now, Gregory; later."</p>
+
+<p>"But I insist!" cried the Starets fiercely.</p>
+
+<p>"And I refuse!" was my determined reply. "I have
+reasons."</p>
+
+<p>Those last three words were not lost upon him, for
+Grichka was nothing if not the very acme of shrewdness.
+Not an adventurer or <i>escroc</i> in Europe could compare
+with him in elusiveness.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, F&eacute;odor, if you have reasons, then I know that
+they are sound ones," he said. Then, turning to the
+"holy" conjurer, he grinned and said: "F&eacute;odor is a most
+excellent secretary. So discreet&mdash;too discreet, I often
+think."</p>
+
+<p>"One cannot be too discreet in the present international
+crisis," I remarked. "Enemy eyes and ears
+are open everywhere. One can never be too careful.
+Russia is full of the spies of Germany."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite true, F&eacute;odor&mdash;quite true!" exclaimed Rasputin,
+smiling within himself. "Don't you agree, friend
+Rouchine?"</p>
+
+<p>"Entirely," replied his accomplice, who, though he
+was well paid to assist in working "miracles" before
+the peasants, never dreamed that the Starets, who handed
+him money with such lavish hand, was the chief agent of
+Germany in Russia.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, Rouchine's only son had been killed in the
+advance on Warsaw, hence he held the Hun in abhorrence,
+and I am certain that had he known Rasputin
+was the Kaiser's personal agent matters would have gone
+very differently, and in all probability the enemy plots so
+cleverly connived at by Alexandra Feodorovna would have
+been exposed in those early days of the war.</p>
+
+<p>The Russian nation even to-day still reveres its Tsar.
+They know that he was weak but meant well, and he
+was Russian at heart and intent upon stemming the
+Teutonic tide which flowed across his border. But for
+"the German," Alexandra Feodorovna, not one in all our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a>[<a href="./images/156.png">156</a>]</span>
+Russian millions has a word except an execration or a
+curse, and as accursed by Russia, as is all her breed, she
+will go down in history for the detestation of generations
+of those who will live between the Baltic and the
+Pacific.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin grew indignant because I crushed the
+woman's letter into my pocket without reading it aloud,
+but I knew well how to treat him, therefore I began to
+explain all that I had learnt from the Secret Police concerning
+the activities of Ivan Naglovski.</p>
+
+<p>Both men listened with rapt attention.</p>
+
+<p>"Then the fellow really intends evil?" asked the
+monk, as he laid down a chicken-bone, for he always
+ate with his fingers.</p>
+
+<p>"I fear he does," was my reply. "But Her Majesty
+wonders why you should trouble. She says that you,
+being sent as Russia's saviour, are immune from bodily
+harm."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! but remember when that young fellow shot
+at you and grazed two of your fingers at Minsk," remarked
+the conjurer with a grin.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, quite so. I don't like this fellow Naglovski
+and his friends. I will see Kurloff."</p>
+
+<p>Now, Kurloff was another treacherous bureaucrat, a
+creature of Rasputin's, who sat in Protopopoff's Ministry
+of the Interior, and who later on collected the gangs of
+the "Black Hundred," those hired assassins whom he
+clothed in police uniforms and had instructed in machine-gun
+practice&mdash;those renegades who played such a sinister
+part in the first Revolution.</p>
+
+<p>I then gave the monk the urgent message from the
+Empress.</p>
+
+<p>"Very well," he replied, "I will be back by Saturday;
+not because I obey the woman, but became I must see
+Kurloff, and I must take active steps against this Ivan
+Naglovski and his accursed friends."</p>
+
+<p>Half-an-hour later, when alone in the bare little room
+allotted to me, I took out the Empress's letter to the
+Starets and re-read it. It was as follows:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a>[<a href="./images/157.png">157</a>]</span></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Holy Father</span>,&mdash;It is with deepest concern that from
+your trusted F&eacute;odor I hear of the plot against you. That
+you can be harmed I do not believe. You, sent by God as
+Russia's guide to the bright future of civilisation which
+Germany will bring to her, cannot be harmed by mere
+mortal. But if there are any who dare dispute your divine
+right, then, with our dear St&uuml;rmer, take at once drastic
+steps to crush them.</p>
+
+<p>"We cannot afford to allow evil tongues to speak of us;
+neither can we afford the vulgar scandal that some would
+seek to create. If you, O Father, feel apprehensive, then
+act boldly in the knowledge that you have your devoted
+daughter ever at your side and ever ready and eager to
+place her power as Empress in your dear hands. Therefore
+strike your enemies swiftly and without fear. Lips prepared
+to utter scandal must be, at all costs, silenced.</p>
+
+<p>"Our friend Protopopoff has returned from England and
+tells me that Lloyd George and his friends are exerting
+every effort to win the war. Those British are brave, but,
+oh! if they knew all that we know&mdash;eh? They are in
+ignorance, and will remain so until Germany conquers
+Russia and spreads the blessing of civilisation among the
+people.</p>
+
+<p>"Nikki is returning. A s&eacute;ance is to be held on Saturday.
+You must be back in time. He is sending a messenger to
+you to urge you to return to us to give us comfort in these
+long dark days. Anna and the girls all kiss your dear
+hand.&mdash;Your devoted daughter,&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class="smcap">Alix</span>."</p></div>
+
+<p>On the following day a middle-aged, fair-haired, rather
+well-dressed man, who gave the name of Nicholas Chevitch,
+from Okhta, a suburb of Petrograd, was brought to
+me by the monk who acted as janitor, and explained that
+he had private business with Rasputin.</p>
+
+<p>I left him and, ascending to the monk's room, found
+him extremely anxious to meet his visitor.</p>
+
+<p>"I will see him at once, F&eacute;odor. I have some secret
+business with him. Here is the key of a small locked
+box in your room. Open it and take out ten one-thousand
+rouble notes and bring them to me after you have
+brought in Chevitch."</p>
+
+<p>This I did. Having admitted the visitor to Rasputin's
+presence, I opened the small iron box which the
+Starets always carried in his supposed "pilgrimages,"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a>[<a href="./images/158.png">158</a>]</span>
+and took out the money, leaving in it a sum of about
+twelve thousand roubles.</p>
+
+<p>The ten thousand I carried to Rasputin, but as I
+opened the door I heard the fair-haired man say:</p>
+
+<p>"All is prepared. The wire is laid across the river.
+We tested it five days ago and it works excellently."</p>
+
+<p>"Good! Ah, here is my secretary F&eacute;odor!" the
+monk exclaimed. "He has the ten thousand roubles
+for you, and there will be a further ten thousand on the
+day your plan matures."</p>
+
+<p>I wondered to what plan the Starets was referring.
+But being compelled to retire I remained in ignorance.
+The man Chevitch stayed with the monk for over an
+hour, and then left to return to the capital.</p>
+
+<p>Later on I referred to the visit of the stranger, whereupon
+Rasputin laughed grimly, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"You will hear some news in a day or two, my dear
+F&eacute;odor. Petrograd will be startled."</p>
+
+<p>"How?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind," he replied. "Wait!"</p>
+
+<p>We arrived back in Petrograd on the following Friday
+morning, but although the Empress sent a messenger to
+the Gorokhovaya urging the monk to go to Peterhof at
+once, as she desired to consult him, he disregarded her
+command and did not even vouchsafe a reply. Indeed,
+Rasputin treated the poor half-demented Empress with
+such scant courtesy that I often stood aghast.</p>
+
+<p>"The woman is an idiot!" he would often exclaim
+to me petulantly when she was unusually persistent in
+her demands.</p>
+
+<p>Next evening, however, we went to the palace, whither
+another French medium, a man named Fournier, had
+been summoned, having, of course, been administered
+palm-oil to the tune of some thousands of roubles to
+give a "message from the dead" in the terms required
+by the wire-pullers in Potsdam.</p>
+
+<p>I was not present at the s&eacute;ance, but later that night,
+when Rasputin was sitting alone with me over a bottle
+of champagne which an "Araby" flunkey had brought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a>[<a href="./images/159.png">159</a>]</span>
+him, he revealed that the "message" from the Tsar's
+dead father had been precise and much to the point.</p>
+
+<p>"Nicholas, I speak unto thee," the spirit had said.
+"Though thou art brave and thine armies are brave, yet
+thine enemies will still encompass thee. Loss will follow
+upon loss. The great advance will soon become a retreat,
+and the hordes of William will dash forward and
+Poland will become German. Yet do not be afraid.
+Trust in the good counsel of thy wife Alexandra Feodorovna
+and in thy Father Rasputin, whom Heaven hath
+sent to thee. Believe no evil word of him, and let his
+enemies be swept from his path. Such is my message to
+thee, O my son!"</p>
+
+<p>As Rasputin repeated those words with mock
+solemnity, he laughed grimly.</p>
+
+<p>The pity of it was that Nicholas, Tsar of All the
+Russias, believed in those paid-for messages, uttered
+by those presented to him as mediums and able to call
+up the spirit of his lamented father.</p>
+
+<p>"Poor idiot!" Rasputin remarked, first glancing to
+see that the door was closed. "He must have something
+to occupy his shallow brain. That is why the Empress
+arranges the sittings. But F&eacute;odor," he added, "I
+must see this enemy of mine, Ivan Naglovski. He is
+not a person to be disregarded, and it seems from what
+you told me he has a number of important friends. We
+will discuss the matter to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>He afterwards dismissed me with a wave of his dirty
+hand, and I retired to bed in a room at the farther end
+of the long softly carpeted corridor.</p>
+
+<p>At noon next day we had news of a terrible disaster.
+Precisely at half-past eleven the city of Petrograd had
+been shaken to its foundations by a terrific explosion,
+followed by half a dozen others, which shattered windows
+and blew down signs and chimneys in all parts of the
+city. At first everyone stood aghast as explosion followed
+explosion. Then it transpired that the great munition
+works at Okhta, across the Neva, opposite the
+Smolny Monastery, had suddenly blown up, and that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a>[<a href="./images/160.png">160</a>]</span>
+hundreds of workers had been killed and maimed and
+the whole of the newly-constructed plant wrecked beyond
+repair.</p>
+
+<p>I was just entering Rasputin's room at the palace
+when a flunkey told me the news.</p>
+
+<p>When a moment later I informed the Starets he
+smiled evilly, remarking:</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! Then that further ten thousand roubles is due
+to Nicholas Chevitch. If he calls when we return to
+Petrograd this afternoon, you must pay him, F&eacute;odor. He
+has done his work well. Russia will be crippled for munitions
+for some time to come."</p>
+
+<p>On our return to Petrograd we found the city in the
+greatest state of excitement. The succession of explosions
+had caused the people to suspect that the disaster
+was not due to an accident, as the authorities were fondly
+declaring, but the wilful act of the enemy. Rasputin
+heard the rumour and piously declared his sympathy with
+the poor victims.</p>
+
+<p>Yet we had not been back at the Gorokhovaya an
+hour when the man Chevitch called, and at the monk's
+orders I handed him the balance of his blood-money.</p>
+
+<p>That same evening Hardt, the secret messenger from
+Berlin, arrived, having travelled by way of Ab&ouml;, in Finland.</p>
+
+<p>"I have a very urgent despatch for the Father," he
+said when he was ushered in to me, and he handed me a
+letter upon strong but flimsy paper, so that it could be
+the more easily concealed in transit.</p>
+
+<p>At once I took him up to the monk, who was washing
+his hands in his bedroom.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, dear friend Hardt!" exclaimed the Starets,
+greeting him warmly. "And you are straight from
+Berlin! Well, how goes it, eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Excellently well," was the reply of the messenger
+from the Secret Service Department in the K&ouml;niggr&auml;tzerstrasse.
+"Germany relies upon you to assist us, as we
+know you are doing. Count von Wedell has sent you a
+letter, which I have handed to your friend F&eacute;odor."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a>[<a href="./images/161.png">161</a>]</span>
+"Read it, F&eacute;odor," said the monk. "There are no
+secrets in it that may be hidden from our dear friend
+Hardt."</p>
+
+<p>He spoke the truth. Hardt was the confidential messenger
+who passed between the Emperor William and
+Alexandra Feodorovna, and nowadays he was travelling
+to and fro to Germany always, notwithstanding that
+Russia was at war with her neighbour.</p>
+
+<p>At Rasputin's bidding I tore open the letter, but found
+it to be written in cipher.</p>
+
+<p>Therefore I sat down at the little desk and at once
+commenced to decode it. It was in the German spy-cipher,
+the same used all over the world by German secret
+agents&mdash;the most simple yet at the same time the most
+marvellous and complicated code that the world has
+ever known.</p>
+
+<p>The keys to the code were in twelve sentences that
+one committed to memory. Hence no code-book need ever
+be carried. The cipher message, in its introduction, told
+its recipient the number of the sentences being used&mdash;a
+most ingenious mode of correspondence.</p>
+
+<p>With the paper before me I discovered that in sentence
+number eight I would find the key. The sentence in
+question, a proverb something like "Faint heart never
+won fair lady," I wrote down, and then at once began to
+decipher the cryptic message from Berlin.</p>
+
+<p>And I read out the following:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Memorandum No. 43,286.</span></p>
+
+<p class="figcenter">"From No. 70 to the Holy Father.</p>
+
+<p>"If the blowing up of the Okhta Munition Works is
+successful, endeavour to get your friend C. [Chevitch] to do
+similar work at the new explosive factory at Olonetz, where
+a sub-inspector named Lemeneff is one of our friends. Tell
+this to C. and let them get into touch with each other.</p>
+
+<p>"We approve of C.'s suggestion to destroy the battleship
+<i>Cheliabinsk</i>, and it is suggested that this be carried out at
+the same price paid for Okhta.</p>
+
+<p>"From what we are informed you are in some danger
+from a man named Naglovski, who has shown himself far
+too curious concerning you of late. Steps should be taken
+against him.&mdash;Greetings,&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;W."</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a>[<a href="./images/162.png">162</a>]</span>
+The initial, I knew, stood for von Wedell, one of the
+directors at the K&ouml;niggr&auml;tzerstrasse.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin heard me through, and, taking the cipher
+message, applied a match to it, after which Hardt, having
+swallowed a glass of vodka, left us.</p>
+
+<p>But the monk, as a result of that message, was at
+once aroused to evil activity, and by means of a clever
+ruse invited Ivan Naglovski to dinner next day. He
+accepted, hoping, of course, to discover more concerning
+the monk, and quite unconscious that Rasputin knew of
+his hostile intentions. To dinner there were invited the
+Prime Minister, Boris St&uuml;rmer, and a sycophant of his
+named Sikstel. St&uuml;rmer was in uniform and Sikstel in
+civilian attire. Naglovski, I found, was a youngish man,
+who, when I introduced him, appeared highly honoured to
+meet at Rasputin's table the Prime Minister of Russia,
+while the monk went out of his way to ingratiate himself
+with his enemy. Naglovski and his friends had been preparing
+a plot either to expose or assassinate the monk,
+hence the head of the conspiracy was congratulating himself
+that the plot was unsuspected by anybody.</p>
+
+<p>The dinner passed off quite merrily until, of a sudden,
+St&uuml;rmer, addressing his fellow-guest, said:</p>
+
+<p>"News has been conveyed to the holy Father that
+you and your friends have formed a plot against him.
+Is that true?"</p>
+
+<p>Naglovski started and turned pale. For a moment
+he was taken entirely off his guard.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah!" went on St&uuml;rmer in his deep, thick voice,
+Rasputin having risen to go to the sideboard, "I see it
+is true. Now, what can you gain by endeavouring to belittle
+the efforts of our dear Father for the salvation of
+Russia? Think. Are you patriots? No. Well," he
+went on, "the reason the Father has invited you here to-night
+is to come to terms with you. For a list of your
+friends&mdash;a secret list that will be afterwards destroyed&mdash;the
+Starets will pay you twenty thousand roubles, and,
+further, I will give you a diplomatic appointment in one
+of the embassies abroad&mdash;wherever you desire."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a>[<a href="./images/163.png">163</a>]</span>
+"What!" cried the young man. "You ask me to
+betray my friends to that blasphemous rascal!" and he
+pointed his finger at Rasputin, who moved aside.
+"Never! I refuse! And, further, I tell you," he
+shouted, rising as he spoke, "I intend to expose the
+mock-saint and his conjuring tricks; the criminal miracle-worker
+who, according to secret information I have just
+received, was the actual instigator of the terrible disaster
+at Okhta. This is what my friends, when I reveal to
+them the truth, will expose."</p>
+
+<p>As Ivan Naglovski uttered his biting condemnation
+Rasputin had crept up behind him, and drawing his revolver
+suddenly cried in a loud voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Enough! You don't leave this house alive. Gregory
+Rasputin knows how to crush his enemies, never fear.
+All your friends will share your fate. Take that!"</p>
+
+<p>And he fired, the bullet striking the unfortunate man
+in the back, where it entered a vital spot.</p>
+
+<p>Two hours later the body of Ivan Naglovski was discovered
+on some waste ground out at Kushelevka, on the
+other side of the city. Though the Director of Secret
+Police guessed what had occurred, he pretended that it
+was a complete and unfathomable mystery&mdash;and a
+mystery it has ever remained until this present exposure.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">poison plots that failed</span></h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">By</span> the spring of 1916 Rasputin, though constantly revealing
+himself as a blasphemous blackguard, had become
+the greatest power in Russia.</p>
+
+<p>His name was whispered by the awe-stricken people.
+All Russia, from the Empress down to the most illiterate
+mujik, accepted him as divine and swallowed any lie
+he might utter.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a>[<a href="./images/164.png">164</a>]</span>
+The weekly meetings of the "sister-disciples" were
+becoming more popular than ever in Petrograd society,
+and there were many converts to the new "religion."</p>
+
+<p>One evening a reunion for recruiting purposes was
+held by the old Baroness Guerbel at her big house in
+the Potemkinskaya. The yellow-toothed, loud-speaking
+old lady had been persistent in her appeals to Rasputin
+to hold one of his meetings at her house, and he had,
+with ill-grace, acceded. On fully a dozen occasions
+the baroness, who was a close friend of old Countess
+Ignatieff, had interviewed me and endeavoured to enlist
+my services on her behalf. At last the monk had said
+to me:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, F&eacute;odor, if the old hag is so very persistent,
+I suppose I had better spend an evening at her house
+and inspect her lady friends."</p>
+
+<p>Thus it had been arranged, the "saint" little dreaming
+of the outcome of that fateful reunion.</p>
+
+<p>It seems that Baroness Guerbel had arranged it
+because she wished to introduce to Rasputin a certain
+Madame Yatchevski&mdash;the wife of an officer who was very
+rich&mdash;who saw that, by Rasputin's influence, she could
+aspire to a position at Court.</p>
+
+<p>Olga Yatchevski proved to be a pretty, fair-haired
+little woman of girlish figure and sweet expression, and
+from the moment of their introduction the unkempt monk,
+after crossing himself and uttering a benediction, became
+greatly interested in her, the result being that she became
+an "aspirant," and her initiation into the secrets
+of the cult was arranged to take place on the following
+Wednesday.</p>
+
+<p>The meeting ended, the dozen or so neurotic women,
+all of them of the highest society in the capital, each
+bent and kissed the unwashed hand of Russia's "saviour,"
+as was their habit, and when they had gone the monk
+sat down and drank half a bottle of brandy served to
+him by his ugly old hostess.</p>
+
+<p>Next night I happened to be out at the theatre when
+Rasputin, who was alone, emerged to walk round to a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a>[<a href="./images/165.png">165</a>]</span>
+professional blackmailer named Ivan Scheseleff, who lived
+in the Rozhsky Prospekt. Suddenly he was set upon
+by three Cossacks&mdash;afterwards found to have been men
+hired by Madame Yatchevski's husband&mdash;who, hustling
+the "saint" into a narrow side street, gagged him,
+stripped him of the silk blouse embroidered by the
+Tsaritza's own hands, his wide velvet breeches, and his
+beautiful boots of patent leather.</p>
+
+<p>Then they drew a knout and administered to the
+rascal a sound drubbing, afterwards binding him with
+rope and shutting him up in a neighbouring stableyard,
+attired only in his underwear!</p>
+
+<p>His clothes they packed up in a cardboard box and
+delivered to Yatchevski, who, having sealed it, sent it
+by special messenger to Tsarskoe-Selo, where it was
+delivered into the Empress's own hands.</p>
+
+<p>Alexandra Feodorovna, on having it opened and discovering
+the insult to her "holy Father," waxed furious.
+Meanwhile, Rasputin had been discovered, and was at
+home foaming at the mouth at the indignity. He, "the
+saviour of Russia," had been thrashed and degraded!</p>
+
+<p>At two o'clock that morning he took a car to the
+palace, and I accompanied him. He had an interview
+with Her Majesty, who was attired in a rich dressing-gown
+of pale-blue silk, and the pair resolved upon a
+rigid inquiry regarding the affair.</p>
+
+<p>"It is monstrous that you, our dear Father, should
+have such enemies about you! We will crush them!"
+she declared angrily. "I will see Nikki about it in the
+morning. To send me your clothes is a personal insult
+to myself. It is abominable! These people shall suffer!"</p>
+
+<p>That night we remained at the palace, and next
+morning Protopopoff was called from Petrograd and informed
+by the Empress of what had occurred. Later the
+Minister came to the room wherein I was writing at the
+monk's dictation, and promised that the whole of the
+machinery of the Secret Police should be set in motion
+to discover the perpetrators of the outrage.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin knew that many of the husbands of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a>[<a href="./images/166.png">166</a>]</span>
+devotees were enraged against him; therefore he could
+not, at the moment, suggest any particular person who
+had plotted the affair, and probably the police would
+have failed to obtain any information had not Captain
+Yatchevski himself boasted in the Officers' Club of how
+he had had the Tsaritza's pet "saint" stripped and
+thrashed.</p>
+
+<p>In Petrograd the very walls had ears; therefore within
+three hours the "saint" knew the identity of the instigator
+of the outrage, and gave his name to the
+Empress.</p>
+
+<p>"We will make an example of him," she said. "Otherwise
+it may be repeated. I leave it to you, dear Father,
+to take what reprisals you wish. In any course you
+adopt you will have the full authority of both Nikki
+and myself."</p>
+
+<p>For nearly a week Rasputin was undecided as to
+how he should wreak vengeance upon the unfortunate
+Yatchevski, whose wife had by this time become one
+of the monk's most devoted "sisters."</p>
+
+<p>On two or three occasions he went to the Minister of
+War and chatted with the traitor, General Soukhomlinoff.</p>
+
+<p>Once he remarked to me, after a meeting of the
+"disciples" at our house in the Gorokhovaya:</p>
+
+<p>"That captain shall pay&mdash;and pay dearly&mdash;for his
+insult! Think!&mdash;only think of it, F&eacute;odor&mdash;of sending my
+clothes to Her Majesty! What must she have thought!
+To me it seems that she doubts whether I can take
+care of myself. And am I not inspired, divine!&mdash;sent
+as the saviour of Russia, and immune from the attacks
+of mankind!"</p>
+
+<p>His subtle mujik mind clearly saw the bad impression
+which must be produced upon the woman who was so
+completely beneath the thraldom of his hypnotic eyes.
+If he could be beaten as a charlatan, then such action
+of his enemies must naturally create a doubt in her mind.
+Hence he was scheming to exhibit his power.</p>
+
+<p>The worst feature of the position was that from
+the Officers' Club the incident had leaked out all over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a>[<a href="./images/167.png">167</a>]</span>
+Petrograd, until it had become common talk in the caf&eacute;s.
+The story of Grichka sitting upon a dung-heap was
+on the lips of everybody, while a well-known member
+of the Duma remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"A pity he was not buried in it, never to see the
+light of day again!"</p>
+
+<p>Yatchevski was, of course, unconscious of the knowledge
+held by the monk. He was at the Ministry of
+War, head of one of its many departments, a loyal
+patriotic Russian, who, like our millions, believed that
+Soukhomlinoff was "out to win." He was ignorant of
+the irresistible power which the dirty "saint" could wield.</p>
+
+<p>One day, to Captain Yatchevski's delight, he found
+himself raised in rank and appointed military commandant
+of the town of Kaluga, south of Moscow, with permission
+to take his wife to reside there. Naturally he was
+gratified to receive so influential an appointment. Though
+possessed of much money, he had hitherto not progressed
+very far in his official career, and this favour shown
+him by the Tsar, who had made the appointment, pleased
+him immensely.</p>
+
+<p>His wife, of course, felt otherwise. She would be
+separated from her gay friends, the "sisters" of the
+monk's "religion." Besides, she saw that by entering
+Rasputin's cult there was a prospect of becoming on
+terms of personal friendship with the Empress.</p>
+
+<p>Anyhow, a week later Olga Yatchevski, having bidden
+farewell to the monk, was forced to depart with her
+husband to the important town of Kaluga, and for a
+fortnight I heard nothing.</p>
+
+<p>One morning, however, the monk received a certain
+General Nicholas Ganetski, of the Imperial General Staff,
+when, without much preamble, the officer remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"The warning you gave us concerning Yatchevski has
+proved quite true. He has been in communication with
+a German agent in Riga named Kl&ouml;ss."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! I was quite certain of it, General," remarked
+the "holy" man, with a sinister grin. "I discovered
+it quite by accident. Well, what have you done?"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a>[<a href="./images/168.png">168</a>]</span>
+"He and his wife are both under preventive arrest,
+pending an Imperial order. The papers we seized are
+conclusive. Among them was the enemy spy code. The
+whole case is quite clear, and there can be no defence."</p>
+
+<p>"Then there will be a court-martial?"</p>
+
+<p>"Of course. I have ordered it to be held on the
+seventeenth, in Moscow."</p>
+
+<p>"They are both clever agents of Germany," the monk
+remarked. "Be careful that they do not slip through
+your fingers."</p>
+
+<p>"No fear of that, Father," replied the general.
+"Possession of the German code is in itself sufficient
+to secure them conviction and sentence."</p>
+
+<p>The latter was indeed pronounced ten days later.
+The little fair-haired woman, who was so devoted to
+Rasputin, and who frantically appealed to him in vain
+to save her, was sentenced to imprisonment for life at
+Yakutsk, in Eastern Siberia, while her husband, condemned
+for treason, was next day shot in a barrack
+square behind the Kremlin in Moscow.</p>
+
+<p>Truly, Gregory the Monk swept with drastic and
+relentless hand any enemy who crossed his path.</p>
+
+<p>It was about a week after I heard of the execution
+of the Governor of Kaluga that I happened to be at
+Tsarskoe-Selo again with my evil-faced master, being
+busy writing in the luxurious little room allotted to him.</p>
+
+<p>Madame Vyrubova had been with us, discussing the
+condition of health of the heir to the throne, when,
+after she had left, there entered quite unexpectedly the
+Emperor himself.</p>
+
+<p>"Gregory," he said, standing by the window, attired
+in the rather faded navy serge suit he sometimes wore
+when busy in his private cabinet, "I have been told
+to-day that the Holy Synod are once again agitating
+against you. From what St&uuml;rmer has said an hour ago
+it appears that the Church has become jealous of your
+friendship with my wife and myself. I really cannot
+understand this. Why should it be so? As our divine
+guide in the war against our relentless enemies, we look<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a>[<a href="./images/169.png">169</a>]</span>
+to you to lead us along the path of victory. Alexandra
+Feodorovna has been telling me to-day some strange
+tales of subtle intrigue, and how the Church is uniting
+to endeavour to destroy your popularity with the people
+and your position here at our Court."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast it in thy power to judge me by my works,"
+was the monk's grave reply, crossing himself piously and
+repeating a benediction beneath his breath. "Gregory
+is but the servant of the Almighty God, sent unto thee
+to guide and direct thee and thy nation against those
+who seek to destroy and dismember the Empire. Cannot
+I have the names of those of the Church who are
+seeking my downfall? Surely it is but just to myself
+if thou wouldst furnish them to me? Personally, I
+entertain no hope."</p>
+
+<p>"No hope!" cried the Tsar, starting. "What do
+you mean, Father? Explain."</p>
+
+<p>"No hope of victory for Russia, surrounded as she
+is on all sides by those who are conspiring to do thee
+evil. Against thee the Church is ever plotting. As
+Starets&mdash;I know!"</p>
+
+<p>"And the Procurator?"</p>
+
+<p>"He is thy friend."</p>
+
+<p>"And the Bishop Teofan? Surely he is not a
+traitor?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. For years I have known him. Trust Teofan,
+but make an end of the ecclesiastical camarilla which
+is against thee."</p>
+
+<p>"How can I? I do not know them?" was the
+Emperor's reply.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell thee plainly that if matters are allowed to
+proceed, the Church, suborned by German gold as it is,
+will contrive to defeat our arms. Hence it behoves
+thee to act&mdash;and act immediately!"</p>
+
+<p>The Tsar, his hands in the pockets of his jacket,
+stood silent.</p>
+
+<p>"Because by divine grace I possess the power of
+healing, thy Church is jealous of me," Rasputin went
+on. "The Holy Synod is seeking my overthrow! Always<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a>[<a href="./images/170.png">170</a>]</span>
+have I acted for the benefit of mankind. But the
+Russian Church seeks to drive me forth. Therefore, I
+must bow to the inevitable&mdash;and I will depart!"</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, no, Gregory! We cannot spare you, our dear
+Father," declared the Emperor. "This ecclesiastical
+interference we will tolerate no longer. You must help
+me. I give carte blanche to you to dismiss those of
+the Church who are disloyal and your enemies and mine,
+and replace them by those who are our friends, and
+in whom I can place my trust."</p>
+
+<p>"In the sweeping clean of the Church thou wilt find
+many surprises," replied the monk, elated at the success
+of his clever reasoning.</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt. I know that the Empress and myself
+are surrounded by enemies. Plots are everywhere. Is
+not Protopopoff continuous in his declaration that the
+Church is against me? I know it&mdash;alas! too well. And
+I leave its reformation entirely to you, dear Father."</p>
+
+<p>Reformation! Within twelve hours Rasputin, who
+dictated to me over fifty letters, and had, in the name
+of the Emperor, dismissed most of the higher Church
+dignitaries in various parts of Russia, the new Procurator
+of the Holy Synod having been appointed by
+him only a few weeks before.</p>
+
+<p>Bishop Teofan, who had commenced life as a gardener,
+who had been convicted as a criminal by the
+court of Tobolsk, and whose sister was a "disciple" at
+Pokrovsky, held a long conference with the "saint"
+lasting well into the night. Truly, they were the most
+precious pair of unholy scoundrels in all Europe, both
+being in the immediate entourage of Their Majesties,
+and both pretending to lead "holy" lives, though they
+were gloriously drunk each evening.</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless, within forty-eight hours of Rasputin's
+conversation with the Tsar, the Church of Russia had
+been swept clean of all its loyal adherents, and in their
+places&mdash;even in the bishoprics of Kazan, Tver and Odessa&mdash;were
+appointed alcoholic rascals of the same calibre
+as Rasputin himself.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a>[<a href="./images/171.png">171</a>]</span>
+Is it, then, any wonder that Holy Russia has fallen?</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, the new bishop of Kazan was, three days
+after his appointment, found one night riotously drunk
+in one of the principal streets in the city, and, as he
+was wearing ordinary clothes, was arrested by the police,
+who did not recognise him, so that the precious prelate
+spent the night in a cell! Such was our dear Russia in
+the midst of her valiant struggle against the Hun!</p>
+
+<p>My dissolute master, possessed as he was of superhuman
+cunning, held the Empire in the hollow of his
+hand. He could make or break the most powerful
+statesman within a single day. In that small fireproof
+safe of his, concealed beneath the floor of the wine-cellar
+at the Gorokhovaya&mdash;that safe in which were
+preserved so many amorous letters from neurotic women
+whom the monk intended later on to blackmail&mdash;was
+also much documentary evidence of the "saint's" vile
+plots, correspondence which, later on, fell into the hands
+of the revolutionary party, who revealed only a portion
+of it after Rasputin's tragic end.</p>
+
+<p>Possessed of inordinate greed, the monk had a mania
+for amassing wealth, yet what really became of his money
+was to me always a mystery. Though he would have
+a balance of a million or so roubles at his bank to-day,
+yet the day after to-morrow his pass-book showed payments
+of mysterious sums, which would deplete his funds
+until often he had perhaps but a single thousand roubles.</p>
+
+<p>Into what channel went all that money which he
+received for bribery, for creating appointments, and for
+suggesting that young men of good family should be
+given sinecures, I was never able to discover.</p>
+
+<p>Personally, I believe he paid certain persons whose
+wives were "disciples" hush-money. But his power was
+such that I could never see why he should do so. Yet
+the mujik mind always works in a mysterious way.</p>
+
+<p>The true facts concerning the desperate conspiracy
+against Generals Brusiloff and Korniloff have never been
+told, though several French writers have attempted to
+reveal them, and the revolutionists themselves have en<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a>[<a href="./images/172.png">172</a>]</span>deavoured
+to delve into the mystery. As secretary to
+the Starets, I am able to disclose the actual and most
+amazing truth.</p>
+
+<p>It will be remembered by my readers that General
+Brusiloff, early in June, 1916, had his four armies well
+in hand, and made a superhuman effort to defeat the
+Central Powers between the Pripet and the Roumanian
+frontier. He was a fearless and brilliant tactician, and
+within two months had succeeded in capturing 7,757
+officers and 350,845 men, with 805 guns&mdash;and remember
+that this was in face of all the obstacles that the
+Minister of War, who was working with Rasputin as
+Germany's friend, had placed in his way.</p>
+
+<p>Brusiloff had done splendidly. No Russian general
+has eclipsed him in this war. He performed miracles of
+strategy, and Berlin had very naturally become genuinely
+alarmed. All their negotiations with St&uuml;rmer, Protopopoff,
+Rasputin and others of the "Black Force" had
+apparently been of no avail. They had staked millions
+of roubles, but without much result. Our armies were
+advancing, and the combined German and Austrian
+forces were daily being entrapped into the marshes or
+forced back.</p>
+
+<p>Even Rasputin realised the seriousness of the position,
+and more than once referred to it.</p>
+
+<p>Early one morning, before I was up, Hardt, the
+secret messenger from Berlin, arrived.</p>
+
+<p>After greeting me, he informed me that he had an
+urgent secret despatch for the Father&mdash;to be delivered
+only into his own hands. Therefore I at once conducted
+the travel-worn messenger to Rasputin's bedroom,
+where he delivered a crumpled letter from the belt which
+he wore next his skin.</p>
+
+<p>"Read it to me, F&eacute;odor," said the "saint," sitting up
+in bed and rubbing his eyes after a drunken sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Opening it, I found it to be in a code in what was known
+as "Sentence number seven"&mdash;words which, truth to tell,
+spelt an ancient Russian proverb, which translated into
+English means: "Actions befit men; words befit women."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a>[<a href="./images/173.png">173</a>]</span>
+Taking a pencil, I sat down, and after ten minutes
+or so, during which time the monk chatted with Hardt,
+I succeeded in deciphering the message, which ran as
+follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>"T. F. 6,823&mdash;88.</p>
+
+<p>"Memorandum from 'No. 70.'&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<i>Secret and Private.</i></p>
+
+<p>"Further to the memorandum F. G. 2,734&mdash;22, it is deemed
+of greatest and most immediate importance that the Pripet
+offensive should at once cease. You will recollect that in
+your reply you made a promise that the offensive was to be
+turned into a defeat within fourteen days. But this has not
+been done, and a certain Personage [the Kaiser] is greatly
+dissatisfied.</p>
+
+<p>"The advance must not continue, and we send you
+further secret instructions, herewith enclosed. Lose no time
+in carrying them out.</p>
+
+<p>"We hope you have not overlooked the instructions contained
+in F. G. 2,734&mdash;22, especially regarding the destruction
+of the munition factories at Vologda and Bologoye. It
+is a pity you have allowed K. [Kartzoff, who blew up the
+explosive works at Viborg, where four hundred lives were
+lost] to be shot. He was extremely useful. The woman
+Raevesky, who was his assistant, was not in love with him,
+as you reported. She would have assisted him further if
+allowed her liberty. We wonder you were not more correctly
+informed. Payment of 500,000 roubles will be made to your
+bank on the 18th from Melnitzzki and Company of Nijni
+Novgorod.&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;S."</p></div>
+
+<p>Enclosed was a sheet of pale yellow paper, upon
+which had been typed in Russian the following:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<i>Secret Instructions.</i>&mdash;(1) You are to double the promised
+payment to Nicholas Meder and Irene Feischer for the
+blowing up of the works at Vologda and Bologoye, on condition
+that the affair is carried out within fourteen days of
+the receipt of this. If not, arrange with your friend P.
+[Protopopoff] to have both arrested with incriminating
+papers upon them. They may become dangerous to us
+unless implicated.</p>
+
+<p>"(2) As you have failed to carry out the plans against
+Generals Brusiloff and Korniloff, then you must adopt other
+means against both generals, and thus ensure a lull upon the
+frontier. We note that the attempt made by Brusiloff's
+body-servant, Ivan Sawvitch, has unfortunately failed.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a>[<a href="./images/174.png">174</a>]</span>
+"The bearer of this will hand you a small packet. It
+contains two tubes of white powder. Peter Tchernine, who
+has succeeded Sawvitch as the general's servant, is to be
+trusted. You will send the tube marked No. 1 to him in
+secret at General Headquarters, with orders to mix the
+contents with the powdered sugar which the general is in
+the habit of taking with stewed fruit. The slightest trace
+of the powder will result in death from a cause which it will
+be impossible for the doctors to identify.</p>
+
+<p>"(3) A young dancer at the Bouffes named Nada
+Tsourikoff, living in the Garnovskaya, will call upon you
+for the tube marked No. 2. She is a close friend of General
+Korniloff, and is about to join him at headquarters at our
+orders. She has already her instructions as to the use of
+the tube. The two deaths will be entirely different, therefore
+doctors will never suspect.</p>
+
+<p>"At all hazards the offensive must be ended. Greetings.</p>
+<p class="fsc">"S."&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;</p></div>
+
+<p>After I had read the instructions Hardt produced a
+box of Swedish safety matches, which he emptied upon
+the table, and among them we saw two tiny tubes of glass
+hermetically sealed, one containing a white chalk-like
+powder and numbered "1," while the other was half filled
+with pale green powder and marked "2." These he
+handed to the monk, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"I will use your telephone, if I may? I have to ask
+the young woman Nada Tsourikoff to call here to see
+you."</p>
+
+<p>The monk having granted permission, Hardt, passing
+into the study, was soon speaking with the popular young
+dancer of the Bouffes.</p>
+
+<p>"You will call here at noon, eh?" he asked, to which
+she gave a response in the affirmative.</p>
+
+<p>Punctually at twelve I was informed that a young
+lady, who refused her name, desired to have an urgent
+interview with the Starets, and on going to the waiting-room,
+wherein so many of the fair sex sat daily in patience
+for the Father to receive them, I found a tall, willowy,
+dark-haired and exceedingly handsome girl, who, after
+inquiring if I were F&eacute;odor Rajevski, told me that her
+name was Tsourikoff and that she had been sent to see the
+Father.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a>[<a href="./images/175.png">175</a>]</span>
+Without delay I introduced her to the "holy" man,
+who stood with his hands crossed over his breast in his
+most pious attitude.</p>
+
+<p>"My daughter, you have, I believe, been sent to me
+by our mutual friend," he said. "You wish for something?
+Here it is," and he produced a small oblong
+cardboard box such as jewellers use for men's scarf-pins.
+Opening it, he showed her the tiny tube reposing in pink
+cotton wool. "It is a little present for somebody, eh?"
+he asked with a sinister laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps," replied the girl as she took it and placed
+it carefully in the black silk vanity-bag she was carrying.</p>
+
+<p>"You have already received instructions through another
+channel?" inquired Rasputin.</p>
+
+<p>"I have, O Father," was her reply.</p>
+
+<p>"Then be extremely careful of it. Let not a grain of
+it touch you," he said. "I am ordered to tell you that."</p>
+
+<p>She promised to exercise the greatest care.</p>
+
+<p>"And when you have fulfilled your mission come to me
+again," he said, fixing her with his sinister, hypnotic
+eyes, beneath the cold intense gaze of which I saw that
+she was trembling. "Remember that!&mdash;perform what is
+expected of you fearlessly, but with complete discretion,
+and instantly on your return to Petrograd call here and
+report to me."</p>
+
+<p>The girl promised, and then, kissing the dirty paw
+which the monk held out to her, she withdrew.</p>
+
+<p>"Good-looking&mdash;extremely good-looking, F&eacute;odor," the
+monk remarked as soon as she had gone. "She might be
+very useful to me in the near future." Then after a
+pause he added: "Ring up His Excellency the Minister
+of War and ask where Brusiloff is at the present
+moment."</p>
+
+<p>I did so, and after a short wait found myself talking
+to General Soukhomlinoff, who told me that the Russian
+commander was that day at headquarters at Minsk.</p>
+
+<p>When I told the monk, he said: "You must go there
+at once, F&eacute;odor, and carry the little tube to the Cossack
+Peter Tchernine, who is now Brusiloff's body-servant."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"></a>[<a href="./images/176.png">176</a>]</span>
+"I!" I gasped, startled at the suggestion that I
+should be chosen to convey death to our gallant commander.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. And pray why not? Someone whom I can
+trust must act as messenger. And I trust you above all
+men, F&eacute;odor."</p>
+
+<p>For a moment I hesitated.</p>
+
+<p>Then I thanked him for his expression of confidence,
+but he at once noticed the reluctance which I had endeavoured
+to conceal.</p>
+
+<p>"Surely, F&eacute;odor, you are not hesitating to perform
+this service for the Fatherland? Think of all the sacrifices
+we are making to bring the benefit of German civilisation
+into Russia," added the pious scoundrel.</p>
+
+<p>"I will go&mdash;certainly I will go," I said. "But I cannot
+leave to-day. I shall require papers from the
+Ministry ere I can travel."</p>
+
+<p>"His Excellency the General will order them to be
+furnished to you," he said. "I will see to it at once."</p>
+
+<p>And five minutes later he went out to seek the
+Minister.</p>
+
+<p>I was horrified at my position, compelled as I was to
+convey the means of death to the hands of the German
+spy Tchernine, who had been placed as servant to the
+Russian commander. I saw that I must leave Petrograd
+for Minsk that night; therefore I set about preparing
+for my adventurous journey. Indeed, shortly before midnight
+I left the Gorokhovaya with the box of Swedish
+matches in my inner pocket.</p>
+
+<p>The journey from Petrograd due south to Polotzk,
+where I had to change, proved an interminable one and
+occupied nearly two days, so congested was the line by
+military traffic and ambulance trains. At last on arrival
+there I joined a troop-train with reinforcements going to
+Minsk, where I duly alighted, to discover that General
+Brusiloff's headquarters were out at a village called
+Gorodok, about five miles distant, in the direction of
+Vilna. The evening was bitterly cold, and as I drove
+along I became filled with ineffable disgust of Rasputin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"></a>[<a href="./images/177.png">177</a>]</span>
+and the disgraceful camarilla who were slowly but surely
+hurling the nation to its doom.</p>
+
+<p>Had I refused to undertake that devilish mission, the
+monk would have instantly suspected me of double
+dealing, and sooner or later I should have met with an
+untimely end, as, alas! so many others had done. So
+completely had he placed me beneath his thumb that I
+was compelled to act as he dictated, in order to save my
+own life, for, as I have already explained, the "holy"
+man held the lives of those who displeased him very
+cheaply.</p>
+
+<p>At headquarters, which proved to be a veritable hive
+of military activity, I posed to a sergeant as Tchernine's
+brother, and begged that I might see him. It was nearly
+dark as I stood with the man, who had roughly demanded
+my business there.</p>
+
+<p>"I fear you will not be able to see him," he replied.
+"The Emperor has just arrived on a visit to headquarters,
+and he is with the general, and your brother is in attendance
+upon them."</p>
+
+<p>Tchernine, a spy of Germany, was actually in attendance
+upon the Emperor, and hence could listen to the
+conversation between His Majesty and the army commander!</p>
+
+<p>"But I have come all the way from Petrograd," I
+whined. "I have a message to give my brother from his
+wife, whom I fear is dying."</p>
+
+<p>This moved the honest sergeant, who, calling one of
+his men, told him to go to Tchernine and tell him he was
+wanted immediately.</p>
+
+<p>"Only for a few moments," I said. "I will not keep
+him from his duty more than two or three minutes&mdash;just
+to give him the message."</p>
+
+<p>I waited alone in a small, bare hut for nearly half an
+hour, when the man returned with Brusiloff's servant.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, dear brother Peter!" I cried, rushing forward
+and embracing him ere he could express astonishment.
+"So I have found you at last&mdash;at last!"</p>
+
+<p>As I expected, the man who had accompanied him,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"></a>[<a href="./images/178.png">178</a>]</span>
+not wishing to be present at the meeting, turned and left
+us alone.</p>
+
+<p>The instant he had gone I pressed the box of matches
+into his hand, whispering:</p>
+
+<p>"Take this. It has been sent to you from our friends
+in Berlin. Inside is a tube of white powder, which you
+will mix with the powdered sugar which General Brusiloff
+takes with fruit. It is highly dangerous, so be very
+careful how you handle it. Death will occur quickly, but
+the doctors will never discover the reason. It has already
+been used with effect by our friends among the Allies."</p>
+
+<p>"I understand," was the spy's grim reply. "Tell our
+friends that I will put it into the sugar to-night, and
+both His Majesty and the general shall have some. How
+fortunate, eh?" he grinned.</p>
+
+<p>I held my breath. It had never crossed my mind that
+Nicholas was to dine with the general.</p>
+
+<p>"No," I said. "Keep it till to-morrow, so that the
+general has it alone. It is intended for him. Those are
+the instructions."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall not," was his reply as he placed the box in
+his pocket. "If one has it, so shall the other. The German
+advance will be made all the more easy by the
+removal of both of them. I&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>Footsteps sounded outside, and the sergeant appeared
+an instant later; hence we were compelled to separate
+after exchanging farewells as good brothers would.</p>
+
+<p>Back to Minsk I drove rapidly, and two hours later
+was in an ambulance train on my way to Petrograd, full
+of wonder as to what was happening at Gorodok.</p>
+
+<p>Peter Tchernine, spy of Germany, had no doubt mixed
+the contents of that tiny tube with the powdered sugar
+served to the general and his Imperial guest.</p>
+
+<p>Standing alone at the end of a long ambulance carriage,
+I leaned out of the window, breathing the fresh
+air of the open plain. We were running beside a lake,
+the water of which came up close to the rails. Here was
+my opportunity.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"></a>[<a href="./images/179.png">179</a>]</span>
+I took a tin matchbox from my pocket and flung it
+as far as I could into the water.</p>
+
+<p>Then I returned to my seat, my heart lighter, for at
+last I had saved the life of our dear general, and also
+that of His Majesty, for, truth to tell, what I had given
+Peter Tchernine was only a little tube of French chalk
+made up to resemble that brought so secretly from Berlin.</p>
+
+<p>On reporting to Rasputin next day, he rubbed his
+hands with delight. I, of course, did not tell him of the
+Emperor's peril.</p>
+
+<p>Next day he, however, came to me in a state of high
+indignation.</p>
+
+<p>"The fool Tchernine has blundered, just as Sawvitch
+did!" he cried. "Brusiloff still lives and is continuing
+the offensive. Did he not promise to use the
+tube?"</p>
+
+<p>"He certainly did," I assured the monk. "He was
+filled with satisfaction that he would be able thus to
+help the Fatherland."</p>
+
+<p>"In any case he has failed!" said the "holy" man.
+"Not only that, but the plot against Korniloff has also
+failed. What shall I reply to Berlin? What will they
+say?"</p>
+
+<p>"Has the girl Nada Tsourikoff failed us, then?" I
+asked eagerly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he replied in a hard, deep tone. "The little
+fool apparently had no courage. It failed her at the last
+moment&mdash;or&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Or what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Or somebody knew the truth and threatened exposure."</p>
+
+<p>"Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because she was found dead yesterday morning at
+the Grand Hotel at Dvinsk, having broken the tube and
+taken some of its contents in her tea. A pity, too, F&eacute;odor,
+for she might have been so very useful." Then he
+added: "Bah! it is always the same with women,
+their courage fails them at the last moment! No. It is
+men&mdash;men like yourself, F&eacute;odor&mdash;that we want. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"></a>[<a href="./images/180.png">180</a>]</span>
+failure at Minsk is, however, very strange. We must
+inquire into Tchernine's actions and report fully to the
+K&ouml;niggr&auml;tzerstrasse. Otherwise I shall once again be
+blamed. Surely I did my best&mdash;and so did you!"</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">rasputin and the kaiser</span></h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> secret visit of Rasputin to Berlin and his second
+audience with the Kaiser were stoutly denied at the time,
+but as I accompanied the "saint" upon his adventurous
+journey I am in a position to know the exact facts.</p>
+
+<p>He, dressed as a Dutch pastor, and calling himself
+Pastor van Meuwen, and I, calling myself Koster,
+arrived at a small quiet hotel called the Westf&auml;lischer-Hof,
+in the Neustadische-strasse, on the north of the
+Linden. We had travelled by way of Helsingfors, Stockholm,
+and Hamburg, Rasputin being bearer of letters
+from the Tsaritza to the Kaiser and Kaiserin, assuring
+them of her continued good wishes and her efforts to
+secure a German conquest.</p>
+
+<p>Hardly had we been in the rather dismal hotel an hour
+when a waiter introduced into our private sitting-room,
+where I stood alone, a tall, dark, middle-aged man,
+who clicked his heels as he bowed elegantly before me.</p>
+
+<p>Smiling, and without uttering a word, my visitor
+handed me half of a plain visiting-card that had been
+roughly torn across, after I had scribbled my signature
+across the back. From my cigarette-case I took the
+other half, and placing them together, ascertained that
+they fitted. The torn portion that the Baron von Hausen&mdash;for
+that was his name, I learnt&mdash;had handed to me
+had been conveyed to Berlin by Hardt a month before,
+in order that we might repose confidence in any person
+who called upon us and bore it as the credential of the
+K&ouml;niggr&auml;tzerstrasse.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"></a>[<a href="./images/181.png">181</a>]</span>
+My visitor was a pleasant, shrewd-eyed man, well
+dressed and wearing a fine diamond in his black cravat,
+who, when he had seated himself at my invitation,
+glanced to see if the door was closed, and then exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Herr Koster, I trust that the Father and yourself
+have had a comfortable journey."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite," I replied. "But, of course, it is a very
+roundabout route."</p>
+
+<p>"I expected you two days ago," said the baron, who
+at that moment rose at the entry of Rasputin and greeted
+him.</p>
+
+<p>The appearance of the monk in Berlin was very different
+from the figure he presented in Petrograd. His
+hair and beard had been trimmed, he had washed, and
+in his clerical garb he looked a typical Dutch pastor.</p>
+
+<p>I introduced the pair, whereupon the baron said:</p>
+
+<p>"His Majesty the Emperor wishes you to come to
+Potsdam at four o'clock to-morrow afternoon. You are
+to meet the Chancellor."</p>
+
+<p>To this the monk agreed, saying in his halting
+German:</p>
+
+<p>"It is not the first time I have been received by His
+Majesty. I shall bring F&eacute;odor."</p>
+
+<p>"As you wish. But I question if His Majesty will
+allow him to be present at the audience."</p>
+
+<p>"In that case, Baron, tell His Majesty that I shall
+not come," remarked the "saint" bluntly. "His
+Majesty the Tsar permits the presence of my secretary,
+therefore why should your Emperor object? Give him
+that message," he said, adding: "I have little time to
+spare here in Berlin, and am returning to Petrograd
+almost at once."</p>
+
+<p>The Baron von Hausen demurred, but Rasputin insisted
+on his message being given to the Kaiser.</p>
+
+<p>Then, when our visitor had left, the monk helped
+himself to a stiff glass of brandy, and laughing said:</p>
+
+<p>"The only way to treat these Germans is with dignity,
+F&eacute;odor. I want you to note all he says and translate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"></a>[<a href="./images/182.png">182</a>]</span>
+the most important into Russian for me. Why does
+Bethmann-Hollweg want to be present, I wonder?"</p>
+
+<p>"To advise the Kaiser, no doubt."</p>
+
+<p>"About what? I will deal with His Majesty himself,
+and nobody else," he snapped.</p>
+
+<p>Even while we were discussing the situation another
+caller came, a German, also dressed as a pastor, who
+gave the name of Schwass. In a moment Rasputin,
+recognising him, locked the door and, turning quickly,
+asked in Russian:</p>
+
+<p>"Well, how do things go? You are not suspected?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not in the least," was the reply of the man, who had
+been an agent of the Russian Secret Police, and who
+was now a spy living in Berlin under a clerical guise.</p>
+
+<p>"You have a letter for me, I believe, Father, from
+the Minister Protopopoff, have you not?" he asked.</p>
+
+<p>I unlocked the small attach&eacute; case and from among a
+number of other letters which we had brought from
+Russia was one in a plain envelope addressed to the
+Pastor Wilhelm Schwass.</p>
+
+<p>The spy tore it open, read it through carefully three
+times, and then placed it in the fire and watched until it
+was consumed. What the instructions were we knew
+not. They were evidently unwelcome, for the man's face
+went grey, and scarcely uttering another word he turned
+and left us.</p>
+
+<p>After dinner, which we took together in our sitting-room,
+we went out for a walk in the Linden. Rasputin
+was eager to go to one or other of the variety entertainments,
+but I dissuaded him from such an action, he
+being in clerical attire.</p>
+
+<p>"If you go you may arouse the curiosity of some stupid
+policeman, and inquiries might be made concerning us.
+No, while in Berlin it will be necessary for you to remain
+very quiet," I urged. "Remember, the baron and certain
+of his friends are watching us."</p>
+
+<p>So we idled along to the Caf&eacute; Bauer, where we spent
+an hour watching the gay crowd, among whom were a
+number of convalescent officers with those in the capital<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"></a>[<a href="./images/183.png">183</a>]</span>
+on leave from Flanders. Berlin life seemed quite unchanged,
+and the war had not by any means checked the
+spirit of gaiety in its "night life." There had been a
+successful attack upon the British that day, and the "victory"
+over the hated English was upon everyone's lips.</p>
+
+<p>For another hour we wandered, noting the merriment
+and confidence in conquest on every hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Truly," declared Rasputin, "these Germans spread
+reports of their own distress for propaganda purposes.
+Ah, they are indeed a great people, with a great leader!"</p>
+
+<p>I differed from him, for I have never had a liking
+for Germans. At heart Rasputin had, I knew, no great
+liking either. He admired them and assisted them because
+he was a born adventurer, and as the tool of the
+Kaiser was well paid for his services, while at the same
+time he had succeeded in placing himself in the position
+of autocrat over the Tsar himself.</p>
+
+<p>After an expensive supper at a small place near the
+Rosenthal Thor, where two scantily-clad girls danced
+while the patrons ate, we retraced our steps to the
+Neustadische-strasse.</p>
+
+<p>On re-entering the hotel the hall-porter gave me a
+message asking me to ring up Herr Weghinger at No.
+2862, Potsdam.</p>
+
+<p>This I did from our sitting-room, asking for Herr
+Weghinger.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," came the voice. "Are you Herr Koster?"</p>
+
+<p>I replied in the affirmative, recognising the voice of
+Baron von Hausen, who said:</p>
+
+<p>"Will you please tell your friend that I have arranged
+for your visit here, and that you will be welcomed. Be
+outside the French Embassy at three o'clock, when a
+yellow car will drive up. Enter it, and you will be
+brought here. I shall await you." And then he wished
+me good night.</p>
+
+<p>The wire over which I had spoken was, I knew, one
+of the private ones to the Neues Palais at Potsdam.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin had again triumphed. When I told him he
+laughed coarsely, remarking:</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"></a>[<a href="./images/184.png">184</a>]</span>
+"People are too apt to regard this Kaiser fellow as
+lord of the world. He will never work his will upon
+Gregory. Nicholas tried, and failed. Let William try,
+and he will discover that at least one man is his equal&mdash;and
+more!"</p>
+
+<p>On the following day at three o'clock we both stood
+upon the kerb in the Pariser Platz, opposite the closed
+French Embassy, when suddenly from the Sommerstrasse
+a big yellow car approached us and drew up.
+The driver, who had evidently been given our descriptions,
+got down, saluted, and opened the door for us.
+Then a minute later we were on our way out of Berlin
+on the Potsdam road. The papers that day had reported
+that the Emperor was in Brussels, but such misleading
+statements are permissible in war.</p>
+
+<p>When we had come down the hill to the Havel and
+passed over the Glienicke Bridge, we sped through the
+pleasant town of Potsdam, until at last we entered the
+great Sanssouci Park, driving past the fountains straight
+up the tree-lined Hauptweg till we pulled up before the
+private door of the palace, that used by the Imperial
+family.</p>
+
+<p>The baron, in uniform and all smiles, was there to
+meet us, as he had promised.</p>
+
+<p>"I had a difficulty with the Emperor," he whispered
+to me. "But as the Father insists, His Majesty has
+given way."</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin overheard his words, and I saw upon his
+bearded lips a sinister smile.</p>
+
+<p>Through rooms with painted ceilings we were conducted,
+through the Shell Salon&mdash;the walls of which were
+inlaid with shells, the friezes being of minerals and precious
+stones&mdash;across the Marble Room, and then along an
+endless, thickly carpeted corridor, which reminded me of
+one at Peterhof leading to the Empress's private apartments,
+until the baron saluted a sentry, passed him, and
+a little farther on knocked discreetly at a polished
+mahogany door, that of the Kaiser's private workroom.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later we were ushered into a rather small<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"></a>[<a href="./images/185.png">185</a>]</span>
+room, plainly furnished, very much like an office. In a
+chair by the fire sat the grey-bearded Chancellor smoking
+a cigar, and standing with his back to the English grate
+was the Emperor William, looking grey and worn, dressed
+in a drab suit of tweeds.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, Gregory!" exclaimed His Majesty, who took no
+notice of my unimportant self, "I do not forget our last
+meeting. Well, you have done well&mdash;excellent work for
+our Fatherland!" And he introduced the monk to the
+Imperial Chancellor, who, I thought, greeted the charlatan
+somewhat contemptuously.</p>
+
+<p>Now, Rasputin, wearing clothes to which he was unaccustomed,
+and devoid of his gold chain and jewelled
+cross, which he had so constantly fingered when he granted
+audiences to those who wished to bask in his smiles&mdash;which,
+of course, always meant great pecuniary advantage
+or official advancement&mdash;seemed at the first moment ill
+at ease.</p>
+
+<p>"I have done the bidding of my Imperial sister,"
+was his reply. "I have for thee letters from her, also
+letters for thy wife," and from the pocket of his clerical
+coat he drew four letters, rather crumpled.</p>
+
+<p>The Emperor hastily scanned the two which Alexandra
+Feodorovna had addressed to himself, and I noticed a
+smile of satisfaction flit across his grey, mobile features.</p>
+
+<p>Then, placing them upon his littered writing-table,
+he gave us seats, and around the fire we sat to talk.</p>
+
+<p>Truly, that council of treachery was an historic one,
+and cost the lives of many innocent non-combatant women
+and children.</p>
+
+<p>The Kaiser began by chaffing Rasputin as to his disguise,
+saying with a laugh:</p>
+
+<p>"Really, you might pass unsuspected anywhere,
+Father! The baron has been telling me that you are at
+this moment the very reverend Pastor van Meuwen, from
+Utrecht. My police have no knowledge that you are
+Russian and an enemy. But there, you are clever, and
+your services to me are worthy far greater reward than
+you have yet received. Now tell me," he added, "how is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"></a>[<a href="./images/186.png">186</a>]</span>
+St&uuml;rmer? I sometimes wonder whether he is acting
+straight or crooked. Only the other day he telegraphed
+to Downing Street that you Russians would never agree
+to a separate peace to isolate Britain. This is most
+annoying."</p>
+
+<p>"Thou art misled, as is all the world," replied the
+monk with a meaning smile. "That telegram was sent to
+London only after many conferences, in which Alexandra
+Feodorovna took part with Nicholas, St&uuml;rmer, Fredericks,
+and Protopopoff. The British Press was growing dubious
+as to our determination in winning the war, hence
+St&uuml;rmer's assurance to bamboozle the world was highly
+necessary."</p>
+
+<p>"That relieves us of much anxiety," remarked Bethmann-Hollweg,
+chewing the end of his cigar. "We were
+beginning to fear that St&uuml;rmer might be leaning towards
+England."</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin made a gesture in the negative.</p>
+
+<p>"St&uuml;rmer is ever a good friend of the Fatherland,"
+was his slow reply, his eyes fixed upon the Emperor.</p>
+
+<p>"There must be famine in Russia," declared the
+Kaiser impatiently. "Your friend Protopopoff has not
+yet created it, as he promised when he saw me. Famine
+will bring Russia quickly to her knees, as it will eventually
+bring Britain. Our U-boats are doing marvels.
+Happily we warned the British, therefore we are contravening
+no convention."</p>
+
+<p>"Soon our friends in London who have sworn never
+to sheathe the sword until we are wiped from the face of
+the earth will begin to squeal," remarked the Imperial
+Chancellor with a laugh. "And especially if we can carry
+out Professor Hoheisel's plan and create a pestilence. It
+must be tried in Russia first, and then in England," Bethmann-Hollweg
+went on. "The bacteria of anthrax,
+glanders, and bubonic plague must be sown in various
+parts of Russia, Gregory. Before you leave Berlin the
+plan will be explained to you."</p>
+
+<p>"The plan by which we sought to propagate cholera
+by sending infected fruit to various charitable institutions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"></a>[<a href="./images/187.png">187</a>]</span>
+broke down because the delivery of the fruit was delayed,
+and it arrived at its destination in an uneatable condition,"
+replied Rasputin. "No one would touch it, hence all our
+plans were upset."</p>
+
+<p>"The distribution of presents to charitable institutions
+must be repeated," declared the Chancellor, to which the
+Emperor agreed. "To-morrow you will be told our
+wishes in that direction," the Chancellor went on.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," exclaimed the Emperor, "this military offensive
+must stop, and at once, if we are successfully to invade
+England. As soon as Russia makes peace our hands
+will be free to strike a staggering blow at John Bull.
+Not till then."</p>
+
+<p>"As soon as we bring Russia to her senses then we
+shall begin to twist the tail of the British lion," said the
+Chancellor. "All our plans are complete. As soon as
+there is quiet on the Russian front we can, within forty-eight
+hours, if we wish, put six army corps into East
+Anglia between the Tyne and the Blackwater," he added
+boastfully.</p>
+
+<p>"Hindenburg will lead them into London one day,
+never fear," declared the Emperor in the most earnest
+confidence.</p>
+
+<p>I sat in silence, listening to this strange talk of what
+was to happen to England when Russia was crushed.</p>
+
+<p>"The charges against Soukhomlinoff ought never to
+have been made," the Emperor went on, addressing the
+monk. "I understood from your report to Steinhauer
+that you were arranging that the Tsar should hush up
+the inquiry?"</p>
+
+<p>"The Emperor gave orders to that effect, in consequence
+of the advice of the Empress, but the charges
+were so very grave that St&uuml;rmer urged him to cancel
+his orders lest the public should suspect him of any
+intention of suppressing a scandal."</p>
+
+<p>It was true that the charges against the Minister of
+War were astounding. A high official in the Ministry,
+named Kartzoff, had betrayed his chief, whereupon Colonel
+Tugen Baranovsky, late Chief of the Mobilisation Depart<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"></a>[<a href="./images/188.png">188</a>]</span>ment
+of the Russian General Staff, had declared that the
+mobilisation plans drafted by the general were full of
+wilful errors, while rifles, machine-guns, and field and
+heavy guns were all lacking. Allegations had been made
+by General Petrovsky, later Chief of the Fortifications
+Department, to the effect that the general had only twice
+visited the artillery administration during the whole time
+he held his portfolio as Minister, while Colonel Balvinkine,
+one of the heads of the Artillery Administration, had
+asserted that Soukhomlinoff had insisted upon important
+contracts for machine-guns being given to the Rickerts
+factory at a cost of two thousand roubles each, while the
+Toula factory could turn out excellent machine-guns at
+nine hundred roubles.</p>
+
+<p>Such were the charges whispered loudly from end to
+end of Russia.</p>
+
+<p>"It would be best for that fellow Kartzoff to disappear,"
+declared the Kaiser. "His mouth should be
+closed, as he may become an awkward witness. Tell
+Protopopoff from me that it would be judicious to send
+him to some unknown destination, and that I shall expect
+to hear early news that he is missing."</p>
+
+<p>"I will carry out thine order," said Rasputin gravely.
+"I agree with thee that Kartzoff is highly dangerous.
+Besides, he is a friend of my worst enemy, Purishkevitch,
+the member of the Duma who has been agitating
+against the events at the front."</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin, by the way, did not fail to give Protopopoff
+the Kaiser's message, and three days after our return to
+Petrograd Kartzoff was enticed away from there by means
+of a forged telegram, a week later his body being found in
+a wood near Kislovodsk, in the North Caucasus, while two
+other witnesses against the Minister of War were arrested,
+and died later in the island fortress of Schl&uuml;sselburg.</p>
+
+<p>The Kaiser seemed unusually cordial towards the
+monk, much more so than on the occasion when they
+met in Silesia. The Chancellor seemed to be watching
+the "holy" man, taking note of his every gesture and
+every remark.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"></a>[<a href="./images/189.png">189</a>]</span>
+The Kaiser agreed entirely with his Chancellor's
+views, and was insistent upon the creation of a pestilence
+in Russia.</p>
+
+<p>"Cholera or plague could work more for our ends in
+Russia in a month than we can effect by military force
+in a whole year," he declared as he lit a cigarette, afterwards
+tossing the match carelessly into the fire. "What
+are the views of Alexandra Feodorovna?"</p>
+
+<p>"The same as thine own," the monk replied. "Unfortunately
+all our efforts failed. A man named
+Tsourikoff by some means obtained knowledge of what
+was intended. Her Majesty heard of it, hence I had
+him removed two days later. He was met by a certain
+dancer, and had supper with her at Pivato's, in the
+Morskaya. An hour after they parted Tsourikoff died
+mysteriously."</p>
+
+<p>"The dancer was a friend of yours, eh? Perhaps a
+sister-disciple?" remarked the Emperor with a meaning
+grin.</p>
+
+<p>"Thou hast guessed aright," answered the monk.
+"But after that we did not dare to carry the infection
+further."</p>
+
+<p>"It must be done. I have some ideas. The baron
+will explain them to you to-morrow, and I shall expect
+you to carry them out," said the great War Lord. "In
+Russia there must be revolt and disease, in England
+invasion, and in France&mdash;well, we know how we shall
+conquer both France and Italy," he added, smiling mysteriously.</p>
+
+<p>He spoke as one who believed that he held the destinies
+of Europe in the hollow of his hand.</p>
+
+<p>"Middle Europe will conquer the world, of that I
+have no doubt. All is in God's hands," agreed the
+"saint" in bad German, crossing himself with a mock
+piety which seemed to amuse both the Emperor and his
+Chancellor.</p>
+
+<p>"Listen to-morrow to Hoheisel's scheme, which I have
+approved," said the Emperor, passing to his visitor another
+cigarette from the heavy golden box. "The pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"></a>[<a href="./images/190.png">190</a>]</span>fessor
+will call on you with the baron and explain. Act
+boldly, dear friend Gregory, for recollect that you have
+behind you the whole resources of Prussia and the good
+will of myself."</p>
+
+<p>The monk, who had only on the previous day declared
+that he would subject the Kaiser to his influence, had
+fallen so completely beneath the thrall of the German
+Emperor's curious hypnotism that he sat ready and eager
+to do his bidding.</p>
+
+<p>"The letters you have brought to me from Tsarskoe-Selo
+are satisfactory so far as they go, but there is
+still much to be done," said the Kaiser. "Tell the Empress
+that I will reply to her by courier, but that she
+is to continue her efforts, and that you both have my
+full and complete support. The prosecution of Soukhomlinoff
+must be at once suppressed, and those hostile statements
+in the Duma from time to time directed against
+us must be made a penal offence punishable by deportation.
+Kartzoff must go, and Purishkevitch, who is so
+constantly speaking in the Duma against yourself and
+others, should be suppressed without delay. Perhaps he
+will come to a sudden end!" suggested the Emperor.
+"At least we can hope so."</p>
+
+<p>Next day at noon the baron brought to us a short,
+stout, yellow-haired man in gold spectacles, the famous
+German bacteriologist, Professor Hoheisel, of the
+Friedrichshain Hospital.</p>
+
+<p>With the door locked, we all four sat down while the
+deep-voiced scientist unfolded his plan for the devastating
+of certain populous areas in Russia by the dissemination
+of a newly discovered and highly infectious disease.</p>
+
+<p>"The disease was discovered a year ago by Gerhold,
+at the Alt-Moabit, and is closely allied to bubonic plague.
+It is more highly infectious than anthrax or smallpox,
+and inevitably proves fatal," the professor said, seated
+at the head of the small table. "Curiously enough, infants
+seem to be immune up to six years of age. Now,
+my proposal, to which both the Emperor and the Chancellor
+have agreed, is that the cultures which I have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"></a>[<a href="./images/191.png">191</a>]</span>
+prepared, and of which a large quantity is already in
+Stockholm ready to be utilised, should be introduced into
+a consignment of meat extract and tinned beef which
+has come from South America, and which is being
+held back by a certain firm in Stockholm friendly
+to ourselves."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you propose to infect it?" asked the monk,
+the devilish plot appealing at once to his cunning and
+unscrupulous mind.</p>
+
+<p>"By puncturing the tins and introducing the culture
+by means of a hypodermic syringe, and closing up the
+hole with a spot of solder. The bottles will be treated by
+puncturing the corks with the needle and closing the hole
+with melted resin."</p>
+
+<p>"I might say," added the baron, "that the cargo has
+been purchased by our friends, Messrs. Juel and Ehrensvard,
+who are awaiting instructions before re-shipping it.
+When the meat is prepared it will be your work, Father,
+to see that it is distributed in the two cities in which
+we want to experiment, namely, Nijni-Novgorod and
+Vologda."</p>
+
+<p>"They are doomed cities, eh?" I remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"We intend them to be so," the professor said.
+"When once the disease is released it will spread everywhere,
+and no precautions can be taken because, up to
+the present, it is known to only half-a-dozen of us in
+Berlin, and we have no knowledge how to treat it successfully."</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin was silent.</p>
+
+<p>"It will certainly be far more dangerous than cholera
+or plague&mdash;dangerous to ourselves, I mean," he remarked.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course the epidemic must not be allowed to break
+out in Petrograd or in any of the army centres&mdash;at least,
+not at present. We must first watch the effect in Vologda
+and Nijni."</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said the monk, "what do you wish me
+to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are returning by way of Stockholm," replied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"></a>[<a href="./images/192.png">192</a>]</span>
+the baron. "His Majesty wishes the professor to accompany
+you, and in the warehouse of the firm I have named
+you will see the canned goods and bottles. The professor
+will show you that the tins have been repainted and
+are labelled with the mark of a well-known firm, so that
+there can be no suspicion of them. Only the paint is
+a much brighter blue than that usually employed. The
+reason of this is that they can easily be identified by
+any in the secret, and prevented from being opened in
+any area save those two towns I have named."</p>
+
+<p>"When do you leave?" asked the deep-voiced demon
+in human form.</p>
+
+<p>"On Friday next. I have still a number of persons
+to see."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I shall be ready to travel with you, Father,"
+declared the professor; and then, after taking some
+brandy and soda-water, the conference ended.</p>
+
+<p>The devilish ingenuity of the whole scheme appalled
+me. The sowing of cholera germs by means of infected
+fruit had happily failed, but now Germany intended to
+strike a blow at the civil population of Russia upon a
+scale more gigantic than I had ever imagined.</p>
+
+<p>Next day, a man who gave the name of Emil D&ouml;llen
+brought Rasputin a letter, which I opened.</p>
+
+<p>It was, I found, a code message which had been
+received at the great German wireless station at Nauen,
+having been dispatched from Petrograd, ostensibly to the
+warship <i>Petropavlovsk</i> in the Baltic, as Rasputin had
+arranged before he left Russia.</p>
+
+<p>When I decoded it, I found it to be from the Minister
+Protopopoff, containing certain further instructions, as
+well as a message from the Tsaritza&mdash;which necessitated
+the monk having a second audience with the
+Kaiser.</p>
+
+<p>In reply&mdash;while the secret messenger D&ouml;llen retired
+for an hour&mdash;I sat down and wrote, at the monk's
+dictation, a long dispatch, in which he made brief allusion
+as to the proposed dissemination of disease, and stating
+his intention to remain some days in Stockholm.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193"></a>[<a href="./images/193.png">193</a>]</span></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"All is well," he dictated. "The Emperor William
+sends his best greetings and acknowledgments of your
+dispatch of the 3rd inst. It has been found necessary to
+recall the troops who have been held ready at Hamburg and
+Bremen for the invasion of Britain. The German General
+Staff have, after due consideration, decided that an invasion
+before Russia is crushed might meet with disaster, hence they
+are turning their attention to submarine and aerial attacks
+upon Britain in order to crush her. I have learnt from a
+conversation with the Kaiser that London is to be destroyed
+by a succession of fleets of super-aeroplanes launching
+newly devised explosive and poison-gas bombs of a terribly
+destructive character. Urge S. [St&uuml;rmer] to disclaim at once
+all knowledge of the Rickert contracts. The action taken
+against General S. is again ordered to be dropped. See the
+Emperor and persuade him. Blessings upon you.</p>
+<p class="fsc">"Gregory."&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;</p></div>
+
+<p>Then I proceeded to put it into the special code which
+Rasputin and Protopopoff alone used, and when D&ouml;llen
+called it was ready for transmission from Nauen back
+to the Russian battleship, to which I had addressed it, to
+be "picked up" by the wireless station in Petrograd.</p>
+
+<p>The "holy Father" greatly enjoyed himself in a quiet
+way in Berlin. Indeed, he purchased a ready-made suit
+of clothes, and, attired in them, he went out on two
+occasions and did not return till dawn, and then half
+intoxicated. On the second occasion the baron called
+and remonstrated with him, pointing out that he was
+running great risk.</p>
+
+<p>"We have been watching you in order to avoid any
+unwelcome inquiries by the police. But if you continue
+we can accept no further responsibility," he said. "You
+see, you pose as Dutch without being able to speak a
+word of the language!"</p>
+
+<p>After that Rasputin became more discreet, but I
+was nevertheless glad when one night we met Professor
+Hoheisel at the station and left for Hamburg, duly
+arriving at Stockholm two days later, where we lost no
+time in visiting the premises of Juel and Ehrensvard.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, Mr. Juel, the head of the Hun firm which
+was doing a large export business between Sweden and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"></a>[<a href="./images/194.png">194</a>]</span>
+Germany, called upon us at the Grand Hotel within an
+hour of our arrival, and together we all went to a
+narrow street off the Fjellgatan, not far from the Saltsj&ouml;banans
+station, where we found a great warehouse
+filled to overflowing with tins of corned beef and cases
+containing bottles of beef extract, which had come from
+America, destined for Germany, but which had been
+held up to be diverted to Russia after being treated
+with disease germs.</p>
+
+<p>We were shown stacks upon stacks of tins of one
+pound, two pounds and six pounds of beef, all bearing
+a well-known label, but all painted a peculiar blue for
+identification purposes. In the store we were met by
+four German laboratory assistants of the fat professor,
+ready to commence work upon the tins.</p>
+
+<p>"I will show you what we shall do," said Hoheisel.
+"The manipulation of the tins is quite easy."</p>
+
+<p>He conducted us to a small room on the top floor,
+which I at once saw was fitted as a laboratory, and
+which contained microscopes, incubators, stands of test-tubes,
+and all the other apparatus appertaining to the
+bacteriologist.</p>
+
+<p>One of his assistants had carried up four small tins
+of beef, with a couple of bottles of beef extract. These
+he placed on the table, and as we stood around he took
+a small bradawl, and having punctured the tin at the
+large end close to the rim, he took from one of the
+incubators a test-tube full of a cloudy brown liquid
+gelatine. Then filling a hypodermic syringe&mdash;upon which
+was an extra long needle&mdash;he thrust it into the contents
+of the tin and injected the virus into the meat.</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards, with a small soldering-iron he closed
+the puncture.</p>
+
+<p>"That tin, infected as it is, is sufficient to cause
+an epidemic which might result in thousands of deaths,"
+declared the Hun professor proudly.</p>
+
+<p>His assistant then took a bottle of beef extract, which
+in Russia is popular with all classes in preparing their
+cabbage soup, and refilling the syringe, plunged the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"></a>[<a href="./images/195.png">195</a>]</span>
+needle through the cork, afterwards placing a spot of
+melted resin upon the puncture.</p>
+
+<p>"You see how simple it is!" laughed the professor,
+addressing the "saint." "All that now remains is for a
+firm in Petrograd to buy the consignment and arrange
+for it to be sold to wholesale dealers in Vologda and
+Nijni. This we expect you to arrange."</p>
+
+<p>"I certainly will," replied Rasputin promptly. "Truly,
+the idea is a most ingenious one&mdash;a disease which is
+as yet unknown!"</p>
+
+<p>We remained in Stockholm for four days longer.
+The professor and his assistants were working strenuously,
+we knew, preparing death for the population of those
+two Russian towns.</p>
+
+<p>One afternoon, after he had lunched with us at the
+hotel, he said:</p>
+
+<p>"If our experiment is successful, then we mean to
+repeat it from South America to England. It is therefore
+most important that news of the epidemic does not
+reach the ears of the Allies. You will point out that to
+the Minister Protopopoff. When the plague breaks out
+the censorship must be of the strictest."</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin nodded. He quite understood. He hated
+the British just as heartily as did the Tsaritza.</p>
+
+<p>A week later we were back at Tsarskoe-Selo, and
+the monk&mdash;who pretended to have been on a pilgrimage
+to Our Lady of Tver&mdash;made to the Empress a full report
+of his journey to Potsdam. He also told her of the
+diabolical plot to sweep off the population of Vologda
+and Nijni as an experiment, in order to see how Hun
+"science" could win the war.</p>
+
+<p>Protopopoff came to Rasputin's house half-a-dozen
+times within the next three days, and it was arranged
+that a firm of importers, Illine and Stroukoff, of Petrograd,
+should handle the consignment of preserved meat.
+Both partners in the firm were in the pay of the Ministry
+of the Interior, hence it was not difficult to arrange that
+the whole cargo should be sent to Vologda and Nijni to
+relieve there the growing shortage of meat.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"></a>[<a href="./images/196.png">196</a>]</span>
+I strove to combat the clever plot, but was, alas!
+unable to do so. Every precaution was taken against
+possible failure. The cargo arrived, and was at once
+sent on by rail to its destination, payment being made for
+it through ordinary channels, and nobody suspecting. Food
+was welcomed indeed in Russia in those days of 1916.</p>
+
+<p>In the stress of exciting events that followed I forgot
+the affair for several weeks. One night, however, Rasputin,
+on returning from Peterhof, where the Court was
+at that moment, received Protopopoff, and the pair sat
+down to drink together.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly His Excellency exclaimed, with a laugh:</p>
+
+<p>"Your mission to Berlin has borne fruit, my dear
+Gregory! For the past four days I have been receiving
+terrible reports from Vologda, and worse from Nijni-Novgorod.
+The inhabitants have been seized by a
+mysterious and terribly fatal disease. A medical commission
+left Petrograd yesterday to study it."</p>
+
+<p>"Let them study it!" laughed Rasputin. "They will
+discover no mode of treatment."</p>
+
+<p>"Both towns are rapidly becoming decimated. There
+have been over thirty thousand deaths, and the mortality
+is daily increasing."</p>
+
+<p>"As I expected," remarked the monk. "The professor
+knows what he is doing. Later on we shall be
+sending the infection into England and cause our John
+Bull friends a surprise."</p>
+
+<p>"But the position is terribly serious," said His
+Excellency.</p>
+
+<p>"No doubt. Berlin is watching the result. One day
+they may deem it wise to infect our army. But that
+must be left to their discretion."</p>
+
+<p>Truly the result of that devilish plot was most awful.
+In the three months that followed&mdash;though not a word
+leaked out to the Allies, so careful were Protopopoff and
+the camarilla to suppress all the facts&mdash;more than half
+the population of the two cities died from a disease
+which to this day is a complete mystery, and its bacilli
+known only to German bacteriologists.</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"></a>[<a href="./images/197.png">197</a>]</span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">the "perfume of death"</span></h3>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">I am</span> much grieved to hear of the disaster at Obukhov.
+The accident to Colonel Zinovief is most deplorable. Please
+place a wreath upon his grave from me. Pray always for
+us.</p>
+<p class="fsc">"Alix."&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;</p></div>
+
+<p>This was the text of a telegram addressed to Rasputin
+from the Empress, which I opened when it
+was placed in my hands. It had been sent from
+Bakhtchisaray, the Oriental town in the Crimea, where
+Alexandra Feodorovna had gone to visit the military
+hospitals, it being necessary for her to pose before
+Russia as sympathetic to the wounded.</p>
+
+<p>The disaster to which she referred had taken place
+at the great steel works at Obukhov, the outrage having
+been committed by two German secret agents named
+Lachkarioff and Filimonoff, who had visited Rasputin and
+from whose hand they had received German money.
+Nearly five hundred lives had been lost, as the foundry
+had been in close proximity to an explosives factory,
+where Colonel Zinovief, the director, had been blown
+to atoms.</p>
+
+<p>It was late at night, and the monk, who was in a
+state of semi-intoxication, on hearing of the wish of
+Her Majesty, remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! a clever woman, F&eacute;odor&mdash;very clever. She
+never misses an opportunity to show her sympathy with
+the people. Oh! yes&mdash;order the wreath to-morrow from
+Solovioff in the Nevski&mdash;a fine large one." Then
+laughing, he added: "The people, when they see it, will
+never suspect that Alexandra Feodorovna knew of the
+pending disaster eight days ago. But," he added suddenly,
+after a pause, "is it not time, F&eacute;odor, that I
+saw another vision?"</p>
+
+<p>I laughed. I knew how, during the week that had
+elapsed since our return from the secret visit to Potsdam,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"></a>[<a href="./images/198.png">198</a>]</span>
+he was constantly holding reunions of his sister-disciples,
+many fresh "converts" being admitted to the new
+religion.</p>
+
+<p>Both Lachkarioff and Filimonoff, authors of the
+terrible disaster at Obukhov, had been furnished with
+passports by Protopopoff, and were already well on their
+way to Sweden, but the catastrophe was the signal for
+a terrible period of unrest throughout Russia, and in
+the fortnight that followed, rumours, purposely started by
+German agents and the secret police under Protopopoff,
+assumed most alarming proportions.</p>
+
+<p>All was the creation of Rasputin's evil brain. With
+the Emperor and Empress absent in the South, he had,
+with the connivance of "No. 70, Berlin," determined to
+undermine the moral of the whole nation by disseminating
+false reports and arranging for disaster after
+disaster.</p>
+
+<p>In the "saint's" study in the Gorokhovaya there
+was arranged the terrible railway "accident" which
+occurred near Smolensk, in which a crowded troop train
+collided with an ambulance train, the wreckage being
+run into by a second troop train, all three trains eventually
+taking fire and burning. The exact loss of life will
+never be known.</p>
+
+<p>Another outrage was the destruction of the big railway
+bridge over the River Tvertza, not far from Kava,
+thus blocking the Petrograd-Moscow line, while a train
+conveying high explosives made in England a few days
+later blew up while passing the station of Odozerskaja,
+completely wrecking the line between Archangel and
+Petrograd and killing nearly three hundred people.</p>
+
+<p>Each of these outrages was arranged in my presence,
+and I was compelled to assist in counting the money
+which was afterwards given by the monk to their perpetrators
+as price of their perfidy.</p>
+
+<p>"We must create unrest," Rasputin declared one
+night to His Excellency the Minister Protopopoff, as the
+precious pair sat together. "We must prepare Russia
+for disaster."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"></a>[<a href="./images/199.png">199</a>]</span>
+Hence it was that they arranged for a series of most
+alarming false rumours to be circulated throughout the
+length and breadth of the Empire.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, on the day following, I heard in a bank
+where I had business that all Moscow was involved in
+a great revolution, that the Moscow police were on strike,
+and that the troops had refused to fire upon the populace.
+Everyone stood aghast at the news. But the truth was
+that the telegraphs and telephones between Moscow and
+Petrograd had been wilfully cut in three places by agents
+of Protopopoff, and while those alarming rumours were
+current in Petrograd, similar rumours were rife in Moscow
+that revolution had broken out in the capital.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin and his friends in the course of a few days
+created a veritable whirlwind of false reports, hoping
+by that means to shatter or stifle all manifestations
+of patriotic feeling, and prepare Russia for a separate
+peace.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile he had contrived, as the Kaiser ordered,
+to prevent the offensive being resumed in Poland; and
+yet so cleverly did he effect all this that General Brusiloff,
+who was at the south-west front, actually gave
+an interview to a British journalist, declaring that the
+war was already won, "though it was merely speculation
+to estimate how much longer will be required before
+the enemy are convinced that the cause for the sake
+of which they have drenched Europe in blood is irretrievably
+lost."</p>
+
+<p>The cold white light of later events has indeed revealed
+the black hearts of Rasputin and his friends, for
+while all this was in progress St&uuml;rmer, though so active
+in the betrayal of his country, boldly made a speech
+deploring the fact that anyone credited the sinister
+rumours which his fellow-conspirators had started, and
+to save his face he warned the working-classes to remain
+patient and prosecute the war with vigour.</p>
+
+<p>I recollect well the day he had made that speech&mdash;the
+day on which the Labour group of the Central War
+Industrial Committee issued its declaration. There was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"></a>[<a href="./images/200.png">200</a>]</span>
+a reunion of the sister-disciples, at which three new
+members were admitted to the cult, all society women
+under thirty, and all good-looking. Their names were
+Baroness T&eacute;r&eacute;nine, whose husband had been Governor
+of Yaroslav; Countess Chidlovski, one of the acknowledged
+society beauties of Petrograd, who had of late
+had an "affair" with an Italian tenor named Baccelli;
+and Anna, the pretty young daughter of a woman named
+Friede, who was also a "disciple."</p>
+
+<p>There was a large attendance, and Rasputin exhibited
+more than the usual mock piety. In his jumbled jargon,
+which he called a sermon&mdash;that mixture of quotations
+from the "Lives of Saints" mingled with horrible obscenities&mdash;he
+had referred to the terrible rumours.</p>
+
+<p>"These, I fear, my dear sisters, are, alas! too true,"
+he declared. "Being in the position of knowing much,
+I beg of you all to pray ceaselessly, and let these three
+who to-day join our holy circle take upon themselves
+the duty of obtaining fresh converts, and thus ensure
+to themselves the blessing of him who stands here before
+you&mdash;the saviour of Russia."</p>
+
+<p>Then he paused, and all the kneeling women crossed
+themselves, piously murmuring, as was part of the creed:</p>
+
+<p>"God's will be done! God's will be done! Truly,
+our Father Gregory is holy! Truly, the sacrifice which
+each and all of us make is made to God!"</p>
+
+<p>The three newly-admitted aspirants, dressed in very
+flimsy black in the mode which the monk imposed upon
+them, knelt before the Father and kissed his hands,
+while from his lips fell those awful blasphemies, which,
+amazing as it was, hypnotised, neurotic society women
+believed to be the truth.</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards Rasputin gave them all tea and cake, he
+being personally waited upon by the three neophytes.
+Then, half-an-hour after the last one had departed&mdash;for
+the three had remained behind with him for further
+private instruction and conversation, as was usual&mdash;the
+Prime Minister St&uuml;rmer was announced.</p>
+
+<p>"I have made the speech you suggested," he declared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"></a>[<a href="./images/201.png">201</a>]</span>
+to the monk as he sank into a chair. "Phew! what
+a smell of perfume, my dear Gregory!" he laughed.
+"Your sister-disciples have left it behind them. Open
+the window, F&eacute;odor," he exclaimed, turning to me. "Let
+us have some fresh air."</p>
+
+<p>The monk then explained that while St&uuml;rmer had
+made that public declaration he had told the women that
+the situation was grave, well knowing that they, in turn,
+would tell their husbands, and the rumours would quickly
+be propagated.</p>
+
+<p>"I have had another reassuring telegram from
+Downing Street," St&uuml;rmer remarked, with a grin. "I
+dare not publish it, otherwise it would upset our friends
+in Berlin."</p>
+
+<p>"As I have told you, the Kaiser forbids the publication
+of any of our reassurances from France or
+England&mdash;especially from the English, whom he hates
+so deeply. What, I wonder, will be the fate of the
+English when he is able to send an army of invasion
+across the North Sea?"</p>
+
+<p>"If he is ever able. I doubt it," remarked the
+traitorous Premier of Russia.</p>
+
+<p>"He certainly intends doing so," said Rasputin.
+"And when he does I should be sorry to be in Britain.
+They will treat the civilians worse than they did the
+Belgians."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes; he intended being in Paris two years ago,"
+replied the goat-bearded <i>d&eacute;bauch&eacute;</i> in uniform.</p>
+
+<p>"It is time I saw another vision," said the monk
+presently. "I shall see one to-night most probably&mdash;one
+concerning our defeat."</p>
+
+<p>"Do," urged St&uuml;rmer. "You have not had a vision
+for quite a long time. It impresses all classes, and we
+can make so much use of it when dealing with Nicholas.
+He believes as thoroughly in your visions as in the
+spirit-voice of the dead Alexander."</p>
+
+<p>Next day the whole world of Petrograd was
+startled.</p>
+
+<p>To Grichka the Blessed Virgin had once again re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"></a>[<a href="./images/202.png">202</a>]</span>vealed
+herself, just as she had done years ago to the
+peasant girl at Lourdes.</p>
+
+<p>The Procurator of the Holy Synod called to see him
+at noon to inquire of him personally, and ascertain what
+he had seen. Rasputin, with his hands crossed over his
+breast, turned his dark eyes heavenward, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"It is true that last night, just after midnight, as
+I was praying in my room, Our Lady appeared unto
+me in a cloud of shining light. She was clothed in
+bright blue, and in her hands she bore a bunch of lilies.
+Behind her I saw a picture of a great battlefield, where
+our soldiers were retreating in disorder, being shot down
+in hundreds by the machine-guns of the enemy&mdash;and
+worse&mdash;and worse!" And the charlatan hid his face
+in his hands as though to shut out the horror of the
+recollection.</p>
+
+<p>"What else?" asked the head of the Russian Church.
+"Tell me, O Father."</p>
+
+<p>"It is too terrible&mdash;the public must not know&mdash;&mdash;"
+he gasped, as though in fear. "I saw our Emperor killed
+on the field of battle; he was struck in the head by a
+piece of shell from one of the German long-range guns,
+and half his face was blown away. Ugh!" And he
+shuddered. "The sight of it was terrible. My blood
+ran cold. Nicholas, our Emperor, dead! I saw Brusiloff,
+too, lying shot, with a dozen other generals. Then
+the scene changed, and I saw the burial of the Emperor
+with all pomp, and his widow Alexandra Feodorovna
+following the coffin."</p>
+
+<p>"And then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Then Our Lady opened her lips, and I heard her
+voice," went on the "holy" liar. "She spake to me
+slowly and solemnly, saying: 'O Gregory, what thou
+hast witnessed is decreed to take place within forty
+days from to-day! These scenes will be enacted upon
+Russian soil&mdash;and worse. The people of Petrograd,
+Moscow and Warsaw will be put to the sword by the
+enemy, who have right and justice upon their side.
+Russia has fallen away from God, and is now accursed.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"></a>[<a href="./images/203.png">203</a>]</span>
+I shrieked at those fateful words. But she repeated
+them, adding: 'Thou, O Gregory, canst still save Russia
+if thou wilt raise thy voice in warning. Peace must be
+effected. Let those who are in alliance with Russia fight
+on if they will, but let Russia remain holy for the sake
+of its innocent people and its great Imperial house.
+Warn His Majesty at once, warn his Ministers, to cut
+themselves adrift from those nations which are seeking
+to profit by their alliance with Russia. Compel them
+to make peace with the Emperor William. If this is
+not concluded within forty days, then God's wrath will
+fall upon this land. Thou art sent by God as His
+apostle, therefore take heed and take instant action!'
+And a second later she had faded out, and there was
+nothing but darkness."</p>
+
+<p>I could see how greatly our visitor was impressed.</p>
+
+<p>"The Emperor should surely know," he said, astounded.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but we must not alarm the public too greatly,"
+Rasputin replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Already it is on everyone's lips," exclaimed the
+other. "The wildest stories are afloat concerning the
+Blessed Virgin's appearance to you. We certainly must
+have peace with Germany. That is what everyone is
+saying, except members of the Duma and the war
+party."</p>
+
+<p>Thus, by pretending to have seen a vision at an
+hour when, truth to tell, he had been snoring in a
+drunken sleep, half Russia grew alarmed, including the
+Emperor and Empress, who both hurried back to Tsarskoe-Selo,
+where Rasputin repeated with much embellishment
+what he had told the Procurator of the Holy
+Synod.</p>
+
+<p>Just at the moment Rasputin was engaged upon a
+piece of outrageous blackmailing, which I think ought
+to be recorded against him.</p>
+
+<p>The facts were briefly as follow. The German agent
+Lachkarioff, who with his accomplice had blown up the
+Obukhov steel works and was now safe in Sweden, had,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"></a>[<a href="./images/204.png">204</a>]</span>
+while in Petrograd, made the acquaintance of a certain
+Madame Doukhovski, the young wife of the President
+of the Superior Tribunal at Kharkof. She was a giddy
+little woman, and the monk had plotted with old Countess
+Ignatieff to entice her to join the cult, but she had
+always refused. Lachkarioff was a good-looking, well-dressed
+man, who posed as a commercial magnate of
+Riga, and she, I suppose, fell beneath his charm. At
+any rate, for a long time the pair were inseparable.</p>
+
+<p>One day the German agent, who was an exceedingly
+wily person, came to Rasputin and told him that he
+had induced the young lady of Kharkof to reveal to
+him certain secrets concerning the dealings of Soukhomlinoff
+and the supply of machine-guns for the Army&mdash;facts
+which had been presented in strictest confidence by
+one of the War Minister's enemies to the President of
+the Kharkof tribunal.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin smiled in triumph when he heard the exact
+details which Madame Doukhovski had divulged.</p>
+
+<p>"Sit down yonder, my friend, and put that into
+writing, and sign it," said the monk, indicating the
+table by the window.</p>
+
+<p>"You will not punish her for her indiscretion, I hope,"
+remarked the man, who was at the moment plotting that
+series of terrible disasters.</p>
+
+<p>"Not in the least," Rasputin assured him. "Your
+friend is my friend. But when such statements are
+made I like to have them on record. If Soukhomlinoff
+comes up for trial&mdash;which I very much doubt&mdash;then the
+memorandum may be of use to prove what silly and
+baseless gossip has been in circulation."</p>
+
+<p>In consequence of this assurance, Lachkarioff wrote
+down what had been told him by the judge's wife, a
+document which the "saint" preserved with much care&mdash;until
+the Obukhov catastrophe had taken place and its
+author was out of Russia. Then he wrote to Madame
+Doukhovski and asked her to call upon him upon an
+urgent matter concerning her husband.</p>
+
+<p>In surprise, and perhaps a little anxious, she kept<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"></a>[<a href="./images/205.png">205</a>]</span>
+the appointment one afternoon, and I ushered her into
+the monk's room.</p>
+
+<p>He rose, and, addressing her roughly, said:</p>
+
+<p>"So you have obeyed me, woman! And it is best
+for you that you have done so. Hitherto you have
+held me in contempt and refused all invitations to visit
+me. Why?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because I am not a believer," was her open,
+straightforward answer.</p>
+
+<p>"Then you will believe me ere I have done," he
+declared, with an evil grin, stroking his ragged beard,
+and fixing his eyes upon her.</p>
+
+<p>"You insult me," she cried angrily. "Why should
+you speak to me like this?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because you have been an associate of Felix Lachkarioff&mdash;a
+traitor and a spy," he declared in that deep,
+hard voice of his. "Oh! you cannot deny it. Your
+husband has no knowledge that you were an intimate
+friend of the man who has fled from Russia after
+causing that frightful disaster at Obukhov. Is not
+that so?"</p>
+
+<p>The handsome, dark-haired woman whom the spy
+had so grossly betrayed turned pale, and sat utterly
+staggered that her secret was out. She had never
+dreamed that the handsome, polite man who had one
+day been presented to her in the lounge of the H&ocirc;tel
+d'Europe was a German agent, that he was engaged in
+committing outrages on behalf of the enemy, or that he
+was friendly with the monk.</p>
+
+<p>"Your husband does not know that spy? Answer
+me?" demanded Rasputin roughly.</p>
+
+<p>"I have told my husband nothing," was her faltering
+reply.</p>
+
+<p>"That is not surprising, Madame," laughed the
+"saint," leaning back in the chair where he had seated
+himself, "especially when you have told that spy certain
+secrets of our Government, which you obtained by examining
+the dossiers which have been passing through
+your husband's hands."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"></a>[<a href="./images/206.png">206</a>]</span>
+"What do you mean?" she cried, starting up in
+indignation.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, no," he said; "it is useless to pretend ignorance,
+Madame. Read this!"</p>
+
+<p>And he handed her a copy of what the German agent
+had written, saying: "I have the original, which I am
+passing to the authorities, so that they may take what
+action they deem best against you as a traitor and
+against your husband for negligence!"</p>
+
+<p>The unfortunate woman, when she scanned the statement,
+went pale to the lips, fully realising the extreme
+seriousness of the nature of her offence, now that her
+admirer was known to be a spy of Germany.</p>
+
+<p>"But you won't do that?" she gasped. "Think,
+Father, what it would mean both to my husband and
+myself! Think!" she cried hoarsely.</p>
+
+<p>"You have revealed the contents of certain highly
+confidential documents to the Germans," the monk said.
+"You do not deny it. You, Madame Doukhovski, are
+a traitor to Russia, and evidence of your treachery is
+contained in that confession of a German spy whom
+you assisted and whom you&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I looked at the dossiers on my husband's table
+because Monsieur Lachkarioff asked me to do so," she
+declared. "He told me he was a friend of Soukhomlinoff,
+and that he was doing all he could to assist in clearing
+him of the charges levelled against him. I believed him,
+alas!&mdash;I was foolish enough to believe that he spoke
+the truth. And now he has betrayed me!"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you were infatuated by the man," laughed
+the monk scornfully. "If you were so weak, then you
+must pay the penalty."</p>
+
+<p>"And that is&mdash;what?" she asked breathlessly, and
+pale as death.</p>
+
+<p>"Exposure," replied the charlatan who was the head
+of the traitorous camarilla around the throne. "Our
+dear land is in serious peril to-day, therefore those
+who attempt to betray her should be held up as examples
+to others."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"></a>[<a href="./images/207.png">207</a>]</span>
+"But you will not&mdash;you'll not let anyone know of
+my indiscretion!" she begged.</p>
+
+<p>"That certainly is my intention," was his hard reply.
+"This statement was made to me by your lover, and
+it is but right that it should be investigated, so that we
+may know the extent of the harm that you have done."</p>
+
+<p>The frantic, despairing woman, bursting into tears,
+threw herself at the feet of the "miracle worker,"
+begging hard for mercy.</p>
+
+<p>"Think!" she cried. "Think what it will mean to
+my husband and myself. He will probably be placed
+under arrest and lose his post, while I&mdash;I would rather
+die than face such exposure."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! my dear Madame," said Rasputin tauntingly.
+"Life is very sweet, you know."</p>
+
+<p>"But you must not do this!" she shrieked loudly.
+"Promise me, Father, that you will not! Promise me&mdash;do!"</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin drew his hand roughly from her, for she
+had seized it as she implored him to show her mercy.</p>
+
+<p>"There may be some extenuating circumstances in
+your case&mdash;but I doubt it," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"There are!" she declared. "I grew to love the
+man. I was blind, mad, infatuated&mdash;but now I hate
+him! Would that I could kill the man who wrought
+such disaster in our land! Would that I could kill him
+with my own hand!"</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin drew a long breath. The wish she expressed
+had suddenly aroused within his inventive brain
+a means of executing a sharp and bitter revenge.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps one day, ere long, you may be afforded
+opportunity," he said in a changed voice. "If so, I will
+call you here again and explain what I mean."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! Then I may hope for your pity and indulgence,
+eh?" she cried quickly, but still in deep anxiety.</p>
+
+<p>Yet Rasputin would not commit himself, for he was
+playing a very deep and intricate game.</p>
+
+<p>When the erring woman had gone the monk filled
+his glass with brandy, some of that choice old cognac<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"></a>[<a href="./images/208.png">208</a>]</span>
+which the Empress sent him regularly, and turning to
+me, said:</p>
+
+<p>"F&eacute;odor, the man Doukhovski is wealthy, I understand.
+Protopopoff has been making inquiry, and finds
+that he is owner of a large estate near Ryazhsk, and
+that from an uncle quite recently he inherited nearly a
+million roubles. He only retains his office because he
+does not regard it as patriotic to retire while the war
+is in progress. What will he think of his wife's betrayal
+when he knows of it?"</p>
+
+<p>"But you will not inform him," I exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"Not if Madame is reasonable. She is wealthy in
+her own right," replied the monk. "If women err they
+must be compelled to pay the price," he went on in a
+hard voice. "Felix Lachkarioff evidently deceived her
+very cleverly. But there&mdash;he is one of the most expert
+agents that the K&ouml;niggr&auml;tzerstrasse possesses, and is so
+essentially a ladies' man."</p>
+
+<p>After a pause Rasputin, lighting a cigarette, laughed
+lightly to himself, and said:</p>
+
+<p>"The report furnished to me yesterday shows that
+Madame was one of the Plechkoffs of Lublin, and her
+balance at the Azov Bank is a very considerable one.
+The price of my silence is the money she has there.
+And I shall obtain it, F&eacute;odor&mdash;you will see," he added
+with confidence.</p>
+
+<p>So ruthlessly did he treat the unfortunate woman
+that, by dint of threats to place the original of that
+statement of Lachkarioff before the Minister Protopopoff,
+he had before a week had passed every rouble
+she possessed.</p>
+
+<p>I was present on the night when she came to him
+to make the offer, the negotiations having been opened
+and carried on by a man named Zouieff, one of the
+several professional blackmailers whom Rasputin employed
+from time to time under the guise of "lawyers."
+She was beside herself in terror and despair, and carried
+with her a cheque-book.</p>
+
+<p>The interview was a strikingly dramatic one. She<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"></a>[<a href="./images/209.png">209</a>]</span>
+penitent, submissive, and full of hatred of the spy under
+whose influence she had fallen; the monk cold, brutal,
+and unforgiving.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said at last, when she offered him a
+monetary consideration in exchange for his silence. "But
+I am not content with a few paltry roubles. I am
+collecting for my new monastery at Kertch, and what
+you give will atone to God for your crime."</p>
+
+<p>Within ten minutes she had written out a cheque for
+the whole of her private fortune, while at the monk's
+dictation I wrote out a declaration that his allegations
+were false, a document which he signed and handed to
+her, together with Lachkarioff's original statement.</p>
+
+<p>Even then Rasputin's cunning was not at its limit.</p>
+
+<p>Lachkarioff's usefulness to Germany in Russia was
+at an end. He was in Gothenburg, and being a close
+friend of an English journalist there, it was feared lest
+he should allow himself to be interviewed, and reveal
+something of the truth concerning the subterranean
+working of Germany in Petrograd.</p>
+
+<p>"The man's lips ought to be closed," Steinhauer
+had written to Rasputin only a week before. "Can you
+suggest any way? While he lives he will be a menace
+to us all. Filimonoff is safe in an asylum in Copenhagen,
+though I believe he is perfectly sane. Only it is best
+that no risk should be run."</p>
+
+<p>Here were means ready to hand to close the mouth
+of Felix Lachkarioff, for the woman whom he had
+betrayed was furiously vengeful.</p>
+
+<p>"You said the other day that you would be ready
+to strike a blow at that enemy of Russia who has so
+grossly misled you," Rasputin said to her in a deep,
+earnest voice, as she sat in his room. "Would not such
+a course be deeply patriotic? Why not, as expiation
+of your sin, travel to Gothenburg and avenge those
+hundreds of poor people who were his victims at Obukhov?
+I can give into your hand the means," he added, looking
+her straight in the face.</p>
+
+<p>"What means?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"></a>[<a href="./images/210.png">210</a>]</span>
+He crossed to his writing-table, and, unlocking a
+drawer with a key upon his chain, he took out a tiny
+bottle of extremely expensive Parisian perfume, a pale-green
+liquid, which he handed to her.</p>
+
+<p>"It looks like scent," he remarked, with a grin, "but
+it contains something else&mdash;something so potent that a
+single drop introduced into food or drink will produce
+death within an hour, the symptoms being exactly those
+of heart disease. That is what deaths resulting from it
+are always declared to be. So there is no risk. Meet
+him, be friendly, dine with him for the sake of old
+days in Petrograd, and before you leave him he will be
+doomed," added Rasputin, in a low whisper. "He surely
+deserves it after deceiving you as he has done!"</p>
+
+<p>"He certainly does," she declared fiercely, unable to
+overlook how he had betrayed her. "And I will do it!"
+she added, taking up the little bottle. "Russia shall be
+avenged."</p>
+
+<p>"Excellent, my dear sister. You will indeed be
+rewarded," declared Rasputin, crossing himself. "When
+you return to Petrograd, give me back that precious little
+bottle of perfume, which I call the Perfume of Death."</p>
+
+<p>That the woman did not fail to carry out her promise
+was certain, for within a fortnight we heard in a secret
+dispatch that Hardt brought us from Berlin that the
+agent Lachkarioff had died suddenly from heart disease
+after dining with a Russian lady friend at the Grand
+Hotel in Stockholm.</p>
+
+<p>Truly, the grip in which Germany held Russia and
+its Government was an iron one, and death most assuredly
+came to those whom Berlin feared, or who were in any
+way obnoxious to the German war party.</p>
+
+<p>Ten days later a small packet was left at the house,
+addressed to the monk. When I opened it I found the
+little Parisian perfume bottle.</p>
+
+<p>One morning, a week later, I went with Rasputin to
+the Ministry of the Interior, where we were ushered into
+the small, elegant private room of "Satan-in-a-silk-hat"
+Protopopoff, who greeted us cordially. But as soon as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"></a>[<a href="./images/211.png">211</a>]</span>
+the door was closed, and he had invited us to be seated,
+he rose, turned the key, and, facing us, gravely said:</p>
+
+<p>"Gregory, I fear something serious is about to happen.
+Late last night I received an urgent visit from the Under-director
+of Secret Police of Moscow, who had come post-haste
+to tell me that there has been a secret meeting between
+Miliukoff and the Grand Dukes Serge and Dmitri
+in that city, and it has been decided that at the reopening
+of the Duma Miliukoff will rise and publicly
+expose us."</p>
+
+<p>"What?" shrieked the monk, starting. "Is that
+what is intended?" he asked breathlessly.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. He apparently knows the authors of the outrage
+at Obukhov and our association with them. It is
+believed that he actually holds documentary evidence of
+the money which we passed through the Volga-Kama
+Bank, in Tula."</p>
+
+<p>"But this must be prevented at all hazards," declared
+Rasputin. "We cannot allow him to denounce us. Not
+that anybody will believe him. But it is not policy at
+this moment. Public opinion is highly inflamed."</p>
+
+<p>"I agree. Of course, nobody will believe him. Yet
+he is dangerous, and if he denounces us in the Duma it
+will come as a bombshell. I called upon Anna Vyrubova
+early this morning, and she has gone to the palace," said
+Protopopoff.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin remained silent, his hand stroking his
+ragged beard, a habit of his when working out some
+scheme more devilish than others.</p>
+
+<p>"Miliukoff will be supported by Purishkevitch, without
+a doubt," His Excellency the Minister went on. "Both
+are equally dangerous."</p>
+
+<p>The "saint" grunted and knit his brows, for he saw
+himself in a very perilous position. In three days' time
+the Duma would re-open, and Miliukoff would probably
+bring forth certain documentary evidence of the treachery
+of St&uuml;rmer, Fredericks, Soukhomlinoff, Anna Vyrubova,
+and a dozen others who formed the camarilla which was
+working for Russia's downfall.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212"></a>[<a href="./images/212.png">212</a>]</span>
+"The Duma must be prevented from opening," Rasputin
+declared at last. "The Emperor must rescind the
+order and further postpone it."</p>
+
+<p>"The Duma has been prohibited from meeting for
+over five months. It can, I agree, wait still further. His
+Majesty must find some excuse, or&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I know what is passing in your mind, friend," interrupted
+the monk. "Yes, I will urge Nicholas further
+to prohibit it, and thus give us time to suppress our
+enemies."</p>
+
+<p>"Action must be taken at once," said the Minister.
+"I had a telephone message from the secret police in
+Moscow to say that Miliukoff left for Petrograd at nine
+o'clock this morning. The Grand Dukes have gone
+south."</p>
+
+<p>Two hours later, on our return to the Gorokhovaya,
+an Imperial courier arrived in hot haste from Tsarskoe-Selo
+with a sealed note for the monk, enclosed in two
+envelopes.</p>
+
+<p>These I tore open, and, signing the outer envelope as
+assurance of safe receipt, handed it to the courier, who
+left. Afterwards I read the message to Rasputin, it being
+as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Holy Father</span>,&mdash;Anna has just told me of Miliukoff's
+intention in the Duma. The Emperor must further adjourn
+its re-assembling. I have telegraphed to him urging him to
+do this. If not, let us adopt Noyo's suggestion to pay the
+agents J. and B. ten thousand roubles to remove him. I
+would willingly pay a hundred thousand roubles to close his
+mouth for ever. This must be done. Suggest it to P.
+[Protopopoff]. Surely the same means could be used as with
+T. and L. and the end be quite natural and peaceful! You
+could supply the means as before. But I urge on you not
+to delay a moment. All depends upon Miliukoff's removal.
+If he reveals to the Duma what he knows, then everything
+must be lost. I kiss your dear hands. With Olga I ask
+your blessing.&mdash;Your dutiful daughter,&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;"A."</p></div>
+
+<p>It was thus evident that the Empress knew of what
+Rasputin gleefully called "The Perfume of Death."
+Ah! in how many cases, I wonder, was it used by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213"></a>[<a href="./images/213.png">213</a>]</span>
+mock "saint" to stifle the truth and to sweep his enemies
+of both sexes from his path? Such a letter as this I
+have here given seems utterly incredible in this twentieth
+century, yet those who knew underground Russia immediately
+before the downfall of the Romanoffs will express
+no surprise.</p>
+
+<p>At once we went to Tsarskoe-Selo with all haste, and
+Rasputin had a long conference in private with the
+Empress and Anna, the outcome of which was that
+Alexandra Feodorovna dispatched an urgent message in
+cipher to the Tsar, who was still absent at South-West
+Headquarters.</p>
+
+<p>We remained at the palace all that day. At six o'clock
+Anna Vyrubova entered the room, where I sat writing
+some letters, and inquired for the monk.</p>
+
+<p>"He was here a quarter of an hour ago," I replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Then find him at once and give him this. It is most
+urgent," said the high-priestess of the cult of the "sister-disciples,"
+handing me a sealed envelope.</p>
+
+<p>Ten minutes later I found Rasputin walking alone on
+the terrace, impatient and thoughtful, and opened the
+envelope. Within was a message in Their Majesties'
+private cipher, which had been deciphered by the Empress's
+own hand, and which read:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Tell our dear Father [Rasputin] that to postpone the
+Duma would, I fear, create an unfavourable impression, and
+I judge impossible. Protopopoff has asked my authority to
+arrest Miliukoff upon some technical charge, but I do not
+consider such a course good policy. I agree that to-day's
+situation is grave, and agree also that at the last moment
+some means should be taken to prevent him from speaking.</p>
+<p class="fsc">"Nikki."&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;</p></div>
+
+<p>The monk at once flew to the Empress's side, where
+St&uuml;rmer was being received in audience. Again the
+situation was eagerly discussed. That night, when we
+returned to Petrograd, although it was nearly midnight,
+Protopopoff was summoned by telephone, and when the
+pair met I learnt what had been arranged at the Palace.</p>
+
+<p>The Empress's wishes were to be carried out. The
+patriot Miliukoff was to be "removed."</p>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214"></a>[<a href="./images/214.png">214</a>]</span></p>
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">miliukoff's exposure</span></h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Matters</span> were now growing daily more desperate in
+Russia. Suspense, unrest, and suspicion were rife everywhere,
+while the deluded people were kept quiet by promises
+of a great offensive in the near future.</p>
+
+<p>The Minister Protopopoff, wearing his gorgeous uniform,
+his breast covered with decorations&mdash;the man
+whom Great Britain regarded as so extremely friendly&mdash;had
+just paid a visit to the British Embassy, and on his
+way home called upon Rasputin.</p>
+
+<p>"It is just as we heard from Moscow," he said to
+the monk anxiously. "Miliukoff intends to denounce you
+at the opening of the Duma. He has been in communication
+with both the French and British Embassies, and
+as far as I can learn both are in entire agreement with
+him."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I must save myself," Rasputin declared, stroking
+his matted beard thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>"The British never dream that I have been assisting
+you in your schemes with Alexandra Feodorovna. That
+is why they are so friendly with me at the Embassy. Indeed,
+only yesterday the French Ambassador handed me
+the latest report upon the output of munitions in France,
+and the details of their long-range gun. These I copied,
+and Hardt has left with them for Berlin."</p>
+
+<p>"Truly, we have fooled the Allies exquisitely," laughed
+the Black Monk. "But if I am denounced, you also will
+be discovered as my associate, as well as St&uuml;rmer,
+Fredericks, and our other friends."</p>
+
+<p>"That is why the Empress urges you to resort to the
+'perfume,'" said the much-decorated traitor.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but how?" asked Rasputin. "There is no
+time."</p>
+
+<p>"There is sufficient."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you suggest?" asked the monk.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"></a>[<a href="./images/215.png">215</a>]</span>
+"You know little Xenie, who married the Councillor
+of State, Kalatcheff, last year? She is one of your
+'sisters,' is she not?"</p>
+
+<p>The "saint" nodded.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, according to a secret report made to me, she
+has conceived a violent hatred of Miliukoff, who was
+once a friend of her husband, and who still admires her.
+Miliukoff visits her home sometimes, and one day quite
+recently while in her salon he denounced you. She has
+been going about declaring him to be your bitterest
+enemy. If so, could she not invite him to take tea with
+her&mdash;and then?"</p>
+
+<p>"An excellent idea!" cried Rasputin. "Xenie Kalatcheff
+warned me against Miliukoff some time ago, I
+recollect. I will see her and sound her upon the subject."
+Then, turning to me, he asked me to inquire over the
+telephone if Madame Kalatcheff was at home.</p>
+
+<p>Five minutes later I informed the monk that the
+lady was at home, and was ready to speak with him
+if he wished.</p>
+
+<p>At once Rasputin went to the instrument, and, after
+greeting her gaily, asked if she could possibly come
+round to see him "on a very urgent affair," to which
+she at once acceded.</p>
+
+<p>"I had better not see her, so I shall get off,"
+said His Excellency. "Be careful how you treat her.
+Recollect, her mind may have been poisoned against
+you by Miliukoff. These members of the Duma are
+often very clever and cunning."</p>
+
+<p>"Leave the matter in my hands," said the "saint,"
+with a grin. "I will soon ascertain her exact attitude,
+and act accordingly. First, we must remove Miliukoff,
+and next Purishkevitch&mdash;who is equally our enemy."</p>
+
+<p>About twenty minutes later I ushered into the monk's
+presence a pretty, handsomely-dressed woman of about
+twenty-eight, who often attended our reunions, and who
+was one of the best-known society women in Petrograd.</p>
+
+<p>I was about to turn and leave when Rasputin said:</p>
+
+<p>"You can remain, F&eacute;odor. The matter upon which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"></a>[<a href="./images/216.png">216</a>]</span>
+I have to speak with our sister here concerns you as
+well as myself."</p>
+
+<p>Then, when the wife of the Councillor of State was
+seated, Rasputin carefully approached the subject of
+Miliukoff.</p>
+
+<p>"It has been whispered to me that he is my bitter
+enemy, and that he is about to speak against me in the
+Duma," he said. "I believe your husband and he are
+friendly. Do you happen to know if there is any truth
+in this rumour?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Father, I do," was madame's instant reply.
+"I warned you of him three weeks ago, but you did
+not heed. I also told Anna Vyrubova, but her reply was
+that you, being divine, would be perfectly able to take
+care of yourself."</p>
+
+<p>"So I am. But it is against God's holy law that
+human tongues should utter lies against me," he said,
+cleverly impressing upon her the fact that if Miliukoff
+were suppressed it would be no crime, but an act
+of duty.</p>
+
+<p>"To me, in my own house, he has declared his
+intention of denouncing you&mdash;and also our dear Anna
+and the Empress."</p>
+
+<p>The monk was silent. While she was seated he
+stood before her with folded arms, looking straight at
+her. Suddenly, fixing her with those remarkable eyes
+of his, he asked in a deep, hard voice:</p>
+
+<p>"Xenie, will you permit this man to besmirch the
+name of him whom God hath sent to you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't understand!" she cried, surprised at his
+attitude. "How can I prevent it?"</p>
+
+<p>"It lies in your hands," declared the mock saint.
+"You are his friend&mdash;and also mine. He visits your
+house&mdash;what more easy&mdash;than&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Than what?"</p>
+
+<p>"Than you should invite him to take tea with you
+to-morrow&mdash;to discuss myself. He knows that you are
+a 'disciple,' I suppose?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, he has somehow learnt it&mdash;but my husband is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"></a>[<a href="./images/217.png">217</a>]</span>
+in ignorance, and he has promised not to reveal the
+truth to him."</p>
+
+<p>"If he knows of our friendship he might tell your
+husband. He is unprincipled, and probably will do so.
+That is why I suggest you should ask him to tea."</p>
+
+<p>As he spoke he crossed to the writing-table, and,
+opening a drawer with the key upon his chain, he took
+out the tiny bottle of exquisite Parisian perfume.</p>
+
+<p>"What is that you have there?" she asked, with
+curiosity, noticing the little bottle. "Scent?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said, with a mysterious grin. "It is, my
+dear sister, the Perfume of Death."</p>
+
+<p>"The Perfume of Death?" she echoed. "I don't
+understand!"</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will tell you, Xenie," he replied, his great
+hypnotic eyes again fixed upon her. "I do not use
+perfume myself, but others sometimes, on rare occasions,
+use this. It is unsuspicious, and can be left upon a
+lady's dressing-table. A drop used upon a handkerchief
+emits a most delicate odour, like jasmine, but a single
+drop in a cup of tea means death. For two hours the
+doomed person feels no effect. But suddenly he or she
+becomes faint, and succumbs to heart disease."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I see!" she gasped, half-starting from her
+chair, her face ashen grey. "I&mdash;I realise what you
+intend, Father! I&mdash;I&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>And she sank back again in her chair, breathless
+and aghast, without concluding her sentence.</p>
+
+<p>"No!" she shrieked suddenly. "No; I could not be
+a poisoner&mdash;a murderess! <i>Anything but that!</i>"</p>
+
+<p>"Not for the sake of the one sent by God as saviour
+of our dear Russia?" he asked reproachfully, in a low,
+intense tone. "That man Miliukoff is God's enemy&mdash;and
+ours. In your hand lies the means of removing him
+in secret, without the least suspicion."</p>
+
+<p>And slowly the crafty, insinuating criminal took
+her inert hand, and pressed the little bottle into its
+soft palm.</p>
+
+<p>"One drop placed upon the lemon which he takes in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"></a>[<a href="./images/218.png">218</a>]</span>
+his tea will be sufficient," he whispered. "Only be
+extremely careful of it yourself, and return the bottle to
+me afterwards. It is best in my safe keeping."</p>
+
+<p>"No! I can't!" cried the wretched woman over
+whom Rasputin had now once again cast his inexplicable
+spell.</p>
+
+<p>"But you shall, Xenie! I, your holy Father, command
+you to render this assistance to your land. None
+shall ever know. F&eacute;odor, who knows all my innermost
+secrets, will remain dumb. The world cannot suspect,
+because no toxicologist has ever discovered the existence
+of the perfume, nor are they able to discern that death
+has not resulted from heart disease."</p>
+
+<p>"But I should be a murderess!" gasped the unhappy
+woman beneath that fateful thraldom.</p>
+
+<p>"No. You will be fulfilling a duty&mdash;a sin imposed
+upon you in order that, by committing it, you shall purify
+yourself for a holy life in future," he said, referring to
+one of the principles of his erotic "religion."</p>
+
+<p>She began to waver, and instantly I saw that Rasputin
+had won&mdash;as he won always with women&mdash;and that
+the patriot Miliukoff had been sentenced to death.</p>
+
+<p>"Go!" he commanded at last. "Go, and do my
+bidding. Return to-morrow night, and tell me of your&mdash;<i>success</i>!"</p>
+
+<p>Then he bowed out the reluctant but fascinated young
+woman, who in her silver chain-bag carried the small
+bottle of perfume.</p>
+
+<p>That night Rasputin, after drinking half a bottle
+of brandy, retired to bed, declaring that women were
+only created to be the servants of men. Then I sat
+down, and taking a sheet of plain and very common
+writing-paper, I typed upon it a warning to the man
+who, at the Empress's suggestion, was to be so ruthlessly
+"removed." The words I typed were:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"You will be invited to tea to-morrow by Xenie Kalatcheff.
+Do not accept. There is a plot to cause your death.
+This warning is from&mdash;A Friend."</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"></a>[<a href="./images/219.png">219</a>]</span>
+I typed an envelope with Monsieur Miliukoff's address,
+and then, slipping to the door quietly, I stole
+out and dropped it in the letter-box at the corner of
+the Kazanskaya.</p>
+
+<p>That I had saved the deputy's life I knew next
+afternoon when Madame Kalatcheff sent round a hurried
+note to Rasputin, explaining that, though she had invited
+him to her house, he had rather curtly refused
+the invitation.</p>
+
+<p>At this the monk telephoned her to come round, and
+once again she sat in his room explaining that she had
+sent Miliukoff a note urging him to see her at four o'clock,
+as she wished to make some revelations concerning the
+monk that might be useful to him when speaking in
+the Duma. The reply, which she produced, was certainly
+couched in most indignant terms.</p>
+
+<p>"Can he suspect, do you think, F&eacute;odor?" he asked,
+turning to me.</p>
+
+<p>"How can he?" I asked. "Perhaps, knowing
+madame to be a 'disciple,' he doubts the genuineness of
+her promised disclosures."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps so," Xenie said. "But what can I do if
+he suspects me? Nothing that I can see."</p>
+
+<p>The pair sat anxiously discussing the situation for
+the next half-hour, until at last the State Councillor's
+wife, handing back the little bottle of perfume to the
+monk, rose and left.</p>
+
+<p>I was secretly much gratified that I had been able
+to save the Deputy's life, yet Rasputin continued to
+discuss other plans with me, repeating:</p>
+
+<p>"The fellow must die. Alexandra Feodorovna has
+willed it. While he lives he will always be a constant
+menace. He must die! He <i>shall</i> die!"</p>
+
+<p>Our national hymn, "Boje Tzaria khrani" ("God save
+the Tsar"), was being sung at the moment in the streets,
+because news of a victory in Poland had just been given
+out to the public.</p>
+
+<p>Already the foundation stone of the revolution had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"></a>[<a href="./images/220.png">220</a>]</span>
+been laid, and M. Miliukoff, with purely patriotic motives,
+had assisted in cementing it. The Senatorial revision
+which was ordained to inquire into General Soukhomlinoff's
+treachery had, owing to Miliukoff's activity, ordered a
+search at the amorous old fellow's private abode early
+in the spring, with the result that he found himself
+incarcerated in the fortress of Peter and Paul. When
+the general was arrested, madame his wife&mdash;an adventuress
+named Gaskevitch, who had commenced life as a
+typist in a solicitor's office, and who was many years
+his junior&mdash;had a terrible attack of hysteria, for things
+had taken for her a most unexpected turn. The woman
+had been implicated in intrigue and treachery ever since.
+After copying some secret papers for a man in Kiev, she
+had blackmailed him, obtained a big sum of money, and
+then married a man named Boulovitch, a prosperous
+landed proprietor. By thus entering the higher circle of
+society in Kiev, she got to know General Soukhomlinoff,
+its Governor-General, who connived with her to obtain
+a divorce from Boulovitch, so that she subsequently
+married the bald-headed old Don Juan a few months after
+his appointment as War Minister.</p>
+
+<p>Madame and Rasputin were ever hand-in-glove. From
+the moment the general was arrested she had worked
+with singular energy and adroitness to retrieve her
+husband's fallen fortune, and in doing so she assisted
+to lay the beginning of the first Revolution. She enlisted
+the sympathy of Rasputin, Anna Vyrubova and the
+Empress, all of whom were gravely apprehensive as to
+what might come out at the general's trial. She even
+threw herself at the feet of Alexandra Feodorovna,
+imploring her to intercede with the Emperor so as to
+save her calumniated and injured husband. And at last
+she succeeded.</p>
+
+<p>The inquiries were suspended, the newspapers were
+silent regarding the scandal, and suddenly it became
+known that, "owing to the general's mental state," it
+had been decided, on the advice of a board of well-known
+medical specialists, to liberate him!</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"></a>[<a href="./images/221.png">221</a>]</span>
+This astounding news passed from mouth to mouth,
+and Miliukoff, the patriotic fire-brand, declared everywhere
+that it was Rasputin's work. The news produced
+the most sinister impression upon the people, especially
+on those connected with the Army. The man who had
+been the primary cause of Russia's reverses was to
+escape punishment! It was, indeed, this insensate act
+of folly on the part of the Tsar which had undermined
+the people's trust in their Emperor, and gave Rasputin's
+enemies&mdash;and more especially Miliukoff&mdash;opportunity for
+his bitter denunciation.</p>
+
+<p>On the afternoon of the day before the opening of
+the Duma, Rasputin received another letter from the
+Empress, in cipher, as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Father</span>,&mdash;Nikki still refuses to postpone the
+Duma, though I have done all I can to induce him to do
+so. Come to us at once and try to force him to our views.
+Not a moment should be lost. I have just heard that Miliukoff
+is still active, so conclude that what you told me has
+failed.</p>
+
+<p>"P. [Protopopoff] has told me an hour ago that Skoropadski
+[a German agent living in Petrograd as a jeweller
+in the Nevski] has betrayed us all, and has placed some
+most incriminating documents in the hands of Miliukoff,
+who has, in turn, shown them to <ins class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Purishkevich'">Purishkevitch</ins>. They will
+be produced in the Duma to-morrow. The police traced
+Skoropadski to Riga, but they have failed to arrest him,
+and he has, alas! escaped to Sweden.</p>
+
+<p>"Holy Father, do not delay a moment in coming to your
+daughter to comfort her in this her blackest hour! Miliukoff
+must be prevented from <ins class="err" title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'denouncng'">denouncing</ins> you. I cannot conceive
+how your arrangement with Madame Kalatcheff has
+failed. The perfume has never failed before. Alix is
+constantly asking for you, and Olga kisses your dear hand.
+Seek the Emperor at once before coming to me, or he may
+suspect us to be in collusion. I have quarrelled with him,
+because by his obstinacy he will ruin us all. How I wish
+that Miliukoff would be stricken down! Do not delay.
+Come!&mdash;Your devoted daughter,</p>
+<p class="fsc">"A."&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;</p></div>
+
+<p>Well I knew that the German-born Empress was
+sitting alone in the palace breathlessly anxious as to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"></a>[<a href="./images/222.png">222</a>]</span>
+what disclosures were forthcoming. She was not blind
+to her increasing unpopularity and to the unkind things
+said openly of her. Somebody had just started a rumour
+that there was a secret wireless plant at the palace,
+by which she could communicate direct with Potsdam.
+Indeed, so many people believed this that, after the
+Tsar's abdication, every nook, corner and garret of Tsarskoe-Selo
+was searched, but without success. St&uuml;rmer,
+Fredericks, Protopopoff, the poison-monger Badmayev,
+Anna Vyrubova, and half-a-dozen others, who formed
+the dark and sinister forces that were rapidly hurling
+Russia to her doom, were that day as anxious and
+terrified as the Empress herself. Well they knew that
+if Miliukoff, armed with those incriminating documents&mdash;the
+exact nature of which they knew not&mdash;spoke the
+truth in the Legislature, then a storm of indignation
+would sweep over them in such a manner that they
+could never withstand it.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin, thus summoned, went at once to the palace,
+and I accompanied him. He proceeded straight to the
+Emperor's private room, while I waited in a room
+adjoining.</p>
+
+<p>I heard their voices raised. The Emperor's was raised
+in protest; that of the monk in angry threats.</p>
+
+<p>"If thou wilt not postpone the Duma, then the peril
+will be upon thine own head!" I heard Rasputin shout.
+"Why allow these revolutionary deputies to criticise thy
+policy and undermine thy popularity with the nation?
+It is folly! Such policy is suicidal, and if thou wilt
+persist I shall withdraw and return to my home, well
+knowing that to-morrow the day of Russia's doom will
+dawn."</p>
+
+<p>"The people are clamouring for the reopening of
+the Duma," replied the Emperor weakly. "I can do
+nothing else but submit."</p>
+
+<p>"I have had a vision," declared the monk. "Last
+night there was revealed unto me the dire result of thy
+folly. I saw thee, the victim of thy nation's anger,
+dethroned, degraded and imprisoned."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223"></a>[<a href="./images/223.png">223</a>]</span>
+But even that lie failed to induce the Tsar to alter
+his decision, and naturally so, for he was afraid of the
+dark cloud which he saw rising, and which he believed
+to be due to the long adjournment of the Duma. Hence
+he was afraid to take the monk's advice.</p>
+
+<p>Again I heard both men's voices raised in hot
+argument.</p>
+
+<p>"I am Emperor!" cried the Tsar at last, angrily,
+in a high, shrill tone, "and I refuse to be thus dictated
+to!"</p>
+
+<p>Next second there was a loud crash of glass, and
+I heard Rasputin shout:</p>
+
+<p>"Thou refuseth to listen to good counsel! As I
+have smashed that bowl, so will the people, I tell thee,
+rise and smash the House of Romanoff!"</p>
+
+<p>With those words he turned, and a moment later
+rejoined me, his face flushed with anger, and his knotted
+fingers clenched.</p>
+
+<p>He went straight to the Empress and told her of
+his failure to move Nicholas from his decision.</p>
+
+<p>"But surely this man Miliukoff must be prevented
+from speaking!" cried the unhappy woman, who saw all
+her deep-laid schemes crumbling rapidly away, and herself
+branded as a traitress. "Father, you must work yet
+another miracle. He must be seized by a sudden illness&mdash;an
+accident must happen to him, or&mdash;or something!"</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin shook his head dubiously, declaring that
+there was no time to arrange a second attempt.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you put it to Protopopoff?" she asked. "He
+might suggest some means, now that the woman Kalatcheff
+has failed us. If not&mdash;he will speak&mdash;and we are
+lost! Think, Father, what it all means! There is already
+public unrest created by the rumours that we have unfortunately
+spread of pending disaster, and if they are
+followed by such charges supported by documents, then
+revolution is inevitable!"</p>
+
+<p>I saw that the Tsaritza, now that every means to
+secure Miliukoff's silence had failed, was terrified lest
+she be exhibited in her own true traitorous colours.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"></a>[<a href="./images/224.png">224</a>]</span>
+Back we went to Petrograd, where we called at
+Protopopoff's house, and where still another attempt
+against Miliukoff's life was plotted.</p>
+
+<p>By telephone an ex-agent of Secret Police named
+Stefanovitch, who had done much work as an <i>agent-provocateur</i>
+for the camarilla, was called, and a price
+was at once arranged for the murder of the Deputy.</p>
+
+<p>He was to be shot at and killed outside the Tauris
+Palace, just before two o'clock, as he was entering
+the Duma. He would probably be walking round to
+the Chamber from his house with his bosom friend
+M. Purishkevitch.</p>
+
+<p>"You will surely know somebody to whom the affair
+can be entrusted, Ivan," said the Minister of the Interior.
+"If arrested, he will be allowed ample opportunity to
+escape. Naturally he would not come up for trial. I
+would see to that. So you can give him my personal
+assurance."</p>
+
+<p>"I should suggest a woman," said the man Stefanovitch.
+"I know one who would not hesitate to act as
+we wish. Her name is Marie Grozdoff, a Polish Jewess.
+I can trust her. She has done something similar for
+us before."</p>
+
+<p>"And the price?"</p>
+
+<p>"The price will be all right," replied the provocating
+agent, with a business-like air.</p>
+
+<p>"Then we entrust the affair to you, Ivan," said His
+Excellency. "You will receive for yourself ten thousand
+roubles if Miliukoff dies."</p>
+
+<p>And the man went forth to find the woman, who, for
+money, would not hesitate to commit murder.</p>
+
+<p>That night proved a sleepless one for us all. I
+tried to warn Miliukoff again by sending him an anonymous
+letter, which I posted in secret after the
+monk had retired. But my great fear was lest the letter
+would not reach his hand in time. Probably it would not
+be delivered till the midday post&mdash;and if so, he would
+not see it till after the opening of the Duma!</p>
+
+<p>Next morning passed anxiously. Protopopoff had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225"></a>[<a href="./images/225.png">225</a>]</span>
+told us over the telephone that Stefanovitch had seen the
+woman Grozdoff, and that all was arranged.</p>
+
+<p>I went early to the Duma, and sat among the
+crowd in the public gallery, while Rasputin remained
+at home, and the Empress at the palace, with Anna
+near the telephone, she having arranged for brief
+reports of the proceedings to be telephoned to her
+at intervals of a quarter of an hour each during
+the sitting.</p>
+
+<p>M. Michael Rodzianko, the President, gravely took
+his seat on the stroke of two, and the House was
+crowded. The diplomatic boxes were filled to overflowing,
+the British, French, Italian and United States Ambassadors,
+together with the Ministers of most of the neutral
+countries, being present.</p>
+
+<p>The usual prayer was offered, but neither M. Miliukoff
+nor M. Purishkevitch was in his place!</p>
+
+<p>Had the attempt been successful? I held my breath
+and wondered. I had been listening for a shot, but
+heard nothing.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly my heart gave a bound. A pleasant-looking,
+grey-haired man, in gold-rimmed spectacles, and carrying
+a big bundle of papers, had entered by the back way,
+and was walking to his seat. It was M. Miliukoff! He
+had had my anonymous letter, and had come in by the
+back way, being followed by his bearded, bald-headed
+friend. Once again had I been able to warn him of
+danger.</p>
+
+<p>The Government was now dancing upon a volcano.</p>
+
+<p>The sitting opened, the President Rodzianko made a
+speech in which he criticised severely the policy of the
+St&uuml;rmer Government, and everyone realised the seriousness
+of the situation now that the President of the Duma
+came out against the Prime Minister.</p>
+
+<p>"The Government must learn from us what the
+country needs," said Rodzianko fiercely. "The Government
+must not follow a path different from the people.
+With the confidence of the nation it must head the social
+forces in the march toward victory over the enemy, along<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"></a>[<a href="./images/226.png">226</a>]</span>
+the path that harmonises with the aspirations of the
+people. There is no other path to be followed."</p>
+
+<p>Then the President went on to declare that, though
+there was no discord among the Allies, yet there was no
+trick that the enemy would not play with the treacherous
+object of wrecking their alliance. "Russia will not betray
+her friends," he declared, "and I say she, with
+contempt, refuses any consideration of a separate peace."</p>
+
+<p>The speech was greeted with thunderous outbursts of
+applause, while St&uuml;rmer, who was present, rose and left
+after its conclusion.</p>
+
+<p>Then, when the applause and cheering of the Ambassadors
+of the Allies had died down; Paul Miliukoff, the
+brilliant leader of the Constitutional Democrats, rose
+gravely and began to speak.</p>
+
+<p>That speech, which the camarilla had vainly striven
+strenuously to suppress, proved historic, and was mainly
+the cause of St&uuml;rmer's overthrow. Boldly and relentlessly
+he showed his hearers the favour with which the
+Teutons regarded St&uuml;rmer and the consternation caused
+in the Allied camp by his activities. Reading extracts
+from German and Austrian newspapers, he brought out
+the fact that the Central Powers regarded St&uuml;rmer as a
+member "of those circles which look on the war against
+Germany without particular enthusiasm"; that St&uuml;rmer's
+appointment to the Foreign Ministry was greeted in the
+Teutonic countries as the beginning of a new era in
+Russian politics, while the dismissal of Sazonov produced
+in the Entente countries an effect "such as would have
+been produced by a pogrom."</p>
+
+<p>The crowning sensation, however, was what he revealed
+concerning St&uuml;rmer's connection with the blackmailing
+operations of his private secretary, Manasevitch-Manuiloff,
+who, a few weeks before, had been arrested
+on a charge of bribery. The secretary told the directors
+of a Petrograd bank that proceedings were being instituted
+against them by the Ministry of the Interior for alleged
+trading with the enemy, and offered to suppress the affair
+"through influential friends" for a large consideration.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"></a>[<a href="./images/227.png">227</a>]</span>
+The representatives of the bank had special reasons
+to get even with the "dark forces," and especially Protopopoff,
+since the retired Minister of the Interior, A. N.
+Khvostov, was a brother of the bank's president.
+Khvostov owed his dismissal to a plot to kill Rasputin,
+which was investigated by Manuiloff. The directors of
+the bank, therefore, accepted the fellow's offer, handing
+him over a large sum of money in marked notes.</p>
+
+<p>Later Manuiloff was arrested by the military authorities
+with the bribe in his possession. His release, however,
+followed soon, and the name of Manuiloff was on
+everybody's lips. Miliukoff, in his speech, said, regarding
+Manuiloff's liberation:</p>
+
+<p>"Why was this gentleman arrested? That has been
+known long ago, and I shall be saying nothing new
+if I tell you what you already know, namely, that he was
+arrested for extorting bribes, and that he was liberated
+because&mdash;that is also no secret&mdash;he told the examining
+magistrates that he shared the bribes with the President
+of the Council of Ministers."</p>
+
+<p>Thus was Boris St&uuml;rmer denounced as a traitor and
+blackmailer!</p>
+
+<p>But worse was to follow. M. Miliukoff vehemently
+condemned the Empress for her support of the plan,
+originated in Germany, of a speedy and separate peace,
+regardless of circumstances, conditions, or national
+honour. He quoted further passages from German newspapers,
+in which "<i>die Friedens-partei der jungen Tzarin</i>"
+(the Peace Party of the young Tsaritza) was freely discussed.
+He was very outspoken in referring to the
+"dark forces" which surrounded the Throne and had
+lately assumed such overwhelming dimensions, and he
+openly declared "that man, the monk Gregory Rasputin,
+the ex-horse-stealer and pet saint of Alexandra Feodorovna,
+is, gentlemen, nothing more than an erotic
+charlatan, who is the catspaw of the Kaiser!"</p>
+
+<p>The effect of this was electrical. The House sat
+staggered.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, gentlemen," he went on, striking the bundle of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"></a>[<a href="./images/228.png">228</a>]</span>
+papers which lay upon the desk before him, "I have here
+documentary evidence of the traitorous actions of this
+camarilla, who are attempting to lead Russia to her doom&mdash;papers
+which shall be revealed to you all in due course.
+It is said that the Prime Minister has already left the
+Chamber to make a personal report to His Majesty of
+the President's speech. All I trust is that the words I
+have just uttered will also reach the Emperor's ears, and
+that he will trouble himself to examine the irrefutable
+evidence of Rasputin's diabolical work at the Palace
+and in the Ministries, and the crafty machinations of the
+'black forces' in our midst."</p>
+
+<p>The Manuiloff disclosures were sufficiently dramatic,
+but this outspoken exposure of Rasputin, the more bitter,
+perhaps, because of my warnings of the two attempts to
+assassinate him, caused the House to gasp.</p>
+
+<p>The very name of Rasputin had only been breathed
+in whispers, and his cult was referred to vaguely as
+something mysterious connected with the occult. But
+in that speech, to which I sat and listened, Miliukoff hit
+straight from the shoulder, and called a spade a spade.
+One of his phrases was, "Russia can never win so long
+as this convicted criminal and seducer of women is
+allowed to work his amazing power upon the rulers of
+the Empire. Remove him!" he went on. "Let him be
+placed safely within the walls of Peter and Paul, together
+with his 'sisters,' and with all his brother-traitors, and
+then there will be no more suggestion of a separate peace.
+Remove his evil influence!" shouted the fine orator, his
+voice ringing through the Chamber. "I say, remove him
+from the Imperial circle, or Russia is doomed!"</p>
+
+<p>I left the Duma by that long stone staircase with a
+feeling that at last the power behind the Throne, nay,
+the very Throne itself, was broken.</p>
+
+<p>I sped to Rasputin's house, and with pretended regret
+related all that had occurred.</p>
+
+<p>Hearing it, he sprang to the telephone, declaring in a
+hoarse voice: "The Censor must prohibit every word of
+it from publication. I will demand this of Nicholas!"</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229"></a>[<a href="./images/229.png">229</a>]</span>
+And a few moments later he was speaking with the
+Emperor, urging that an order to the Censor be immediately
+issued&mdash;a suggestion that was at once carried
+out.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile a dramatic scene was being enacted in the
+Empress's boudoir, for that day proved the beginning
+of the end of the holy Father's career, as well as that of
+Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV</h2>
+
+<h3><span class="smcap">the traitor denounced</span></h3>
+
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> Empress, on hearing what had happened in the
+Duma, had a fit of hysterics. Nicholas was present
+while the Court physician administered restoratives.
+Then, without a word, he turned, and, leaving his wife
+in the care of the traitress Anna Vyrubova, he left for
+General Headquarters.</p>
+
+<p>When Rasputin was informed by telephone of the
+Emperor's departure he became furious.</p>
+
+<p>"He fears to meet St&uuml;rmer!" he cried to me. "He
+is leaving him in the lurch."</p>
+
+<p>And this he did, for the next day the fate of Russia
+trembled in the balance, while the Black Monk went
+about to the Ministers in frantic haste, hoping and
+plotting to turn public opinion again in his favour. The
+charlatan, who could work miracles, and was the Heaven-sent
+saviour of Russia, had been exposed as a mere impostor.
+St&uuml;rmer's position had also become desperate
+under the concerted attacks of the Duma. A meeting of
+the Cabinet was held, at which the monk was present.
+St&uuml;rmer, with Protopopoff's support, proposed to dissolve
+the Duma. Some members opposed the suggestion,
+whereupon St&uuml;rmer resolved to execute it upon his own
+initiative.</p>
+
+<p>In Rasputin's room, and in my presence, he drew up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230"></a>[<a href="./images/230.png">230</a>]</span>
+a document to that effect, but to make it law it required
+the Tsar's consent, and Nicholas was far away. It was
+St&uuml;rmer or the Duma.</p>
+
+<p>Alexandra Feodorovna and Rasputin were both working
+with St&uuml;rmer to dissolve the people's representatives,
+and again prevent them from reassembling.</p>
+
+<p>As Rasputin put it to me clearly that night:</p>
+
+<p>"F&eacute;odor, this is a great crisis. The Duma and
+St&uuml;rmer are incompatible. The victory of the latter will
+mean revolution. The triumph of the Duma will indicate
+the winning of the battle by the democracy. To achieve
+his purpose, St&uuml;rmer needs an audience with the Tsar,
+and he must have it. Alexandra Feodorovna seems to be
+failing us, for Nicholas has hidden himself, hoping that
+the storm will blow over."</p>
+
+<p>St&uuml;rmer strained every effort to obtain audience with
+the Emperor, but he was elusive, and for days no one
+knew where he was. An audience would mean the dissolution
+of the Duma, and this Nicholas feared would
+bring revolution.</p>
+
+<p>As is well known, by a record published by an American
+journalist, there suddenly appeared in the Duma the
+Ministers of War and Marine, General Shuvaiev and
+Admiral Grigorovitch. They announced that they had a
+statement to make. The representatives of the people
+held their breath in suspense. The War Minister
+mounted the tribune, and paid a tribute to the people's
+efforts in the cause of national defence, requesting the
+Duma's and the country's future co-operation in the
+work of equipping the army. The Minister of Marine
+reiterated General Shuvaiev's demand for co-operation
+between the Government and the Duma. The latter,
+perhaps, never witnessed such a scene as that which followed
+the two Ministers' speeches. There was a great
+ovation, after which Miliukoff rose and said:</p>
+
+<p>"The War and Marine Ministers have declared themselves
+on the side of the Duma and the people. We, on
+our part, have said that the Duma is with the army and
+the people."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231"></a>[<a href="./images/231.png">231</a>]</span>
+This sealed the fate of Boris St&uuml;rmer. The people
+had achieved their first victory over the "dark forces,"
+and St&uuml;rmer, driven out, came one night to us, and,
+pacing the room, tore his beard and cursed both the
+Emperor and Empress.</p>
+
+<p>Then, turning upon Rasputin, he cried with a
+sneer:</p>
+
+<p>"And you, the holy Father and our divine guide, have
+been powerless to save us! Where are your miraculous
+powers? Only in your own imagination, I am beginning
+to think."</p>
+
+<p>These words led to a serious quarrel and bitter recriminations,
+for the Empress, to save herself, had dropped
+St&uuml;rmer, so that Protopopoff had become instantly the
+favourite at Court, and, indeed, dictator.</p>
+
+<p>Two weeks went by, weeks of the tensest scenes in
+the contest between the democracy and the conspirators,
+of whom Rasputin and the Empress were the head. Protopopoff
+defied the new Premier, Alexander Trepov, a
+hide-bound bureaucrat, as well as the Duma, and it was
+then that the crisis was reached.</p>
+
+<p>Each day we went regularly to Tsarskoe-Selo, and
+there another plot was quickly hatched. While the public
+were daily expecting the downfall of Protopopoff as a
+natural outcome of St&uuml;rmer's denunciation and degradation,
+they were one day suddenly staggered by the news
+that the retired Premier was about to be appointed Ambassador
+to a neutral country.</p>
+
+<p>Everywhere I went I heard the most sinister dissatisfaction.
+The people knew what was meant, namely, that
+the Germanophile St&uuml;rmer was to negotiate a premature
+peace, and this within three weeks of his downfall! The
+whole Empire was agog at the news, yet Rasputin remained
+calm and silent, believing that his clever plot
+would be successful.</p>
+
+<p>Certainly it might have been had not the Duma continued
+its concerted attack on the "dark forces," demanding
+a responsible Ministry. Even half of the Extreme
+Right, the most rabid monarchical faction in the Duma,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"></a>[<a href="./images/232.png">232</a>]</span>
+joined the Opposition, a fact which, when told to the
+Empress, sent her again into hysterics.</p>
+
+<p>I remember that day well. Hardt had arrived hot-foot
+from Berlin, and brought the monk a dispatch which,
+when deciphered, read as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Memorandum from No. 70. A.43,286.</span></p>
+<p class="figright">"November 8th, 1916.&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;</p>
+
+<p>"The attitude of the Duma is creating much alarm for
+your personal safety. As you have failed to suppress Miliukoff,
+endeavour at once to remove his chief supporter Purishkevitch.
+Inform A. [Anna Vyrubova] that Korniloff has
+revealed to P. her duplicity in the Zarudni affair, and P. has
+in his possession certain documents incriminating her.
+These should be secured at all hazards. [G. Zarudni, active
+in political law cases, and who was, after the Revolution,
+appointed Minister of Justice in the Kerensky Cabinet.]
+P. intends to make use of these in the Duma. It is suggested,
+therefore, that the woman X. [Xenie Kalatcheff] be again
+given the perfume, with instructions from yourself. If not,
+employ the girl Olga Bauer. She posed as a domestic
+servant in the Princess Tchekmareff affair, and was successful.
+Why not utilise her again?</p>
+
+<p>"Inform Her Majesty that St&uuml;rmer must come back to
+power very shortly. But this is impossible while Miliukoff
+and Purishkevitch have the ear of the people. Not a second
+should be lost in suppressing them. We have heard with
+satisfaction of the removal of the woman Marya Ustryaloff
+and the man Paul Krizhitsky. Both knew too much, and,
+though they served us faithfully, were not further required.
+[When the sphere of usefulness of German secret agents ends
+they generally meet with untimely deaths.]</p>
+
+<p>"Also inform Her Majesty that she and her daughters
+should exhibit a keener interest in the wounded in order to
+win back public favour. You, too, should perform another
+miracle.</p>
+
+<p>"We hear with regret that, though the allegations made
+by Miliukoff were suppressed by the Censor, typewritten
+copies of the speech are being widely distributed everywhere.
+If you do not act with a firm hand, this will upset all our
+plans. The moment is critical, and all depends upon your
+own drastic actions.&mdash;Greeting,</p>
+<p class="figright">"S." [Steinhauer].&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;</p></div>
+
+<p>That same evening the bearded blackguard communicated
+to the Tsaritza and the elegant <i>morphineuse</i>
+Anna Vyrubova the contents of the secret dispatch.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"></a>[<a href="./images/233.png">233</a>]</span>
+Both Empress and lady-in-waiting, in their rich evening
+gowns, came to the fine apartments which were
+allotted to the monk in the palace, and as they were
+seated I read over the message.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," declared Her Majesty when I had finished;
+"I quite agree that the girl Olga Bauer should receive
+instructions. Order Protopopoff to make inquiry into
+the best means by which she can approach Purishkevitch.
+The fellow must be prevented from implicating our dear
+Anna in the Zarudni affair."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Madame Vyrubova in alarm; "it would
+ruin not only myself, but the Empress also."</p>
+
+<p>"I will do thy bidding," Rasputin responded, standing
+with his hands behind his back, his great cross
+suspended from his neck scintillating beneath the light.</p>
+
+<p>"The girl Bauer, posing as a domestic servant,
+managed to ingratiate herself with Prince Tchekmareff,
+and gave the perfume to her mistress with success,"
+remarked Anna. "And there was not the slightest suspicion.
+Xenie Kalatcheff failed, therefore I am not in
+favour of her being employed again."</p>
+
+<p>"True, Olga is a girl of great daring, and her lover
+has long been in the German service," Rasputin remarked.
+"I will see her to-morrow." Then, turning to me, he
+said: "F&eacute;odor, write to her and ask her to call on
+me to-morrow evening at eight. Send the letter by
+special messenger."</p>
+
+<p>This I did, and next evening the girl Bauer called.
+She was slim, very pretty, and dressed as she was,
+as a girl of the people, none would suspect her of
+having committed several secret murders at Rasputin's
+instructions.</p>
+
+<p>"Olga," he said, when she was shown into his room,
+"really you are growing prettier each day! I envy Ivan
+Ivanovitch, for he has good taste."</p>
+
+<p>"You flatter me, Father," said the girl, blushing.</p>
+
+<p>"I speak the truth," declared the monk, twisting the
+end of his beard in his fingers and fixing his strange
+eyes upon hers. "But," he went on, "I asked you here<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"></a>[<a href="./images/234.png">234</a>]</span>
+because I want you to help our cause once again&mdash;with
+the perfume."</p>
+
+<p>She grew serious in an instant.</p>
+
+<p>"Who is obnoxious?" she asked quickly, in a hard
+voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Purishkevitch," declared the monk. "The man has
+somewhere in his house certain incriminating papers
+regarding Madame Vyrubova. These, however, do not
+concern you. When the Deputy is dead I will have the
+police search the house at once, and the papers when
+found will be handed to me. You must repeat the r&ocirc;le
+you played in Prince Tchekmareff's household."</p>
+
+<p>With these words he rose and took from a drawer
+he unlocked a small bottle containing a piece of cotton-wool,
+saying:</p>
+
+<p>"This wool has been soaked in the perfume and
+dried, so that it is more easily carried and less suspicious
+than in liquid form. Just place a little water
+on the wool and squeeze it out, when you have the
+perfume ready to hand."</p>
+
+<p>The pretty girl took the little wide-mouthed bottle
+and held it against the light.</p>
+
+<p>"The Deputy will be difficult to approach," she said.
+"He is not a fast-living man, like some with whom I
+have dealt."</p>
+
+<p>"He will not be able to resist a pretty face like
+yours," Rasputin said confidently.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," she said at last, "I will try, Father. Give
+me your blessing."</p>
+
+<p>And she went upon her knees, while the erotic blackguard
+placed his dirty hands upon her head, and, raising
+his eyes to Heaven, pretended to place upon her his
+benediction.</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards, before she left us, she told us that she
+knew that the Deputy had a young man-servant named
+Protzenko, and it would be her object to first attract
+his attention and become on intimate terms with him, by
+which means she would be enabled to visit the servants'
+quarters of Purishkevitch's house.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235"></a>[<a href="./images/235.png">235</a>]</span>
+"Excellent&mdash;if you do not think that you could obtain
+a place there as servant."</p>
+
+<p>"That would be difficult, for I happen to know that
+all the servants have been there for years, and that there
+is no vacancy."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Olga, act just as you like," the monk said.
+"Only remove him, and then telephone instantly to me,
+so that the police can search immediately."</p>
+
+<p>Of the girl Bauer we heard nothing for a fortnight.
+Time after time I felt impelled to warn the doomed
+man, but I feared lest Rasputin should suspect me of
+treachery, the other plots having failed. One night, while
+at the palace, I was informed by a flunkey that someone
+wished to speak with the monk on the public telephone,
+therefore I went to the instrument.</p>
+
+<p>The voice I heard was that of Olga Bauer, who,
+when she recognised me, said:</p>
+
+<p>"Tell the Father that his wishes were carried out
+half an hour ago. You know what I mean&mdash;eh?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," I replied. "I know&mdash;I will tell him at once."
+And then I rang off.</p>
+
+<p>Returning to Rasputin's handsome room I repeated
+the message, whereupon he sprang up with eager delight,
+and ringing up Protopopoff at his house in
+Petrograd, told him to order an immediate police search
+of Purishkevitch's house, as had already been arranged.</p>
+
+<p>After that I had some business with the Master of
+the Imperial Household in the opposite wing of the palace,
+and it was not till half-an-hour later that I re-entered
+the "saint's" room.</p>
+
+<p>I found Rasputin foaming with rage and stamping
+up and down the room in fury.</p>
+
+<p>"I told the Empress and Anna the good news, now
+to find that it is false!" he cried. "The police made
+a domiciliary visit only to be greeted by Purishkevitch
+himself. Think of it!"</p>
+
+<p>"Then the fellow is not dead!" I gasped in amazement.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236"></a>[<a href="./images/236.png">236</a>]</span>
+"No. He is still alive. His valet Protzenko died
+an hour ago. That fool of a girl has blundered!"</p>
+
+<p>As he uttered these words the door opened and the
+Empress appeared, looking pale and desperate.</p>
+
+<p>"Father," she said, "this is a very serious contretemps
+for us all. How do we not know that the girl
+Bauer purposely removed the valet in place of his master?
+The visit of the police will arouse the suspicion of our
+enemy, and he may trace the crime to his valet's female
+acquaintance. What then?"</p>
+
+<p>"I had never thought of that!" replied the monk,
+halting erect before her. "She might, in that case,
+betray us! Truly thou hast spoken words of wisdom!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. In the girl I discern a possible enemy&mdash;and
+in this crisis we should take no risks."</p>
+
+<p>"I agree. I will take steps. If she has betrayed
+us, then she shall be tried for the murder of Princess
+Tchekmareff. Whatever allegations she makes against
+me will not be allowed to transpire at the trial."</p>
+
+<p>"Or get Nikki to sign an order for her banishment to
+Siberia as an exile," suggested the scheming Empress.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah! my daughter, thou art always wise. An excellent
+plan! I will first make inquiries, and then ask for the
+Emperor's signature."</p>
+
+<p>Though matters had assumed the most serious aspect
+in those last days of November, Rasputin, bent upon
+revenge and full of chagrin at being unable to obtain
+possession of those incriminating letters of the high
+priestess of his disgraceful cult, Madame Vyrubova, was
+busy making inquiries, and among those he questioned
+was Ivan Ivanovitch, a bookbinder in Petrograd, who was
+Olga's lover, and who regarded the monk with considerable
+disfavour, a fact of which Rasputin was unaware.</p>
+
+<p>The young man, in consequence of the nature of the
+questions put to him by the monk, guessed what was
+in his mind, and that same day told Olga that Rasputin
+disbelieved her story how the valet had drunk the glass
+of k&uuml;mmel that had been poured out for his master, and
+that, full of chagrin, he was plotting a revenge.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"></a>[<a href="./images/237.png">237</a>]</span>
+Of this we knew nothing till afterwards. But on
+the same night as Ivan Ivanovitch revealed the truth to
+her Olga called upon Rasputin, and I admitted her.</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to see the Father," she said, in a deep,
+earnest voice.</p>
+
+<p>"I will go and see if he will receive you," I answered,
+and I left her in the ante-room.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin ordered her to be shown in, whereupon, as
+soon as she crossed the threshold, she drew a revolver,
+and, dashing toward him, fired. The bullet missed, and
+she fired again, also without effect, before I could rush
+up and seize her. She struggled with me with a strength
+born of madness.</p>
+
+<p>"What does this mean, woman?" asked the monk,
+standing with his arms folded, while I held her wrists,
+the weapon having fallen upon the polished floor during
+our wild struggle.</p>
+
+<p>"It means that I intend to rid the world of a base
+blackguard and betrayer of women!" she said. "I have
+been in your toils and done your dirty work, and now,
+because I have failed, you intend to denounce me, and
+so close my lips. But they will never be closed. The
+evidence which Purishkevitch holds is complete. I have
+seen it. Protzenko discovered me tampering with his
+master's papers, so I first assured him it was out of
+curiosity, and then I gave him a little of the perfume."</p>
+
+<p>We both stood aghast at learning the truth.</p>
+
+<p>"It surprises you!" she shrieked, still in my grip.
+"But you may be more surprised when you know that I
+have become a friend and partisan of the Deputy, and
+that with Ivan I have united to hasten the downfall of
+you&mdash;the Black Monk of Petrograd!"</p>
+
+<p>"Silence, woman!" thundered Rasputin, casting an
+evil glance at her. "Hold her, F&eacute;odor. I will lock
+the door!"</p>
+
+<p>Then, picking up the revolver, he strode to the door,
+which he locked and took the key. Passing to the
+telephone, he was soon speaking with Protopopoff, whom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"></a>[<a href="./images/238.png">238</a>]</span>
+he ordered to send police officers to conduct the girl Bauer
+to the fortress of Peter and Paul.</p>
+
+<p>"And I also order you to arrest the girl's lover, Ivan
+Ivanovitch, as a dangerous political. You know his
+address," he said to the Minister.</p>
+
+<p>"Now you can release her!" he added, turning to
+me. "And write at my dictation."</p>
+
+<p>The girl stood staggered at hearing Rasputin's orders
+to the Minister of the Interior.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no!" she shrieked. "Forgive me! forgive
+me, Father! I&mdash;I was mad&mdash;<i>mad!</i> Ivan urged me to
+do this&mdash;to kill you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Write as I tell you, F&eacute;odor," Rasputin ordered.</p>
+
+<p>Then, as I sat at the table, he dictated the following
+lines:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"It is by our order that the woman Olga Alexandrovna
+Bauer, native of Orel, shall be deported without trial to
+Yakutsk, in Eastern Siberia, and there sent to penal servitude
+for life. And further, that Ivan Ivanovitch shall be
+confined for life in the Fortress of Schl&uuml;sselburg. Given at
+our Palace of Tsarskoe-Selo, December 1st, 1916."</p></div>
+
+<p>"The Emperor will sign that to-morrow," he added.</p>
+
+<p>The unfortunate girl, shrieking loudly, threw herself
+at the feet of the monk, imploring forgiveness.</p>
+
+<p>"No, my pretty one!" he replied. "You would open
+your lips if I gave you the chance. But you will not
+have it. You are my enemy, and the enemies of Gregory
+Rasputin never prevail for long, for he takes good care
+of that!"</p>
+
+<p>She had a fit of hysterics, but quickly came to consciousness
+again, only to find herself in the hands of
+six grey-coated police officers, who roughly bundled
+her out into the hall, shrieking and cursing the blasphemous
+blackguard who was the real ruler of the
+Empire.</p>
+
+<p>An hour after the girl Bauer had been taken away a
+secret messenger from Berlin brought us another dispatch
+in cipher, which, when I decoded it, read:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239"></a>[<a href="./images/239.png">239</a>]</span></p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">"Memorandum from No. 70.   68,428. G.</span></p>
+
+<p>"Instructions from the Emperor William are to the effect
+that Germany will deliver a peace offer to Russia on
+December 12th. Inform Her Majesty of this, and tell her to
+use all her influence with the Emperor and all the Ministers
+towards an acceptance.</p>
+
+<p>"Instructions to our friend P. [Protopopoff] are to continue
+his destructive activities. He must muzzle the Press
+more closely, hold up all food, and continue provocative
+work in all quarters. It is only by producing extreme suffering
+that you can bring about an uprising for peace. Code
+now changed to No. 5.&mdash;Greetings,</p>
+<p class="figright">"S."</p>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;</div>
+
+<p>Duly the German offer of peace was made on December
+12th, and Russia was tottering to her doom. The
+offer, engineered by the "black forces," gave opportunity
+to the Duma to express its pent-up feelings. Both
+Miliukoff and his friend who had so narrowly escaped the
+"perfume" declared publicly that the camarilla favoured
+the acceptance of the offer.</p>
+
+<p>Of the truth of this I can myself vouch, for Alexandra
+Feodorovna had, since her holy Father had received the
+secret dispatch, spared no effort to induce the Emperor
+and the Cabinet to accept the olive branch.</p>
+
+<p>Nicholas refused. Whatever may be said of him, I
+know personally that on many occasions he proved his
+loyalty to the Allies against the evil counsels of St&uuml;rmer
+and the others.</p>
+
+<p>The nation, however, had to be pacified, so the Tsar
+called the newly-appointed Foreign Minister, Petrovsky,
+who represented the best type of bureaucrat, and instructed
+him how to act. In consequence, three days
+after the Teuton proposal was made, he announced
+Russia's rejection of a "premature peace." Immediately
+after the Foreign Minister's declaration, the Duma passed
+a resolution, which contained the following declaration:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"Having heard the statement by the Minister of
+Foreign Affairs, the Duma unanimously favours a categorical
+refusal by the Allied Governments to enter, under
+present conditions, into any peace negotiations whatever."</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240"></a>[<a href="./images/240.png">240</a>]</span>
+Truly, public opinion was becoming more than ever
+inflamed.</p>
+
+<p>Yet "Satan in a silk hat," seated in the Ministry of
+the Interior, was working his evil machinations upon
+the nation to create the greatest possible suffering and
+unrest, as his taskmaster in Berlin had ordered. And
+in this he had an able assistant in the unwashed "saint,"
+who a few days before, in collusion with his friend the
+ex-conjurer, had in a low quarter of Petrograd performed
+a trick which all believed to be a "miracle."</p>
+
+<p>One of Protopopoff's schemes, which he successfully
+carried out, was that of sowing discontent among the
+masses by spreading mysterious leaflets calling for rebellion
+on the issue of peace. By this he attempted to
+disrupt the organic life of the country and of the army.
+With Rasputin he was plotting to create a clamour which
+would justify the Government in opening separate peace
+negotiations and throwing the Allies overboard.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately for him, however, the unions of
+zemstvos and of towns remained patriotic. So he
+prohibited their meetings in order to cause demonstrations
+and riots.</p>
+
+<p>To all pleas and the warnings of those who saw
+the handwriting on the wall the Emperor remained
+deaf.</p>
+
+<p>One afternoon, while I was with Rasputin in his
+apartments at the palace, the Empress entered, flushed
+and excited.</p>
+
+<p>"Father! I have had such a blow. What do you
+think has happened?" she gasped. "Nicholas [the Grand
+Duke] has just had the audacity to read before Nikki and
+myself a statement which was outrageous. I snatched
+it from his hand and tore it up! Oh! it is infamous
+that I should be thus treated!"</p>
+
+<p>"What has happened?" asked the monk, in his slow,
+deliberate way. "Do not distress thyself, my sister."
+And he made the sign of the cross.</p>
+
+<p>"He has declared that you, our dear Father, have
+become the ruler of Russia; that Protopopoff was ap<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241"></a>[<a href="./images/241.png">241</a>]</span>pointed
+through you, and that about you is centred a
+clique of enemy spies and charlatans, and he actually
+urged Nikki to protect Olga and myself from you!
+When he had finished his statement, fearing that he
+had gone too far, Nicholas said, 'Now call your Cossacks
+and have me killed and buried in your garden.' Nikki
+merely smiled."</p>
+
+<p>"He would hear nothing against thee, I hope," said
+Rasputin anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing. Nikki assured him that I had nothing to
+do with politics, and dismissed the allegations by declaring
+that he entirely disbelieved them."</p>
+
+<p>"Excellent!" exclaimed the monk; but afterwards,
+when he sat in the room, he remained silent and thoughtful
+for a long time.</p>
+
+<p>At last he exclaimed aloud to me:</p>
+
+<p>"Miliukoff must be removed. While he lives we are
+all in danger. We must try another method."</p>
+
+<p>Matters had now reached a most desperate crisis, for
+on the following day Vladimir Purishkevitch, who had
+opposed the Government so strenuously in spite of his
+monarchical affiliations, came to see the Tsar to warn
+him also of the evil forces about him. But His Majesty
+took no heed. Therefore, two days later, he delivered
+from the tribune of the Duma some terrible allegations
+against the camarilla.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile Rasputin had been active, and, with
+St&uuml;rmer's aid, had got hold of a man named Dubrovin,
+the leader of "the Black Hundred" and a close associate
+of the "dark forces." This man had, in turn,
+induced a man named Prohozhi, a member of the
+organisation, to accept a sum of money in return for
+the assassination of Miliukoff by means of a bomb.</p>
+
+<p>All was arranged for the night of December 20th,
+and Rasputin sat with the Empress eagerly awaiting
+news that the deed had been accomplished. Instead of
+that, however, Protopopoff rang up from his house in
+Petrograd to say that Prohozhi had, on reflection, hesitated
+to harm Miliukoff, and moreover had revealed to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242"></a>[<a href="./images/242.png">242</a>]</span>
+young Prince Felix Youssoupoff and several others the
+whole of the conspiracy!</p>
+
+<p>When told of this the Empress fainted. She saw
+that all was now lost. Indeed, on the following day
+Miliukoff rose in the Duma and made a second and
+more powerful attack upon the camarilla, singling out
+Protopopoff as one of the worst offenders. Again he
+held in his hand his famous bundle of documents,
+evidence of the treachery of the "dark forces," and in
+a magnificent speech he defied the Government, and
+urged the people to judge matters for themselves in the
+light which those documents would cast upon events.
+In that latest denunciation of Rasputin and his friends
+there was a ring that resounded through Europe.</p>
+
+<p>The Tsar had again left for the front, while the
+Empress, nervous and trembling, held Rasputin and Anna
+ever at her side. The precious trio which had wrecked
+Russia were now seriously perturbed at the ugly state
+of public opinion. A dark storm-cloud had arisen, but
+Rasputin, with his boldness and contempt for the people,
+assured the Empress that there was no cause for anxiety,
+and that all would be well.</p>
+
+<p>The s&eacute;ances of the sister-disciples in Petrograd had
+been suspended, for the monk remained at the palace,
+and scarcely ever left it. Protopopoff came daily to consult
+with the Empress, with her mock-pious favourite
+and the treacherous pro-German Fredericks, for yet another
+fresh plot was being formed against those who were
+so antagonistic to the Government, a plot which was to be
+worked by unscrupulous <i>agents-provocateurs</i>, with the
+object of placing among their effects incriminating correspondence
+relating to a widespread conspiracy (which
+did not exist) to overthrow the monarchy and suppress
+the House of Romanoff. The idea, having originated in
+Rasputin's fertile brain, had been taken up with frantic
+haste, for each member of the "dark forces" had decided
+that "something must be done," and that the situation
+had become most perilous for them all.</p>
+
+<p>In those snowy December days, the people at last<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243"></a>[<a href="./images/243.png">243</a>]</span>
+realised that they were being tricked, and that the
+German-born Empress was striving, with her sycophants
+and with the "holy" rascal, for a separate peace.
+Secret meetings were being held everywhere in Petrograd,
+the police were making indiscriminate arrests, and
+Schl&uuml;sselburg was already overflowing with its human
+victims whom Rasputin had indicated, for a hostile word
+from him meant imprisonment or death. He was, indeed,
+Tsar of All the Russias.</p>
+
+<p>Such was the breathless state of things at Tsarskoe-Selo
+in the last days of December.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>Then came the final dramatic coup.</p>
+
+<p>Of its exact details I have no knowledge. I give&mdash;as
+I have given all through this narrative of fact&mdash;only
+what I <i>know</i> to be actual truth.</p>
+
+<p>On December 29th, at eleven o'clock, I left the palace
+to take a message to Protopopoff, and to interview the
+much-travelled Hardt, who was coming to Petrograd
+from Stockholm with his usual fortnightly dispatch from
+Berlin. I returned to the Palace about eight o'clock in
+the evening, when I received a message through one of
+the silk-stockinged servants, whose duty it was to wait
+upon "his holiness," to the effect that the monk had
+gone suddenly to Petrograd upon urgent business, and
+would return on the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>Naturally, I accepted the message, ate my dinner,
+read the paper, and after a chat with Madame Vyrubova,
+who lived in the adjoining apartments, I retired to bed.</p>
+
+<p>Next day I returned to the Gorokhovaya, but the
+monk had not come back. Countess Ignatieff called upon
+him, but I had to express my ignorance as to his whereabouts.
+I told her that he might possibly have gone
+upon another pilgrimage.</p>
+
+<p>Late that night I went back to the palace, where I
+found Madame Vyrubova much perturbed.</p>
+
+<p>"It is strange, F&eacute;odor!" she exclaimed. "He never
+leaves Petrograd without first informing me."</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244"></a>[<a href="./images/244.png">244</a>]</span>
+I set her mind at rest by suggesting that, as affairs
+were so critical, he was probably with St&uuml;rmer and Protopopoff
+plotting further man&oelig;uvres.</p>
+
+<p>Next night, however, a thrill went through the Court,
+as well as through the Russian people, by the six-word
+announcement in the Exchange newspapers, which coldly
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"<i>Gregory Rasputin has ceased to exist.</i>"</p>
+
+<p>I read the statement aghast. I saw Anna Vyrubova,
+who was beside herself with grief and anxiety, and for a
+moment I spoke with the distracted Empress. Then I
+left with all haste for the capital.</p>
+
+<p>On arrival I learnt at the Ministry of the Interior
+that a policeman on night duty along the Moika Canal
+had heard shots and cries coming from a house belonging
+to the young Prince Felix Youssoupoff, who had
+married a cousin of the Tsar, and who was well known in
+London, where he passed each "season." In the house
+were the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovitch, ex-Minister of
+the Interior Kvostov, Deputy Purishkevitch, and others.
+When the policeman went to ask what had happened, he
+received no explanation.</p>
+
+<p>A little later two motor-cars drove up to the door.
+In one of the cars a large bundle was placed. It was the
+body of Rasputin. Beside this bundle a man took his
+seat and ordered the chauffeur to drive to an island at
+the mouth of the Neva. Traces of blood were left in
+the garden. There were also marks of blood on the ice
+of the frozen Neva, where the car had stopped. Near
+these marks was a freshly made hole, and close to the
+hole lay a pair of blood-stained rubber shoes.</p>
+
+<p>Alexandra Feodorovna, frantic and bewildered, informed
+the Emperor by telegraph, and by the time he had
+returned the monk's body had been recovered from
+the river. I was present at the Mass served by the
+Petrograd Metropolitan Pitirim, an evil-liver of Rasputin's
+creation, after which I went with the body, which
+was conveyed to Tsarskoe-Selo. There, at the burial,
+Protopopoff was one of the chief mourners, and he, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245"></a>[<a href="./images/245.png">245</a>]</span>gether
+with General Voyeykoff, Fredericks, and the Emperor
+himself, carried the silver coffin containing the remains
+of one of the worst rascals in Christendom, while
+the Tsaritza, Anna, and the whole Court followed in deep
+mourning.</p>
+
+<p>Such a scandal roused the ire of the people to fever
+heat, but it freed me of my hateful compact, and I
+cut myself adrift for ever from the fascinating Madame
+Vyrubova and her vicious circle.</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<p>Perhaps, in concluding this volume of strange and
+amazing reminiscences, which I have written with the
+sole purpose of revealing the truth to Europe, I cannot
+do better than summarise the career of Rasputin as
+Alexander Yablonovski, one of our ablest Russian critics,
+has done. He declared that the part of the Black Monk
+in history was an era in itself.</p>
+
+<p>Practically the entire historic r&ocirc;le of Rasputin consisted
+of the fact that he united all Russia in a general
+hatred for the dark, irresponsible forces.</p>
+
+<p>The Imperial Duma, the Imperial Council, the united
+nobility, the social organisations, the Press&mdash;all were permeated
+by the same conviction, namely, that it was high
+time to remove from the Russian political arena the Government
+gamblers.</p>
+
+<p>More than that, Rasputin became even a matter of
+concern to Europe. The foreign Press printed articles
+about him. The foreign ambassadors cabled long reports
+in code to their Governments in connection with him. But,
+of course, to Europe he was more of a sad anecdote than
+an historical fact. To Russia, on the other hand, he was
+not only a fact, he was an era.</p>
+
+<p>Russia has experienced immeasurable humiliation on
+account of him. But this humiliation has fused the
+Empire into a single body, creating citizens out of human
+pulp.</p>
+
+<p>Russians all their lives have fought the irresponsible
+bureaucracy. Her literature, Press, science, parties, all,
+according to their resources, plucked the roots of this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246"></a>[<a href="./images/246.png">246</a>]</span>
+rotten plant. But how big were the results of their half-century
+of labour?</p>
+
+<p>And then a Siberian mujik appeared, and against his
+own will he cut the arteries of the dark force, he stamped
+it in the mud, spitting at the very principle, the very idea,
+of autocratic bureaucracy.</p>
+
+<p>Rasputin was killed for the purpose of cleansing
+Russia of the dark forces. Yet, alas! his evil influence
+lived to bear fruit in Germany's favour even after the
+Revolution and the downfall of the Romanoffs.</p>
+
+<p>No more sinister or astounding figure has ever appeared
+in all history, and the memory of no one is
+more bitterly hated in Russia than that of Gregory the
+ne'er-do-well, the erotic scoundrel and assassin, who held
+the fate of the Russian Empire within the hollow of
+his hand.</p>
+
+
+<h5><span class="smcap">Printed by Cassell &amp; Company, Limited, La Belle Sauvage, London, E.C.4</span></h5>
+
+<h6>450.818.</h6>
+<hr class="full" />
+<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes</h3>
+<p>Corrections which have been made are indicated by dotted lines under
+the corrected text.
+Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins class="err"
+title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Minister of Evil, by William Le Queux
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Minister of Evil
+       The Secret History of Rasputin's Betrayal of Russia
+
+Author: William Le Queux
+
+Release Date: September 22, 2007 [EBook #22720]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MINISTER OF EVIL ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Michael Ciesielski and the booksmiths at
+http://www.eBookForge.net
+
+
+
+
+
+The Minister of Evil
+
+The Secret History of
+RASPUTIN'S
+Betrayal of Russia
+
+
+William Le Queux
+
+
+Cassell and Company, Ltd
+London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne
+
+
+First Published August 1918.
+_Reprinted September 1918._
+
+
+Copyright, 1917, by William Le Queux, in the United States of America.
+
+
+
+
+TO THE READER
+
+
+AFTER the issue to the public of the curious chronicle of "Rasputin the
+Rascal Monk," based upon official documents, and its translation into a
+number of languages, I received from the same sources in Russia a bulky
+manuscript upon very thin paper which contained certain confessions,
+revelations, and allegations made by its writer, Feodor Rajevski, who
+acted as the mock-saint's secretary and body-servant, and who, in
+consequence, was for some years in a position to know the most inner
+secrets of Rasputin's dealings with those scoundrelly men and women who
+betrayed Holy Russia into the hands of the Hun.
+
+This manuscript, to-day before me as I write, is mostly in Italian, for
+Rajevski, the son of a Polish violinist, lived many years of his youth in
+Bologna, Florence, and old-world Siena, hence, in writing his memoirs, he
+used the language most familiar to him, and one perhaps more readily
+translated by anyone living outside Russia.
+
+In certain passages I have been compelled to disguise names of those who,
+first becoming tools of the mock-saint, yet afterwards discovering him to
+be a charlatan, arose in their patriotism and--like Rajevski who here
+confesses--watched patiently, and as Revolutionists became instrumental
+in the amazing charlatan's downfall and his ignominious death.
+
+These startling revelations of the secretary to the head of the "dark
+forces" in Russia, as they were known in the Duma, are certainly most
+amazing and unusually startling, forming as they do a disgraceful secret
+page of history that will prove of outstanding interest to those who come
+after us.
+
+I confess that when first I read through the bald statements of fact,
+which I have here endeavoured to place in readable form for British
+readers, I became absorbed--therefore I venture to believe that they will
+be just as interesting to others who read them.
+
+WILLIAM LE QUEUX.
+
+DEVONSHIRE CLUB, LONDON,
+_January, 1918_.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER                                    PAGE
+ 1. RASPUTIN MEETS THE EMPRESS                1
+ 2. RASPUTIN ENTERS TSARSKOE-SELO            19
+ 3. THE POTSDAM PLOT DEVELOPS                36
+ 4. THE MURDER OF STOLYPIN                   53
+ 5. THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE              68
+ 6. RASPUTIN IN BERLIN                       85
+ 7. SCANDAL AND BLACKMAIL                   100
+ 8. RASPUTIN THE ACTUAL TSAR                116
+ 9. THE TRAGEDY OF MADAME SVETCHINE         132
+10. TRAITOROUS WORK                         148
+11. POISON PLOTS THAT FAILED                163
+12. RASPUTIN AND THE KAISER                 180
+13. THE "PERFUME OF DEATH"                  197
+14. MILIUKOFF'S EXPOSURE                    214
+15. THE TRAITORS DENOUNCED                  229
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+RASPUTIN MEETS THE EMPRESS
+
+
+THE Spanish author Yriarte wrote those very true words:
+
+    "_Y ahora digo yo; llene un volumen_
+     _De disparates un Autor famoso,_
+     _Y si no alabaren, que me emplumen._"
+
+For those who do not read Spanish I would translate the passage as:
+
+     "Now I say to you; let an author of renown fill a book with
+     twaddle, and if it is not praised by the critics, you may tar and
+     feather me."
+
+I am not an author of renown. Indeed, I make no pretence of the
+delicacies of literary style, or the turning of fine phrases of elegant
+diplomacy. My object is merely to record in these pages the truth
+regarding the crumbling of Russia, and the downfall of our Imperial
+Throne.
+
+Anyone who cares to search the voluminous records in the Bureau of Police
+in the long Bibikovsky Boulevard, in Kiev, will find my _dossier_ neatly
+filed and tabulated, as are those of most Russians. You will find that I,
+Feodor, son of Feodor Rajevski, musician temporarily abroad, and his wife
+Varvara, was born in the Via Galliera, at Bologna, in Italy, on July 8,
+1880, and on March 3, 1897, entered the University in the Vladimirskaya.
+I venture to think that the police have but little inscribed to my
+detriment save perhaps a few students' pranks in the Kreshtchatik, and
+the record of that memorable night when we daubed with blue and white
+paint the equestrian statue in front of the Merchants' Club, and I was
+fined twenty roubles by the bearded old magistrate for the part I played
+in the joke.
+
+Had there been anything serious against me I doubt whether I should have
+occupied, as I did for some years, the post of confidential secretary to
+"Grichka," that saintly unwashed charlatan whose real name was Gregory
+Novikh, and whom the world knew by the nickname of "Rasputin."
+
+Of my youth I need say but little. After my student days I obtained,
+through the influence of a high Government official named Branicki, a
+friend of my father, a clerical post in the bureau of political police of
+the Empire, a department of the Ministry of the Interior, and for several
+years pursued a calm, uneventful life in that capacity. In consequence of
+a grave scandal discovered in my department--for my chief had secured the
+conviction of a certain wealthy nobleman named Tiniacheff, in Kharkoff,
+who was perfectly innocent of any offence--I was one day called as
+witness by the court of inquiry sitting in Moscow.
+
+It was at that inquiry early in 1903 that I first met General
+Kouropatkine, who at that time had risen to high favour with Her Majesty
+the Empress and was--as was afterwards discovered--urging the Tsar to
+make war against Japan, well knowing that any attacks by us would be
+foredoomed to failure. At the General's instigation I was transferred to
+the Ministry of War as an under-secretary in his Cabinet, and he sent
+me--on account of my knowledge of Italian--upon a confidential mission to
+Milan. This, I presume, I carried out entirely to his satisfaction, for
+on two other occasions I was sent to Italy with messages to a certain
+Baron Svereff, a rich Russian financier living in San Remo, and with whom
+no doubt Kouropatkine was engaged in traitorous dealings.
+
+One day, having been called by telephone to the house of His Excellency,
+I found, seated in his big luxuriously furnished room, and chatting
+confidentially, a strange-looking, unkempt, sallow-faced man of thirty or
+so, with broad brow, narrow sunken cheeks, and long untrimmed beard, who,
+as soon as he turned his big deep-set eyes upon mine, held me in
+fascination.
+
+His was a most striking countenance, broad in the protruding forehead
+which narrowed to the point of his black beard, and being dressed as a
+monk in a long, shabby, black robe I recognised at once he was one of
+those fakirs we have all over Russia, one of those self-sacrificing bogus
+"holy" men who wander from town to town obsessed by religious mania, full
+of fictitious self-denial, yet collecting kopecks for charity.
+
+Religion of all creeds has its esoteric phases, and our own Greek Church
+is certainly not alone in its "cranks."
+
+"Rajevski, this is the Starets, Gregory Novikh," said the General, who
+was in uniform with the cross of St. Andrew at his throat.
+
+I stood for a few seconds astounded. On being introduced to me, the
+unkempt, uncleanly fellow crossed his arms over his chest, bowed, and
+growled in a deep voice a word of benediction.
+
+I expressed pleasure at meeting him, for all Russia was at the moment
+ringing with the renown of the modest Siberian "saint" who could work
+miracles. For the past month or so the name of "Grichka" had been upon
+everyone's lips. The ignorant millions from the Volga to Vladivostok had
+been told that a new saint had arisen in Russia; one possessed of Divine
+influence; a man who lived such a clean and blameless life in imitation
+of Christ that he was destined as the spiritual Guide and Protector of
+Russia, and to eclipse even Saint Nicholas himself.
+
+As one level-headed and educated I had always had my doubts concerning
+all "holy" wanderers who meander across the steppes collecting alms.
+Knowing much of the evil life lived in our Russian monasteries and
+convents, and the warm welcome given to every charlatan who grows his
+beard, forgets to wash, lifts his eyes heavenwards, and begs, I had, I
+confess at the outset, but little faith in this new star in Holy Russia's
+firmament now introduced to me by His Excellency the Minister of War.
+
+"I have been speaking with the Starets concerning you," the Minister
+said, as he turned in his padded chair, and flicked the ash from his
+exquisite Bogdanoff cigarette. "I have detached you from my department to
+become secretary to the Starets. Yours will be an enviable post, my dear
+Feodor, I assure you. Russia is in her degeneration. The Starets has been
+sent to us by Divine Providence to regenerate and reform her."
+
+"But, your Excellency, I am very content in my present post--I----"
+
+"I issued the decree from the Ministry this morning," he interrupted in
+his fierce, blustering manner, that manner which, years later, carried
+him through the war with Japan. "It is all arranged. You are the
+secretary of our protector whom Almighty God has sent to Russia for our
+salvation."
+
+My eyes met the piercing gaze of the unkempt scoundrel, and, to my
+surprise, I found myself held mystified. Never before had any man or
+woman exercised such an all-powerful influence over me by merely gazing
+at me. That it was hypnotic was without doubt. The fellow himself with
+his sallow cheeks, his black beard, his deep-set eyes, and his broad brow
+was the very counterpart of those portraits which the old cinquecento
+artists of Italy painted of criminal aristocrats.
+
+In the Pitti and the Uffizi in Florence, in the great gallery in Siena;
+in Venice, Rome, and Milan hung dozens of portraits resembling closely
+that of Gregory Novikh, the man who, to my own knowledge as I intend to
+here show, betrayed Russia, and destroyed the Imperial House of Romanoff.
+
+In that look I had foreseen in him something terrible; I had read the
+whole of his destiny in his glance. His gaze for the moment overwhelmed
+me. Once or twice in my life--as it comes to most men--I have met with
+that expression in the countenances of those I have come across: it
+presaged crime, and the prophecy, alas! has been verified. Crime was in
+Gregory Novikh.
+
+Perhaps Rasputin--as the world called him and as I will call him--knew
+that crime was in him. I think he did. By his eyes I knew him to be a
+criminal sensualist with murder in his heart.
+
+I had heard a whisper of his sordid and miserable elemental passions,
+even though the Starets was, next to His Majesty the Tsar, the most
+popular man in all the Empire.
+
+To be appointed his confidential secretary was surely great advancement
+at a single bound, for though sensuality was to him as natural as the air
+he breathed, yet he had the highest society of Petrograd already at his
+feet.
+
+Compelled to accept my unwanted appointment, I bowed, and expressed
+gratification that I should have been chosen for such a post.
+
+"You must be discreet, my dear Feodor," said His Excellency, throwing his
+cigarette end into the great bronze bowl at his elbow. "When I have sent
+you upon confidential missions you have been as dumb as an oyster. This
+new post I give to you because I know that you are a true patriotic
+Russian, and if you see and know certain things you will never chatter
+about them to the detriment of myself, or of our very good friend
+Grichka. To him, remember, everything is permitted. You will learn much,
+but rather than speak let your tongue be cut out. And that," he added,
+looking at me very seriously as he lowered his voice, "and that, I warn
+you, will be the judgment upon you in the fortress of Schluesselburg if
+you dare to divulge a single secret of Russia's saviour!"
+
+I stood aghast between this all-powerful War Minister in his glittering
+decorations, the Emperor's right hand and confidant, and the unkempt,
+ragged, wandering collector of kopecks--the man whose eyes held me in
+their fascination each time they met my gaze.
+
+The suddenness of it all bewildered me. The salary I was to receive, as
+mentioned by His Excellency, was most generous, indeed, more than double
+that which I had been paid by the Ministry of War. It meant luxury beyond
+my wildest dreams; a life of ease, affluence, and influence.
+
+Is it any wonder therefore that I accepted it, little knowing in those
+days of peace that I was a pawn in the great game of the Hun?
+
+How shall I describe Rasputin? My pen fails me. He was one of a few great
+charlatans of saintly presence and of specious words, fascinators of
+women, and domineerers of men, who have been sent to the world at
+intervals through all the ages. Had he lived in the twelfth or thirteenth
+century of our era he would no doubt have been canonised. This rough,
+uncouth, illiterate Siberian peasant, who had been convicted of
+horse-stealing, and of immorality, who had served years of imprisonment
+in the gaol at Tobolsk, and who had only a month before we met been flung
+out of a monastery in Odessa and kicked half to death by its inmates as a
+fraud, had actually become the most popular person in Petrograd.
+
+With the women of the aristocracy he was well-known, but to the Imperial
+Court he had not risen. Yet, being a _protege_ of Kouropatkine, matters
+were no doubt being arranged, although I was, of course, in ignorance of
+the traitorous plans in progress.
+
+On the following morning, according to my instructions given me by my new
+chief, I called upon him at the small ground-floor flat which he occupied
+in the Poltavskaya, close to the Nicholas Station. The house, the
+remaining rooms of which were unoccupied, was a dark forbidding-looking
+one, with a heavy door beneath a portico, and containing deep cellars
+into which nobody ever penetrated save the Starets himself.
+
+On the morning of my first visit there, I was, from the beginning, much
+mystified. The dining-room was quite a luxurious apartment, so was the
+"saint's" study--a den with a soft Eastern carpet, a big writing-table, a
+high porcelain stove of chocolate and white, and silk-upholstered
+settees. From this den a door opened into the "holy" man's
+sleeping-room, an apartment of spartan plainness save for its big stove,
+a replica of the one in the study.
+
+The household, I found, consisted of one other person, an old Siberian
+peasant woman of about sixty, named Anna, who came from Pokrovsky, the
+"saint's" native village. She acted as housekeeper and maid-of-all-work.
+
+That first morning spent with Rasputin was full of interest. He was a
+dirty, uncouth, illiterate fellow who repelled me. His hands were hard,
+his fingers knotty, his face was of a distinctly criminal type, and yet
+in my bewilderment I remembered that General Kouropatkine had declared
+him to be sent by the Almighty as the Protector of Russia.
+
+His conversation was coarse and overbearing, and interlarded by
+quotations from Holy Writ. He mentioned to me certain ladies in high
+society, and related, with a broad grin upon his saintly countenance,
+scandal after scandal till I stood aghast.
+
+Truly the "saint" was a most remarkable personality. From the first I had
+been compelled to admit that whatever the Russian public had said, there
+was a certain amount of basis for the gossip. His was the most weird and
+compelling personality that I had ever met. Even Stolypin had been
+impressed by him, though the Holy Synod had declared him to be a fraud.
+
+My work consisted of reading to him and replying to letters from hundreds
+of women who had become attracted by his peculiar distorted emotional
+religion, many of whom desired to enter the cult which he had
+established. As secretary it was also my duty to arrange for the weekly
+reunions of the "sister-disciples," held in a big bare upstairs room, in
+which hung a holy ikon and several sacred pictures, and in which the
+mysteries of his "religion" were practised.
+
+Ere long, I found that to those weekly seances there flocked many of the
+wealthiest and most cultured women in Petrograd, who actually held the
+ex-horse-stealer in veneration, and believed, as the peasants believed,
+that he could work miracles.
+
+One afternoon, after I had been nearly a month in Rasputin's service,
+Boris Stuermer, a well-known Court sycophant, with bristling hair and a
+sweeping goatee beard, was brought to the monk by Kouropatkine. Both were
+in uniform, and after ushering them into Rasputin's study I felt that
+some dark conspiracy was on foot.
+
+They remained in council for nearly an hour when I was called into the
+room, and to me, as the monk's right hand, the plot was explained so that
+I could assist in it.
+
+To me the German Stuermer, who afterwards rose to be Prime Minister of
+Russia, was no stranger. Indeed, it was he who, inviting me to be seated,
+explained what was in progress.
+
+"It is necessary, Rajevski, that the Father should meet Her Majesty the
+Empress. He is our saviour, and it is but right that he should come to
+the Imperial Court. But he cannot be introduced by any of the ordinary
+channels. Her Majesty must be impressed, and her curiosity aroused."
+
+I bowed in assent, little dreaming of the devilish scheme which,
+instigated from Potsdam, and paid for by German gold, was about to be
+worked. Already Germany had decided to conquer Russia, and already the
+far-seeing Kaiser had watched and recognised that he could use Rasputin's
+undoubted influence in our priest-ridden country for his own dastardly
+ends.
+
+"Now," continued Stuermer, stroking his beard as he looked at me. "We have
+just discovered that Her Majesty intends to pay a visit incognita next
+Friday to the shrine of Our Lady at Kazan, in order to pray for the birth
+of an heir to the Romanoffs. We have therefore decided that our Father
+shall go to Kazan, and be found by the Empress praying before the shrine
+beseeching the Almighty to grant Her Majesty her fond desire. He will
+appear to her a perfect stranger uttering exactly the same prayer as that
+in her mind."
+
+"They will not speak," Kouropatkine added. "Our Father will apparently
+take no notice of her save to glance into her face, for why should he
+recognise in her the Empress?"
+
+I saw with what ingenuity the plan was being laid, for well I knew the
+amazing and quite uncanny fascination for women of all classes possessed
+by the Starets.
+
+At the time I naturally believed that Stuermer and his friend Kouropatkine
+were both convinced that it would be to the advantage of Russia if the
+holy man gained admission to the Imperial Court as spiritual guide to
+Nicholas II. Such a widely popular figure had the Starets become, and so
+deeply impressed had been the people of Moscow and Warsaw, where he had
+performed some mysterious "miracles," that there were hundreds of
+thousands of all classes who, like the two Ministers of the Crown who sat
+in that room, really believed that he was possessed of Divine power.
+
+As we walked in the Nevski, people, mostly women, would rush to him and
+kiss his dirty hand, or raise the hem of his greasy kaftan to their lips,
+asking for the Father's blessing. By the enlightened Western peoples the
+ignorance and superstitions of our great Russian people cannot be
+understood. You, who have travelled in our Holy Russia, know our
+trackless country where settlements are to distances, as one of our
+writers has put it, as fly-specks upon window-panes, where whole villages
+are the prey of disease, and where seventy-nine people out of every
+hundred cannot read or write. You also know how in the corner of every
+room hangs the ikon, how the gold or blue-domed basilica strikes you in
+every street, the long-haired priests chanting in their deep bass, the
+passer-by ceaselessly crossing himself, the peasantry crushed and
+down-trodden, and the middle and upper classes lapped in luxury and
+esteeming good manners more highly than morals. Such is Russia of
+to-day--Russia in the age of my employer Rasputin, the era of the
+downfall of the Imperial Romanoffs, and the fierce struggle with the
+barbaric Hun.
+
+In accordance with the plan formed by Boris Stuermer I next day
+accompanied the Starets by rail direct to Nijni Novgorod, by way of
+Moscow, thence taking steamer down the great Volga, a twelve-hour
+journey, to that city where they make bells and ikons, Kazan.
+
+Rasputin had put on his oldest and most ragged monk's habit, and carried
+a staff. Over his threadbare dress he wore another of finer texture which
+it was his intention to discard ere entering before the shrine, in order
+to appear most lowly and humble in the eyes of the shrewd Tsaritza. We
+left Petrograd at night, that our departure should not be known and
+commented upon, but ere we did so I received a note from the General to
+the effect that the director of Secret Police at Tsarskoe-Selo had
+telephoned that Her Majesty was not leaving till the following day.
+
+Hence we were travelling a day ahead of the Empress.
+
+Kazan is a city full of the odour of sanctity if judged by the number of
+priests and monks one meets in its streets. It is situated about seven
+versts from the river, an old-world picturesque place wherein one rubs
+shoulders with people in all sorts of curious costumes, especially in the
+Tartar suburb where the low houses border upon narrow unpaved streets
+dotted here and there with mosques.
+
+On arrival we drove up the hill to the great Preobrazhensky Monastery
+where Rasputin, as became a holy man, sought hospitality and was
+immediately very warmly welcomed, while I afterwards went on to the Hotel
+Frantsiya, in the long busy Vozkrensenkaya, where I took a room in order
+to watch the arrival of Alexandra Feodorovna, who would travel incognita,
+and of whose coming I was to give warning to Grichka.
+
+For two days I waited, ever on the alert, and, of course, interested in
+the adventure. It is not always that one waits in an hotel in expectation
+of the arrival of an empress. Meanwhile I had made friends with the hotel
+clerk, without, of course, explaining my business, and he had promised to
+tell me of all new arrivals.
+
+The Frantsiya is a very comfortable hotel, conducted upon French lines,
+and the two days I spent in Kazan were certainly quite enjoyable ones.
+
+On the evening of the third day my friend the hotel clerk sent a message
+to my room, and in response I at once descended to the bureau, when he
+informed me that the ladies had just arrived, a Madame Strepoff, and her
+maid Mademoiselle Kamensky. He described the first-named, and I at once
+recognised her as the Tsaritza herself, though, of course, the tall, pale
+young man had no idea of her identity. I had merely told him that I
+expected the arrival of a lady whom I had met in Moscow some time ago.
+
+"Madame has taken the best suite of rooms in the hotel," the clerk said.
+"She is evidently an aristocrat though she is only Madame Strepoff. I
+have just sent their passports to the police."
+
+The hour was immediately before dinner, therefore I lounged about the
+entrance hall awaiting the appearance of the two travellers who, the
+clerk had told me, had not ordered dinner in their rooms, so evidently
+they intended to dine in the public restaurant.
+
+Just after half-past seven they descended the broad staircase. There was
+but little difference in their ages. In an instant I recognised the
+handsome Empress by the many photographs I had seen. The other, dark and
+also good-looking, was evidently a lady-in-waiting, a lady whom I
+afterwards met at Court.
+
+The pair, dressed inconspicuously in black, seated themselves at a little
+_table a deux_ in the window, while I followed, and having selected a
+table opposite, ate my meal as I watched.
+
+The Empress in incognita seemed in high spirits, perhaps because she had
+escaped from the Imperial Court. She chatted confidentially with her
+companion, and more than once cast an inquiring glance in my direction,
+as though wondering whether I were not an agent of the Okhrana, the
+ubiquitous secret police of the Empire. It is only too true that wherever
+one goes in Russia one is "shadowed" by the police, and Her Majesty knew
+full well that the bureau of "personal police" at Tsarskoe-Selo would
+know that she had left the palace and would keep an eye upon her, because
+just about that period the air was full of plots against the dynasty.
+
+The Empress and her bosom friend Mademoiselle Zeneide Kamensky--whom I
+afterwards knew her to be--finished their meal unrecognised by the
+servants, or any of those in the restaurant, and then returned to their
+rooms. Afterwards I took a droshky up to the Preobrazhensky Monastery,
+which I reached about ten o'clock. The old monk who answered my ring at
+the barred door returned with a message from Rasputin to the effect that
+I was to tell him the object of my visit. This I refused to do, and
+became insistent upon seeing him. Such hesitation on Rasputin's part
+greatly surprised me. Indeed, it was not before nearly half an hour had
+elapsed that the long-bearded old janitor unwillingly conducted me
+through the long, bare corridors of the monastery where my footsteps on
+the flags awakened the echoes, and after several turns ushered me into a
+small, well-furnished room, wherein, in an armchair before the stove, sat
+the charlatan who was posing as the Saviour of Russia.
+
+In an instant I realised that he was in an advanced state of
+intoxication. As I entered he rose unsteadily, and addressing me declared
+that life in the Spasso-Preobrazhensky was most pleasant, and at once
+began singing a ribald song.
+
+I stood aghast. This was the man who, by the scheming of Stuermer and his
+catspaw, was to be introduced to the Imperial Court! So fuddled was he by
+vodka that he was unable to understand the purport of my visit. He merely
+laughed inanely and began to repeat parrot-like those curious prayers
+which he recited at the weekly reunions of the sister-disciples--passages
+culled haphazard from Holy Writ, interspersed with the most obscene and
+ribald allegations, a jumble of piety and blasphemy that none could ever
+understand.
+
+Soon I realised the hopelessness of the situation. This was the first I
+knew that the "saint" was addicted to alcohol, although he drank wine
+freely at meals and always kept champagne for his friends, paid for out
+of his collections for charity. In his inebriated state his wild-looking
+eyes glowed like coals, and as he looked at me I experienced once more
+the strange sensation of being enthralled. Truly, there was something
+mesmeric about that gaze of his, a mystery that I have never solved.
+
+A priest entered after I had been there a few minutes, and to him I
+remarked that the Father being "rather unwell" I would return early next
+day. He smiled meaningly, and I departed.
+
+Having no knowledge of what hour the Empress intended to visit the shrine
+of Our Lady, I was back again at the monastery at dawn when I found the
+Starets had quite recovered. As soon as I told him of the presence of the
+Tsaritza he bustled about, and in his oldest robe, rusty, travel-worn and
+frayed, he accompanied me to the fine church of Bogoroditsky.
+
+It was then only seven o'clock, and we found the church with its many
+candles and its much venerated shrine quite deserted save for one or two
+peasant women who had halted to pray on their way to work.
+
+Outside we stood together gazing down the long white road which led from
+the direction of the Hotel Frantsiya.
+
+"Alexandra Feodorovna must certainly come this way," remarked the ragged
+"saint" as I stood at his side. "Remain here and keep watch. I shall go
+to yonder house and speak with the people. When the carriage approaches,
+let me know quickly."
+
+Then leaving me the Starets crossed to a small house which he entered to
+give its inmates his blessing--blessing forsooth from such an unholy,
+unwashed scoundrel!
+
+Through an hour I waited in patience, until in the distance I saw a
+carriage approaching, and at once gave warning, whereupon the Father
+entered the church and threw himself upon his knees devoutly before the
+holy shrine and began to pray earnestly aloud in his deep bass.
+
+I had entered after him, and secreting myself behind one of the massive
+pillars watched the arrival of the two females in dead black, who,
+crossing themselves as they entered, approached the shrine.
+
+As they did so Rasputin, apparently unconscious of their presence, cried
+in a loud voice:
+
+"O God! in Thy gracious bounty give unto our Imperial House of Romanoff a
+son--one who shall in due time wear the glorious crown of the Tsars and
+become the Sovereign Defender of All the Russias against our enemies. In
+this my prayer I most humbly echo the voice of Russia's millions, whose
+dearest wish is that a son be born unto our Imperial House. O God, I
+beseech thee to grant us our request!"
+
+From my place of concealment I saw the Tsaritza start visibly. She wore a
+veil, so that I could not see her countenance. She had halted, entranced
+by overhearing that prayer uttered by the unkempt stranger. I noticed
+that she whispered a word to her companion, who, like herself, was
+veiled, and then Her Majesty threw herself upon her knees, an example
+followed by Mademoiselle Kamensky.
+
+The Empress, her head bowed in silence, knelt before the weird impressive
+shrine, side by side with the Starets. The great church was dark save for
+the light of the myriad candles, and silent save for the twittering of a
+bird, yet I could see that the pious exhortation of Rasputin had been
+taken as an omen by Her Majesty.
+
+Suddenly, the mock saint's voice again rang out clearly in the great
+cavernous basilica as he repeated the prayer in clear impassioned
+words--that same prayer which the Empress was repeating in silence.
+
+Only the three knelt there. For a full ten minutes silence again reigned.
+Neither of the kneeling figures stirred until Rasputin crossed himself
+slowly, and for a third time, raising his voice still higher he besought
+the Almighty to grant Russia an heir to the Throne.
+
+Then, at last, he rose with slow dignity as became a saintly priest, and
+again he made the sign of the cross.
+
+As he did so the Empress who had raised her veil turned her head,
+whereupon he halted for several seconds and gazed straight into her face
+with that intense, hypnotic stare which always held women in such
+mysterious fascination. I saw that the Empress was again startled, but
+folding his hands across his breast, an attitude habitual to him, the
+Starets passed out of the church without a second glance at her, leaving
+her breathless and trembling.
+
+When he had gone she turned in alarm and whispered with her
+lady-in-waiting. Both women rose, and, following the monk, stood gazing
+at his receding figure as he went down the long white road.
+
+"A strange man surely, Zeneide!" I heard the Empress exclaim. "How
+curious that, unconscious of my presence, he should be here, praying for
+me--a holy man without a doubt! We must discover who he is. What eyes!
+Did you notice them?"
+
+"Yes. His gaze really frightened me," her companion admitted.
+
+"Ah! His is the face of a true saint--a wonder-worker! Of that I am
+certain. We must make inquiries concerning him," remarked Her Majesty. "I
+must see him again and speak with him!"
+
+Then the pair, entering the carriage, drove rapidly away.
+
+While standing upon the church steps they had discussed the Starets while
+I had lounged close by unnoticed, believing that we were alone.
+
+As the carriage moved off, however, I was startled to feel strong hands
+laid heavily upon me, as a rough voice exclaimed:
+
+"Halt! You are under arrest!"
+
+Next second I became aware that I was in the hands of two rather well
+dressed men, no doubt agents of the Okhrana.
+
+"You have been loitering here with evil intent!" exclaimed the elder of
+the pair. "We have been watching you ever since you entered behind that
+good Father. We saw you secrete yourself. Have you any firearms?"
+
+I unfortunately had a revolver, and at once produced it.
+
+"Ah!" exclaimed the brown-bearded agent of Secret Police as he took
+possession of it. "I thought so! You had discovered the identity of the
+lady with the long veil, and have been here awaiting an opportunity to
+fire at her!"
+
+"What?" I gasped, aghast at the serious charge levelled against me. "I am
+no revolutionist! I carry that weapon merely for my self-protection."
+
+The bearded man gave a low whistle, and next moment three grey-coated
+policemen in uniform sprang up from nowhere, and I was unceremoniously
+marched through the streets to the head police bureau in the Gostiny
+Dvor, well knowing the seriousness of the allegation against me.
+
+Two hours later I was taken to the dark-panelled room of the Chief of
+Police, a bald-headed, flabby-faced functionary in a dark blue uniform
+glittering with decorations. Before his big table, standing between two
+policemen, I answered question after question he put to me, my replies
+being carefully noted by a clerk who sat at a side table. In the room
+were also the two officers of the Okhrana who had travelled, unknown to
+the Empress, in order to keep Her Majesty beneath their surveillance.
+
+"Why did you arrive at the Frantsiya and await the coming of the two
+ladies?" snapped the Chief of Police in his peculiarly offensive manner.
+
+I was at loss what to say. I was unable to tell the truth lest I should
+betray the plot of Boris Stuermer and General Kouropatkine. I recollected
+my friendship with the hotel clerk, and my eagerness for the arrival of
+the travellers.
+
+"Ah! You hesitate!" said the all-powerful functionary with a sinister
+grin, and knowing what I did of the political police and their arbitrary
+measures towards those suspected, I realised that I was in very grave
+danger.
+
+"You had secret knowledge of Her Majesty's journey incognita, or you
+would not have been watching in the church with a loaded revolver in your
+pocket," he went on. "Your Brothers of Freedom, as you term them, never
+lack knowledge of Their Majesties' movements," my inquisitor said.
+
+"I deny, your Excellency, that I was there with any evil intent," I
+protested. "Such a thing as you suggest never for a second entered my
+mind."
+
+The man in the brilliant uniform laughed, saying:
+
+"I have heard that same declaration before. It is a clever plot, no
+doubt, but fortunately you were watched, and the knowledge that you were
+being watched prevented you from putting your plans into execution.
+Come--confess!"
+
+"I had no idea that I was being watched until I was arrested," I
+declared.
+
+"But you cannot explain the reason why you travelled from Petrograd to
+Kazan. Let us hear your excuse," he said with increased sarcasm.
+
+"I have no excuse," was my very lame reply. I was wondering what had
+become of the Starets. It was quite evident that they knew nothing of my
+double journey up to the monastery, and further, there was no suspicion
+against Rasputin. That being so I hesitated to explain the truth, in the
+faint hope that Kouropatkine, as Minister of War, would hear of my
+arrest, and contrive to obtain my release. I saw that, at least, I ought
+to remain loyal to those who employed me, and further, even if I told the
+truth it would not be believed.
+
+"It will be best to make some inquiries in Petrograd regarding this
+individual," suggested the police agent who had arrested me.
+
+"I really don't think that is necessary," replied the Chief of Police of
+Kazan, tapping his desk impatiently with his pen, as he turned to me and
+said:
+
+"Now, tell me quickly, young man. Why are you here?"
+
+What could I reply?
+
+"Ah!" he said, smiling. "I see that there are others whom you refuse to
+implicate. It is useless to send such people as you for trial."
+
+"But I demand a fair trial!" I cried in desperation, a cold sweat
+breaking out on my brow, because I knew that he had power to pass
+sentence upon me as a political suspect who refused information--and that
+his order would certainly be confirmed by the Minister of the Interior.
+
+Too well did I know the drastic powers of the Chiefs of Police of the
+principal cities.
+
+At my demand the bald-headed man simply smiled, and replied:
+
+"My order is that you be conveyed to Schluesselburg. You will there have
+plenty of leisure in which to repent not having replied to my questions."
+
+To Schluesselburg! My heart fell within me. Once within that dreaded
+fortress, the terrible oubliettes of which are below the surface of the
+Lake Ladoga, my identity would be lost and I should be quickly forgotten.
+From Schluesselburg no prisoner ever returned!
+
+Would any of the conspiring trio, whose tool I had been, raise a finger
+to save me? Or would they consider that having served their purpose it
+would be to their advantage if my lips were closed?
+
+"Schluesselburg!" I gasped. "No--no, not that!" I cried. "I am
+innocent--quite innocent!"
+
+"You give no proof of it," coldly replied the Chief of Police, rising as
+a sign that the inquiry was at an end. "My orders are that you be sent to
+Schluesselburg without delay." Then, turning to the two agents of the
+Okhrana, he added: "You will report this to your director at
+Tsarskoe-Selo. I will send my order to the Ministry for confirmation
+to-night. Take the prisoner away!"
+
+And next moment I was bundled down to a dirty cell in the basement, there
+to await conveyance to that most dreaded of all the prisons in the
+Empire.
+
+By a single stroke of the pen I had been condemned to imprisonment for
+life!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+RASPUTIN ENTERS TSARSKOE-SELO
+
+
+I CONFESS that I felt my position to be absolutely hopeless.
+
+I was a political suspect, and therefore I knew full well that to attempt
+to communicate with anyone outside was quite impossible. The Chief of
+Police of Kazan, honestly believing that he was doing his duty and
+unearthing a subtle plot against the life of the Empress, on account of
+the revolver in my possession, had condemned me to imprisonment in the
+Fortress of Schluesselburg. Its very name, dreaded by every Russian,
+recurred to me as I recollected Kouropatkine's significant words. Had he
+not threatened that, if I revealed one single word of the secret doings
+of the holy Starets, my tongue would be cut out within those grim dark
+walls of that prison of mystery?
+
+We Russians had from our childhood heard of that sinister fortress, the
+walls of which rise sheer from the black waters of Lake Ladoga--that
+place where the cells of the political prisoners, victims of the thousand
+and one intrigues of the Russian bureaucracy, consequent upon the
+autocracy of the Tsar, are deep beneath the lake's surface, so that they
+can--when it is willed by the Governor or those higher Ministers who
+express their devilish desire--be flooded at will.
+
+Hundreds of terrified, yet innocent and nameless victims of Russia's
+mediaeval barbarism, persons of both sexes--alas! that I should speak so
+of my own country--have, during the past ten years of enlightenment,
+stood in their narrow dimly-lit oubliette and watched in horror the black
+tide trickle through the rat holes in the stone floor, slowly, ever
+slowly, until water has filled the cell to the arched stone roof and
+drowned them as rats in a trap.
+
+And all that has been done by the accursed German wirepullers in the name
+of the puny puppet who was Tsar, and from whom the truth was, they said,
+ever carefully hidden.
+
+The Kazan police treated me just as inhumanly as I expected. By my own
+experience as an official in the Department of Political Police, and
+knowing what I did in consequence, I was expecting all this.
+
+Four days I spent in that gloomy, but not very uncomfortable cell in
+Kazan, when, on the fifth morning, I was taken, handcuffed to another
+prisoner who I found afterwards had murdered his wife, to the Volga
+steamer which, after twelve hours of close confinement, landed us at
+Nijni.
+
+A hundred times I debated within myself whether it were best to remain
+silent, and not reveal my past career in the Department of Political
+Police, or to state the absolute facts and struggle by that means to
+obtain a hearing and escape.
+
+One fact was patent. General Kouropatkine and Boris Stuermer both trusted
+in my silence, while the rascal monk had found in me a catspaw who had
+remained dumb. In truth, however, my secret intention was to watch the
+progress of events. Of the latter, Rasputin had, of course, no suspicion.
+If I were--as I had already proved myself--his willing assistant, then he
+and his friends might endeavour to save me.
+
+Such were my thoughts as I sat in the train between two police agents on
+the interminable journey from Nijni to the capital.
+
+On arrival at the Nicholas Station the murderer to whom I was manacled
+and myself were shown no consideration. We had been without food for
+twelve hours, yet the three men in charge, though they ate a hearty meal
+in the buffet, gave us not a drink of water. Humanity is not in the
+vocabulary of our police of Russia when dealing with political suspects,
+so many of whom are entirely innocent persons who have proved themselves
+obnoxious to the corrupt bureaucracy.
+
+We had two hours to wait in Petrograd, locked in one of the waiting-rooms
+where we were at last given a hunk of bread and a piece of cold meat.
+Then we were driven out to Schluesselburg in a motor-car, arriving there
+in the grey break of dawn and being conveyed by boat to the grim
+red-brick fortress which rose from the lake.
+
+Stepping from the boat on to the floating landing-stage we were conducted
+by armed warders through the iron gate and along innumerable stone
+corridors where, ever and anon, we passed other warders--men who,
+criminals themselves, spent their lives in the fortress and were never
+allowed to land in order that they might not reveal the terrible secrets
+of that modern Bastille. Those who would form a proper opinion of our
+Empire should remember that this horrible prison was at the disposal of
+each of the Ministers and their sycophants, and that hundreds of entirely
+innocent people of both sexes had for years been sent there out of
+personal spite or jealousy, and also in the furtherance of Germany's aims
+for the coming war.
+
+Within those dark, gloomy walls, where many of the dimly lit cells were
+below the lake, hundreds of patriotic Russians had ended their lives,
+their only offence being that they had been too true to their Emperor and
+their own land!
+
+Ever since my childhood I had been taught to regard Schluesselburg as an
+inferno--a place from which no victim of our corrupt bureaucracy had ever
+emerged. Only His Excellency the Governor and the under-Governor had for
+years landed from that island fortress. To all others communication with
+the outside world was strictly forbidden. Hence I was fully aware that
+now I had set foot in the hateful place my identity had become lost, and
+only death was before me.
+
+And such deeds were being done in the name of the Tsar!
+
+At the time I believed in His Majesty, feeling that he was in ignorance
+of the truth. Nowadays I know that he was, all the time, fully aware of
+the crimes committed in his name. Hence, I have no sympathy with the
+Imperial family, and have welcomed its well-deserved downfall.
+
+Into a small room where sat an official in uniform I was ushered, and
+later, after waiting an hour, was compelled to sign the big
+leather-bound register of prisoners. Already my crime had evidently been
+written down in a neat official hand, yet I was given no opportunity to
+read it.
+
+"Enough!" said the big bearded officer with a wave of the hand. "Take him
+to his cell--number 326."
+
+Whereupon the three men who had conveyed me there bundled me down two
+steep flights of damp stone steps, worn hollow by the tread of thousands
+of those who had already gone down to their doom, into a corridor dimly
+lit by oil-lamps--a passage into which no light of day ever penetrated.
+
+There we were met by an evil-looking ex-convict who carried a key
+suspended by a chain.
+
+"Three-two-six!" shouted one of my guardians, whereupon the gaoler opened
+a door and I was thrust into a narrow stone cell, the floor of which was
+an inch deep in slime, faintly lit by a tiny aperture, heavily barred,
+about ten feet above where I stood.
+
+The door was locked behind me and I found myself alone. I was in one of
+those oubliettes which at the will of my captors could be flooded!
+
+I held my breath and glanced around. Within me arose a fierce resentment.
+I had acted honestly towards my scoundrelly employers--though, be it
+said, my object was one of patriotic observation--yet they had allowed me
+to become the victim of the secret police who would, no doubt, obtain
+great kudos, and probably a liberal _douceur_, for having unearthed "a
+desperate plot against Her Majesty the Empress!"
+
+That there was a plot was quite true--but one unsuspected by the Chief of
+Police of Kazan.
+
+My paroxysm of anger I need not here describe. Through the hours that
+passed I sat upon the stone seat beside the board that served me as bed,
+gazing up at the small barred window.
+
+_Clap--clap--clap_ was the only sound that reached me--and with failing
+heart I knew the noise to be that of waves of the lake beating upon the
+wall within a few inches of my window, the dark waters which in due time
+would no doubt rise through my uneven floor and engulf me. Big grey rats
+ran about in search of fragments of food--of which there was none. I was
+a "political," and my food would certainly not be plentiful.
+
+In those awful nerve-racking hours, never knowing when I might find my
+floor flooded as signal of a horrible death, I paced my cell uttering the
+worst curses upon those who had employed me, and vowed that if they gave
+me the grace--for their own ends--to escape I would use my utmost
+endeavours to destroy them.
+
+I did not blame the Okhrana or the Chief of Police of Kazan. They had
+both acted in good faith. Yet I remembered that I was the catspaw of
+Kouropatkine and of Stuermer, either of whom could easily order my
+release. And that was what I awaited in patience, although in terror.
+
+Days went by--hopeless, interminable days. The lapping of the waters
+above me ever reminded me of the fate that had been of the many hundreds
+who had previously occupied that same fearsome oubliette and had been
+drowned, deliberately murdered by those into whose bad graces they had
+fallen.
+
+When the grey streak of light faded above me the gruff criminal in charge
+would unbolt my door and bring me a small paraffin lamp to provide me
+with light and warmth for the night. When the lamp was brought each night
+I thought of Marie Vietroff whose name was still upon everyone's lips.
+The poor girl, arrested though innocent as I had been, had been confined
+in a cell in the fortress of Peter and Paul, and her fate was known in
+consequence of certain revelations admitted by the Assistant Public
+Prosecutor. This official, the tool of higher and more corrupt officials,
+had admitted that the girl, though entirely innocent of any crime, had
+been arrested out of spite and sent to the fortress where, to escape a
+doom more horrible than death itself, she had emptied the oil from her
+lamp over herself while in bed, and then set fire to it.
+
+Often, even in that deep oubliette, the sounds of woman's shrieks reached
+me, and each time I thought of the girl-victim of an official's revenge.
+
+Days passed--so many that I lost count of them--until I had abandoned
+hope. The scoundrels whom I had served had forsaken me now that I had
+served their purpose. Rasputin had fascinated the Empress by that
+mesmeric glance of his, and it had probably been deemed wiser that my
+mouth should be at once closed. At any moment I might discover the water
+oozing up between those green slime-covered stones.
+
+One day, however, at about noon the gruff uncommunicative peasant who was
+my gaoler--a man incarcerated for murder in Moscow--unlocked the door and
+bade me come out.
+
+In surprise I was taken along the corridors to that same small room in
+which I had put down my name in that Book of Fate they called the Prison
+Register, and there the same official informed me that it was desired to
+interrogate me at the Ministry of the Interior in Petrograd.
+
+Another interrogation! My spirits rose. If my captors meant to have the
+truth, then they should have it. I would expose the plot, let me be
+believed or disbelieved.
+
+Escorted by two agents of police, I was taken out into the dazzling light
+of day back to Petrograd, and to the Ministry of the Interior, where in a
+private room--one that was in a wing of the great building familiar to
+me--I was left alone.
+
+I had only been there for a few minutes, looking out of the window in
+wonder, when the door opened, and before me stood the goat-bearded man
+Boris Stuermer.
+
+"Welcome back, my dear Rajevski!" he exclaimed, coming towards me and
+shaking my hand warmly. "We only knew yesterday where you were. Those
+fools in Kazan spirited you away, but that idiot the Chief of Police has
+been to-day dismissed the service for his meddling. I do hope you are
+none the worse for your adventure," he added with concern.
+
+"Surely Grichka knew of my arrest!" I said. "Did he not inquire?"
+
+"He did not dare to do so openly, lest he himself should be implicated,"
+replied the German. "We were compelled to wait and inquire with due
+judiciousness. Even then we could not discover whither you had been
+sent--not until yesterday. But it is all a mistake, my dear Rajevski--all
+a mistake, and you must overlook it. The Father is eagerly awaiting your
+return."
+
+"I must first go home and exchange these dirty clothes," I remarked.
+
+"Yes. But first accept the apologies of the General and myself. You, of
+course, knew that we should extricate you--as we shall again, if any
+other untoward circumstances happen to arise. Recollect that we can open
+any door of prison or palace in Russia," and then he smiled grimly as I
+took my leave.
+
+I returned to my own rooms to find that they had, during my absence, been
+searched by the police, and some of my correspondence, of a private and
+family nature, had been taken away. At this I felt greatly annoyed, and
+resolved to obtain from Kouropatkine immunity from such domiciliary
+visits in future.
+
+Upon my table lay a letter which had, I was told, arrived for me that
+morning. On opening it I found that it was from the head office of the
+Azof-Don Commercial Bank, in the Morskaya, officially informing me that a
+sum of fifty thousand roubles had been placed to my credit there by some
+person who remained anonymous.
+
+The present was certainly a welcome one, made no doubt as reparation for
+the inconvenience I had suffered.
+
+Half-an-hour later I arrived at the Poltavskaya where old Anna admitted
+me, and I at once went to the monk's sanctum.
+
+Rasputin sprang from his chair and, seizing both my hands, cried:
+
+"Ah! my dear Feodor! So here you are back with us! This relieves my mind
+greatly."
+
+"Yes," I said. "Back from the grave."
+
+"The infernal idiots!" declared the monk, his wide-open eyes flashing as
+he spoke. "I will see that it does not occur again. But you quite
+understand, Feodor, that it was not wise to reveal that I had gone to
+Kazan on purpose to pray in the Empress's presence."
+
+I smiled, and said:
+
+"Somebody has placed fifty thousand roubles to my account at the Azof-Don
+Bank."
+
+In turn the rascal smiled, and said:
+
+"You need not seek its source. It is out of the Government funds, and is
+yours. Keep a still tongue, and there may be other payments." Then,
+turning to his table, he showed me quantities of correspondence which had
+been left unattended in my absence, and urged me to get to work, adding:
+"I have to be at the Baroness Tchelkounoff's this afternoon, and there is
+a seance here to-morrow--five neophytes to be initiated."
+
+So five more silly, neurotic and, of course, wealthy women were to be
+initiated into the mysteries of the mock saint's religion. Grichka had no
+use for those whose pockets were not well lined, for he was accumulating
+vast sums from those weak, fascinated females who believed in his
+divinity as healer and spiritual guide.
+
+Presently I seated myself at the table and recommenced my secretarial
+duties, while he went forth. In many letters were drafts for
+subscriptions for Rasputin's convent in far-off Pokrovsky in Siberia, a
+place which no one had ever visited, yet in support of which he had
+obtained hundreds of thousands of roubles. I might here state that later
+on, when I visited Pokrovsky, I found the wonderful convent, of which he
+told me such pious stories, consisted of a plain house cheaply furnished
+in which lived his peasant wife and children, together with twelve of his
+chosen sister-disciples, foolish women who had made over their money to
+him and devoted their lives to piety as set forth in his new "religion."
+
+A fortnight passed. Of Kouropatkine we saw little. He had, at last,
+assisted by the traitor Stoessel and at Germany's instigation, succeeded
+in forcing war with Japan, and the streets of the capital were filled
+with urging, enthusiastic crowds bent upon pulling the Mikado from his
+throne.
+
+Kouropatkine had, according to what Rasputin told me, assured the Emperor
+that the victory would be an easy one, and that the Japanese would fly at
+first sight of our troops. The General had quite recently returned from
+the Far East, and had presented a personal report to the Tsar describing
+Japan's war preparations. He had declared that if Russia meant victory
+she must strike at once. Hence war was declared; you know with what
+disastrous results to both the Army and Navy of Russia.
+
+It was, however, on the day before the declaration of war that Rasputin's
+real triumph came. The Empress, who had been searching Russia high and
+low for the pious Father beside whom she had knelt in Kazan, had at last
+discovered him, and he received a command to an audience at the Palace of
+Tsarskoe-Selo.
+
+The monk, his eyes shining with glee, showed me the letter from Count
+Fredericks, Minister of the Court, and said: "You must accompany me,
+Feodor."
+
+At noon on the day appointed we therefore left Petrograd together. The
+monk wore, in pretended humility, his oldest and most rusty robe--though
+beneath it, be it said, his under garments were of silk of the finest
+procurable in the capital--while suspended by a thin brass chain around
+his neck was a cheap enamelled cross. He was unkempt, unwashed, his face
+sallow and drawn, yet those wonderful brilliant eyes stared forth with
+uncanny intensity of expression. His hands were grimy, and his long
+tapering finger-nails had not been cleaned for weeks. Such was the man
+whom Alexandra Feodorovna, fascinated by his glance, had called to her
+side.
+
+On arrival at the station of Tsarskoe-Selo we found one of the Imperial
+carriages awaiting us, with footman and coachman in bright blue liveries,
+with outriders.
+
+Two flunkeys, also in blue, advanced, and, placing their hands beneath
+the saint's arms, lifted him into the carriage, an honour always paid to
+those who are special guests of His Majesty the Tsar. As for myself I
+climbed in afterwards, smiling within myself at the spectacle of the
+unwashed monk being lifted in as though he were an invalid. With us was
+an officer in uniform and a civilian--an agent of the Okhrana.
+
+The moment we had seated ourselves the Imperial servants took off their
+cocked hats and replaced them crosswise on their heads as sign that
+within the carriage was a guest of His Majesty, and in order to signal to
+passers-by as we drove along to remove their hats or salute.
+
+Rasputin had already been given instructions by General Erchoff, Chief
+Procurator of the Holy Synod, as to how we should act in the presence of
+Her Imperial Majesty. We had both attended before him, Rasputin well
+knowing that Erchoff was one of his most bitter enemies, but who on
+account of the Tsaritza's interest was now posing as a friend.
+
+After our drive back to Rasputin's house the monk, flinging himself into
+a chair and lighting a cigarette, thoughtfully remarked:
+
+"That puppet Erchoff will later on regret that he denounced me a year
+ago. His term of office is at its limit."
+
+The mock saint was possessed of an almost supernatural intuition. In
+everyday life he would tell me of things that would happen socially and
+politically, and sure enough they would happen. The gift of looking into
+the future is given to a few men and women in the world, those persons
+who sometimes when they look into the face of another hold their breath
+and remain silent, because they see death written upon the countenance
+before them. This curious faculty was possessed by Rasputin to a very
+marked degree--a faculty which has puzzled scientists through all the
+ages, a faculty which usually runs side by side with an overweening
+vanity and an amazing self-consciousness. Sometimes the possessor of that
+most astounding and mysterious intuition is also possessed of a humble
+and retiring disposition. But it is seldom.
+
+Grichka, as all Russia called him, was an outstanding personality,
+clever, scheming, and as unscrupulous as he was avaricious. His mujik
+blood betrayed itself every hour.
+
+Even as we sat there in the Imperial carriage as we drove to the Palace,
+he smiled with self-conscious sarcasm when the people saluted or doffed
+their hats to him as an Imperial guest.
+
+At last we arrived before huge prison-like gates, which opened to allow
+us to pass, sentries saluted, the doors swung back again, and we found
+ourselves in the great well kept park of the Alexander Palace.
+
+I saw two civilians walking together along the drive, which led into a
+wood. They were agents of the secret police patrolling the grounds, for
+every precaution was being taken to guard the persons of Their Majesties.
+The death of the girl Vietroff had aroused the indignation of Russia to
+such an extent that the atmosphere was charged with anarchism.
+
+Our road lay through woods, past a model dairy. Thence we went past two
+large farms, and out into open meadow lands, everything being kept most
+spick-and-span by the hundreds of servants.
+
+The system of defence of Tsarskoe-Selo struck me as amazingly well
+designed. The road we had driven along seemed to be a maze, for twice we
+had left what appeared to be the main road, and passing three
+guard-houses--small fortresses in themselves, in case of an attack by the
+revolutionists--we at last arrived before the main entrance of the royal
+residence, guarded by a detachment of fierce-looking Kubansky Cossacks.
+These were drawn up standing at the salute, with their officers, as we
+approached. It was surely a picturesque guard of honour, with their
+quaint, old-fashioned pointed headgear, their smart comic-opera tunics,
+and their long, shiny boots.
+
+In a great high white wall is an elegant gate of delicately wrought
+ironwork, with the usual striped sentry boxes on either side. Around are
+seated Chinese statues in bronze, each upon its pedestal. Over the
+gateway is the Imperial cipher in bronze, and beyond in the holy of
+holies is the long two-storied palace of Tsarskoe-Selo, that spot
+forbidden to all save to the guests of Their Majesties.
+
+I give this in detail because few outsiders, very few indeed--save
+ambassadors and other jackanapes in uniform--had, until the arrest of the
+Romanoffs, ever trod within the hallowed precincts of the
+palace-fortress, the bomb-proof home of the incompetent weakling who had
+been crowned Tsar of All the Russias.
+
+As we passed through that last gate I saw before us a building very much
+like a French chateau of the sixteenth century, a long low building with
+sloping slated roofs, few chimneys, and a clock--which, by the way, had
+stopped--high over the entrance.
+
+Everywhere since we had entered the Imperial domain all was most
+scrupulously well kept. Not a gravel stone was out of place. Gangs of men
+were, indeed, kept to rake over instantly the gravel drives so as to
+obliterate the track of the wheels of the carriages.
+
+At last with due pomp we drew up before the long portico of the
+comfortable but not imposing house in which lived Their Imperial
+Majesties.
+
+As we descended an attendant took Rasputin's staff, when instantly there
+came forward a lieutenant of Cossacks, a curiously crafty-looking fellow,
+who asked us if we desired to wash, or wished for a drink or for food.
+
+The fellow was repulsive, even to the charlatan himself. The latter gazed
+at him, and replied in his deep, serious tones:
+
+"I am here to see our Empress. I have no need for thy ministrations."
+
+At this rebuke the evil-looking officer looked daggers, and seeing that I
+was but a menial as secretary he did not deign to address me.
+
+A few seconds later we were taken in charge by the "skorochodi," servants
+who are so intelligent that they are nicknamed the "quick-walkers." The
+palace contains hundreds of servants and hangers-on, but these are the
+ones picked to take visitors through the semicircular built palace to
+audience of either the Tsar or his spouse.
+
+Through a long corridor we were conducted past the doors of a number of
+rooms. At each were two sentries, one a big Abyssinian negro in blue and
+gold--called an "Araby" in the palace--and the other a stolid Cossack
+sentry with his fixed bayonet.
+
+At the end of the corridor we were met by one of the Emperor's personal
+servants who came forward in all humility, and bowing before Rasputin,
+asked.
+
+"Can I be of service, Father, before you have audience?"
+
+Both of us were surprised. Here, in the midst of all the pomp and
+ceremony was an ordinary Russian peasant, as unlettered and as uncouth as
+Rasputin himself, and a personal attendant of his Majesty.
+
+He ushered us into a pretty room, with a long balcony upholstered in pale
+grey silk, with thick soft carpet to match, an apartment which might have
+been the boudoir of the Empress herself.
+
+"I am here at Her Imperial Majesty's command," replied the Father, ready
+for the crowning of the slow and subtle plot which Stuermer had engineered
+with Kouropatkine. "She desires to speak with me."
+
+Next instant the servant, who no doubt knew of Grichka's wonder-working
+with his mock miracles, threw himself upon his knees, and craved:
+
+"Oh, our Father, I beseech thee to place thy blessing upon me, and upon
+my wife and my invalid child. The doctor who came yesterday said that she
+is suffering from phthisis, and that the case is serious. I beg of thee
+to cure her."
+
+"Thy name?" he asked quickly, looking straight into his face with those
+wonderful eyes.
+
+"Aivasoff--Ivan Aivasoff."
+
+"Whence do you come?"
+
+"From Ossa, in the Government of Perm."
+
+"And you are His Majesty's valet, eh?"
+
+"I am one of His Imperial Majesty's valets. He told me that the Tsaritza
+had commanded you here, and that I was to introduce you and your
+secretary, Feodor Rajevski."
+
+Rasputin halted, and assuming his most pious demeanour--that same
+attitude which had attracted Petrograd society--and incidentally
+extracted hundreds of thousands of roubles from its pockets--crossed his
+hands, muttered some words, and bestowed his blessing upon the Tsar's
+body servant.
+
+A minute later the man Aivasoff straightened himself and, pointing to a
+door on the opposite side of the room, asked:
+
+"Are you both ready? The Tsaritza is awaiting you."
+
+Rasputin, though pretending to be careless of his personal appearance,
+stroked his long beard, and then announced his readiness to pass into the
+presence of the Empress.
+
+"You will go first, and bow," said our attendant. "Your secretary will
+remain within the door with hands crossed before him," he said.
+
+Then with his knuckles he rapped thrice upon the white enamelled door,
+and, turning the handle of the lock, entered, walking before to announce
+us.
+
+In front I saw a deep glow of electricity shaded with daffodil silk, a
+pretty artistic room with high palms, choice cut flowers, and soft
+luxurious couches upholstered in grey and gold brocade. There sat two
+ladies, one of whom was in a silk gown of bottle green, which was, no
+doubt, the latest creation of the Rue de la Paix--the Empress--while the
+other, who was in elegant black, I afterwards recognised as her bosom
+friend who had accompanied her to Kazan, Mademoiselle Zeneide Kamensky.
+
+Ivan Aivasoff bowed low as he uttered his stereotyped words of
+introduction. He was one of those ignorant persons with whom the
+unscrupulous bureaucrats had surrounded the person of the Tsar. He was an
+honest, well-meaning fellow from the Urals, who had been selected to
+pose as a palace official, and to act just as I was acting, as the tool
+of others; a peasant chosen because he would naturally be less affected
+by revolutionary and progressive influence.
+
+Aivasoff was, as I afterwards learnt, but one of many peasants in
+immediate contact with the Emperor and Empress, the other servants being
+German.
+
+As we bowed before the two ladies they rose smiling, while the Father
+with raised hands pronounced upon them his blessing in that pious,
+slightly hoarse, but deeply impressive voice of his. Then, after the
+Empress had welcomed him he fixed her with that impelling, hypnotic gaze
+of his, and in pretence of never having met her before, exclaimed:
+
+"O Gracious Lady, I have come here at thy bidding, though I am but a poor
+and unlettered wanderer, unfamiliar with palaces. My sphere is in the
+houses of the very poor in order to direct, to advise, and to succour
+them. Such is God's will."
+
+"Already, Father, we have heard of you," responded the Empress,
+fascinated by the extraordinary thraldom of his gaze. "Your great
+charitable works are well known to us, as they are known through the
+length and breadth of our Empire. It is said by many that you have been
+sent unto us as saviour of Russia."
+
+"Yes--it is so, by God's Almighty grace," the mock saint said, bowing low
+at the Empress's words, while Mademoiselle Kamensky exchanged inquiring
+glances with myself.
+
+That scene was, indeed, a strange one, the dirty, unkempt monk in his
+faded, ragged habit, greasy at collar and sleeves, his black matted beard
+sweeping across his chest, and his hair uncombed, standing erect and
+rather imperious, posing as a Divine messenger, in that luxurious private
+apartment of the Empress herself.
+
+"It is but right that you, as our spiritual guide, should be in direct
+touch with the Emperor and myself," she said, without, however, referring
+to the meeting at Kazan, to which I had certainly expected she would
+allude. "From our friend Stuermer I have learnt much concerning your good
+works, Father, and I wish to support them financially, if I may be
+permitted, just as I did those of Father Gapon."
+
+"Truly I thank thee, O Lady," he replied, bowing low again. "My convent
+at Pokrovsky is in urgent need of funds."
+
+"Then I shall give orders for you to receive a donation immediately," she
+said in a low voice, and with that pronounced German accent which always
+reminded those with whom she came into contact that she was not a
+true-born Russian. "Stolypin, too, has told me of the wonderful miracle
+you performed in Warsaw."
+
+I knew of that miracle, an outrageous fraud which had been perpetrated
+upon an assembly of ignorant peasants by means of a clever conjuring
+trick in which Rasputin's friend, the chemist Badmayev, and another, had
+assisted. Stuermer had been laughing heartily over it at Rasputin's house
+on the previous night.
+
+"God hath given me strength," replied the monk simply, and with much
+humbleness. "I am His servant, sent by Him unto Russia as her guide and
+her deliverer. As such I am before thee."
+
+As he stood there with devout piety written upon his sallow, shrunken
+countenance, he certainly presented a most saintly, picturesque
+appearance, his attitude being that of a most humble ascetic of the
+Middle Ages. Saint Francis of Assisi could not have been humbler.
+
+That Her Majesty was much impressed by the crafty charlatan was quite
+apparent. In that strange jumble of quotations from the Scriptures which
+he so often used, he declared to her that by Divine command he intended
+to guide Russia in her forthcoming progress and prosperity, so that she
+should rise to become the all-powerful nation of Europe.
+
+"It is well, O Lady, that thou hast sent for me," he added. "I am thy
+most devoted servant. I am entirely in thy hands."
+
+And again crossing his begrimed hands upon his breast he raised his eyes
+to Heaven, and repeated his blessing in that same jumbled jargon which he
+used at the weekly seances of the sister-disciples.
+
+"O Father, I sincerely thank you," replied Her Majesty at last. "The
+Emperor is unfortunately away in Moscow, but when he returns you must
+again come to us, for I know he will welcome you warmly. We are both
+striving for the national welfare, and if we receive your goodwill we
+shall have no fear of failure."
+
+"There are, alas! rumours of plots against the dynasty," said Rasputin.
+"But, O Lady, I beg of thee to heed these my words and remain calm and
+secure, for although attempts may be made, desperate perhaps, it is
+willed that none will be successful. God in His grace is Protector of the
+House of Romanoff, to whom a son will assuredly soon be born."
+
+Alexandra Feodorovna held her breath at hearing those words. That scene
+before the shrine of Our Lady of Kazan was, no doubt, still vivid in her
+mind.
+
+"Are you absolutely confident of that?" she asked him in breathless
+suspense.
+
+"The truth hath already been revealed unto me. Therefore I know," was his
+reply. "I know--and I here tell thee, O Lady. The Imperial House will
+have a son and heir."
+
+That prophecy, duly fulfilled as it was later on, caused the Empress to
+regard the dissolute "saint" as a "holy" man. In that eventful hour at
+Tsarskoe-Selo the die was cast. The Empress had fallen irrevocably
+beneath the spell of the amazing rascal, and the death-knell of the
+Romanoffs as rulers had been sounded.
+
+When we backed out of the Empress's presence the peasant Ivan, who had
+introduced us, handed us over to the Tsar's chief valet, an elderly
+grey-bearded man in the Imperial livery, a man whose name we understood
+was Tchernoff, and who had been valet of the old Emperor Alexander III.
+
+The Starets left the palace full of extreme satisfaction, and indeed,
+when an hour later we were alone together in the train returning to
+Petrograd, he grinned evilly across at me, and said meaningly:
+
+"Alexandra Feodorovna did not forget our meeting at Kazan, though she did
+not allude to it. Ere long, though she is Empress, I intend that she
+shall sit at my feet and do my bidding!"
+
+And he chuckled within himself as was his peasant's habit when mightily
+pleased.
+
+Truly, that meeting with the Tsar's valet Tchernoff was quite as fateful
+to Russia as the meeting with the neurotic spiritualistic Empress
+herself.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE POTSDAM PLOT DEVELOPS
+
+
+ABOUT a week after Rasputin's first audience of the Empress Alexandra,
+the Bishop Theophanus, confessor of the Imperial family, paid him a visit
+at the Poltavskaya.
+
+The Bishop, a big, over-fed man, had a long chat with the Starets in my
+presence.
+
+"Her Majesty was very much impressed by you, my dear Grichka," said the
+well-known cleric to the man who, having pretended to abandon his
+profligate ways, had parted his hair in the middle and become a pilgrim.
+"She has daily spoken of you, and you are to be commanded to audience
+with the Tsar. Hence I am here to give you some advice."
+
+The "holy" man grinned with satisfaction, knowing how complete had been
+the success of Stuermer's plans. At the moment Theophanus was in ignorance
+of the deeply laid plot to draw the Empress beneath the spell of the
+Starets whom the inferior classes all over Russia--as well as the
+well-to-do--believed was leading such a saint-like, ascetic life in
+imitation of Christ.
+
+Truly, Grichka dressed the part well, and gave himself the outward
+appearance of saintliness and godliness. Even the Bishop was bamboozled
+by him, just as Petrograd society was being mystified and electrified by
+the rising of "the Divine Protector" of Russia.
+
+Of his doctrine I need not here write. Dark hints of its astonishing
+immorality have already leaked out to the world through chattering women
+who were members of the cult. My object here is to expose the most subtle
+and ingenious plot which the world has known--the Teutonic conspiracy
+against our Russian Empire.
+
+Rasputin's "religion" was not a novel one, as is generally supposed. It
+was simply a variation conceived by his mystically-inclined mind upon the
+one devised by Marcion in the early days of the Christian era. He had
+conceived the theory that the only means by which the spirit could be
+elevated was to mortify and destroy the flesh.
+
+The Bishop Teofan, or Theophanus, was a mock ascetic, just as was
+Rasputin. Bishop Alexis of Kazan, after Rasputin's visit there, had
+introduced him to the Rector of the Religious Academy, and already the
+mock saint had established a circle of ascetic students, of whom Teofan
+and another Starets named Mitia the Blessed (a name derived from Dmitry),
+who came from Montenegro, were members. But Rasputin, although the
+leader, had entirely imposed upon Teofan.
+
+In all seriousness the Bishop told the Starets of the interest in him
+which the Empress had aroused in the mind of the Tsar.
+
+"He is a keen spiritualist, just as is the Empress," said the confessor.
+"At Court everyone has heard of your marvellous powers. I can promise you
+great success if you carry out the views I will place before you. You
+must form a Court circle of disciples. The woman most likely to assist
+you is Madame Vyrubova, who, with Mademoiselle Kamensky, is Her Majesty's
+greatest confidante."
+
+"Very well, I will meet her. You arrange it."
+
+"To-morrow is Monday, and there will be the usual clerical reception at
+the Countess Ignatieff's. I will see that she is there to meet you."
+
+"Excellent, my dear Teofan!" said the "saint." "In this affair we will
+help each other. I will form a circle of believers at Court, and
+Alexandra Feodorovna shall be at their head."
+
+The fact is that Teofan knew that Rasputin was possessed of a marvellous
+hypnotic power, and, being aware of the vogue of hypnotists at Court, saw
+in the Starets an able assistant by whom to gain power in the immediate
+entourage of Their Majesties. Thus, quite unconsciously, he was
+furthering the plans of Kouropatkine and Stuermer, who were receiving
+money from Berlin.
+
+Already one of Rasputin's principal disciples was Madame Golovine, the
+elder sister of the Grand Duke Paul's morganatic wife, Countess
+Hohenfelsen, a woman who had become his most ardent follower, and who
+never failed to attend, with her two daughters, the famous seances held
+weekly in that big upstairs room.
+
+On the following evening I went with Rasputin to the great house of the
+Dowager Countess Ignatieff to attend the usual Monday gathering of
+prelates and ascetics, for her salon was a rendezvous for all kinds of
+religious cranks, theologians, and people interested in pious works.
+Rasputin's unexpected appearance there caused a sensation.
+
+Outside his circle of "disciples" he was unapproachable. The instructions
+given me by Boris Stuermer were absolute and precise. The reason that I
+was always at the charlatan's right hand was because he could only write
+with difficulty, and was therefore unable to make any memoranda. His
+letters were the painful efforts of an unlettered mujik, as indeed he
+was.
+
+And yet already he had become the most renowned man in the Russian
+capital!
+
+Our Empire's quarrel with Japan had not been finally settled. The country
+was in a state of serious unrest. While the revolutionary spirit, started
+by the death of the girl Vietroff, was seething everywhere, the dynasty
+was threatened on every hand. Yet the ever-open eye of the Okhrana was
+upon everyone, and arrests of innocent persons were still continuing.
+
+That night the salon of the Countess Ignatieff was responsible for much
+concerning the downfall of the Romanoffs. In the great luxurious
+drawing-room there were assembled beneath the huge crystal electroliers a
+curious, mixed company of the pious and the vicious of the capital. There
+was the Metropolitan in his robes and with his great crucifix, Ministers
+of State in uniforms with decorations, Actual Privy Councillors and their
+wives, and dozens of underlings in their gaudy tinsel, prelates with
+crosses at their necks, and women of all classes, from the highest
+aristocracy to the painted sister of the higher demi-monde.
+
+The gathering was characteristic of Petrograd in those times of Russia's
+decadence, when Germany was preparing for war. The fight with Japan had
+already been engineered through Kouropatkine as a preliminary to the
+betrayal and smashing of our Empire.
+
+Of the conflict with the Mikado I have no concern. My pen is taken up in
+order to reveal what I know regarding the astounding plots conceived in
+Potsdam and executed in Petrograd, in order fearlessly to expose those
+who were traitors to their country, and to whom the _debacle_ of 1917 was
+due.
+
+In that great well-lit saloon, crowded by religious personages of all
+kinds, the old Dowager Countess Ignatieff, in stiff black silk, came
+forward to receive the popular Starets as the newest star in Russia's
+religious firmament. With Stuermer behind him to advise and to plot, aided
+by an obscure civil servant named Protopopoff--who afterwards became
+Minister of the Interior and a spy of Germany--the "saint" never held
+himself cheap. That was one of the secrets of his astounding career.
+Though he possessed no education and could scarcely trace his own name,
+he possessed the most acute brain of any lawyer or banker in Petrograd.
+In every sense he was abnormal, just as abnormal as Joan of Arc, Saint
+Anthony, Saint Francis, or a dozen others who have been beatified.
+
+The rheumatic old countess, after shaking hands with us both, introduced
+us to a dozen other persons around her. Suddenly she said:
+
+"Ah! Here is my dear friend the Lady-of-the-Court Anna Vyrubova. Allow me
+to introduce you, Father."
+
+The Starets instantly crossed his hands piously over his breast and bowed
+before a good-looking, sleek-faced woman of forty, who was elegantly
+dressed, and who greeted him with a humorous smile. Having heard much of
+the woman's scandalous past, I naturally regarded her with considerable
+curiosity. She was a woman of destiny. Petrograd had not long before been
+agog with the scandal following her marriage with a young naval officer,
+who had gone to the Baltic, and unexpectedly returning to his wife's room
+in the palace at Tsarskoe-Selo, had been shut out by the Empress herself.
+The husband had afterwards died in mysterious circumstances, which had
+been hushed up by the police, and madame had remained as the personal
+attendant upon Her Majesty with her inseparable friend Zeneide Kamensky.
+
+As I watched the monk's meeting with this woman of adventure, I saw that
+he had at once fascinated her, just as completely as he had hypnotised
+her Imperial mistress. She stood before him, using her small black fan
+slowly, for the room was overpoweringly hot, and began to chat, assuring
+him that she had for a long time been desirous of meeting him.
+
+As I stood beside Rasputin I heard him say, in that humble manner which
+always attracted society women:
+
+"And, O Lady, I have heard of thee often. It is with sincere pleasure
+that I gaze upon thy face and speak with thee. It is God's will--let Him
+be thanked for this our meeting."
+
+The blasphemy of it all appalled me. I knew of certain deep plots in
+progress, and I watched the handsome lady-in-waiting, with whom the monk
+crossed the room, nodding self-consciously to the bishops, prelates, and
+mock-pious scoundrels of all sorts, with their female victims. I held my
+breath in wonder.
+
+As I followed I saw Stuermer, the goat-bearded traitor, standing chatting
+to a pretty young girl in turquoise blue. Then I overheard Madame
+Vyrubova say to the Starets:
+
+"I came here to-night, Father, especially to meet you. Her Majesty gave
+me a message. She is in despair. She requires your help, prayers, and
+advice."
+
+"Ah! my dear lady, I regret; I am fully alive to the high honours which
+our Tsaritza has done me to command me to Court. But my sphere is with
+the poor. My life is with them--for their benefit and guidance."
+
+"I bear you a message," said the well-preserved woman of whom a thousand
+tongues had gossiped evilly in Petrograd. "To-morrow the Empress expects
+you informally. She will take no refusal."
+
+"Refusal--how can I refuse my Empress?" he replied. "I can beg of her to
+excuse me. I have to attend a meeting in the lowest quarter of the city
+to-morrow among those who await me. And in the evening I go upon a
+pilgrimage. Her Majesty will not begrudge the poor my ministrations.
+Please tell her this. My sphere, as designed by God, is with the masses
+and not in the Imperial Palace."
+
+That was all I overheard. Stuermer called me aside to whisper, and as he
+did so I saw that the Starets had at once become surrounded by women, of
+whom he always became the centre of attraction, with hands crossed so
+humbly over his breast.
+
+His refusal to go to Court was in accordance with his extraordinary
+intuition and acumen, though his meeting with the woman Vyrubova marked
+another milestone in the history of Russia's betrayal.
+
+The days passed. The world was, of course, in ignorance, but we in the
+Poltavskaya, the monk and myself, knew of the despatch of Admiral
+Rozhdestvensky's blundering fleet on its voyage half-way round the world,
+how he was ordered to fire upon anything he saw in the North Sea, and
+how, as soon came out, he fired upon some of your British trawlers on
+the Dogger Bank, for which our Government paid quite willingly sixty-five
+thousand pounds in compensation.
+
+But let the first war-chapter of Russia's history pass. With it Rasputin
+had but little to do. The person who, unwilling or not, carried out the
+will of Potsdam's Kaiser was the Empress Alexandra. And having done so
+she, with her curious nature, suddenly turned from gay to grave. She
+became strange in her conduct and discarded her wonderful Paris gowns--in
+which, by the way, she was eclipsed by "Liane," the dark-haired diva of
+the Paris _cafes chantants_, in whom Nicholas II. took such a very
+paternal interest.
+
+Time after time I had been present when Stuermer and Rasputin, chuckling
+over the undoubted success of their conspiracy, discussed the situation.
+
+Since Her Majesty had met the rascal monk at Tsarskoe-Selo she had never
+appeared in public. On certain occasions, when a Court pageant or
+function had to be held according to custom and the calendar, it was the
+Emperor's mother who, with her well-known charm and honesty, received the
+guests. Excuses were made for Alexandra Feodorovna's non-appearance. The
+truth was that the Empress, full of spiritualistic beliefs, had suddenly
+developed a religious mania, centred around the amazing personality of
+the mock monk.
+
+Thrice had Her Majesty sent him commands through her pro-German puppet
+Fredericks, and thrice he, at Stuermer's suggestion, refused to comply.
+This illiterate Siberian monk, ex-horse-thief and betrayer of women,
+actually disregarded the Imperial order! He had declared himself to be
+the saviour of Russia, and greater than the Romanoffs.
+
+"The Empress is furious!" declared the Bishop Teofan one day as, with his
+heavy bejewelled cross upon his breast and wearing clothes of the richest
+texture, he sat with the rascal in his den. "Sometimes she is in anger,
+at others in despair. Anna Vyrubova is frantic. Why do you not come to
+audience?"
+
+"She promised that I should see Nicholas," was the reply. "After I have
+spoken with him I will see her. It does a woman good to wait."
+
+"I agree, but your refusal may be stretched too far," said the Bishop.
+
+"None will tell the truth concerning her," Rasputin said. "I hear on one
+hand that she thinks herself too fat and is taking the 'Entfettungscur'
+against the advice of the Court physician. Others say that she has eczema
+and dare not show her face, while others say she is mad. What is the
+truth?"
+
+"Come and ascertain for yourself."
+
+"Her devotion is that of a fanatic--I take it?"
+
+"Exactly. She lives only for the entertainment of monks and pilgrims. You
+are lucky, my dear Grichka. Madame Vyrubova was evidently entranced by
+you at Countess Ignatieff's. She will do your bidding. Only, I beg of you
+to come to Court."
+
+The charlatan, however, steadily refused the Bishop's advice. Instead, he
+left Petrograd that night alone, and went away to his wife and
+sister-disciples at Pokrovsky, in Siberia.
+
+For more than two months he was absent from Petrograd. One day a frantic
+message came to me over the telephone from Madame Vyrubova, who inquired
+the whereabouts of the Starets.
+
+"The Father has gone to his convent at Pokrovsky, Madame," I replied.
+
+"What!" she gasped. "Gone to Siberia! Why, Her Majesty is daily expecting
+him here at the Palace. When will he return?"
+
+"I regret, Madame, that I cannot say," was my reply. "He has told me
+nothing."
+
+"Will you please take a confidential message to Boris Stuermer for me?"
+she asked. And when I replied in the affirmative, she went on:
+
+"Please go at once to him and ask him to come to the Palace this evening
+without fail. I am very anxious to see him concerning a highly important
+matter. A carriage will meet the train which arrives at seven-thirty."
+
+I promised to carry out the wishes of the Tsaritza's favourite
+lady-in-waiting, and half an hour later called upon Stuermer at his fine
+house in the Kirotshnaya, where I delivered the message.
+
+During the next few weeks I merely called at the Poltavskaya each morning
+for the monk's letters, which I opened and dealt with at my leisure.
+
+His correspondence was truly amazing. The letters were mostly from
+wealthy female devotees, missives usually couched in pious language. Some
+contained confessions of the most private nature, and asking the Father's
+advice and blessing. All these latter he had given me strict instructions
+carefully to preserve. Any letter which contained self-condemnation by
+its writer, or any confession of sin, was therefore carefully put away,
+after being duly replied to. At the time, it did not occur to me that the
+impostor ever intended to allow them to see the light of day, and,
+indeed, it was not until several years later that I discovered that he
+was using them for the purpose of extracting large sums from women who
+preferred to pay the blackmail he levied rather than have their secrets
+exposed to their sweet-hearts or husbands.
+
+While Rasputin, having thrown off his cloak of piety, was leading a
+dissolute life in far-off Pokrovsky, and refusing to obey the Empress's
+repeated invitations, the guns of Peter and Paul one day boomed forth
+salvo after salvo, announcing to the world that the prayer uttered by the
+Starets before our Lady of Kazan had been granted.
+
+An heir had been born to the Romanoffs!
+
+There was but little public rejoicing, however, for Russia was, at the
+moment, plunged into grief over the disastrous result of her attack upon
+Japan. Nevertheless, the event more than ever impressed upon the neurotic
+Empress that Grichka was possessed of some mysterious and divine
+influence. Her Majesty believed entirely in his saintliness, and her
+faith in the power of his prayers was complete. God had granted his
+prayer and sent an heir to the Romanoffs because of his purity and
+perfect piety. Already she was wondering whether, in some mysterious way,
+the child's life was not linked with that of the holy Father whom the
+Almighty had sent to protect her son's existence.
+
+Because of this the Empress sent to Rasputin, at Pokrovsky, a number of
+telegrams, which eventually the monk gave over to me to docket and put
+away with the incriminating letters of his foolish and fascinated
+admirers. The women of Russia, from the Empress to the lowly
+superstitious peasant, were now at the charlatan's feet.
+
+One telegram from Alexandra Feodorovna read as follows:
+
+     "Father and Protector of our House, why do you refuse to come and
+     give us comfort? God has given the Romanoffs an heir, and we
+     desire your counsel and your prayers. Do, I beg of you, return to
+     sustain us with your presence. When we met our conversation
+     remained unfinished. I confess that I doubted then, but I now
+     believe. Make haste and come at once to us. From your
+     sister--ALEXANDRA."
+
+Of this appeal the Starets took no notice. He preferred the society of
+his sister-disciples at Pokrovsky to that of the Tsaritza. Besides, was
+it not part of his clever plan to place the Empress beneath his influence
+by bringing her to the brink of despair? He had not yet met Nicholas II.,
+and it was his intention to place his amazing and mysterious grip upon
+him also at the crucial moment. So again the Empress sent him a
+communication--a letter written in her own hand, and delivered by one of
+the Imperial couriers.
+
+     "Why do you still hesitate?" she asked. "I sent you word by Anna
+     [Madame Vyrubova] that I desired eagerly to see you again. Your
+     good works are to-day in everyone's mouth. All at Court are
+     speaking of you and your beautiful soul-inspiring religion, of
+     which I am anxious to know more details from your own lips. It
+     is too cruel of you to sever yourself from Petrograd when all are
+     longing for your presence. What can I do in order to induce you
+     to come? Ask of me anything, and your wish shall be granted. Do
+     reply.--ALEXANDRA."
+
+Again he treated her invitation with contempt, for following this, ten
+days later, she sent him another telegram:
+
+     "If you still refuse to come I will send Anna to you to try and
+     induce you to reconsider the situation. Nicholas is extremely
+     anxious to consult you. Father, I again implore you to come to
+     us.--A."
+
+Rasputin, who had created such a favourable impression upon the
+lady-in-waiting Vyrubova, certainly had no intention of allowing her to
+go to Pokrovsky and see the sordid home which Russia believed to be a
+wonderful "monastery," and to which Petrograd society had subscribed so
+freely. He therefore sent Her Majesty a message--the first response she
+extracted--to the effect that he was leaving for Petrograd as soon as it
+was possible to fulfil his Divine "call."
+
+In the meantime I had been introduced by Boris Stuermer, whom I met almost
+daily, to Stolypin, a friend of Rasputin's principal disciple in
+Petrograd, Madame Golovine, and to Monsieur Raeff, who afterwards, by
+Rasputin's influence, received the appointment of Procurator of the Holy
+Synod. At Stuermer's fine house there were, in the absence of the Starets,
+constant meetings of Raeff, General Kurloff, the Chief of the Political
+Police, and a beetle-browed official named Kschessinski, who was director
+of that secret department of State known as "the Black Cabinet," a suite
+of rooms in the central postal bureau in Petrograd, where one's
+correspondence was daily under examination for the benefit of the corrupt
+Ministers and their place-seeking underlings. In addition, at these
+dinners, followed by the secret conferences, there attended a certain
+smart, well-set-up officer named Miassoyedeff, a colonel stationed at
+Wirballen on the East Prussia frontier, and who had received gracious
+invitations from the Kaiser to go shooting and to hob-nob with him. This
+man afterwards became a spy of Germany, as I will later on reveal.
+
+Kurloff, as head of the Political Police, had, before my appointment as
+secretary to the Starets, been my superior, and therefore I well knew the
+wheels within the wheels of his department. Naturally he was
+hand-in-glove with the director of the Black Cabinet, the doings of which
+would require a whole volume to themselves, and to me it was evident that
+some further great and deep laid plot was in progress, of which Rasputin
+was to be the head director.
+
+One day in the Nevski I met Mitia the Blessed, the Starets who ran
+Rasputin so closely in the public favour. I saw he was hopelessly
+intoxicated, and was being followed by a crowd of jeering urchins. I did
+not, however, know that Stuermer and his friends had arranged this
+disgraceful exhibition of unholiness in order to discredit and destroy
+Grichka's rival. Five minutes later I met the Bishop Theophanus walking
+with the Procurator of the Holy Synod, who, like myself, witnessed the
+degrading sight, and from that moment Mitia the Blessed no longer
+exercised power, and was not further invited to the salons of those
+mystical members of the aristocracy. He had been swept into oblivion in a
+single day.
+
+Rasputin at last returned, forced to do so by the determined attitude of
+the Empress, who without doubt was suffering from serious religious
+mania, as well as an acute form of neurotic heart disease. The monk
+arrived quite unexpectedly at the Poltavskaya, and rang me up on the
+telephone late one evening.
+
+The Bishop Theophanus was, I found, with him. He knew of his arrival, and
+had come from Peterhof to meet him and urge him to go next day and see
+the Empress.
+
+"If it is thy wish, I will," replied the "saint" with some reluctance,
+for he knew too well that already he wielded an unbounded influence over
+the Tsaritza. The fellow whose record was the worst imaginable, and
+whose very nickname, "Rasputin," meant in Russian "the dissolute," was
+regarded by the Empress as possessed of divine power, and as saviour of
+Russia and protector of the Imperial family and its heir.
+
+"I hear that Alexis, Bishop of Kazan, has turned your enemy, and has
+written to the Holy Synod regarding your questionable monastery at
+Pokrovsky," remarked Theophanus. "It is very regrettable."
+
+"Bah! my dear friend. I have no fear," declared the man whose vanity was
+so overweening. "Soon you will see that Nicholas himself will do my
+bidding. I shall play the tune, and he will dance. All appointments will,
+ere long, be in my hands, and I will place one of our friends as
+Procurator of the Holy Synod."
+
+At the moment I was inclined to laugh at such bombastic assertion.
+Little, indeed, did I dream that within twelve months his prophecy would
+be fulfilled, and that the ex-horse-stealer, whose secretary I had
+become, would actually rule Russia through the lethargic weakling who sat
+upon the throne as Tsar Nicholas II.
+
+A week later I accompanied the Starets to have his first audience with
+His Majesty the Emperor at the Palace of Peterhof, that wonderful
+Imperial residence where the great Samson Fountain in gilded bronze
+throws up from the lion's jaws a thick jet seventy feet high, in
+imitation of Versailles, and where nearly six hundred servants were
+employed in various capacities. We passed the Marly Pond, where the carp
+were called by the ringing of a bell, and the Marly Cascade, where water
+runs over twenty gilded marble steps. Truly, the beauties of Peterhof
+were a revelation to the Starets and myself. On the previous day he had
+had audience of the Empress at Tsarskoe-Selo, but I had not been present,
+therefore I remained in ignorance of what had transpired. All I know is
+that he returned home and drank a whole bottle of champagne to himself,
+in full satisfaction--not that he cared for the wine, for his peasant
+taste favoured the fiery vodka.
+
+On entering Peterhof we were met by the valet Tchernoff, who greeted
+Rasputin very warmly with some meaning words, and said:
+
+"His Majesty is in his private cabinet expecting you. Come."
+
+Another valet took our hats and overcoats, and then Tchernoff led us up a
+great flight of marble stairs, and on through nearly a dozen panelled
+rooms with historic portraits, much like those I had once passed through
+at Fontainebleau, until he entered the blue drawing-room, a great,
+old-fashioned, eighteenth-century apartment adorned by a number of
+magnificent pictures by Saltzmann.
+
+Your British public have never truly realised the gorgeousness of the
+Palace at Peterhof, or the fact that in the Imperial service at the
+various residences there were no fewer than four thousand domestics, most
+of them useless and all uniformed. The "Arabys," imported especially from
+Abyssinia, and who wore fantastically embroidered blue and gold uniforms
+with a great crimson sash, and a kind of turban upon their heads, were
+simply well-paid puppets, who added pomp to the gorgeous salons, the
+doors of which they guarded.
+
+As we passed through the great rooms on our way to the Tsar's private
+cabinet, a hundred servants and officials bowed to us, but Rasputin
+remained quite unimpressed. He was possessed of a most astounding
+intuition, and he knew that by his mystical practices, his mock piety,
+and by apparently ignoring the Imperial pair that success was assured.
+
+At last we stood before the door of the autocrat's room, which Tchernoff
+threw open unceremoniously, when we were confronted by His Majesty, who
+wore a rough tweed shooting-suit, presenting anything but an Imperial
+figure. I had expected to see him in uniform, like the thousand and one
+pictures which purport to represent him, instead of which I found a very
+ordinary-looking, bearded man, with deep-set eyes, a wan countenance, and
+rather lank hair. He was square-built, a trifle below the medium height,
+and a man whom, had you passed him in the Nevski, you might have taken
+for a Jew tailor or a small tradesman. But the room itself was a
+beautiful one, like all the apartments in Peterhof, semicircular in
+shape, with a great bay window looking out upon the wonderful fountains,
+all of which were throwing up their jets, with a great vista of greenery
+beyond.
+
+The Tsar bowed as the Starets, crossing himself, bestowed his blessing
+upon him. The owner of twenty palaces and seven hundred million acres of
+land turned his eyes to the carpet humbly as the mock saint uttered those
+words of incomprehensible jargon which half Russia believed to be
+inspired by the Divine will.
+
+When Rasputin spoke His Majesty seemed cowed and thoughtful. Over his
+whole frame was written fear and exhaustion. His voice was hollow when he
+replied, and his glance was full of anticipation. At every gesture of the
+Starets he seemed startled.
+
+Was it any wonder when one recollected, so many were the plots against
+the dynasty, that at the moment he had removed from Tsarskoe-Selo, where
+a gang of a thousand men were engaged in digging deep trenches around the
+palace because the Okhrana had got wind of a desperate plot to tunnel
+beneath the Imperial residence and blow it up together with its Imperial
+occupiers.
+
+His Majesty addressed the Starets as "thee" and "thou."
+
+"I know, Father, that thou art our guide and saviour," said the autocrat,
+when together we were seated in the window, Rasputin explaining that he
+always took me with him in order that I might take mental notes of
+conversations and decisions.
+
+"Feodor is mute," he added. "And he is part of myself."
+
+Then His Majesty referred to Rasputin's "miracles" which he had performed
+in Warsaw, Kiev, and other places, mere conjuring tricks which had held
+the peasants speechless in amazement.
+
+"Theophanus has told us of them. Thou hast healed the sick and cured the
+lame," said His Majesty. "Truly, thou art greater in Russia than
+myself."
+
+"Pardon, your Majesty," replied the impostor humbly, "I am but God's
+messenger, but thou art Tsar. It is not for me to exert authority, only
+to pray unceasingly for the Empire and for the well-being of its Imperial
+House. Theophanus hath, I hope, told thee that I seek no emoluments, no
+advancement, no favour, no honour; I am but the humble Starets--a pilgrim
+who hopes one day to see Mount Athos, there to retire in devotion."
+
+"Theophanus has told me much," said the Emperor. "He has told me how at
+spiritualistic seances thou canst work thy will with our departed, and
+how at the house of our dear Stuermer not long ago thou didst obtain
+communication with the spirit of my dear father Alexander. Truly, thy
+powers are great, and we have need of thee. Why didst thou refuse to come
+to us even though the Empress sent thee so many commands?"
+
+"Because, as I have replied to Her Majesty, I am no courtier. My work
+lies in the homes of the poor, not in the palaces."
+
+"Ah, no," laughed the autocrat with good humour. "Thou art truly sent to
+us to save Russia. Thy place is here, in our own home."
+
+I drew a long breath when I heard the Tsar pronounce those words, for
+they showed quite plainly the strong, invincible grip the impostor had,
+by posing with unconcern, already obtained upon the Imperial family and
+the Court.
+
+The Starets crossed himself, and again bowed. I was amazed to witness the
+crass ignorance and astounding superstition displayed by the Emperor of
+Russia, whom all Europe believed to be a progressive, wideawake monarch.
+That he possessed a spiritualistic kink, as did also his German wife, was
+quite apparent. Any bogus medium or charlatan could easily impose upon
+him. A dozen men and women who, by their vagaries and pretended powers,
+had brought psychic studies into ridicule, had given seances before the
+Emperor, and had told him things which his crafty entourage had already
+paid them to "reveal."
+
+On the night of the declaration of war with Japan, Kouropatkine brought
+to Peterhof the French medium Jules Verrier, who received a handsome fee
+for pretending to get into touch with the spirit of Peter the Great, who
+declared that Russia, in declaring war, had carried out his wishes. And
+Nicholas was at once in high glee, and mightily enthusiastic to know that
+his historic ancestor approved of his action.
+
+The Imperial Court was full of frauds, traitors, and sycophants. In all
+of them Nicholas had the fullest confidence, while his wife was possessed
+of certain knowledge which sometimes caused her to discriminate.
+
+The commonplace-looking man in tweeds, who was the entire reverse of
+one's idea of an Emperor, grew confidential, and it was plain that he was
+quite as much impressed by Grichka as the Empress had been, for
+throughout the audience the monk had used to the full his inexplicable
+hypnotic power.
+
+"Our good Theophanus and Helidor favour us with their counsel, but,
+Father, thou hast our most complete confidence. I beg of thee to grant
+the Empress another interview to-morrow, for she is daily longing for
+counsel from thee. I will fix the audience. So, as our friend, please
+keep the appointment. But before we part I wish to grant to thee any
+request that thou mayest desire--any appointment or advancement of any
+friend. Speak, and thy wish shall be at once granted."
+
+The monk reflected. It was, indeed, the moment of his first triumph.
+
+"I have a young and extremely able friend named Protopopoff in the
+Ministry of the Interior," he replied. "He is a loyal son of Russia, and
+a pious believer. Cannot he be advanced?"
+
+"He shall be. I will make a note of the name," and turning to his desk,
+he scribbled it upon the blotting-pad with a stubby pencil, repeating the
+words:
+
+"Protopopoff--in the Ministry of the Interior."
+
+And such was the manner in which the man who was the most audacious spy
+that Germany employed in Russia was placed in the path of advancement,
+subsequently in 1915 becoming Minister in his own Department, and
+betraying his country for German gold.
+
+Truly, the Potsdam plot was rapidly maturing, and its amazing
+ramifications I intend to disclose.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+THE MURDER OF STOLYPIN
+
+
+WITHIN a fortnight of the mock monk's audience of the Tsar he found
+himself installed in a fine suite of rooms in the Palace at
+Tsarskoe-Selo, one apartment being assigned to myself as his secretary.
+
+Rasputin's ascendancy over the Imperial couple became daily more marked.
+I was the onlooker of a very curious and clever game. Spiritualistic
+seances were held frequently, at which the Emperor and Empress assisted.
+In Petrograd the monk also continued the weekly receptions of his
+"disciples," chief among them being Madame Golovine and the Princess
+Paley. The Empress fell more and more beneath the evil influence of the
+Starets, for she felt convinced that his prayer had been answered by the
+birth of an heir.
+
+To one man--even though of the Germanophile party--the intrusion of
+Rasputin into the Court circle caused great annoyance. That was Count
+Fredericks.
+
+Madame Vyrubova one day told me that the count had that afternoon, in her
+presence, inquired of the Emperor:
+
+"Who is this new Starets of whom everybody is talking?"
+
+"Oh! merely a simple mujik whose prayers carry right to Heaven," was His
+Majesty's answer. "He is endowed with most sublime faith."
+
+The count then warned the Tsar of the displeasure which Rasputin's
+presence at Court was creating on every hand, adding:
+
+"There are rumours that he is a mere drunken libertine. Make inquiries
+for yourself of his doings in Petrograd."
+
+"Well, my dear Count," laughed the Emperor carelessly, "better one
+Starets than ten hysterics."
+
+This seemed to me to prove that Rasputin's presence often saved the
+Emperor from the hysterical outbursts of his wife.
+
+Indeed, only the previous day the monk put about a story in Petrograd to
+account for the Empress's hysterical state. He started a rumour that Her
+Majesty was, against the advice of the Court physicians, following a
+system of German _Entfettungscur_, or cure for obesity, the result having
+been a complete breakdown of the nervous system.
+
+Thus, by slow degrees, the artful monk ingratiated himself with the
+Imperial family, just as years ago, when a mere cabdriver, in his
+pre-saintly days, he happened to ingratiate himself with Alexis, Bishop
+of Kazan, who became greatly struck with him, and later pushed him
+forward as a holy man, yet for his trouble afterwards found himself swept
+away, and his successor appointed by Rasputin's own hand. The monk was
+relentless, overbearing, suspicious of any persons who did him a favour,
+and at the same time ready to lick the boots of Germany's War Lord.
+
+The "Dark Forces" were now strenuously at work. Little did I enjoy the
+quiet of my own rooms in Petrograd. My "saintly" master was ever active
+holding conferences, often hourly, with Ministers of State, councillors,
+and the "disciples" of his own secret cult.
+
+Very soon I noted that his closest friend was Stolypin, a good-looking
+man with beard and curled moustache, who was President of the Council of
+Ministers.
+
+At that period Stolypin and the Emperor were inseparable. His Majesty
+gave him daily audiences, and sometimes, through Mademoiselle Zeneide
+Kamensky, the Empress's chief confidante, he had audience of Her
+Majesty.
+
+I met Stolypin often. His Excellency was a bluff but elegant bureaucrat,
+who had succeeded Count Witte, a man of refinement, belonging to a very
+old boyar family. He was an excellent talker, and with his soft, engaging
+manners he could, when he wished, exercise a personal charm that always
+had a great effect upon his hearers. His Excellency's great virtue in the
+Emperor's eyes was that he never wearied him, and that was much in his
+favour; he always curtailed his business. Whatever he had to report to
+the Emperor was done quickly, without unnecessary comment, and the
+conference ended, they smoked together on terms of almost equality.
+
+I beg the reader's pardon if I here digress for a moment. After Stolypin
+we had a well-meaning statesman as Prime Minister in Kokovtsov, who
+endeavoured to follow the same lines as his master. He was a talented and
+eloquent man, whom I often met, and who at first impressed the Tsar by
+his crystallised reports. But Emperor and Prime Minister had no personal
+attraction towards each other, as they should have if an empire is to
+progress. Nicholas never gave him his confidence.
+
+Perhaps I may be permitted to reveal here a scene historic in the history
+of the Empire, being present with my master Rasputin in the Tsar's
+private cabinet. It was a very curious incident, and revealed much
+concerning the attitude of Nicholas towards the nation.
+
+Kokovtsov, who had allowed Akimoff to be present--the latter, I believe,
+in eager anticipation of a triumph--read to the Emperor his new project
+for enlarging the Government monopoly system for the sale of vodka. This
+would have greatly increased the Government's exchequer, but would
+inevitably have ruined the people.
+
+In the room Rasputin sat in his black robe and his big jewelled cross
+suspended by its chain, while I stood beside him.
+
+The Emperor, with a cigarette in his mouth, sat in a big arm-chair at his
+desk, tracing circles and squares upon a sheet of paper, his habit when
+distracted. Now and then he scratched his head. He was attentive to the
+report, still drawing his circles, but making no comment, except that his
+lips relaxed in a faint smile.
+
+Suddenly he turned to Rasputin and asked: "Well Father, what do you
+understand in all this?"
+
+Kokovtsov ceased reading his project, and stood in wonder. Not a single
+item of the project had been criticised, no comment had been offered,
+therefore His Excellency naturally believed that his efforts were
+receiving approbation. Rasputin was silent.
+
+Suddenly the Tsar rose from his chair with a sigh of weariness, and
+slowly selected a fresh cigarette from the big golden box upon his
+writing-table. Then he shook hands with Kokovtsov as a sign that the
+audience was at an end, and said:
+
+"Really, my dear Excellency, I do not agree with your project at all. It
+is all utter rubbish, and will only lead the Empire into further
+difficulties. Surely Russia has sufficient alcohol!"
+
+I watched the scene with wide-open eyes.
+
+Poor Kokovtsov, so well meaning, bowed in assent and crumpled up before
+the Tsar of all the Russias. The blow was quite unexpected. When I left
+the Emperor's presence with Rasputin, the latter said:
+
+"Well, my dear Feodor. The day of Kokovtsov is ended. One may be thankful
+for it, because it will mean less friction between the Emperor and the
+Empress."
+
+Three days later His Majesty dismissed his Prime Minister, but gave him
+the title of Count. He had no son, therefore the distinction was a mere
+empty one.
+
+With this digression, for which I hope I may be pardoned, I will return
+to Stolypin. The mystery of his assassination has always been carefully
+hushed-up by the Secret Police, but I here intend to lift the veil, and,
+at the risk of producing certain damning evidence, disclose the whole of
+the amazing and dastardly plot.
+
+Few people know of it. Rasputin knew it, I know it, the Empress knows it,
+and a certain woman living in seclusion in London to-day knows it. But
+to the world the truth which I here write will, I venture to believe,
+come as a great surprise.
+
+The cry "Land and Liberty" was being heard on every hand in the Empire.
+Peter Arkadievitch Stolypin, son of an aide-de-camp general of Alexander
+II., was in the zenith of his popularity. He had become a _vermentchik_,
+the traditional appellation applied to the favourite of the Emperor, and
+as such he loomed largely in the eyes of Europe. He had entered the
+public service as a youth, and had later on become governor of the
+province of Samara, where he had attracted the notice of Count Witte
+because of the drastic way in which he had suppressed some serious riots
+there. In due course he was called to Petrograd, where he was introduced
+to the Emperor, and later on the mantle of Count Witte had fallen upon
+him.
+
+Though in high favour with the Emperor he was clever enough to court the
+good graces of Rasputin, knowing full well what supreme influence he
+wielded over the Imperial couple. For that reason I frequently had
+conversation with him both at Court and at the Poltavskaya. He was a man
+of complex nature. A lady-killer of the most elegant type, refined and
+determined, yet lurking in the corners of his nature was a tyrannical
+trait and a hardness of heart.
+
+In Samara he had distinguished himself by various injustices to the
+population, and hundreds of innocent persons had, because they had been
+denounced by the _agents-provocateurs_ of the secret police, been sent to
+prison or to Siberia by administrative order. At first there was a
+rivalry between him and General Trepoff in the Tsar's good graces, but
+Trepoff died, leaving Stolypin master of the situation.
+
+Though Rasputin behaved graciously towards him and often dined at his
+table, he was in secret his enemy. So cleverly did the monk form and
+carry out his plot that to the last he never believed but that the holy
+man, who prayed so fervently for his success in the guidance of Russia,
+was his most devoted friend.
+
+Many crimes have been committed in Russia beneath the shadow of the Black
+Wings, but perhaps none more ingenious than the one under notice.
+
+The first I knew of the deep conspiracy was in the spring of 1911, by the
+visit one night to Rasputin's house in the Poltavskaya of a tall,
+fair-haired man named Hardt, whom I knew as a frequent visitor to the
+monk. He was a merchant in Petrograd and a man of considerable means,
+but, as I afterwards discovered, was an agent of Potsdam specially sent
+to Russia as the secret factotum of the Tsaritza. He was ever at her beck
+and call, and was the instrument by which she exchanged confidential
+correspondence with the Kaiser and other persons in Germany.
+
+On that evening when Hardt called quite half-a-dozen of the
+sister-disciples were taking tea with the saint and gossiping, for each
+Thursday he would hold informal receptions, and with horrible blasphemy
+bestow upon the society women who attended his accursed blessing. The
+ladies there on that night were all of the most exclusive circle in
+Petrograd.
+
+On Hardt's arrival the reception was cut short after he had whispered
+some words to the Starets, who made excuse that he had to leave to return
+to the palace.
+
+Indeed, he went to the telephone at the farther end of the room and held
+a conversation with the Tsaritza's confidante, Mademoiselle Kamensky.
+None knew, however, that that private telephone by which the charlatan so
+impressed his visitors was merely a fake one, its wires not extending
+farther than the end of the garden.
+
+Grichka sometimes when alone rehearsed those conversations, until he
+succeeded in producing a perfect series of answers which would strike the
+hearer as a most intimate conversation concerning either Emperor or
+Empress.
+
+From the chatter upon the mock telephone the assembly concluded that his
+presence was required at the palace immediately, therefore they rose and
+retired, leaving the mysterious Hardt alone with us.
+
+Instead of going to Tsarskoe-Selo we retired to the saint's little den,
+where we opened a bottle of champagne, of which we all three drank.
+
+"Well, my friend Hardt?" asked the monk, flinging himself carelessly into
+his easy chair and unbuttoning his long black coat for comfort. "What has
+happened? You can, as you know, speak before our faithful Feodor," he
+added.
+
+"I have waiting outside a young woman whom I want you to see," replied
+the German agent.
+
+"Does she wish to enter our circle?" inquired the monk, adding with his
+usual avariciousness: "Has she money?"
+
+"No--neither," was Hardt's reply. "She does not want to become one of
+your disciples; indeed, the less you say on that matter the better!"
+
+"Then why should I trouble to see her?"
+
+"I will tell you all after you have chatted with her. May Feodor invite
+her in? She is sitting in a droshky outside."
+
+"If you wish," growled Rasputin. "But why all this mystery? I have much
+to do. I am due at Countess Ignatieff's--and am already late."
+
+"Remain patient, I beg of you, Father," urged the German suavely. "I am
+acting upon instructions--from Number Seventy."
+
+"From Number Seventy!" echoed the monk, instantly realising that Hardt,
+an agent of the German Secret Service, was carrying out some
+well-concealed and ingenious project. "Very well," he said. "I rely upon
+you not to delay me longer than necessary. Feodor," he added, turning to
+me with that lofty air which his low mujik mind sometimes conceived to be
+superiority, "go and find this mysterious young person."
+
+A few minutes later I conducted into the saint's presence a dark-haired,
+extremely handsome young woman of about thirty, who spoke with
+considerable refinement and whose arrival mystified me greatly.
+
+Hardt introduced her to the holy man, saying:
+
+"This is Mademoiselle Vera Baltz, of Stavropol, a friend of His
+Excellency Peter Stolypin."
+
+"Ah! Welcome, my dear mademoiselle," exclaimed the monk affably. "So you
+are a friend of His Excellency--when he was Governor of Samara, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Yes. I have come here because I crave your assistance. Monsieur Hardt
+knows all the circumstances, and will explain."
+
+The saint turned to the fair-haired man seated opposite him, Mademoiselle
+Baltz having been given an easy-chair close by Rasputin's table. It was a
+writing-table, but the scoundrel never wrote. Sometimes he pretended to
+do so, but the truth was that it was a long and painful procedure with
+him. He preferred to scrawl his initials to any typewritten letter which
+I prepared.
+
+"The explanation is briefly this, Father," said Hardt in his businesslike
+way. "Mademoiselle has been the dupe of His Excellency, who, while
+Governor, often went to Stavropol, where he stayed at an hotel under
+another name. Mademoiselle never knew his identity until a year ago, when
+she saw his photograph in the papers as Prime Minister. She never knew
+that he was married--though I have here a letter in which he proposes
+marriage to her."
+
+And he produced from his pocket a note, bearing the heading of the
+Centralnaya Hotel at Samara, which Rasputin read through.
+
+"Well?" asked the Starets, blowing a cloud of cigarette smoke from his
+bearded lips.
+
+"Mademoiselle is anxious to meet His Excellency."
+
+"Ah! I see," exclaimed the monk, whose mind at once turned to blackmail,
+a course which he himself was actively pursuing. "Mademoiselle wishes for
+money--eh?"
+
+"No, Father," replied the young woman stoutly. "Not money--only justice!
+Peter Stolypin misled me, as you see according to his letter. I am but
+one of his many victims, and I desire to expose him."
+
+"H'm!" grunted Rasputin, who, having ascertained that no monetary
+consideration was forthcoming, was not particularly interested in the
+affair. He never did anything without reward. Those who could pay him
+well obtained through his influence at Court high office and big
+emoluments. Within my own knowledge in at least twenty cases he was
+already receiving heavy percentages upon the salaries, including those of
+two bishops and three under-secretaries, who had been dug out from
+nowhere and pitchforked into office by him.
+
+By his influence with Nicholas the rascal ruled Russia with a relentless
+recklessness unparalleled in all history.
+
+"Mademoiselle has already had audience of Her Majesty, who has sent her
+here to interview you," Hardt explained. "I am placing her case in the
+hands of our friend Altschiller."
+
+The latter was a well-known lawyer, who, by the way, was afterwards
+proved to be a spy of Austria.
+
+"What do you desire of me, my dear young lady?" asked Rasputin in the
+paternal manner he so often assumed towards the fair sex who hung about
+the hem of his ragged robe, and knelt so constantly before him for his
+blessing.
+
+"You, Father, are all-powerful in Russia," replied Vera Baltz. "Her
+Majesty told me that you would help me to--to destroy Stolypin," she said
+with a fierce expression in her black eyes.
+
+Rasputin exchanged glances with the secret agent of Potsdam who, I knew,
+did so much dirty work on the Empress's behalf.
+
+"What Her Majesty desires, I am here to obey," was the monk's quiet
+response. "I pray that no injustice be done," the blasphemer added,
+piously crossing himself.
+
+"Injustice!" cried the girl angrily. "He deceived me, and left me to
+starve when he received his advancement and came here to Petrograd. He
+became the Tsar's favourite because of his cruel and harsh treatment of
+our poor people of Samara, and has climbed to office over the bodies of
+those shot down in the streets at his orders. Injustice! There is
+assuredly no injustice to drag the ghastly truth concerning him into the
+light of day."
+
+"Not at all! I quite agree," said Rasputin, rising and shaking her hand.
+"You can tell your lawyer from me that you have my assistance, but in
+strictest secrecy, of course. Not a soul must know of it, remember!" he
+added, looking straight at her with that strange hypnotic glance of his,
+a gaze beneath which she quivered visibly.
+
+"I shall remain silent," she promised.
+
+"If the truth leaks out that you have seen either Her Majesty or myself,
+then I shall instantly become your enemy, and not your friend," the monk
+declared.
+
+"Only Monsieur Hardt knows," the girl said. "It was he who took me to
+Peterhof."
+
+"You may rely upon the silence of both my friends," Rasputin assured her,
+and a moment later I conducted her downstairs and out into the street.
+
+When I returned to where Rasputin was still seated with his visitor, the
+latter was, I found, making explanation how he had, after considerable
+difficulty, traced the woman Baltz at the Empress's orders and taken her
+to the Palace, first, however, prompting her to seek revenge upon the
+Prime Minister.
+
+"I cannot understand it at all," Hardt added.
+
+"I do. Cannot you see that Stolypin is violently anti-German and openly
+disapproves of the Germanophile party at Court?"
+
+"But he is closeted daily with the Emperor, I understand. And the Empress
+grants him frequent audiences."
+
+"Because she is endeavouring to ascertain the true extent of His
+Excellency's knowledge of her own dealings with our friends in Berlin,"
+was the monk's reply. "Alix pretends to be most gracious to him, yet she
+is distinctly antagonistic, more from fear than anything else. To-day he
+is a favourite at Court, to-morrow----"
+
+And Grichka made a wide sweep with his dirty knotted hand without
+concluding his sentence.
+
+"Has Her Majesty spoken to you concerning her fears that Stolypin has
+discovered something?" asked the man Hardt eagerly.
+
+The monk grinned meaningly.
+
+"Her Majesty is taking precautions," he replied evasively. "Possibly
+Stolypin has discovered the reason you travelled to Berlin a month ago. I
+have an idea that you were watched by the Okhrana."
+
+"Do you really think so?" gasped the German in quick apprehension. "Why
+do you suspect?"
+
+"From something whispered to me a week ago."
+
+"Then Stolypin may know that Alexandra Feodorovna is behind the
+traitorous dealings of Colonel Miassoyedeff on the frontier--eh?"
+
+Rasputin, his eyes fixed upon his visitor, slowly nodded in the
+affirmative.
+
+"That means ruin--perhaps imprisonment for me!" Hardt gasped, his face
+pale and anxious.
+
+"I might say the same thing," remarked the saint, stroking his long,
+untrimmed beard. "But I do not. We are both strong enough to resist all
+attacks. Any suspicion against Miassoyedeff must be removed. I will see
+that the Emperor promotes him to-morrow. Our one stumbling-block is Peter
+Stolypin."
+
+"One that, I take it, must be removed?"
+
+"Yes--at all costs. That is why the Empress has sought out this woman
+Baltz, who, if my estimate of her sex is correct, is a wild firebrand."
+
+"She certainly is viciously vindictive."
+
+"One thing is certain, our friend Stolypin has no idea that he is seated
+on the edge of a volcano," remarked the monk. "He lives extremely happily
+with his wife and children in that beautiful villa over on the Islands of
+the Apothecaries, and has no suspicion of the coming storm. I promised
+his wife to go to her salon to-morrow night."
+
+"And will you go?"
+
+"Of course. There must be no suspicion. Are we not, all of us, his best
+friends?" asked the monk, grinning evilly.
+
+"I am returning to Berlin by way of Stockholm on Thursday," Hardt said,
+for he gave as the reason for his frequent visits to Germany and
+Scandinavia that he bought leather in those countries. "Have you anything
+to report?"
+
+"Yes. One or two things," replied the Starets, who ordered me to write at
+his dictation as follows:
+
+     "MEMORANDUM.
+
+     "FROM GREGORY TO NUMBER SEVENTY.
+
+     "Have acted upon your instructions regarding the Kahovsky affair.
+     Some important correspondence was seized by the police at his
+     arrest, and for two days matters looked extremely unpromising. I
+     paid T. twenty thousand roubles to close his lips, and induced
+     the Emperor to release Kahovsky and restore his papers. I suggest
+     that he should be recalled from Russia and sent to London, where,
+     being unknown, he might be extremely useful to you.
+
+     "Madame Zlobine is at the Adlon Hotel in your city. She has
+     quarrelled with the General, and strict watch should be kept upon
+     her. She has been heard to express very decided views against Her
+     Majesty. It may be found that she is in communication with J. If
+     so, it is in the interests of Stolypin's anti-German campaign!
+
+     "Hardt will explain verbally the position of the latter, and the
+     discovery of the woman Baltz. Meanwhile His Excellency is
+     unsuspicious that we are aware of his hostile intentions towards
+     us.
+
+     "Please do me the favour to assure His Majesty the Emperor of my
+     continued efforts in the service of Alexandra Feodorovna, even
+     though matters are daily growing more complicated. Anna [Madame
+     Vyrubova], moreover, is more difficult to please.
+
+     "Both Stuermer and Protopopoff are under my protection, and I have
+     already contrived to advance them. Kokovtsov is growing in favour
+     and will be a force to be reckoned with in the immediate future.
+     Urge Miassoyedeff, from your side, to exercise the greatest
+     caution. There are whispers, but I have endeavoured to stifle
+     them by contriving his advancement through the Emperor, who
+     yesterday decorated him.
+
+     "The Imperial pair will shortly visit the Danish and Swedish
+     Courts, and probably go for a cruise in Norwegian waters, though
+     there is, as yet, no announcement.
+
+     "I am still working upon the project you set out when we met in
+     Helsingfors two months ago regarding the reduction and weakening
+     of the army. I have already initiated the matter through ladies
+     whose husbands are in the Ministry of War. It will mean the
+     expenditure of a considerable sum of your money, but I know it
+     will be a mere bagatelle if your object is accomplished.
+
+     "I have to acknowledge a payment of one hundred thousand roubles
+     into the Azof Bank from an unknown source. Please remember that
+     S. in Paris and J. in Rome are making big claims upon me, and
+     that next month I must receive a similar sum.
+
+     "Hardt has told me that matters are progressing well at Carlton
+     House Terrace, and also in Paris. Of that I am glad to hear. Let
+     our next meeting be at the Phoenix Hotel in Abo, where I am
+     unknown, and which you can reach without notice. At present I
+     dare not leave Russia, as Her Majesty will not hear of it.
+
+     "It would be as well to make the next payment through the
+     Aktiebank in Abo. They would not suspect.
+
+     "Do not fail to impress upon both Sukhomlinoff and Miassoyedeff
+     the necessity for the utmost caution. Till we meet."
+
+When I had typed this at his dictation I handed it to him, and he managed
+painfully to append his illiterate signature.
+
+Then I placed the sheets in an envelope and gave them to Hardt to convey
+in secret to the headquarters of the German Secret Service in the
+Koeniggraetzerstrasse in Berlin.
+
+"And, friend Hardt," Rasputin said, as the Kaiser's emissary placed the
+letter carefully in his wallet, "please impress upon Number Seventy what
+I have said about money. All this costs much. Tell him that sometimes
+when inordinate demands are made upon me--as you know they are often
+are--I have to use my own funds in order to satisfy them. Smith in London
+receives unlimited funds through the Deutsche Bank, I know, so please
+tell our friend from me that I expect similar treatment in future."
+
+The Starets was one of the most far-seeing and mercenary scoundrels. He
+had accounts in different names in half-a-dozen banks in Petrograd and
+Moscow, into which he constantly made payments as the result of his
+widespread campaign of espionage and the blackmailing of silly women who
+fell beneath his uncanny spell.
+
+When Hardt had left, the saint opened another bottle of champagne and
+drank it all from a tumbler, afterwards consuming half a bottle of
+brandy. I was busy with three days' accumulation of letters, and did not
+notice it until, an hour later, I found him dead asleep on the floor of
+the dining-room--a pretty spectacle if presented to the millions of our
+patriotic Russians who believed in the Tsar as their "Father" and in the
+divinity of the "holy man" who directed the Empire's affairs.
+
+The saint filled me with increasing disgust, yet I confess I had become
+fascinated by the widespread and desperate conspiracies which he either
+engineered himself or of which he pulled the most important strings.
+
+In the plot against Stolypin, though none dreamed of it, he had been the
+most active agent. Stolypin, a purely honest and loyal Russian, who, on
+taking office as Prime Minister, was actuated by a firm determination to
+do his level best for the Empire, was an unwanted statesman. He was too
+honest, and, therefore, dangerous to the Court camarilla set up and paid
+by Potsdam.
+
+As the days passed the monk frequently referred to him as a thorn in the
+side of the Empress.
+
+"The fellow must be got rid of!" he declared to me more than
+once. "He suspects a lot, and he knows too much. He is dangerous to us,
+Feodor--very dangerous!"
+
+One night, when we were together in his room at Tsarskoe-Selo, after he
+had been dining _en famille_ with the Imperial family, he remarked:
+
+"Things are going well. I saw the lawyer Altschiller to-day. All is
+prepared for the coup against Stolypin, who is still ignorant that Vera
+Baltz is in Petrograd."
+
+I knew Altschiller, who often called at the Poltavskaya. He was a close
+friend of Monsieur Raeff, whom Rasputin, when all-powerful a little later
+on, actually appointed as Procurator of the Holy Synod, having placed the
+appointment upon the Emperor's desk to sign!
+
+The law case was, however, delayed. Hardt was on one of his frequent
+absences--in Germany, no doubt--and matters did not move so rapidly as to
+satisfy the Empress. The whole plot was to keep the Prime Minister in the
+dark until the moment when the skeleton of his past should be dragged
+from its cupboard.
+
+As announced by Rasputin, the Emperor and Empress had visited Denmark and
+Norway on board the _Standart_, and were back again at Peterhof, when one
+day Rasputin received his friend Boris Stuermer, the bureaucrat, at that
+time struggling strenuously for advancement. In the monk's den Stuermer,
+chatting about Stolypin and the vindictive woman who had come to
+Petrograd to destroy him--for he was one of the paid servants of Potsdam,
+and in consequence knew most of the secrets--said:
+
+"Have you, Father, ever met a Jew named Bagrov?"
+
+"Never to my knowledge. Why?"
+
+"Because I know from my friend Venikoff, one of the assistant-directors
+of Secret Police, that the man, a discharged _agent-provocateur_ and
+incensed at the way he has been treated by Stolypin, has joined forces
+with some mysterious young woman named Baltz. There is a whisper that
+between them they are engineering a plot to assassinate the Prime
+Minister!"
+
+Rasputin's strange eyes met mine. Both of us knew more than this
+struggling sycophant.
+
+"Bagrov?" the saint repeated. "Who is he?"
+
+"Oh! A fellow who was assistant to Azeff in some disgraceful matters in
+Warsaw--an _agent-provocateur_ who lived afterwards for some time in
+Paris and on the Riviera. He attributes his downfall to Stolypin, and
+hence is most bitter against him. He has, I hear, fallen in love with the
+woman Baltz, who hails from Samara."
+
+"Well?" asked the saint.
+
+"Well?--nothing," laughed the man with the goat-beard. "I simply tell you
+what I know. There is a plot--that is all! And as far as I can discern
+the swifter Stolypin leaves the Court, the easier it will be for Her
+Majesty and ourselves--eh? While Stolypin is daily with the Emperor there
+is hourly danger for us."
+
+"In that I certainly agree," declared Rasputin. "We must be
+watchful--very watchful."
+
+We remained alert--all of us. That same night Rasputin informed the
+Empress of the secret plot of the black-haired Vera and her lover
+Bagrov.
+
+The Court left for the Crimea next day, and Rasputin travelled with the
+Imperial family. Stolypin, in ignorance of what was in progress, was of
+the party, I being left in Petrograd to follow three days later.
+
+On arrival at Kiev, where the Emperor had arranged to review the troops,
+a gala performance was held in the theatre that night. Opposite the
+Imperial box sat Stolypin, with two other high officials of the Court,
+when, during the entr'acte, a man dashed in, and in full view of the
+Emperor and Empress fired a revolver at the Prime Minister.
+
+The confusion this caused was terrible. Her Majesty fainted and was
+dragged out of the box by Mademoiselle Kamensky, while the Tsar swiftly
+jumped to his feet and regarded the scene calmly.
+
+"I'm done!" gasped the patriotic and honest Stolypin, as those present
+seized the assassin, who was none other than the ex-_agent-provocateur_
+Bagrov.
+
+Six hours later the Prime Minister breathed his last, a victim of the
+Empress and her Potsdam camarilla, while Vera Baltz fled to Switzerland.
+
+Rasputin afterwards told me that he urged the Court to leave Kiev at
+once, adding:
+
+"It was far best for Alix and Nicholas to pretend horror of the tragedy
+than to offer condolences."
+
+And so ended another chapter of Russia's underground history.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE
+
+
+THE murder of Stolypin, though unsuspected by the chancelleries of
+Europe, was, as I have explained, the work of the Hidden Hand of Germany.
+Stolypin had suspected the true state of affairs at the Russian Court,
+therefore the success of Germany in the coming war depended upon closing
+his mouth; so Potsdam, using the erotic monk Rasputin as its catspaw,
+effected a coup which had, alas! sad result to Holy Russia.
+
+Stolypin was but one of many persons of both sexes who, because they knew
+too much of Germany's secret propaganda in Russia, fell victims in those
+constant conspiracies whereby they were swept either into the net of the
+corrupt police or into their graves.
+
+As servant of the head of Russia's "Dark Forces"--as Rasputin and
+Protopopoff were afterwards denounced in the Duma--I was compelled to be
+ever at the saint's elbow; hence I saw and heard much that was
+astounding.
+
+One night, a few months after Stolypin's assassination, we had been
+bidden to dinner by the great Polish landowner Ivan Volkhovski, who had a
+beautiful villa outside Petrograd. There I met a smart, middle-aged
+Russian officer, who, over our champagne, declared to me that things were
+growing critical in Europe over the Balkan question, but that France and
+Russia were united against any attack that Germany might secretly
+engineer.
+
+"Then you think that war is really coming?" I asked him in surprise.
+
+"Think!" he echoed. "You are a cosmopolitan, surely! Don't you know? Are
+you really blind?"
+
+"Well, I am blind politically," I replied with a wink. "I see that on all
+sides people are getting rich quickly and receiving ironmongery--as I
+call the tin decorations from the Sovereign--as reward for closing their
+eyes to the true facts."
+
+"Ah! I see that you are quite wideawake, my dear Rajevski," said the
+officer, whose name was Colonel Dubassoff. "Our friends here in Petrograd
+will continue to remain asleep, for they have every incentive, thanks to
+the great pro-German propaganda and the generous distribution of German
+gold. To-day our enemies in Berlin have their hands outstretched and
+clutching upon Paris, New York, Rome and London, just as they have here
+in Petrograd. War must come--depend upon it. The English Lord Roberts has
+forecast it. He knows!"
+
+"Then you believe that Germany is at work actively arming in preparation
+for war?"
+
+"Most certainly I do," replied the colonel. "Only a month ago I was in
+London and afterwards in Paris. In London the authorities are not so
+entirely asleep as we are in Russia."
+
+Suddenly, as he spoke, I noticed that Rasputin, who was in whispered
+conversation with Bishop Theophanus, a fellow-guest, had been listening
+very attentively.
+
+Two hours later, when I returned home with Rasputin, he ordered me to sit
+down and write a note, which the scoundrel dictated as follows:
+
+     "Please listen to N.N. Colonel Paul Dubassoff, of the
+     Preobrajensky Regiment, has expressed in my presence to-night
+     disloyalty to the Sovereign, and he is a serious danger to the
+     State. He should be suppressed."
+
+To this lie the monk scrawled his initials, and next morning the letter
+was sent to the Chief of the Secret Police. Within twelve hours the
+unfortunate colonel who had dared to pronounce his opinion concerning
+Germany's activities was already lodged in the fortress of Peter and
+Paul, where, I believe, he remained until the Revolution of 1917.
+
+At that moment, however, the German propaganda in Russia found itself in
+an extremely critical state. By Stolypin's murder a new difficulty had
+arisen. All the colleagues of the late Prime Minister believed themselves
+entitled to become his successor, and as each had his own particular
+circle of friends, each naturally pulled all the political wires
+possible. Intrigues arose on every hand, and though everybody realised
+the personal danger of anybody appointed to the dead man's position, yet
+ambition was apparent everywhere.
+
+The Empress, who had now returned from her fateful journey to the Crimea,
+was in daily consultation with the monk, it being their intention to
+obtain the appointment of some hard-up Minister who, by being well paid
+with German gold, would remain inert and keep his mouth closed regarding
+the world-plot in progress. Being at Tsarskoe-Selo, and conducting the
+Starets's correspondence, I know how deep was the intrigue to keep out
+and discredit the Minister of Finance, Vladimir Nicholaievitch Kokovtsov,
+who was known to be the only strong man who could succeed Stolypin.
+
+The whole machinery of the pro-German propaganda had been set to work
+from Berlin to prevent the mantle of Stolypin falling upon Kokovtsov. Yet
+one afternoon, while I sat writing at Rasputin's dictation in his elegant
+sitting-room in the palace of Tsarskoe-Selo, the Empress, who was dressed
+ready to go for her daily drive, burst angrily in, saying:
+
+"Nikki has just appointed that hateful money-grubber Kokovtsov! I tried
+all I could to prevent it, Father. But I have failed!"
+
+Rasputin smiled at her words, and with that sinister calmness that
+characterised him in moments of chagrin, he replied:
+
+"Pray do not distress thyself, O lady! Kokovtsov will assuredly not be
+long in office when the hand of Gregory is lifted against him."
+
+"He must not remain long. He may get to know too much, as others have
+done. In Berlin his appointment will give the greatest offence," she
+said.
+
+"I will ask the Almighty's intercession, for I see, O lady, that thou art
+nervous and unstrung. Compose thyself, I beg of thee. All will be well,"
+and the "healer" crossed himself piously.
+
+Truly, the condition of our dear land was in parlous state. A vogue for
+asceticism had sprung up, just as other vogues have become popular in
+other European countries.
+
+As head of this circle of ascetic followers the monk had, with the
+connivance of Badmayev the herbalist, invented an expedient to deaden the
+flesh so as to render it benumbed as with cocaine. Hundreds of
+weak-minded women were flocking about him. Some of them were wives and
+daughters of the wealthy manufacturing class, but most were of the high
+aristocracy, who all regarded my employer as the Saviour of Russia, sent
+by Heaven to reform and deliver the "Holy" land from the toils of unrest
+and desolation.
+
+We Russians are always idealists. That is our curse. Our religion is,
+unfortunately, an obsession, for any drunken scoundrel can become a "holy
+man" by simply making such declaration, and ever afterwards "sponging"
+upon his neighbours. Rasputin was but an example of this.
+
+After all, it was but natural that, with the bevy of female devotees ever
+at his knees, he should attract the gossip of the scandalmongers. Much,
+indeed, of what they said was true, for I happen to know that personally.
+
+But on that day at Tsarskoe-Selo I noted the Empress's agitation that
+Kokovtsov had been appointed, and began to suspect that the camarilla
+would take drastic action in order to defeat him. Indeed, when the
+Empress had left the room, Rasputin grew thoughtful in turn, and stroked
+his unkempt beard as he paced the floor, saying:
+
+"Ah, Feodor! We must crush this jackanapes. I must see what we can do."
+
+Weeks went by. The usual meetings of the monk's "sister-disciples" were
+held at the house in the Poltavskaya, and often in the presence of a
+stranger or a female novice about to be admitted to the cult he pretended
+to speak to Alexandra Feodorovna over his mock telephone.
+
+Every action of the monk was that of an arrogant and erotic swindler. His
+intelligence was, however, extremely perceptive, and he was not wanting
+in finesse of the mujik order, combined with a sense of foresight that
+was utterly amazing. These, with his suave manner, his affectation of
+deepest piety, and his wonderful fascination over women of every age and
+every class, had now brought him to the position of the power behind the
+Throne.
+
+He already ruled Russia. Tsar and Tsaritza were his puppets, so cleverly
+did he play his cards, yet as he frequently remarked to me in the weeks
+that followed:
+
+"Kokovtsov is against me. We are enemies. He must go."
+
+I knew that if the Premier had an enemy in Grichka, then the statesman
+was doomed.
+
+Now, the plot which Rasputin formed against the new Prime Minister was an
+extremely clever and subtle one.
+
+While it was being carried out I often met Vladimir Nicholaievitch, who
+was naturally compelled to curry favour with the Father, and consequently
+sometimes visited him even against his inclination, no doubt. He was a
+long, rather narrow-faced, bearded man, with a pair of deep-set eyes and
+a secretive air, subtle by temperament, and keenly alive to his own
+interests as well as those of the Empire.
+
+His one sin in the eyes of Alexandra Feodorovna was that he hated
+Germany.
+
+"He once lost money in a German financial concern," Rasputin declared to
+me one day with a laugh. "That is why he cannot bear the Germans."
+
+The Premier, risen from the middle-class, was a dandy who never looked
+one in the face, and whose eyes were ever upon his own clothes, as though
+expecting to find specks of dust upon them. He was always immaculately
+dressed, and his newly-acquired manners were so perfect that I often
+wondered if he carried a book of etiquette in his pocket.
+
+My own estimate of him was that he was too neat, too well groomed, too
+civil, too bowing, and too anxious not to forget what he should say at
+the right moment. In a word, he was an elegant who had suddenly entered
+the Court entourage, in which there was no place for him.
+
+The Tsar had no affection for him, and had merely appointed him because
+he believed that he might worry him less than others whose names and
+abilities had been put forward.
+
+Poor Kokovtsov! He was in complete ignorance of the clever plot which
+Rasputin, at the Empress's suggestion, was engineering against his
+patriotic activities. Germany intended to rule Russia in the near
+future, and woe betide any statesman who would not remain inert and be
+spoon-fed by Teutonic propaganda, or place in his pocket the German marks
+held out so temptingly to him. In that way lay advancement, emoluments,
+decorations, and the Tsar's favour. To be Russian was, alas! to court
+disaster and ignominy.
+
+Monsieur Kokovtsov was typically a good Russian. He had no fighting
+spirit, but was essentially a man of peace, entertaining a horror of
+bloodshed or of sanguinary deeds. His placid temper caused him to avoid
+all questions in dispute. He was prepared to do all possible to benefit
+our country. He had cleverly conducted the election campaign, and had all
+the governors of each province with him. The Emperor trusted him; the
+Empress hated him.
+
+Besides, Kokovtsov was a worker. He did not believe in that favourite
+expression among Russians, "_nechevo_," which really means "nothing," but
+is equivalent to "don't bother" or "don't worry." In Russia we
+unfortunately always have a "_zarftra_," or to-morrow. For that reason he
+was disliked also by the people.
+
+It was not many months after his appointment when one night, at the
+Poltavskaya, Rasputin received a visit from General Rogogin, the Director
+of the Black Cabinet, the _cabinet noir_, the existence of which was
+rigorously kept secret until the Revolution afforded the public a glimpse
+of Russia behind the scenes.
+
+Even from the tribune of the Duma it was declared that the Black Cabinet
+was a fiction. Yet I happened to know that it existed, for later that
+evening I accompanied Rasputin and the Director to the General Post
+Office, where in three rooms on the second floor of the building the
+mysterious department, where correspondence was opened and read, was
+situated. Here was the most secret establishment of the Imperial Police.
+For over a hundred years had this mysterious department been at work
+examining the letters of all classes of people whose thoughts or doings
+could be of interest to the Tsar, his Minister of the Interior, or the
+Okhrana. Indeed, I learned from the general's conversation with the
+monk--I first having taken an oath never to divulge anything of what I
+saw or heard--that even the correspondence of the Tsar, his relatives, or
+friends was not immune from examination.
+
+Then I instantly realised the reason that the Tsaritza and Rasputin, in
+communicating with their friends in Germany, sent their letters by hand.
+
+On the night in question I stood watching with interest how letters for
+secret examination were taken from a lift which passed up and down from
+the sorting-rooms above to the distributing room below. The basket was
+taken off the lift during its slow descent, and another basket
+substituted containing letters already examined, so quickly that the man
+in charge of the lift below noticed nothing.
+
+We saw several processes of opening letters by steaming them, first
+taking an impression in plaster of any seal, and also by cutting off the
+end of the envelope by means of a small guillotine. The letters were
+dexterously opened, photographed, replaced in their respective envelopes,
+refastened and new seals made, or in other cases the ends of the cut
+envelopes were resealed by means of paper pulp to match the colour of the
+envelope, and placed under pressure in a hot press, thus actually
+remaking the paper!
+
+The watchman of this secret chamber was an illiterate, deaf and dumb
+peasant.
+
+"Each functionary on being first admitted here," said Rogogin, "is
+compelled to take a solemn oath never to divulge its existence to a
+living soul--not to his wife, father, sister, brother, or dearest
+friend."
+
+All was remarkable, a spying system of which I had never dreamed.
+
+When we entered the Director's well-furnished private room and the door
+was closed, Rogogin took from a locker drawer a letter which he handed to
+the monk, saying:
+
+"Here is the letter of which I spoke; if I hold it back it may arouse
+suspicion."
+
+Rasputin, who could only read with difficulty, looked at the letter, and
+then, handing it to me with that lofty air he assumed in the belief that
+he could conceal his ignorance, said:
+
+"Feodor, read it to me."
+
+It was on grey paper, and was as follows:
+
+                                "IMPERIAL RUSSIAN EMBASSY,
+                                        "UNTER DEN LINDEN, 7.
+                                             "June 8th.
+     "_Secret._
+
+     "YOUR EXCELLENCY,--In accordance with your instructions I beg to
+     report confidentially as follows: On arrival here I presented my
+     credentials of His Excellency our Ambassador, and in consequence
+     was allowed to conduct a confidential inquiry among the staff of
+     the Embassy, and in other quarters, in which I have been actively
+     assisted with excellent results by P. Ostrovski, agent of the
+     Okhrana in Berlin, whom I recommend for advancement.
+
+     "My discoveries are several, and of an interesting nature. First,
+     a person named Hardt, who is often resident in Petrograd, is the
+     secret courier of the Empress between Potsdam and Tsarskoe-Selo.
+     Secondly, a sum of one hundred thousand marks was paid by the
+     Dresdner Bank on March 11th last to the account of one Boris
+     Stuermer, who has an account in Riga at the Disconto Gesellschaft.
+     Thirdly, the Emperor William on April 2nd gave audience in secret
+     at the Berlin Schloss to M. Protopopoff, for which no reason can
+     be assigned. Fourthly, I have learned on the best authority that
+     if Herr Hardt were arrested on any of his journeys to Sweden or
+     Germany, some highly interesting private correspondence would be
+     found upon him. Fifthly, there is no doubt whatever that the monk
+     Rasputin is in receipt of money from this city, as I have in my
+     possession a receipt given by him for two hundred thousand
+     roubles paid him by the Deutsche Bank, and this I am bringing
+     with me on my return.
+
+     "Further, I have documentary evidence of a widespread German
+     intrigue in Russia, facts which will, I feel confident, amaze
+     your Excellency. When I return I shall place in your hands
+     weapons by which the enemy may be combated. I hesitate to send
+     any documents through the post in case they miscarry, and I am
+     addressing this letter to Mademoiselle Pauline, as your
+     Excellency suggested.
+
+     "I have yet some further inquiries to make on your Excellency's
+     behalf, but I intend to leave Berlin in any case on the
+     twenty-second. I have the honour to remain, your Excellency's
+     obedient servant,                               IVAN BOTKINE."
+
+The monk listened attentively, his big, strange eyes wearing a sly,
+crafty expression. He fingered the jewelled cross suspended from his
+neck--a habit of his.
+
+"Ah! So Botkine leaves Berlin on the twenty-second. It is well that we
+know this, my dear Rogogin--eh?"
+
+"Yes," laughed the traitorous general. "He must not reach Russia."
+
+"Of course not," agreed the monk. "We must obtain possession of this
+documentary evidence that he will carry upon him. Who is he?"
+
+"Botkine is a confidential agent in Kokovtsov's employ," was the
+Director's reply. "He was, I find, assistant-director of police in Nijni
+before the Minister was appointed, and is now in His Excellency's private
+service."
+
+"Well, it is excellent that by your astuteness, my dear General, we are
+forewarned. If not, there might very easily have resulted a serious
+contretemps--eh?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"And who is this Mademoiselle Pauline?" asked Rasputin, his clever
+criminal brain already at work to defeat a revelation of the truth.
+
+"Pauline Lahure, the little French dancer at the Villa Rode."
+
+"Lahure!" cried Rasputin. "I know her, of course, a music-hall artiste.
+She has been lately taken up by the old Countess Bronevski. She was at my
+house only a fortnight ago, and wanted to become a 'sister'!"
+
+"As spy of Kokovtsov--eh?"
+
+"Without a doubt," I chimed in. "From all I hear His Excellency is a gay
+dog."
+
+"True, my dear Feodor," remarked the monk, fingering the cross nervously,
+and then taking a cigarette which the general offered him. "But had not
+our friend Rogogin been on the alert and opened the dainty dancer's
+letters, what a trap we should have fallen into--not only ourselves, but
+the Empress also! Vladimir would have presented the documents to the
+Emperor, and an unholy domestic scene would have resulted. This fellow
+Botkine must never reach Russia!" he added seriously.
+
+"I agree," replied the general. "Let us see Gutchkoff at once," he added.
+General Gutchkoff was a Jew and the director of the dreaded political
+police, with whom Rogogin, of course, worked hand-in-glove.
+
+It was then nearly eleven o'clock at night, but we all three drove to
+General Gutchkoff's house in the Spaskaya. He was out, his man informed
+us.
+
+"I must see him at once," said the monk loftily. "Where is he?"
+
+"He went out to dinner, Holy Father, and he is probably now at the
+Krestovsky or at the Bouffes."
+
+"Go at once and find him," said the monk. "It is a matter of extreme
+urgency, and we will await him here."
+
+Thus ordered by Gregory Rasputin--who was all-powerful in the
+capital--the general's servant ushered us into a cosy little salon,
+placed a box of cigarettes and some liqueurs before us, and then himself
+left in a droshky to find his master, who was so well known in Petrograd
+as a _bon viveur_.
+
+For half an hour Rasputin, much worried by the secret inquiries of the
+Premier into the doings of the pro-German camarilla, chatted with the
+general, more than once expressing fear regarding the perilous situation.
+
+"Revelations seem imminent," he exclaimed anxiously. "The man Botkine
+must never arrive in Russia--you understand that, Rogogin!"
+
+"I quite agree," said the Director of the Black Cabinet. "But Gutchkoff
+must see to it. I have done my part in the affair."
+
+"You have done excellently, my dear friend--most excellently," declared
+the monk. "Nothing could have been better. I will mention your great
+services to the Empress. Yes, we must rely upon Gutchkoff."
+
+In half an hour the servant returned with his master, the head of the
+political police, a short, fat man in general's uniform, with
+decorations, who, when he entered the room, betrayed unmistakable signs
+of having dined well. Indeed, he had been unearthed from a midnight
+carouse at a questionable restaurant.
+
+At sight of Rasputin, a power to be reckoned with and a person of whom
+even the greatest in the land craved favours, he pulled himself together
+and cast himself into a chair to listen.
+
+The monk was clever enough not to enlighten the Police Director regarding
+the plot to upset Kokovtsov's undue inquisitiveness. He merely told him
+that a certain secret agent named Botkine was leaving Berlin for
+Petrograd on the twenty-second.
+
+"The man is dangerous," he added, "extremely dangerous."
+
+"Why?" asked Gutchkoff, somewhat surprised at our midnight visit.
+
+"Because--well, because I happen to know that he is in possession of
+certain facts concerning very high personages. He is a blackmailer, and
+has been to Berlin to endeavour to sell some documents to Maximilian
+Harden--documents which, if published, would place a certain member of
+our Imperial family in a very unsatisfactory light," Rasputin said. "My
+friend Rogogin here will bear me out."
+
+The Police Director, after a few minutes' silence, asked:
+
+"Has he sold the documents in question?"
+
+"I think not," was Rasputin's reply. "If he has not, he will have them in
+his possession on his return. We must secure them at all costs."
+
+"You wish to close his mouth--eh?"
+
+"Yes. He must be suppressed at all hazards," declared the monk. "It is
+the wish of the Emperor," he added, a glib lie always ready upon his
+tongue. "Further, I need not add that if this affair be conducted in
+secrecy and scandal in the Imperial House avoided, His Majesty will
+certainly see that you are adequately rewarded. I can promise you that."
+
+General Gutchkoff was again silent. He well knew that if the Tsar had
+ordered the man Botkine to be silenced there must be some very unsavoury
+affair to be hushed up.
+
+"There is an agent of yours in Berlin named Ostrovski, is there not?" the
+monk asked.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then he must also be removed at once to another post. Transfer him to
+Constantinople, or, better still, to Yokohama. He must not remain in
+Berlin another twenty-four hours, and he must, not, at any cost, be
+allowed to return to Russia," Rasputin said decisively.
+
+"I scarcely follow you, Holy Father," was the amazed general's reply.
+"Ostrovski is very reliable, and has been entrusted with the most
+delicate affairs. He has always given me the greatest satisfaction."
+
+"I regret if he is under your protection, but that does not alter
+matters. He and Botkine have been acting in unison, and hence Ostrovski
+knows more of this scandal concerning a certain member of the Imperial
+family than is good for him to know. Promote him with increased salary to
+Yokohama, and send him there by way of Marseilles upon some confidential
+mission. But on no account must he return to Russia before going to
+Japan--you understand? He will no doubt wish to travel by way of Siberia,
+but this must be forbidden. If you will write out his appointment, I will
+obtain the Emperor's signature to it to-morrow morning."
+
+"You wish me to write out the order now--eh?" asked Gutchkoff, still much
+puzzled, but eager to get scent of the particular scandal known to
+Botkine.
+
+"Yes, now," replied the monk, pointing to the writing-table, whereupon
+the Police Director sat down and wrote out the order transferring the
+agent Ostrovski to Japan, an order which Rasputin, after pretending to
+read it, handed to me to place in my pocket.
+
+"And now, what about this person Botkine?" asked Gutchkoff. "How do you
+wish me to act towards him?"
+
+"In the way that I will direct to-morrow," replied the monk. "I must have
+time to devise some plan--a plan which will be secret and arouse no
+suspicion," he added grimly, with a sinister smile.
+
+Early next morning I accompanied him to Peterhof, where the Imperial
+Court happened to be. Anna Vyrubova was away in Moscow, but without delay
+he sought the Empress and remained in her boudoir for a full hour, no
+doubt explaining the discovery of Kokovtsov's inquiries in Berlin.
+
+I met the Prime Minister himself in the long corridor guarded by "Araby"
+servants which led to the Emperor's private cabinet, and with him was
+General Gutchkoff, who had evidently also been summoned to audience
+regarding some matters concerning the police administration. Kokovtsov
+had no suspicion of what Rasputin had learned, or that Gutchkoff had
+promised to act as he directed against his trusted agent Ivan Botkine.
+
+The pair strolled along the softly carpeted corridor, chatting affably,
+for they were apparently going to consult His Majesty together. Truly,
+the Court world is a strange life of constant intrigue and
+double-dealing, of lack of morals and of honesty of purpose and of
+patriotism. In our Holy Russia many good men and women have, because of
+their love for their own land, been sent to drag out their lives in the
+dreariness of the Siberian prison camps.
+
+When the monk returned to me he asked for Ostrovski's appointment,
+written on the previous night, which I carried in my pocket. This he took
+at once to the Tsar. His Majesty was at that moment closeted with the
+Prime Minister, Gutchkoff having already seen the Emperor and,
+transacting his business, been dismissed.
+
+Five minutes later Rasputin returned with the Emperor's scribbled
+signature still wet, and in my presence handed it to the Director of
+Political Police. Ostrovski had been transferred to Japan, where he would
+be harmless, even though he might have learned facts from Botkine. But
+what had Rasputin decided should be the fate of the latter? For the sake
+of Alexandra Feodorovna and the whole camarilla Botkine's lips must, I
+knew, be closed. That had been decided. I longed to learn what the
+Empress had said when the monk had revealed the truth to her and pointed
+out her peril.
+
+No doubt Her Majesty would see to it that the affair was hushed up. I
+knew full well that she understood that once Kokovtsov obtained evidence
+too many people would be implicated, and perhaps a public trial might
+result. Both she and Rasputin, no doubt, realised that it would be unwise
+to allow a member of the Okhrana--as Botkine had been--to be arrested,
+for fear of the scandal public revelations would cause. The capital
+teemed with Germans like Stuermer and Fredericks, traitors like
+Protopopoff and Soukhomlinoff, men like Azeff, Guerassimoff and
+Kurtz--one day the bosom friend of Ministers and powerful noblemen, and
+the next cast into the fortress of Peter and Paul--Rogogin, the sycophant
+Raeff--whom Rasputin had made Procurator of the Holy Synod--and the
+drunken "saint" Mitia the Blessed--at last dismissed--spiritualists,
+charlatans, and cranks. Upon such fine society was the Throne of the
+Romanoffs based! Was it any wonder that it was already tottering
+preparatory to its fall?
+
+I left Peterhof with Rasputin at about three o'clock that afternoon, and
+on our return to the Poltavskaya I spoke over the telephone, at the
+monk's orders, to Doctor Badmayev, the expert herbalist who prepared
+those secret drugs with which Madame Vyrubova regularly doped the little
+Tsarevitch, keeping him in a constant state of ill-health and in such a
+condition that he puzzled the most noted physicians in Europe.
+
+Badmayev, a small, ferret-eyed man, his features of Tartar cast, came and
+dined with us, after which Rasputin signed a cheque for twenty-eight
+thousand roubles, a sum to which "the doctor" was entitled under an
+agreement. Well did I know that the sum in question was payment for his
+active assistance in supplying certain drugs of which the monk in turn
+declared that he himself held the formula. The drugs--which he pretended
+to be the secret of the priests of Tibet--were those which he doled out
+in small quantities to his sister-disciples, and which produced
+insensibility to physical pain, drugs which were so baneful and
+pernicious that the monk always warned me against them, and never took
+any himself.
+
+After dinner, at which they both drank deeply of champagne, the monk and
+his friend went out to spend the evening at a low-class variety theatre,
+while I was left alone until midnight.
+
+In consequence I visited some friends in the Ivanovskaya, and returned to
+Rasputin's at about a quarter-past twelve. Twenty minutes later he
+returned in a hopeless state of intoxication; therefore I did not speak
+to him till next morning.
+
+Such was the fellow's vitality that he was up before six o'clock. At
+seven he went out, and returned about nine, when he called me to his den.
+
+"Feodor," he said, "I wish you to leave to-day for Vilna, and go to the
+Palace Hotel there. Remain until a friend of ours named Heckel calls upon
+you."
+
+"Who is Heckel?" I asked, surprised at being sent upon such a long
+journey in that sudden manner.
+
+"A friend of Hardt and myself. Do not be inquisitive--only obey. When
+Heckel calls please give him this letter," and he handed me a rather
+thick letter in an official cartridge envelope of the Imperial Ministry
+of Foreign Affairs. "Heckel will tell you that he is from 'Father
+Gregory.' He is tall, fair, and rather slim--a German, as you may guess
+from his name. Your train leaves at two-forty this afternoon. Be careful
+of that letter and to whom you deliver it in secret. Heckel, after
+finding you at the hotel, will produce an English five-pound note and
+show it to you. That will be his passport. If he does not do so, then do
+not give him the letter."
+
+That afternoon I left for Vilna by the Warsaw express, and after a long
+journey through the endless pines and silver birches duly arrived at the
+hotel indicated, and there awaited my visitor. He arrived next day, a
+fair-haired, slim man, just as Rasputin had described him, evidently an
+_agent-provocateur_ from Berlin. After he had been ushered into my
+bedroom by a waiter, he greeted me warmly, and inquired if I had anything
+to hand him.
+
+To this I made an evasive reply, in pretence of being in ignorance of his
+meaning, whereupon he said in German:
+
+"Ah! I forgot. You wish first to establish my identity," and laughingly
+he produced from his wallet an English five-pound note, which he showed
+to me.
+
+In consequence I handed him the letter from the Ministry, which he placed
+unopened in his pocket and then left, while that same night I returned to
+Petrograd.
+
+Three days later I learned the truth.
+
+Ivan Botkine, the trusted secret agent of the Prime Minister Kokovtsov,
+who had left Berlin on the twenty-second for Petrograd, had been found
+dead in one of the sleeping compartments on the arrival of the train at
+the frontier station of Wirballen. His pockets and valise had been
+rifled, and an inquiry had been opened. Though the doctors disagreed as
+to the exact cause of death, it was apparent that one of the dishes he
+had eaten in the restaurant car an hour before had been poisoned.
+
+Further, I have since established the horrifying fact that the mysterious
+letter from the Ministry which I handed to Heckel in Vilna contained a
+secret poison! That it was used to remove poor Botkine, Rasputin
+afterwards admitted to me. Such were the methods of the camarilla
+who were ruling Russia!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+RASPUTIN IN BERLIN
+
+
+TRULY, our Russia was a country of blood and tears under the last of the
+Romanoffs. Its creed and its motto was "Gallows and Siberia!"
+
+No man's life was safe under a regime run by scoundrels, of whom
+"Grichka," my chief, was the worst.
+
+An unlimited secret fund was placed at the disposal of the Ministry of
+the Interior for purposes of the Secret Police, and when I say that
+Rasputin controlled that Ministry as well as the Emperor himself, it can
+easily be understood that all who were loyal Russians were "suspect," and
+denunciation throve on all sides. The Okhrana recruited its agents from
+all quarters. That is why one was never sure that the stranger who
+denounced Rasputin and his friends was not an _agent-provocateur_.
+
+Every Russian subject of any note, and every foreign traveller, was
+watched, not because of his disloyalty, but because Rasputin and his
+camarilla, including the Empress, feared lest he should discover how they
+were daily betraying Russia and its Tsar.
+
+I have been, at Rasputin's orders, many times in the central bureau of
+the Secret Police in search of the index-card of some person who had
+fallen beneath the monk's displeasure. In these indices and in the
+corresponding files the persons concerned were, I found, never designated
+by their own names, but by code-names that could be telegraphed if
+necessary from city to city. Thus the Deputy Cheidze (since become
+famous) was registered under the name of "drawing-room" (gostini), Lenin
+(also since famous) as "symbol," Miliukoff as "grass," and
+the traitor Soukhomlinoff as "glycerine."
+
+Those were indeed terrible days in Holy Russia--days when the innocent
+were sent to their death, while Rasputin, the religious fraud, laughed
+and drank champagne with his high-born devotees, who believed him, even
+in this twentieth century, to be divine!
+
+I remember that on May 16th, 1914, when the political horizon was
+cloudless and no one dreamed of war, I sat in the visitors' gallery of
+the Duma, having been sent there by Rasputin to listen to the debate and
+report to him.
+
+The labour leader Kerensky, who afterwards became Minister of Justice in
+the Provisional Government, rose and from the tribune proclaimed the
+infamy of the police. He did not mince matters. He said:
+
+"The most notorious jailers of the period of Alexander III. knew how to
+respect in their political enemies the man who thought differently, and
+when they shut him up in the fortress of Schluesselburg they would
+sometimes come to chat with him. And some of those martyrs, those men
+struggling for liberty, have been able to return to us with the glamour
+about them of twenty years' hard labour. But now, the sons of those
+famous jailers do not hesitate to seize young men of seventeen or
+eighteen and make them die slowly, but surely, under the blows of the
+knout, under the strokes of the rod, or by the burns of a red-hot iron.
+Are we not returning to the days when political prisoners were walled up
+alive? And you imagine, gentlemen, that you can claim for this country
+the civilising mission of a European nation!"
+
+He spoke of a man whom I knew well, one of the most sinister persons in
+all Russia, a man who, like Rasputin and Stuermer, accepted German gold.
+The man's name was Evno Azef, upon whom unfortunately the French
+Government bestowed the Legion of Honour.
+
+Before he went to Paris, Azef was a close friend of Rasputin and of
+Stuermer. He was a criminal of the worst type, an expert in crime, though
+he was a recognised agent of the Russian Political Police. And yet so
+clever was he as an _agent-provocateur_ that he actually managed to get
+himself elected as director of the Terrorist organisation of Petrograd,
+and as a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Party!
+
+In my presence he one night, when in his cups, boasted to the merry monk
+what he had to his credit as a revolutionary. He organised the murders
+of the Minister of the Interior, Plehve, and of the Grand Duke Sergius.
+It was he who prepared the attempted murders of Admiral Dubassof, the
+Governor-General Guerchelman, and the attempt on Nicholas II. The latter
+was with Rasputin's knowledge and consent! Perhaps Alexandra Feodorovna
+knew of it. Who knows? That she was not so devoted to "Nikki" as she
+pretended is well known to everyone who was at the Imperial Court at the
+time. Happily, however, the plot failed because of circumstances which
+Azef could not control.
+
+The scoundrel also assisted in the drawing up of the plans for the
+military mutinies at Moscow, Viborg, and Kronstadt, while he knew
+beforehand of the preparations for the assassination of General Sakarof,
+and of Governor Bogdanovitch at Ufa, as well as a number of Terrorist
+crimes which succeeded.
+
+One of his crimes in conspiracy with Rasputin I will here relate, because
+it is a mystery which has long puzzled the London police.
+
+On the morning of January 11th, 1909, the London newspapers contained a
+report of a strange discovery. Four days before there had arrived at
+Victoria Station a young French lady, dark-haired and extremely
+good-looking, who took a cab to a small but highly respectable private
+hotel in the vicinity. There she gave the name of Mademoiselle Thomas,
+and her profession as governess. Next morning a tall, thin young
+foreigner called for her, and they went out together, she returning very
+late that night apparently exhausted after a long motor journey. Next day
+she remained in her room all day. On the third day an elderly man called,
+and she went out with him, being absent about a couple of hours. On her
+return she went straight to her room and nothing was seen of her further
+until the next day at noon the chambermaid failed to arouse her by
+knocking. The police were informed, the door was forced, and Mademoiselle
+Thomas was found dead. She was lying upon the floor fully dressed.
+
+The medical evidence at the inquest was that the pretty French governess
+had been dead fully eighteen hours. Upon her or in her small hand-luggage
+there was nothing to establish her identity. That she had taken poison
+was the opinion of the expert medical witness. Yet the poison could not
+be established. Apparently it was a case of suicide, for the laundry
+marks and names of the makers of her clothing had been deliberately
+removed.
+
+One thing, however, was extremely mysterious. Upon the marble top of the
+washhand-stand in the bedroom the police found some scrawled words in a
+character they could not decipher. Experts were brought in, when it was
+found that the writing was in Russian character, and the words were: "The
+holy Starets is----"
+
+This conveyed nothing to the London police, who, of course, knew nothing
+save that a "Starets" in Russia is a "saint."
+
+Therefore the experts at Scotland Yard were, after much patient
+investigation, compelled to dismiss it as one of London's unsolved
+mysteries.
+
+Now for the truth.
+
+One night, a year before, when I had returned with Rasputin from
+Tsarskoe-Selo, we found awaiting us the somewhat dandified man of a
+hundred aliases and as many disguises, the notorious Azef. He greeted us
+both warmly, and being a close friend of Rasputin, the monk took him into
+his cosy little den, where for over an hour they remained closeted
+together.
+
+I was one of the few who knew the secret of Azef's crimes. Indeed, when I
+entered the room while the pair were talking I heard him ask with a
+laugh:
+
+"What if we give him a taste of the necktie of Stolypin--eh?"
+
+"It certainly would be best, my dear Evno," the monk agreed. "That is if
+you think the accusation can be well made."
+
+"Trust me," laughed the great _agent-provocateur_. "A denunciation, the
+discovery of papers--you have those of Buchman in your safe, by the way,
+and they could be used--arrest, trial, and the necktie! It would be quite
+easy, and his mouth would be closed."
+
+"He is growing dangerous," growled Rasputin. "What you say is perfectly
+true."
+
+Then turning to me, he said:
+
+"Feodor, bring those papers which Manuiloff brought me a week ago--the
+papers used for the arrest of Professor Buchman in Warsaw."
+
+I obeyed, well knowing how that file of incriminating correspondence with
+an Anarchist group in Zurich had been forged by Stuermer's secretary
+Manuiloff, and how it had been found among the professor's effects.
+
+"The necktie of Stolypin," was Azef's playful allusion to the ever-ready
+gallows to which he, plotting with Rasputin, Manuiloff, Guerassimof,
+and others, was so constantly sending innocent persons.
+Truly, Russia was a strange country even before the outbreak of war.
+
+The immediate object of Azef's activities, combined with Rasputin's, was
+at Germany's direction to extend the Terrorist action and thus cause
+trouble and unrest in the Empire. By every fresh success he obtained more
+money from Berlin, and at the same time strengthened his privileged
+position in the ranks of the Terrorists, while his worth was increased in
+the eyes of both the Minister of the Interior and of the Emperor. The
+scoundrel's revolutionary career and his police career were inseparable.
+He was a Terrorist to-day, a police official to-morrow, but, like
+Rasputin, a secret agent of Germany always!
+
+Terrible as it may seem, the Okhrana, with the connivance of the
+Wilhelmstrasse, and with the Empress's full knowledge--of this there is
+no doubt, because documentary evidence exists which proves it--caused the
+highest personages in Russia to be murdered or hanged in order to prove
+to those lucky ones who survived how necessary was the organisation for
+their own existence!
+
+A hundred dramas could be written upon the intrigues of Grichka and Azef.
+Some of them were amazing; all were disgraceful. The life of the most
+upright and honest man or woman was not safe if marked down by the pair
+of scoundrels. The attempt upon Admiral Dubassof, in which Count
+Konovnicin met his death; the attempt upon General Guerchelman,
+Governor-General of Moscow; the assassination of General Slepzof at Tver,
+with half a dozen other murders of the same kind, were all the work of
+Azef. Why? Because both Azef and General Guerassimof, chief of the Secret
+Police, were in the toils of Germany. The Wilhelmstrasse paid well, but
+threatened exposures if this or that person were not removed. Hence Azef,
+as one of the heads of the Terrorists, received his orders through
+Rasputin, and, obeying, was paid his blood-money.
+
+Many of the dastardly crimes which Azef, aided by the monk, committed at
+Germany's orders will never be known. Hundreds of innocent persons were
+arrested, and when the police searched their homes the most incriminating
+documents were found concealed--documents which when produced they had
+never before seen. Hundreds of men and women were hurried to Siberia, and
+hundreds of others were sent to rot in jails and fortresses, while upon
+dozens there was placed "the necktie of Stolypin."
+
+"Ah! my dear Gregory," Azef said, after he had lit a fresh cigarette,
+"there will be no security until that man's mouth is closed. I see that
+you agree with me."
+
+"Quite," replied the monk, who, I saw, was rather agitated because of
+something which the police spy had told him.
+
+"Good! Then I will go further. To-day I have proposed to the Council of
+Workmen's Delegates that we should blow up the Central Bureau of the
+Okhrana, with Guerassimof in the centre of it. The killing of Guerassimof
+appealed to them. They hate him--as you know. Really, those people are
+humorous. They think I am their friend, and yet each day the police
+arrest one or two members regularly but quietly, and they disappear no
+one knows whither. I have suspicions of Menchikof, of the Okhrana at
+Moscow. The other day I met him at Princess Kamenskoi's, and what he
+told me set me wondering. He poses as your friend, but I feel convinced
+he is your enemy."
+
+Rasputin's bearded face relaxed into that strange, sardonic grin of his
+as he replied:
+
+"I know Menchikof. He is harmless. The only man we may fear is Burtsef.
+He knows far too much of the police organisation and the deeds of our
+provocating agents."
+
+"I agree. But he lives in Paris, and hence the Okhrana cannot lay hands
+upon him. If only he would return to Russia, then he would not be long at
+liberty. That I assure you."
+
+"He is in Paris. Could we not send him a message that his daughter
+Vera--who married young Tchernof last year--has been taken suddenly ill,
+and thus summon him at once to Vilna? Once on Russian soil he could be
+arrested."
+
+Azef smiled. "Our friend Burtsef knows a little too much of our methods
+to fall into such a trap. He would recognise my hand in it in an instant.
+No, some other means must be found. Meanwhile we must deal with the
+person under discussion. We were agreed that he must be suppressed at all
+hazards, eh?"
+
+"Exactly. And we must suppress Burtsef afterwards."
+
+Paris, Lausanne, Geneva, Zurich and Nice swarmed with Russian secret
+agents, who, at orders from Azef and Rasputin, kept constant vigil upon
+the doings of everyone. The directors of the foreign service of our
+political police were Ratchkovsky in Paris, and Rataef in London. The
+latter posed as a Russian journalist, and usually spent his afternoons
+over cups of coffee in the cosmopolitan Cafe Royal in Regent Street.
+
+All this I knew, and much more. I knew that Ivan Manuiloff, who was now
+secretary to Stuermer, had begun his lucrative career as the agent and
+catspaw of Ratchkovsky in Paris. But he intrigued against his chief, and
+was then transferred to Rome. Of that man and his dastardly doings I
+will tell more later. Suffice it to say that the Emperor so deeply
+believed in him that one day he gave him a gold cigarette-case with his
+initials in diamonds "as a mark of his esteem"!
+
+Having listened attentively to the conversation between the two
+scoundrels, I at last came to the conclusion that they were conspiring
+against some mysterious person named Krivochein.
+
+After the pair had consumed a bottle of champagne, Azef rose and, shaking
+his friend's dirty paw, said:
+
+"I hope to have everything arranged when we meet. I would not yet mention
+the matter to the Empress."
+
+"Of course I shall not," remarked Rasputin, with that crafty grin of his.
+"She would only worry over it--and just now she is greatly troubled over
+the Tsarevitch. He has had another attack."
+
+The monk did not mention the fact that the cause of the attack was one of
+Badmayev's secret drugs which Anna Vyrubova had dissolved in his milk!
+
+After Azef had left, Rasputin flung himself into his easy chair, and as
+he lit a cigarette remarked to me:
+
+"Ah, Feodor! What a man! There is nothing he is unable to accomplish."
+
+"He is very daring," I remarked.
+
+"No, it is not daring--it is deep cunning. He has the police at his back;
+I have Alexandra Feodorovna--so we win always. But," he added, with a
+snarl, "we have enemies, and those must be dealt with--dealt with
+drastically. I hear they are setting about more scandals in Petrograd
+concerning me. Have you heard them?" he asked.
+
+"Gossip is rife on every hand, and all sorts of wild stories are being
+circulated," I said.
+
+"Bah! Let the fools say what they will of Gregory Rasputin," he laughed.
+"It only makes him the more popular. It is time, however, that I
+performed some more miracles among the poor," he added reflectively. "Let
+us arrange some, Feodor. Do not forget it."
+
+The miracles were arranged a fortnight later. With the assistance of a
+clever German conjurer named Brockhaus, from Riga, who with others helped
+the mock saint on the occasions when he imposed upon the credulity of the
+mujiks, he pretended to "heal" a child of lameness, while a female
+assistant of Brockhaus, having posed as a blind peasant, was restored to
+sight.
+
+The miracles took place out at Ligovo, a village outside Petrograd, and
+like wildfire the news was spread that the Holy Father had again taken
+compassion upon the people. Hundreds of men and women now flocked round
+him to kiss the edge of his ragged robe, and as he passed in the streets
+everyone crossed themselves. By such means did Rasputin retain the favour
+of the people and of the Empress herself.
+
+One night he received a telegram in cipher, which he gave me to decode.
+It had been despatched from Paris and read:
+
+     "The appointment is at Savignyplatz, 17, Charlottenburg. Do not
+     fail. Please inform A. [Alexandra Feodorovna] and obtain
+     instructions.--EVNO."
+
+At once Rasputin became active. He went to Peterhof, where the Court was
+at that moment, and carried out Azef's desire. He was with the Empress
+and Madame Vyrubova for a couple of hours ere he rejoined me, and we took
+the evening train back to the capital.
+
+That night he called upon Stuermer, who had with him his sycophant and
+ex-policeman Manuiloff, and they held counsel together. Then, next
+afternoon, we both left Petrograd for Berlin.
+
+We had no difficulty in discovering the house in the Savignyplatz. It was
+a good-sized one on the corner of the Kantstrasse, and the old woman who
+opened the door at once ushered us into a pretty drawing-room, where we
+were greeted by a rather tall, dark-haired and refined young lady, who
+welcomed us in Russian, and whose name Rasputin had told me was
+Mademoiselle Paula Kereicha.
+
+"You must be very tired after your long journey, Father," she said,
+bowing her head and crossing herself as the monk mumbled a blessing upon
+her.
+
+"No; travelling is very easy between Petrograd and Berlin," he replied
+affably; and then he introduced me.
+
+I could see that somehow she resented my intrusion there. She glanced at
+Rasputin inquiringly.
+
+"Oh, no," laughed the monk. "I quite understand, mademoiselle; you need
+have no fear." Then lowering his voice to a whisper, he said: "I know
+full well that living here as secret agent of the Okhrana you have to
+exercise every caution."
+
+Paula Kereicha--who I afterwards found was a second-rate variety actress
+who sometimes took engagements in order to blind people to her own
+calling, that of police-spy--smiled and admitted that she had to be very
+careful.
+
+"It is not the Germans that I fear," she said. "They know me well at the
+Wilhelmstrasse, and I am never interfered with. Indeed, they assist me
+when necessary. No. It is the Terrorists who would do me harm if they
+could. There is a dangerous group here--as you know."
+
+"I know well," said the monk; "only last week Tchapline and Vilieff were
+given Stolypin's necktie owing to your denunciations. They came to Russia
+from Berlin, and were arrested immediately they set foot across the
+frontier."
+
+"No," she protested. "Azef was here. It was he who put papers into their
+baggage, and then telegraphed to the police at Wirballen. Neither of the
+men was dangerous as far as I could see, but our friend Evno believed
+them to be; hence he deemed them better out of the way."
+
+I could see that the young woman had some scruples regarding the dirty
+work for which she received money from the Ministry of the Interior in
+Petrograd. And surely hers was a highly dangerous profession.
+
+Apparently it was not desired that Rasputin's arrival in Berlin should be
+known, for we were shown to our rooms by the stout old Russian woman, and
+I heard the handsome Paula speaking on the telephone in a guarded
+manner.
+
+"And you will call at half-past nine to-night, eh?" I heard her ask, and
+presently she rang off.
+
+We ate our dinner together, the monk being very gracious towards his
+mysterious hostess; and almost punctually at half-past nine the door of
+the drawing-room opened, and there entered a rather shabbily dressed man,
+whom I at once recognised as Count von Wedel, the inseparable companion
+of the Kaiser, and titular head of the German Secret Service. With him
+was no less a person than the German Foreign Minister, Kiderlen-Waechter.
+Our visitors were the two Men Behind the Throne of Imperial Germany.
+Standing with them was that man of kaleidoscopic make-up, the great Azef
+himself.
+
+That meeting was indeed a dramatic one. Rasputin, taking bribes on every
+side from officials in Russia who desired advancement, and from the
+Germans to betray Russia into the hands of the Wilhelmstrasse, sat that
+evening in the elegant little room listening to the conversation, with
+all the craft and cunning of the Russian mujik. He made but few remarks,
+but sat with his hands upon his knees, his deep-set, fiery eyes glancing
+everywhere about him, his big bejewelled cross scintillating beneath the
+electric light of the pretty Paula's elegant, tastily furnished little
+room.
+
+Von Wedel, though dressed so shabbily, was the chief spokesman.
+Kiderlen-Waechter, who had so cleverly pulled the strings of Germany's
+diplomacy in the Near East, and had now been recalled to Berlin and
+placed at the helm of the Fatherland's double-dealing with the Powers,
+spoke little. He seemed to be learning much of the Kaiser's duplicity.
+
+"The Emperor William, I can tell you frankly, Father, is displeased," von
+Wedel said to Rasputin reprovingly. "Only by an ace has the whole of our
+arrangements with your Empress, and with yourself as our agent, been
+suppressed from Downing Street. And that by steps taken by our friend
+here, Monsieur Azef. But we are not yet safe. I tell you quite frankly
+that though you are a good servant of ours, yet your habit of taking
+intoxicants is dangerous. You boast too much! If you are to succeed you
+must assume an attitude of extreme humility combined with poverty. Be a
+second St. Francis of Assisi," added the Count, with humour. "You can act
+any part. Imitate a real saint."
+
+"It surely is not through a fault of mine that any secret has leaked
+out," the monk protested.
+
+"But it is," the Count declared severely. "I am here to-night at the
+Emperor's orders to tell you from him that, though he appreciates all
+your efforts on his behalf, he disapproves of your drunkenness and your
+boastful tongue."
+
+"I am not boastful!" the monk declared. "Have you brought me here to
+Berlin to reprimand me? If so, I will return at once."
+
+And he rose arrogantly from his chair, and crossed his hands over his
+breast piously in that attitude he assumed when unusually angry.
+
+Von Wedel saw that he was going too far.
+
+"It is not a matter of reproof, but of precaution," he said quickly.
+"Happily the truth has been suppressed, though a certain agent of Downing
+Street--a man known by the nickname of 'Mac'--very nearly ascertained the
+whole facts. Fortunately for us all he did not. But his suspicions are
+aroused, together with those of Krivochein."
+
+"Cannot this man Mac--an Englishman, I suppose--be suppressed?" asked
+Rasputin. "If he is in Russia I can crush him as a fly upon the
+window-pane."
+
+"Ah! but he is not in Russia," replied the Count. "He is a very elusive
+person, and one who tricks us every time. 'Mac the Spy,' as they call him
+at Whitehall, is the first secret agent in Europe--next, of course, to
+our dear Steinhauer."
+
+"I disagree," interrupted the Foreign Secretary. "The man Mac is
+marvellous. He was in Constantinople and in Bucharest recently, and he
+learned secrets of our Embassy and Legation which I believed to be
+sacred. He even got hold of our diplomatic telegraph code a week after it
+had been changed. No, the English Mac is the most astute secret agent in
+Europe, depend upon it!"
+
+Paula Kereicha sat listening to the conversation, but without making any
+remark. I noticed that Azef seemed very uneasy at her presence, and
+presently sent her from the room to ask for a telephone call. The instant
+she had gone he exclaimed in a low voice:
+
+"It is a pity to have spoken before Paula! She knows too much. One day,
+when it suits her, she may reveal something unpleasant concerning us."
+
+"But you made the appointment here, at her house!" Kiderlen-Waechter
+protested.
+
+"Of course, because it is the safest meeting-place, but I did not know
+that matters were to be freely discussed before her."
+
+"Then you do not trust the woman?" remarked Rasputin. "You are like
+myself, I never trust women," and he grinned. "Shall we drop our
+conversation when she returns?"
+
+Azef reflected for a few moments.
+
+"No," he said. "She knows most of the details of the affair. There is no
+reason why she should not know the rest. Besides, I may require her to
+assist me."
+
+In the discussion which ensued I gathered that Rasputin and Azef had
+resolved, with the connivance and at the instigation of the German
+Foreign Office, to assassinate a certain well-known British member of
+Parliament who had been in Russia and had learned, through the British
+secret agent Mac, the betrayal of Russia into the hands of the
+Wilhelmstrasse. It was believed that this Englishman--whom Rasputin had
+nicknamed "Krivochein," so that in correspondence his identity should not
+be revealed--would place certain facts before the British Government to
+the detriment of the plans of the pro-German party in Russia.
+
+Of the actual identity of the unfortunate member of Parliament whom Azef
+and Rasputin had marked down as their victim I could not learn. No doubt
+Paula knew who "Krivochein" was. And it was certain also that both von
+Wedel and the German Foreign Secretary were privy to the plot.
+
+Apparently the Empress had been informed of the danger, and knew of the
+steps the conspirators were taking. Indeed, Rasputin declared:
+
+"Alexandra Feodorovna is very anxious as to the future. She has had a
+violent quarrel with Nicholas regarding his refusal to dismiss
+Sheglovitof."
+
+"He must be dismissed," declared von Wedel. "The Emperor William insists
+upon it. Each hour he remains in office he becomes more dangerous."
+
+"I am already engineering disagreements in the Duma," the monk replied.
+"If he does not fall by them, then he will go naturally, for he is not a
+puppet hypnotised by the wishes of Tsarskoe-Selo, as are so many of our
+Ministers. The Tsar, who so quickly takes offence nowadays, prefers
+flunkeys to Ministers whose personality is too marked. Besides, we have
+the Woman [the Empress] ever on our side. No, Sheglovitof's hour has
+come."
+
+The meeting lasted nearly three hours, until at last Azef and the two
+German officials left, and Rasputin went to his room, where he consumed
+half a bottle of brandy. Meanwhile I sat chatting with Mademoiselle Paula
+until it was time to retire.
+
+Next day, in consequence of a telephone message, I left with Rasputin for
+Paris, where we put up at the Grand Hotel, being visited on the day
+following our arrival by Azef, who, dressed differently, I would
+certainly have passed in the street unrecognised. The two scoundrels
+retired to Rasputin's room, where they remained for half an hour, and
+then we all three went forth into the sunshine of the boulevard.
+
+"It is about his time to pass," the notorious spy remarked to the monk,
+who, by the way, wore an ordinary suit of tweeds and a soft felt hat.
+"Let us sit here--at the Grand Cafe."
+
+In consequence we took seats at one of the little tables on the
+_terrasse_ and ordered "bocks."
+
+Presently, as we watched the stream of passers-by, Azef raised the
+newspaper he had been pretending to read, so concealing his face, and
+whispered:
+
+"Here he is! That is our friend Krivochein!"
+
+I looked and saw a well-dressed, quiet-looking English gentleman passing
+along with his wife, who had apparently been shopping. Little did he
+dream that the eyes of the two most evil men in Europe were upon him.
+
+"He leaves to-night on his return to London," remarked Azef, when five
+minutes later we rose and returned to the hotel.
+
+That same afternoon Rasputin, who declared that he had a bad headache,
+sent me to an English chemist's in the Avenue de l'Opera for a bottle of
+tabloids of aspirin. I was rather surprised, for he never took drugs.
+When I gave him the little bottle he drew out the plug of cotton-wool and
+extracted a tabloid, which he put upon his dressing-table, afterwards
+replacing the wool.
+
+About six o'clock a lady was announced, and when she was shown up to our
+sitting-room I found to my surprise that it was Paula Kereicha.
+
+Rasputin was out with Azef, so Paula declared that she would wait till
+their return.
+
+"I am staying at the Hotel Chatham, and have to go to London to-morrow,"
+she told me. "Krivochein has left the Chatham with his wife, and I am to
+follow."
+
+"The Father and Azef have gone round to the Chatham," I said. "They are
+evidently hoping to find you there."
+
+"Ah! Then I will return and see if they are there," she said, and,
+rising, she left.
+
+I did not see her again. She went to London next day, according to Azef's
+instructions, and as a French governess took a room in that quiet hotel
+near Victoria Station--the room wherein she was afterwards found dead.
+
+At the time I had no knowledge of the tragedy, but later on I learned
+from Rasputin's own lips, while in one of his drunken, boastful moods,
+how he had introduced into the bottle of aspirin a single tabloid of one
+of Badmayev's secret poisons, made up to resemble exactly the other
+tabloids. With Azef he had gone to the Hotel Chatham on purpose to
+extract from her dressing-case her own bottle of aspirin--which she had
+purchased on the previous day from the same chemist in the Avenue de
+l'Opera--and replace it by the one containing the fatal dose.
+
+The latter she had swallowed in ignorance because of a headache, death
+ensuing in a few seconds, and the post-mortem revealed nothing.
+
+"Ah! my dear Feodor, that girl knew far too much! Besides, we discovered
+that, though she had been sent by our friend Azef to assist two of our
+friends to bring 'Krivochein's' career to a sudden end, she had actually
+warned him, so that he has succeeded in escaping to America to avoid us!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+SCANDAL AND BLACKMAIL
+
+
+AS the power of the monk Rasputin increased, so also my own social
+position became advanced, until as the "saint's" confidential secretary,
+and therefore as one who had his ear, I became on friendly terms with
+half the nobility of Petrograd.
+
+The pious fraud declared to true believers, "If you do not heed me, then
+God will abandon you."
+
+Leading as he was, freely and openly, a life of shameless debauchery,
+wholesale blackmail and political intrigue, it is marvellous how his
+power became so unlimited. To those who disbelieved in his doctrine or
+in his divinity, he simply smiled evilly, and said: "If you fail to do my
+bidding you will be punished by my friends."
+
+Such warning was sufficient. Everyone knew that Rasputin's power was
+already, in 1912, greater than that of the Tsar Nicholas himself. Day
+after day ambitious men called at the house in the Gorokhovaya, to which
+we had now moved, all of them anxious for ministerial and clerical
+appointments, which he obtained for them at prices fixed by himself. The
+highest in the land bowed before the rascal, while any man who dared to
+belittle him, or attempt to thwart his evil designs, was at once removed
+from office. Through Madame Vyrubova, who received her share of the
+spoils and acted upon the Empress, Rasputin reigned as Tsar, the Emperor
+doing little but sign his name to documents placed before him.
+
+Thus Russia was compelled to witness a regular procession of officials
+whom the "man of God" appointed, in accordance with value received. Even
+Goremykin was compelled to bow before the mystic humbug. Rasputin for
+five years caused to be appointed or dismissed all the bishops, and woe
+betide any person who attempted to interfere with his power.
+
+The Archbishop Theophanus, full of remorse at having lent a helping hand
+to the scoundrel, tried to overthrow him by publicly denouncing his evil
+practices, while the Bishop Hermogenes, who knew of the monk's past,
+attempted to reveal it. In an instant the vengeance of Rasputin fell upon
+them, Theophanus being sent to Tadriz, and Hermogenes confined to a
+monastery. Helidor was hunted by the police and sought asylum abroad;
+while a man named Grinevitch, who had also known Rasputin long ago at
+Pokrovsky, was invited to dinner by the monk one night, and next morning
+was found dead in his bed; while another was arrested by the police on a
+false charge of conspiracy, and sent to prison for ten years, though
+perfectly innocent.
+
+Rasputin's overbearing insolence knew no bounds. Now that he was the
+power behind the Throne, he compelled all to bow to him, the educated as
+well as the peasantry. On entering a house, whether that of prince or
+peasant, he would invariably kiss the young and pretty women, while he
+would turn his back upon and refuse even to speak with those who were
+older.
+
+Our new house was larger and more luxurious than the old one. But it also
+had the false telephone in the study, which was supposed by the "saint's"
+dupes to be a private wire to the palace of Tsarskoe-Selo! The house had
+been furnished entirely at the expense of the Empress, with valuable
+Eastern carpets, fine furniture, tasteful hangings of silk, beautiful
+pictures, autographed portraits of their Majesties, and, of course, ikons
+of all sorts and sizes to impress the pious.
+
+An example of the rogue's impudence occurred on Easter Day in 1912. We
+were breakfasting with Madame Vyrubova's sister at her house just off the
+Nevski. With us was Boris Stuermer and two minor officials of the Court,
+and we were awaiting the coming of the Tsaritza's favourite lady in
+waiting.
+
+At last she arrived from Tsarskoe-Selo bearing a parcel for Grichka,
+which she gave him merrily, saying:
+
+"The Empress has made this for you with her own hands. She spent part of
+last night in finishing it for you, so that you should have it as an
+Easter present."
+
+The "saint" cut the string and withdrew a blue silk coat of the kind he
+was in the habit of wearing, in the Russian style, over loose trousers
+and high boots of patent leather.
+
+"Alix wishes you to wear it to-day," Madame Vyrubova went on, "after you
+have taken Holy Communion."
+
+Rasputin, with a disappointed look, cast it and its paper upon the floor,
+and said:
+
+"Now let us have breakfast," and promptly began to eat with his fingers,
+as he always did, in order to show his contempt for the more refined
+manners of those about him.
+
+A few weeks after this incident there occurred the Ganskau affair, which
+was a most disgraceful transaction, and which was very carefully hushed
+up. Though there were many rumours in Petrograd concerning it, I am able
+to place the whole of the astounding facts on record here for the first
+time.
+
+Rasputin, tiring of his lascivious pleasures, also became bored by those
+who called in order to enlist his influence in their cause for monetary
+consideration. Hence he surrounded himself with a trio of expert
+swindlers. They consisted of a certain adventurous prince named
+Gorianoff, a man named Striaptchef--who had been his companion in his
+early horse-stealing days in his native Pokrovsky--and a notorious woman
+named Sabler. These precious persons constituted a sort of bodyguard, and
+they first interviewed any petitioner, fixed the amount of the gift
+proposed to the "holy man" for the exercise of his influence, and carried
+out the "deal."
+
+If a wealthy man desired a Government appointment; if an under-secretary
+desired a portfolio; if a wife desired her husband's advancement or his
+appointment to an office at Court; if a father desired a lucrative job
+for his profligate son; or if a rich man, who was being watched by the
+police because of some crime he had committed, wished to escape
+scot-free, then they interviewed the elegant Prince Gorianoff at his
+house in the Zacharievskaya. This individual, whom the police of Europe
+know as a Continental swindler, would quickly gauge the petitioner's
+means, and screw from him every rouble possible before putting the matter
+before the caster out of devils.
+
+One day, as I sat alone at lunch with Rasputin, the prince called, and
+sitting down at the table unceremoniously declared:
+
+"I have done a very good stroke of business this morning, my dear
+Gregory. You have probably heard of Ganskau of Tver."
+
+"The great banker, eh?"
+
+"The same. He is one of the wealthiest men in Russia. He wants
+something, and he can afford to pay, though he seems very close-fisted at
+present."
+
+"What does he want?" growled the monk.
+
+The scoundrel who bore the title of prince made a grimace, and said:
+
+"He wants to put a suggestion before you. He refuses to tell me what it
+is--except that it is very urgent and brooks no delay. I told him that he
+would have to pay five thousand roubles if he desired to have an
+interview--and he has paid it. Here is the money!" And he drew from his
+pocket a bundle of banknotes.
+
+"But, my dear Peter," exclaimed the pious fraud, "I have no time to
+barter with these people. I cannot see him."
+
+"Take my advice, Gregory, and listen to what he has to say," replied the
+adventurer, who had lived all his life on his wits in London, Paris and
+Rome--and had lived well too. "If I am not mistaken he will tell you a
+strange thing, and if you get it down in writing--in writing,
+remember--that letter will be worth a very large sum of money in the near
+future. As I have said--he wants something urgently--and he must be made
+to pay."
+
+"Very well," Rasputin replied grudgingly. "I will see him--at four
+o'clock this afternoon. Feodor," he added, turning to me, "make a note
+that I see this banker man."
+
+At four o'clock punctually a fine car drew up, and a stout, overdressed,
+full-bearded man alighted and was shown into the room where I awaited him
+with the prince.
+
+"Ah!" cried the latter, welcoming him warmly. "You had my message over
+the telephone. I have, after great difficulty, induced the holy Father to
+consent to see you. He is due at Tsarskoe-Selo, but he has just
+telephoned to the Empress that he is delayed. And the delay is in order
+to hear you."
+
+"I am sure I am most grateful, Prince," declared the banker, who seemed
+very pale and much agitated. His wealth was proverbial in Russia, and
+even in banking circles in Paris and London. His brother was one of the
+secretaries of the Russian Embassy in Paris.
+
+With due ceremony, after the banker had removed his light
+overcoat, I conducted him into the monk's presence.
+
+As Ganskau bowed towards the mysterious influence behind the Imperial
+Throne, I saw the quick, inquisitive hawk's glance which Rasputin gave
+him. Then I turned and, closing the door, left the pair together, and
+returned to where the prince was waiting. Gorianoff was a clever and
+unscrupulous scoundrel of exquisite manners and most plausible tongue. It
+was for that reason that the holy Father employed him.
+
+As he leaned back in a padded arm-chair, smoking lazily while he awaited
+his victim's reappearance, he laughed merrily and whispered to me that
+the rich man from Tver would, "if properly handled," prove a gold mine.
+
+"Mind, Feodor--be careful to impress upon the Father to obtain something
+incriminating from the banker in writing. He is hard pressed, I know, and
+in order to save himself he will commit any folly."
+
+"Men who are pushed into a corner seldom pause to think," I remarked.
+
+"If the police are upon them, as I know they are in this case, then no
+time is afforded for reflection."
+
+By the prince's manner I knew that he felt confident of making big
+profits. The great Ganskau, the Rothschild of Russia, desired Gregory's
+aid, and Gregory would assist him--at a price. While we were talking
+Madame Vyrubova rang on the telephone to inquire if Rasputin had left for
+Tsarskoe-Selo.
+
+I replied in the negative, whereupon she said: "Tell him not to come
+to-night. The Emperor has quarrelled with Alix, and it will be best for
+him to be absent. The boy [meaning the little Tsarevitch] will be taken
+ill in the night, and then he can come to-morrow and heal him."
+
+I understood. The woman Vyrubova, so trusted by the Tsaritza, was about
+to administer another dose of that baneful drug to the poor invalid
+boy--a drug which would produce partial paralysis, combined with symptoms
+which puzzled every physician called to see him.
+
+It was not until nearly half an hour later that Rasputin opened the door
+of his room, and, crossing himself piously, laid his hands upon his
+breast and dismissed his petitioner.
+
+"Your desire shall be granted," he said in final farewell. "But you must
+write me the reason you desire my assistance. I always insist upon that
+in every case."
+
+"But--well, it is not nice to confess," declared the desperate man,
+pausing on the threshold of the room.
+
+"Probably not. But you do confess to me, and surely you can trust me, a
+servant of Heaven, with your secret? If not, please do not rely upon
+Gregory Rasputin," he added proudly.
+
+For a second the victim hesitated. Then he said in a low, hard voice: "I
+will do as you wish--well knowing that you will keep the truth a secret."
+
+Rasputin, his hands still crossed upon his breast, bowed stiffly, and the
+banker, recognising us standing at the end of the passage, walked towards
+us.
+
+As soon as he had left the house, Rasputin called us, and throwing
+himself into a chair became unduly hilarious.
+
+"Really, Peter, you are extremely clever!" he declared. "Where you find
+these people I do not know. You said you had done a good stroke of
+business, but I did not believe you. Yet now I see that the banker's
+millions of roubles are entirely at our disposal. We must be
+diplomatic--that is all!"
+
+"Why does he require your influence?" inquired the prince.
+
+"In order to extricate himself from a very dangerous position. At any
+moment he may be arrested for murder!"
+
+"For murder!" Gorianoff echoed. "Is he guilty of murder?"
+
+"Yes. He has confessed the truth to me as a father confessor. Now he has
+promised to put his confession down in black and white."
+
+In an instant I saw the trend of Rasputin's evil thoughts. By the written
+confession he would, through his princely friend, be able to extort money
+without limit.
+
+"Of what is he in fear?" asked the prince eagerly.
+
+"Of arrest for the murder of a young French girl, Elise Allain, who had
+been singing at the Bouffes in Moscow," Rasputin replied. "He has just
+told me how he committed the crime three months ago, in order to rid
+himself of her, and escaped to Brussels believing that the police would
+never be able to establish his guilt. On his return to Tver three days
+ago, however, he found that the police had been making active inquiries,
+having discovered in one of the dead girl's trunks that had been left at
+the station cloak-room in Warsaw, certain letters from him. Indeed, he
+has received a visit from the Chief of Police at Tver, who closely
+questioned him."
+
+"Ah! Then he may be arrested at any moment--eh?"
+
+"That is what he anticipates," said the monk. "He has gone to his hotel
+to write his confession, and will return here in an hour with a banker's
+draft for one hundred thousand roubles."
+
+"Did I not say that I had been doing some good business, Gregory?" asked
+his friend.
+
+"Yes--and it will prove better business later--you will see."
+
+At Rasputin's orders I went round to Malinovsky, Assistant Director of
+Police, who at the monk's request telephoned to Tver to inquire what
+suspicions there were against the banker Ganskau. When Malinovsky
+returned to where I was sitting, he told me that the reply of the Chief
+of Police of Tver was to the effect that there was no doubt that Ganskau
+was guilty of a very brutal murder, committed in most mysterious
+circumstances. The banker's wife, with whom he lived on very disagreeable
+terms, had discovered a letter from the girl Elise, and duly handed it
+to the police out of revenge. This led them to find the box at Warsaw
+wherein were other letters, one of which forbade her to come to Russia,
+and threatening her with violence if she disobeyed.
+
+I returned at once to the Gorokhovaya, where the monk and the prince sat
+with a bottle of champagne between them, and gave them the message.
+
+A quarter of an hour later the banker returned excitedly, and was ushered
+in to Rasputin, who saw him alone. They remained together for about ten
+minutes, and then the victim departed.
+
+At once the monk came to us, waving in one hand Ganskau's confession of
+guilt, and in the other a draft on the Azov Bank for one hundred thousand
+roubles.
+
+"I suppose we had better pretend to do something--eh, Peter?" asked the
+monk, with an evil grin.
+
+"Of course," was the reply.
+
+Then I sat down, and at the "holy man's" dictation wrote to the Minister
+of the Interior as follows:
+
+     "There is a charge of murder against Nicholas Ganskau, banker, of
+     Tver. I wish to see all documents concerning the crime. Orders
+     must be given not to arrest the assassin for one month, and that
+     due notice be given me before any action is taken."
+
+To this the monk scrawled his illiterate signature.
+
+From that moment the unfortunate banker was irretrievably in Rasputin's
+hands, and I saw much of his dealings with him. Pretending to leave
+everything with his friend Prince Gorianoff, he refused to see the guilty
+man again. In the meantime the prince, whom I accompanied as the monk's
+secretary, went to Tver three weeks after the first transaction, and we
+saw the victim in secret. Gorianoff told him that, although the monk had
+been able to prevent his arrest, the police were not satisfied, and
+pressure was being placed upon them by one of his enemies in high places.
+
+This, of course, greatly alarmed him.
+
+"All is unfortunately due to your wife!" the prince remarked. "It is a
+pity you have not made peace with her. It was she who took one of the
+girl's letters to the police."
+
+The banker started up as though electrified.
+
+"My wife!" he gasped. "Is it her doing?"
+
+"Most certainly," was the prince's cool reply. "Feodor knows it. He had
+it from the Chief of Police of this city himself."
+
+I confirmed my companion's statement, while the banker, terror and
+despair written upon his pale features, stood staring like one who saw
+death before him.
+
+"My wife left me a fortnight ago!" he stammered. "That is why. She
+expected me to be arrested. What can I do? How can you help me? Who is
+this enemy in a high position who is determined upon my arrest?"
+
+"The holy Father alone knows; I do not," declared the prince very
+seriously. "It is somebody at Court--somebody who is a friend of his and
+who let the fact drop in the course of conversation. I regret it, but I
+may as well tell you that your arrest is imminent."
+
+"But what can I do to avoid the scandal?" cried the murderer in despair.
+
+"Well--the only way is to propitiate your unknown enemy," replied the
+prince insinuatingly.
+
+"I gave the Father a hundred thousand roubles," he remarked.
+
+"True; and the Father used his influence so that the inquiries were
+dropped. He had no knowledge of the fact that you had such a bitter and
+relentless enemy in the higher Court circle."
+
+"Nor had I. I wonder who it can be--except, perhaps, Boyadko, with whom I
+once had some financial dealings over which we quarrelled."
+
+As a matter of fact, the unknown enemy only existed in Rasputin's fertile
+imagination.
+
+"Well, as I have said, the Father may find means of propitiating him--if
+the payment is a liberal one," said Gorianoff. "I suggest that you return
+with us to Petrograd at once, and I will endeavour to accomplish
+something."
+
+Eagerly he acted upon the adventurer's advice. During the journey the
+banker was nervous lest at any moment the police might lay hands upon
+him. At each station the sight of a grey uniform caused him to hold his
+breath. Thus to work upon his nerves was part of the prince's game, for
+he well knew that the more terrified Ganskau became, the greater amount
+of money he would be prepared to pay.
+
+Back in Petrograd he begged of Rasputin to receive him, and the monk,
+after two refusals on the plea that he was too busy, at last consented
+ungraciously.
+
+The result of that interview was that Nicholas Ganskau disgorged a
+further hundred thousand roubles for the bribing of an enemy who did not
+exist!
+
+After the banker had left, Rasputin, full of satisfaction as he held the
+draft for the amount in his dirty paw, dictated to me another letter
+addressed to the Minister of the Interior, which read:
+
+     "His Majesty the Emperor, having full knowledge of the charge of
+     murder made against Nicholas Ganskau of Tver, orders that the
+     inquiries concerning the case be abandoned and that the person
+     suspected be not further molested."
+
+This was duly signed by the monk and delivered by me at the Ministry an
+hour later.
+
+Such orders Rasputin frequently gave in the name of His Majesty, who,
+even if he knew of them, never questioned them.
+
+This, however, did not end the affair, for twelve months afterwards
+Ganskau, who, scot-free, had taken up his residence in the Avenue
+Villiers, in Paris, where he was leading a very gay life, received an
+unexpected visit from Prince Gorianoff, who, making pretence that he had
+severed his friendship with Rasputin, hinted that as the monk held in his
+possession the written confession of his crime, it might be worth while
+to obtain and destroy it.
+
+This suggestion Ganskau at once welcomed, thanking the prince for his
+kindly intervention.
+
+Then the latter made a remark which in itself showed how expert a
+blackmailer he was.
+
+"You see, as the girl Elise was a French subject, if the French police
+ever get hold of the truth it would go very badly with you," he declared.
+
+The banker's face went pale as death.
+
+"I never thought of that!" he gasped. "Yes, I must get that confession at
+all hazards," he cried.
+
+"I am prepared to assist you," said the scoundrel coolly. "Of course to
+obtain it from such a man as Rasputin presents many difficulties. He will
+never part with it willingly."
+
+"Then how shall we get it?"
+
+"It must be stolen."
+
+The banker remained silent for a few moments.
+
+"You see," went on the prince, "one can never tell into whose hands may
+fall that collection of confessions which the Father has extracted from
+those who are guilty."
+
+"And you think you can obtain it for me?" asked the banker.
+
+"I am still friendly with many of Rasputin's friends. It is merely a
+matter of payment--another hundred thousand roubles, and surely it is
+worth it."
+
+The banker, seeing himself in great danger should either Rasputin or his
+visitor turn against him, at length consented, and before Gorianoff left
+he had in his pocket a draft upon the Credit Lyonnais for the sum
+mentioned. The assassin had at first made it a condition that the
+confession should be handed to him before he paid, but the prince pointed
+out that the money was required for bribery, and would have to be paid
+before the confession could be extracted from Rasputin's safe.
+
+Needless to say, the banker never received back his written confession of
+his crime, and so constant was the strain of his guilty conscience and
+his hourly dread of arrest and capital punishment, that a year later he
+shot himself at an hotel in Plymouth.
+
+Another illustration of the monk's greed and unscrupulousness was the
+Violle affair.
+
+Monsieur Felix Violle, a Frenchman who had become a naturalised Russian,
+and who carried on business as a wholesale furrier in the Nevski in
+Petrograd, had a very pretty young wife. One day, at one of the weekly
+reunions of the sister-disciples, this young woman was brought by Madame
+Vyrubova's sister, she having expressed her desire to enter Rasputin's
+cult. There were present on that occasion about thirty other women,
+mostly young and good-looking, and nearly all of the highest society in
+Petrograd. The youngest present was about seventeen, the daughter of a
+certain countess who was one of Rasputin's most attached devotees.
+
+After Madame Violle had been initiated into the secrets of the erotic
+sect, the whole party sat down to tea, when a photograph was taken by one
+of the ladies, which showed Madame Violle seated by the "holy Father."
+
+Rasputin, from that day, took a great deal of interest in the furrier's
+wife. He introduced her to Anna Vyrubova, who presented her to the
+Empress. Hence, from being a tradesman's wife, Olga Violle, within a
+fortnight, had entered the vicious Court circle which revolved around
+Alexandra Feodorovna, and which was rapidly conspiring to betray Russia
+into the hands of the Germans.
+
+Madame Violle told her husband nothing of her social advancement. The
+furrier was in a large way of business, a man of means who liked to see
+his wife well dressed; therefore she was able to cut an elegant figure at
+Court. She accounted for her absences from home by the fact that she
+frequently visited a married sister living about twenty miles outside
+Petrograd.
+
+Under the evil hypnotic influence of Rasputin, the smart little woman,
+who often called at the house and whom I sometimes met at the palace, was
+quickly transformed from a steady tradesman's wife into a giddy,
+pleasure-loving and intriguing degenerate, perhaps even more vicious than
+the rest. Indeed, it was this very fact which caused the Empress to look
+upon her with favour. Thus she soon had the run of the private
+apartments, and became upon friendly terms with both Stuermer and
+Fredericks.
+
+This went on for some months, and even at the Imperial Court, where
+nobody was over-squeamish, the conduct of little Madame Violle--who came
+from nowhere and whose past was quite obscure except to Rasputin, Madame
+Vyrubova, her sister and myself--was looked upon somewhat askance.
+
+Violle, who was most devoted to his extremely pretty wife, one day had a
+sudden shock. By some means a copy of the photograph of the
+sister-disciples went astray in the post. A photographer obtained
+possession of it and promptly made some picture post-cards, which were
+quickly upon the market, much to Rasputin's chagrin. Somebody,
+recognising Madame Violle in the picture, sent one anonymously to her
+husband. The result was a terrible domestic scene.
+
+Madame Olga came to Rasputin in great distress, and in my presence,
+falling upon her knees before him, in tears, kissed his unwashed hands
+and begged him to advise her.
+
+"Your precious husband has made a fool of himself," the monk remarked
+grimly. "Let him take warning lest Gregory Rasputin lift his hand against
+him. Return home, and tell him that from me."
+
+That was all the advice he would give her. He was full of anger that the
+woman who had taken the picture should have been so negligent as to allow
+a copy to fall into the hands of others. Always elusive, he hated to be
+photographed, as he feared that it might constitute evidence against him.
+
+The pretty woman, still much agitated, went out, and took train to
+Tsarskoe-Selo, where she had audience of Her Majesty, who, in turn, urged
+her to defy her husband.
+
+Meanwhile the latter was going about Petrograd in a state of fury at
+discovering that his wife was one of the monk's followers. But he was
+not the first furious husband who had had cause to hate the hypnotic
+peasant. The man Striaptchef and the woman Sabler, who constituted
+Rasputin's bodyguard, assisted by Prince Gorianoff, quickly heard of the
+furrier's anger and told the monk. Therefore it was not with any degree
+of surprise that, when a ring came at the door late that same night, I
+found myself face to face with the wronged husband.
+
+"I wish to see the Father," he said quite coolly.
+
+"I regret that he is out," was my prompt reply.
+
+"You lie!" he shouted. "He is at home. This house has been watched ever
+since six o'clock, when he returned. I will see him, and you dare not
+stop me."
+
+Then, ere I was aware of it, he seized me by the throat, hurled me back
+into the entrance-hall, and before I could prevent him marched straight
+to Rasputin's room.
+
+I dashed after him, hearing the monk's shouts for assistance, and on
+entering found the "holy man" lying on the floor and the infuriated
+Violle lashing him with a short whip he carried. The scene was a dramatic
+one. The scoundrel was shrieking with pain, and in endeavouring to avoid
+the blows succeeded in rising, but as he did so the furrier administered
+another sound whack, which sent the Empress's pet "saint" skipping across
+the room howling.
+
+"You dog of a mock monk!" cried the furrier. "Take that!--and that!--_and
+that!_"
+
+So beside himself with anger was he that I believe he would have beaten
+Rasputin to death had not Striaptchef dashed in, and together we
+succeeded in dragging the angry man off and turning him out of the house.
+
+As soon as the "saint" had recovered from the _fracas_, he gave vent to a
+volley of fearful oaths, cursing the pretty woman who had been the cause
+of the assault.
+
+"She shall be kicked out. I will see that she goes to the palace no
+more," he declared. "If a woman cannot manage her husband then she is
+dangerous. And Olga Violle has proved herself to be dangerous. I will
+see that Alix dismisses her to-morrow. And all on account of that
+thrice-accursed picture-making. To think that I--the Saviour of Russia,
+sent to these people by the Almighty--should be whipped like a dog!"
+
+He strode up and down foaming with fury.
+
+"The skin-dealer shall suffer!" he cried. "I'll make him pay dearly for
+this!"
+
+Then, turning to me, he ordered me to go at once to Manuiloff, Stuermer's
+secretary, adding: "Bring him to me. Tell him that it is a matter of
+greatest urgency."
+
+I had great difficulty in finding the man he had indicated, and who was
+one of Russia's "dark forces." He was not at his house, but by bribing
+the doorkeeper I learned that he would be found in a very questionable
+gambling-house in the vicinity. There I discovered him and drove him to
+the Gorokhovaya.
+
+"Listen," the monk said as I ushered him in. "There is a furrier in the
+Nevski named Violle. Both he and his wife are dangerous revolutionists
+and must be arrested at once. You understand--eh?"
+
+Manuiloff, the catspaw of both Stuermer and Rasputin, and who was well
+paid to do any dirty work allotted to him, did not quite understand.
+
+"You denounce him--eh?" he asked. "There are reasons, of course."
+
+"Of course there are reasons, you fool, or I should not bring you here at
+this hour to tell you of the conspiracy against the Throne. I make the
+allegation; you must furnish the proofs. Do you now understand?" asked
+the "saint."
+
+"Ah, I see! You want some documents introduced into the furrier's house
+incriminating both him and his wife?"
+
+"Exactly. And at once. They must both be arrested before noon to-morrow,"
+Rasputin said. "I shall leave all the details to you, well knowing that
+they will be in good hands, my dear Manuiloff," laughed Rasputin grimly.
+"One thing is important. There must be no loophole for either of them to
+escape. The Empress wills it so. Both must be sent to Schluesselburg. Tell
+His Excellency so from me. We want no trial or attempt at scandal. The
+pair are dangerous--dangerous to us. Now do you understand?"
+
+Manuiloff, who had forged incriminating documents many times, and who had
+a dozen underlings who assisted him in these nefarious deeds, understood
+perfectly. He was paid to act as his two chiefs directed, and dozens of
+innocent persons were rotting in prison at that moment because they had
+fallen beneath Rasputin's displeasure.
+
+So it was that by noon next day both Violle and his pretty wife--who had
+only the day before been a close friend of the Tsaritza--were on their
+way to Schluesselburg as dangerous to the State.
+
+Truly, the monk had neither scruples nor honesty, neither compunction nor
+pity; for the woman who was his favourite he had turned upon and sent to
+that grim island fortress, where in one of those terrible oubliettes
+below the level of the lake her death took place eight months later.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+RASPUTIN THE ACTUAL TSAR
+
+
+THE tragi-comedy of Tsarskoe-Selo was being played with increasing vigour
+just prior to the war. Berlin, through Rasputin, piped the tune to which
+the Imperial Court was dancing--the Dance of Death!
+
+One night, after Rasputin had dined with Madame Vyrubova and myself,
+General Soukhomlinoff, Minister of War, entered, swaggering in the
+uniform of the Grodno Hussars.
+
+This man, who, as I write, is in a convict prison as a traitor, had only
+a week before assured the Emperor that the army was ready "to the last
+button" for a possible war, and the troops devoted to him. I happen to
+know how many thousand roubles passed into his banking account from the
+Deutsche Bank in Berlin as price of that lie!
+
+Poor weak Nicholas! On the day following, Protopopoff, the wily schemer
+and spy of Germany, who was admitted to all the secrets of the Allies,
+went to the Emperor and echoed what Rasputin had declared to His Majesty,
+namely, that God was with Russia and that the Holy Spirit approved of the
+righteous work accomplished under the guidance of Stuermer and
+Soukhomlinoff. Truly the camarilla were supporting each other, and I, an
+onlooker, stood amazed and astounded. All four were half-mad with wild
+dreams of the prosperity which war would bring to them, for the bribes
+promised by Berlin were heavy, and Hardt and other secret messengers were
+constantly passing between the two capitals bearing confidential orders
+from the Wilhelmstrasse, of which the War Minister's assurance to the
+Tsar had been one.
+
+But Soukhomlinoff, whose wife was declared to be the most _chic_ and
+extravagant woman in all Petrograd, strode up and down the room that
+night in a fury of rage.
+
+"Gregory!" he cried. "An untoward incident has happened. Your enemy
+Vorontsof Dachkof has been at work against you this afternoon."
+
+"Curse him! How?" growled the monk, for the Lieutenant-General of the
+Caucasus had been a personal friend of Alexander III.
+
+"I was at audience with Nicholas after luncheon, and the count was there.
+After he had presented his report he became familiar, and said: 'Now I
+must talk to thee. Dost thou know that, with thy Rasputin fellows, thou
+art going to thy doom, that thou art gambling away thy throne and the
+life of thy child?'"
+
+"What?" gasped the monk, starting up. "Did he openly say that?"
+
+"He did."
+
+"Then the count shall be disgraced!" declared Rasputin. "He has long
+been my enemy; but I will suffer this no longer."
+
+"Well, when the count spoke, Nicholas huddled himself up on a settee and
+sobbed. 'Oh! why did God confide to me this heavy task!'"
+
+"The fool!" laughed Rasputin. "To-morrow he shall see me playing with the
+Tsarevitch in the Park, and Nicholas shall be with us."
+
+And indeed Rasputin carried out his plan, and the count saw them
+together.
+
+The monk was not blind to the fact that he was surrounded by enemies, all
+of whom were jealous of his power and sought his downfall. By bribery,
+blackmail, and the unscrupulous use of the secret police, which was under
+Protopopoff as Minister of the Interior, the camarilla were waxing fat,
+and woe betide any who dared utter a warning to the Emperor.
+
+Monsieur Gutchkoff had denounced, before the Duma, the scandal of the
+sexually-perverted peasant's presence at Court and prophesied the direct
+disaster. Kokovtsov had loyally warned his master of the effect upon the
+country which the low intrigues of his courtiers was producing. Then,
+when Goremykin urged the Tsar to prorogue the Duma, General Polivanof had
+the courage to sign an address to His Majesty urging him not to do so, as
+it would be a highly dangerous measure. Rodzianko, too, regardless of
+consequences, took to Tsarskoe-Selo a full report of the accusations made
+in the Duma, and urged His Majesty to put an end to the outrageous
+scandals.
+
+The monk had noted all this, and had already marked down all his enemies
+for destruction. He well knew what aversion the Tsar had to anyone who
+spoke what was unwelcome. Weak and vacillating, His Majesty hated to be
+told the plain truth, and for that reason he was so constantly kept in
+the dark. Even his loyal Ministers knew that by being outspoken they
+would be seeking dismissal. Indeed, with Rasputin's clever intriguing,
+Kokovtsov, Sazonov, Krivochein and Polivanof all paid for their
+sincerity by the loss of their offices and the displeasure of their
+Imperial master. Again, it was the monk who had contrived to dismiss
+Monsieur Trepof, for I actually wrote out the order, which Nicholas
+signed, dismissing him! And, in addition, Rodzianko, whom the Emperor
+nicknamed "the Archdeacon" because of his deep, impressive voice, lost
+the sympathy of his sovereign because he had prophesied evil.
+
+And now yet another enemy had arisen in the person of Count Vorontsof
+Dachkof.
+
+"The count shall pay for this, and dearly!" repeated Rasputin, as he sat
+with his brows knit, stroking his unkempt beard.
+
+"At least he can be dismissed, just as you sent into disgrace Prince
+Orlof, the fidus Achates of the Emperor," remarked Anna Vyrubova, who was
+handsomely dressed and wearing some fine diamonds.
+
+Rasputin gave vent to an evil laugh.
+
+"And Witte also," he said. Then, with his unbounded egotism he rose, and
+added: "Yes, Anna, I am Tsar, though Nicholas bears the title!"
+
+Only on the previous night the Tsar, accompanied by Soukhomlinoff and
+Rasputin, had dined at the mess of the officers of the Guard, and all
+three, His Majesty included, had become highly hilarious, and later on
+hopelessly drunk.
+
+"True!" exclaimed the Minister of War, who had so misled Russia and the
+Tsar into a belief that all was prepared for hostilities against Germany.
+"You are the most powerful person in the land to-day, Gregory. That is
+why you must not only suppress Vorontsof Dachkof, but also Yakowleff--who
+is his friend, remember."
+
+"Ah, Yakowleff! I had quite forgotten, General! How foolish of me!" cried
+the monk. "The concession for the gambling casino at Otchakov has been
+granted to him, but we must have it. It will be a second Monte Carlo, and
+a mine of wealth for us."
+
+"I quite agree, my dear Gregory. And it lies entirely with you whether we
+stand in Yakowleff's place or not," exclaimed the woman who was the evil
+genius of the Tsaritza.
+
+The fact was that a rich financier, Ivan Yakowleff, who had offices in
+Petrograd and in London, for certain personal services rendered to the
+Tsar--the buying off of an unwelcome female entanglement, it is said--had
+been granted a concession to establish public gaming-rooms at Otchakov,
+on the Black Sea, not far from Odessa. The financier, who was elderly,
+had recently married a young and rather pretty wife, and being a friend
+of Count Vorontsof Dachkof, was in the happiest circumstances, well
+knowing that a huge fortune awaited him.
+
+"At the moment Yakowleff is in London, I hear, forming a syndicate to
+take over the concession," the general remarked.
+
+Rasputin smiled evilly, and after a pause said:
+
+"Anybody who puts money into the venture will never see that money again.
+I will take care of that."
+
+"Good!" laughed His Excellency the Minister, flicking some dust from the
+sleeve of his uniform. "We must have that concession for ourselves. But
+ought not we to know what is in progress in London--eh? Shall we get
+Protopopoff to send instructions to his agents in England?"
+
+"No. Something might leak out. I do not trust the Okhrana in London,"
+replied the wary woman, Vyrubova. "Have you forgotten the Meadows affair,
+and how they betrayed me and very nearly caused a scandal by their
+bungling? No, if we are to watch Yakowleff, let us do it ourselves. Why
+should you not go, Feodor?" she suggested, suddenly turning to me.
+
+"I? To London!" I exclaimed, in no way averse to the journey, for I had
+been in England on three occasions previously.
+
+"Yes," said Rasputin. "You shall go. Start to-morrow. Telegraph to Madame
+Huguet. She will help you, for she is not suspected, and all believe her
+to be French. Besides, she is pretty, and therefore useful."
+
+"As a decoy, you mean?" I exclaimed.
+
+"Of what other use is a woman?" laughed the scoundrel, whose
+unscrupulousness where the fair sex were concerned was notorious. He
+rose, and, unlocking a drawer, took out a book in which were registered
+many addresses of those who were in his pay, and hence under his
+thraldom.
+
+I searched the pages eagerly and found the address, together with notes
+of certain payments. Madame, I saw, lived in a flat in Harrington
+Gardens, South Kensington.
+
+There and then I received instructions to leave next day by the through
+express to Ostend, seek the lady, and then watch the movements of the
+Russian, who was busily forming the syndicate for the new Monte Carlo.
+
+"If we are to strike against him we cannot know too much of his doings.
+Besides, when we do strike we must not blunder--eh, General?" laughed the
+monk, after which he opened a bottle of champagne, of which we all drank.
+
+A week later I was in London, and one afternoon called upon Madame
+Huguet, who was expecting me. She was a vivacious, dark-haired young
+Frenchwoman, who had been one of the Father's sister-disciples in
+Petrograd, and whom he had sent to London upon some secret mission, the
+purpose of which was not quite clear to me. She had lived for some years
+in London before, and was well known in certain go-ahead circles of
+society. Seated in her cosy, well furnished drawing-room, with its silken
+curtains and bright chintzes in the English style, I told her exactly
+what Rasputin and Anna had instructed me to say.
+
+"The Father wishes you to lose no time in becoming acquainted with the
+financier Yakowleff," I said. "He has offices in Old Broad Street, and he
+lives in Fitzjohn's Avenue, Hampstead, when in London."
+
+"He is there now," she said. "I saw something about him in the papers
+three days ago--something concerning a concession for a gaming casino."
+
+"Oh!" I cried. "Then it is in the papers--eh?"
+
+She obtained the copy of the newspaper, and I saw it was announced that
+an "Establishment" was about to be constructed at Otchakov, which was to
+be a formidable rival to Monte Carlo, and that Monsieur Yakowleff, of
+Petrograd, was the originator of the scheme.
+
+Fortunately Yakowleff did not know me by sight; therefore, while Madame
+Huguet set to work to scrape acquaintance with him, I spent my days
+watching his movements when he came to his City office, and noting his
+constant and busy peregrinations to and fro. Certainly his scheme was
+attracting around him many influential and wealthy men, to whom the
+prospect of huge profits proved alluring.
+
+He was short, stout, rather Hebrew in appearance, unscrupulous no doubt,
+or he would not have stooped to do such dirty work as he did for
+Nicholas; nevertheless, he seemed highly popular in financial circles. He
+had left his wife in Petrograd; therefore the life he was leading was, I
+found, a pretty gay one. Each day he lunched at the best restaurants with
+his business friends, and discussed the great Otchakov scheme, and each
+night he took one of his lady friends out to dinner, the theatre, and the
+Savoy, Ritz or Carlton afterwards.
+
+Within ten days of my arrival in London I found that his guest at dinner
+at the Ritz one night was the sprightly young Frenchwoman, Julie Huguet!
+
+Next day she called me by telephone to Harrington Gardens, and said:
+
+"I discovered a good deal last night. The syndicate is already formed.
+One hundred thousand pounds has been subscribed, and next week Yakowleff
+is leaving for Paris, and thence back to Petrograd."
+
+Within half an hour I had telegraphed the news to Box 296, Poste
+Restante, Petrograd, which was the one used by Rasputin.
+
+In reply I received from the monk a message which read:
+
+"Obtain names of subscribers."
+
+This I succeeded in doing after some considerable trouble, and they were
+the names of some of the shrewdest speculators in the City, none of them
+over-scrupulous, no doubt. To Rasputin I wired that I had the list, and
+asked for instructions, to which I received the reply:
+
+     "Excellent! Return without delay.--GREGORY."
+
+On my way back, during those many hours in the Nord Express between
+Ostend and Petrograd, I reviewed the whole affair, and saw the sinister
+working of the monk's mind. That Count Vorontsof Dachkof was in danger I
+knew full well. The monk never allowed any person to express open enmity
+without retaliating quietly and patiently, but with a crushing blow.
+
+I wondered what was being planned between the Ministers of War and
+Interior. No doubt the Empress had been informed of what the count had
+told the Emperor, and she would at once conspire with the holy Father to
+cast him into social oblivion--or worse!
+
+That the cupidity of Rasputin knew no bounds I was well aware. He
+intended to obtain that most lucrative gambling concession for himself,
+for Russians are born gamblers, especially the better classes, and the
+establishment of a casino on the Black Sea, with French hotels and
+restaurants, pretty villas, and an opera house in imitation of Monte
+Carlo, would in summer attract those thousands of rich Russians who in
+winter went to the Riviera to gamble.
+
+It was a chance which Rasputin would never allow to slip. Of that I was
+quite certain.
+
+The evening I returned to Petrograd the monk had left me a message to go
+to Tsarskoe-Selo; therefore I took my green pass, which admitted me past
+the many guards of the innermost holy-of-holies, the Imperial apartments,
+where I knew I should find the real ruler of Russia.
+
+He had been spending the evening with the Empress, her daughter Olga, and
+Anna, and when I sent word to him he joined me in a small ante-room, and,
+closing the door, eagerly questioned me.
+
+"When does Yakowleff return from Paris?" he asked when I had read over to
+him the list of those adventurous London financiers who had put their
+money into the Otchakov scheme.
+
+"Next Thursday he leaves," I said. "Madame has gone to Paris on pretence
+of shopping, but in reality to keep watch. 'Axanda, Poste Restante,
+Avenue de l'Opera,' will find her. She arranged it with me before we
+parted."
+
+"Then this money-bag has really formed an influential syndicate in London
+to exploit our country--eh?" asked the monk grimly. "I have been speaking
+to the Empress about it, and she declares that the whole circumstance of
+Nicholas granting a concession, and for such service, is scandalous."
+
+Scandalous! Surely Alexandra Feodorovna knew that her own actions had
+caused her name to be execrated through the length and breadth of Russia.
+Helidor and the "Blessed Mitia" had both attempted to reveal what they
+knew. Helidor and Mitia had many powerful friends, so they were severely
+left alone by the police; yet others who but opened their mouths and
+criticised had been sent to prison without trial, while those who had
+gained undue knowledge and might transmit it to England or America were
+sent to those dreaded oubliettes of Schluesselburg--worse even than the
+Bastille, and not one has ever returned across the lake alive.
+
+Rasputin was at that moment occupied by two matters--first, the fierce
+antagonism of Vorontsof Dachkof; and secondly, his avariciousness
+concerning the concession for gambling at that pretty little town east of
+Odessa.
+
+So wide was the monk's influence that, hearing at that moment that the
+King of the Hellenes had granted to another British syndicate a
+concession to open public gaming-tables in Corfu, Rasputin had already
+been to Stuermer, the President of the Council, and contrived to have
+diplomatic pressure brought through Prince Demidoff, Russian Minister at
+Athens, to bear upon the King to cancel the concession as opposed to
+public morals! This view Rasputin contrived to have supported by the
+Wilhelmstrasse, because the Kaiser had his spring palace in the vicinity,
+and, with his mock piety, he discountenanced any Temple of Fortune. The
+result was that the Corfu casino was prohibited.
+
+Thus the Otchakov scheme was the only one in Europe. San Sebastian was
+declared by the monk to be only on a par with Ostend, and Otchakov was to
+be the great rival of Monte Carlo, with more varied and added
+attractions.
+
+In that room, while he was hearing me through, Protopopoff, who had been
+making a report to the Emperor, joined us, and listened to what I had to
+say.
+
+"I was looking at Yakowleff's _dossier_ to-day, as you wished," remarked
+the Minister to the monk. "He seems a very honest, clean-living man for a
+financier. There are no suspicions of disloyalty, or even of anything."
+
+"Then they must be made," declared Rasputin. "I intend to hold that
+concession. He would never have had it had it not been for Dachkof. But
+the latter is already out of favour. The Emperor has promised me to
+dismiss him to-morrow. His Majesty prefers cheerful people, not men who
+are pessimists," he laughed.
+
+Indeed, next day the count, who was one of the most loyal and devoted
+servants of the Romanoffs, and who had risked everything in an attempt to
+open the Emperor's eyes, was actually dismissed. Such was the power of
+Rasputin.
+
+But the plot against Yakowleff to dispossess him of the concession for
+Otchakov was a much more deeply-laid and evil one. The financier had
+returned to Petrograd, flushed with his success with his moneyed friends
+in London. Already news had gone round that a wonderful casino was to be
+built to eclipse Monte Carlo, and he had given an interview to the
+_Novoye Vremya_ concerning it.
+
+One afternoon, while in the handsome room set apart for Rasputin's use
+at Tsarskoe-Selo, I was sitting writing at his dictation, when there
+suddenly entered the Emperor, who had just come in from one of his
+frequent solitary walks in the park.
+
+His Majesty flung himself wearily in a chair, and began to discuss a
+diplomatic matter concerning Austria, and to ask the Father's advice, for
+he now scarcely ever acted upon his own initiative.
+
+Rasputin reflected for a few moments as he stood gazing out of the
+window, and then, having given his opinion as to the proper course to
+pursue, he added:
+
+"There is another matter which should have thy attention--a matter which
+is being hidden very carefully from thee."
+
+"And pray what is that, Father?" inquired the Emperor.
+
+"It is the secret and traitorous dealings which one Yakowleff is having
+with British agents with a view to betraying Russia into the hands of the
+English," declared the sinister monk.
+
+"I do not follow."
+
+"To this man Yakowleff thou gavest the concession for improvements at
+Otchakov. On pretence of obtaining financial assistance he has been to
+London, and there, according to what my friends tell me, has been in
+consultation with certain British agents, whose intention it is to obtain
+our military and naval secrets."
+
+"Then you denounce Yakowleff as a traitor--eh?" snapped the Emperor.
+
+"I certainly do. If thou doubtest me, order Protopopoff to make a police
+search at his house in the Vosnesensky. Something will certainly be found
+there," he said, with insidious cunning, well knowing that Protopopoff's
+_agents-provocateurs_ had already taken steps to secure the financier's
+undoing.
+
+"I have here the names of two Englishwomen who are in the British Secret
+Service, and who were recently in Petrograd with Yakowleff." And he
+produced a piece of paper upon which he had scrawled the two names in
+his illiterate calligraphy. "The women are back in London, but he was
+with them a fortnight ago."
+
+"Are you quite certain of all this?" asked Nicholas dubiously. "I always
+believed Yakowleff to be my friend. Indeed, he has already shown his
+loyalty to me."
+
+"And in return thou gavest him the valuable concession for Otchakov,"
+growled the monk.
+
+"If you assure me, Father, that what you have said is the truth, and not
+mere hearsay, I will call Protopopoff, and he shall make full inquiry."
+
+"It is a pity that the Otchakov scheme should be given into the hands of
+thy enemy," the monk declared, and thus the matter dropped.
+
+In Petrograd late that night, after the usual evening assembly of the
+sister-disciples, when all the women had departed and I was again alone
+with the monk, Protopopoff arrived, and said jubilantly:
+
+"Your words to Nicholas have borne fruit regarding Yakowleff. The Emperor
+spoke to me on the telephone, and, acting on his instructions, I ordered
+a police search, when some documents in cipher were found in a drawer in
+his writing-table."
+
+"And you arrested him?"
+
+"No. He seems to have somehow got wind of what was in progress, for he
+left Petrograd yesterday for Helsingfors, and has escaped!"
+
+"Escaped!" shrieked Rasputin, springing to his feet in dismay.
+
+"Yes. Gone back to London, I believe."
+
+The monk knit his brows and stood stroking his unkempt beard. He was
+thinking out some further devilish plot.
+
+"Feodor," he said at last, turning to me, "write down what I say."
+
+I crossed to the table, and when I was ready he dictated the following:
+
+     "In consequence of his traitorous dealings with emissaries of a
+     foreign Power, I, Nicholas, refuse to grant Ivan Yakowleff his
+     application for a concession for improvements at Otchakov, and
+     hereby grant the privilege unreservedly to Alexander Klouieff, of
+     48 Kurlandskaya, Petrograd. Further, I order the arrest of Ivan
+     Yakowleff and the confiscation of all his property."
+
+Alexander Klouieff! The fellow was an ex-agent of secret police, a man
+ready to do any dirty work, even murder, for Rasputin, if paid for it--a
+low-bred criminal of the worst possible type! So the concession was to be
+given to him, and he, of course, would in due course, in exchange for
+payment, hand it over to the monk, who would share the huge profits with
+his friends.
+
+"Nicholas shall sign that to-morrow," Rasputin remarked with confidence.
+"As soon as he has done so I will see that copies be sent to each of the
+men in London who have subscribed, and they will no doubt prosecute
+Yakowleff for fraud. In any case, he is ruined and cast out, so he no
+longer stands in our path."
+
+"Excellent!" said Protopopoff. "Does Klouieff know?"
+
+"Of course not. I shall pay him something for the use of his name before
+he knows exactly what has transpired," was the crafty reply of the
+"blessed Gregory"--as so many termed him.
+
+Two days later I went as usual to the palace with my master, and he took
+me with him along to the Emperor's room, in case any writing was to be
+done. The monk's first words were of the escape of Yakowleff.
+
+"The traitor has gone back to his English pay-masters!" said the Starets.
+"I have written here the order for his arrest and the confiscation of his
+property."
+
+And he placed before the Emperor the document I had written. To
+Rasputin's dismay, however, His Majesty seemed disinclined to append his
+signature. To me, Nicholas, who was wearing an old grey tweed suit,
+seemed very doubtful regarding the whole transaction.
+
+"Who is this person Alexander Klouieff?" he demanded. "I must know
+something more of him."
+
+"He is a man of considerable wealth--upright, honourable, and devoted to
+thee," Rasputin assured him. "Canst thou not place thy trust in those I
+recommend? If not, I say no more."
+
+"Of course, Father; but the concession was granted--while this order
+makes it appear that it was only applied for."
+
+"Surely it is not wise that thou shouldst be known to have granted favour
+unto a traitor?" was the monk's clever reply.
+
+Still Nicholas hesitated, at which Rasputin grew furious, declaring that
+he had no time to waste in idle discussion.
+
+Dropping the familiar form of speech he was in the habit of using to the
+Emperor, he stood erect and said:
+
+"You know the message which your dead father gave you at the seance last
+night! If you refuse to sign this decree, then I will abandon Russia
+to-day and leave you, the Empress and the lad to your fate. Remember, I
+am God's messenger and your divine guide!"
+
+The Tsar stood terror-stricken and in fear lest the real ruler of Russia
+should once again depart from Petrograd and refuse to return. Further
+refusal to sign was useless; therefore he bit his lip in chagrin and
+appended his signature to the document, which not only deprived the
+unfortunate Yakowleff of his concession, but also denounced him as a
+traitor and a swindler.
+
+The result was that not only did Rasputin obtain possession of the
+concession for Otchakov, but he sold it a month later for a huge sum to a
+syndicate of bankers in Vienna, who still hold it. The monk, after paying
+a dole to the ex-agent of police, divided up the spoils with Protopopoff,
+Stuermer and Soukhomlinoff, and, in addition, he bought a very valuable
+diamond necklace for Anna Vyrubova.
+
+As for poor Yakowleff, he was, as Rasputin had plotted, prosecuted in
+London for fraud, and sentenced at the Old Bailey to a term of
+imprisonment.
+
+As the months went on, in the first half of 1914, I noticed that the
+acquaintanceship between Rasputin and his well-paid chemist-friend,
+Badmayev, became closer. Badmayev held the formula of the poisonous
+concoction which at intervals Anna Vyrubova secretly introduced into the
+food of the Tsarevitch, causing the poor lad those mysterious illnesses
+which were puzzling the physicians of Europe.
+
+That some fresh plot of a diabolical nature was in progress I felt
+confident, but of its actual motive I could ascertain nothing. Yet it
+turned out to be a conspiracy--no doubt inspired and suggested by
+Potsdam--of a peculiarly devilish character.
+
+It was on that fateful day that the "Germanisation" of Russia became
+complete. Thanks to the traitorous assurances of Soukhomlinoff, Minister
+of War, Russia, alas! found herself suddenly plunged into hostilities.
+Petrograd, of course, went wild with excitement. Our loyal Russians, who
+believed in official declarations and in their Tsar, were ready to fly at
+the Teutons, little dreaming that already, before a single shot was
+fired, Germany held all the honours of the game, and had the Russian bear
+shackled hand and foot.
+
+At four o'clock in the afternoon Rasputin called me, and handing me an
+envelope which seemed to contain some small object--a lady's silver
+powder-puff case I afterwards knew it to be--said:
+
+"Feodor, I want you to go to the booking-office of the Finnish station at
+the departure of the train for Helsingfors at five-thirty. There you will
+meet a fair-haired young man who knows you by sight. He will say the word
+'Anak,' and when he does, hand him this in secret. He will quite
+understand."
+
+This order I carried out. I had not been at the crowded station five
+minutes when a young man, carrying a small handbag, elbowed his way
+through the excited crowd and uttered in an undertone the word "Anak." I
+greeted him, and surreptitiously handed him the little packet, for which
+he thanked me and disappeared on to the platform.
+
+My curiosity being aroused I waited until after the departure of the
+train, when I watched the mysterious young man return from the platform,
+hurry out of the station, and jump into a droshky and drive off.
+
+When I returned and reported my meeting with the young man, Rasputin
+seemed much gratified, and even telephoned to Stuermer, who was at that
+moment at the palace, having been called to the War Council which the
+Emperor--who had again consulted his dead father's spirit at a further
+seance on the previous night--was now holding.
+
+It appeared that a dinner had a week before been arranged by Prince
+Galitzine, to which the Grand Dukes Nicholas Nicholaievitch, Constantin
+Constantinovitch, and Michael Alexandrovitch, together with Generals
+Arapoff, Daniloff, Brusiloff, and Rennenkampf, had been invited. At first
+it was proposed to cancel the engagement owing to the critical position
+of affairs, but on the suggestion of the Grand Duke Nicholas it was not
+abandoned, for, as he pointed out, it would bring together the loyal
+leaders of the army on the eve of great events, and that, after dinner,
+views might be exchanged in confidence for the national benefit.
+
+Now earlier that same day Rasputin had given me a note to deliver to the
+Grand Duke Michael, whom I had failed to find, but was told that he was
+to dine at Prince Galitzine's. So about half-past six o'clock I took it
+to the prince's house, when, to my surprise, as I passed into the great
+hall I saw the same fair-haired young man to whom I had delivered that
+envelope in secret an hour before. He was one of the prince's servants,
+but he had not seen me!
+
+A sudden suspicion seized me. I asked to see the prince, and when shown
+up to his room I delivered the note for the Grand Duke.
+
+Then, having seen that the door was closed, I asked permission to say
+something in strictest confidence, and told him of the mysterious
+envelope I had delivered to his servant.
+
+He heard me through, gave me his hand in promise that he would not
+betray my confidence, thanked me, and dismissed me.
+
+Next day the prince called me to him in secret, and told me that in the
+possession of the young man was found a lady's silver powder-puff box
+filled with what looked and smelt like toilet-powder. This, on being
+examined, was discovered to be a most subtle and dangerous poison--one
+evidently prepared by that diabolical poisoner, Badmayev.
+
+The young man had been forced by his master to swallow some, and had died
+in great agony. Thus it was proved that Rasputin and the camarilla had,
+on the very night of the outbreak of war, plotted to sweep off at one
+blow our most famous Russian generals, and leave our country practically
+without any military leaders of experience and at the mercy of the Huns!
+
+The vile plot would no doubt have succeeded, and the deaths put down to
+ptomaine poisoning, as so many have been, had I not so fortunately
+recognised the young valet as he crossed the hall of Prince Galitzine's
+house.
+
+Thus it will be seen that Rasputin and his friends hesitated at nothing
+in their frantic endeavours to gain their own sordid ends and to secure
+victory for Germany.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+THE TRAGEDY OF MADAME SVETCHINE
+
+
+"SISTER! thou who hast chosen to become the bride of Heaven, listen unto
+me, and repeat these words after me!" exclaimed the monk Rasputin,
+holding over the kneeling countess the big bejewelled cross which the
+Empress had given him, and in which were set some of the finest jewels of
+the Romanoffs.
+
+"I will, O Father," replied Paula Yakimovitch, a pretty young woman,
+whose husband was Governor of Yakutsk, far off in Siberia, and who had
+begged him to leave her in Petrograd.
+
+"Then repeat these words," said the bearded saint, fixing his weird,
+hypnotic eyes upon her. "Thou art my holy Father--"
+
+"Thou art my holy Father----" exclaimed the Governor's wife in obedience.
+
+"To thee I bow, and to thee I acknowledge that thou art sent by Almighty
+God to save our holy Russia."
+
+She repeated the words amid the silence of that afternoon assembly of the
+sister-disciples at the Starets' house, a gathering which included Madame
+Vyrubova and her sister, Madame Soukhomlinoff; Madame Katacheff, wife of
+the Governor-General of Finland; pretty little Madame Makotine, to whose
+salon everyone scrambled; and old Countess Chapadier, bedecked, as
+always, with diamonds.
+
+"I hereby swear in my belief that God has sent to our Russia his divine
+saviour in the human form of Gregory Rasputin, and that the sin I commit
+in my belief is the sin which is easiest forgiven, and that by prayer and
+fasting my sins will be remitted, even as I am admitted to the sect of
+the righteous and holy."
+
+These blasphemous words the young woman repeated after the unwashed
+saint, who, standing upon a sort of dais in the big upstairs salon, still
+held up the jewelled cross suspended from his neck in front of him.
+
+"Salvation is in contriteness," the monk went on, for that was what the
+sly scoundrel had invented. "Contriteness can only come after we have
+sinned. Let us therefore sin, my sisters, in order to gain salvation! By
+sinning with me," he added, having reached the apogee of his influence,
+"salvation is all the more certain to come to you for this reason--that I
+am filled with the Holy Spirit!"
+
+"God be thanked! God be thanked!" fell from the lips of those thirty or
+so bamboozled and hysterical women, who, seated on forms as
+school-children might sit, had assembled to assist at the admission of
+Countess Yakimovitch to the secret and disgraceful cult of the
+blasphemous charlatan.
+
+The date was September the 7th, 1914.
+
+Russia had been at war with Germany for a month, and the Press of the
+Allies was full of cheerful optimism regarding what one of your London
+journalists had called "the Russian steam-roller." We in holy Russia
+believed in "the mills of God," and the nation as a whole was confident
+that it could resist the Teuton invasion.
+
+The neophyte, beneath the extraordinary hypnotism of the "saint," felt
+the dirty fingers upon her brow, as, in a strange jargon of religious
+phrases and open blasphemy, he pronounced a kind of benediction upon her,
+adjuring her carefully to preserve the secrets of the sect "from your own
+mother and father, sister, brother, husband and child." Then he added:
+"In me, Gregory Rasputin, you see the One sent by Heaven as the Healer
+and Deliverer of Russia from the hands of the oppressor. To me the
+Emperor, but an earthly king, hath delegated his imperial powers. I am
+the saviour of Russia. Believe in me and in my teachings and ye shall
+have life, health and prosperity--with the life beyond the grave.
+Disobey, and thou shalt be eternally damned, together with all thy
+family. I, Gregory Rasputin, who hath been sent to thee as saviour," he
+added, "take unto me as sister Paula Vladimirovna to be my disciple!"
+
+"May God forbid!" cried a woman's voice from among those assembled. "Let
+us end this blasphemy!"
+
+The effect was almost electrical. Rasputin started, and gazed at the rows
+of elegantly-dressed women, his disciples, and the few good-looking young
+women whom he had invited to be present.
+
+"Yes," went on a young and pretty woman seated at the back of the little
+audience. "I repeat those words!"
+
+Startled myself at the boldness of the young lady, I saw that she was
+dark, extremely good-looking, and refined. Rasputin had met her a week
+before at the salon of old Countess Lazareff, and she having expressed a
+desire to know more of the secret cult of which so many curious rumours
+were rife in Petrograd society, he had allowed Madame Trevetski, the wife
+of the ex-Commander-in-Chief in the Caucasus, to bring her that
+afternoon.
+
+Now, it must be said that no lady was admitted to those weekly reunions
+of the sister-disciples unless she first had the full approval of the
+Starets. She must be good-looking and possessed of either wealth or
+influence, but in preference wealth. And it was certain that no woman was
+ever invited unless it was Rasputin's intention to admit her to the
+secrets of his "religion."
+
+Yet here was open defiance! This lady, whose name was Madame Anastasia
+Svetchine, was the wife of Colonel Svetchine, who was on the Staff of the
+Etat-Major at Vilna, and who was already at the battle front. Before
+Rasputin had allowed her to be brought to his house it had fallen to my
+lot to make some inquiries concerning her, and I had found that she was
+of good family, that her husband was possessed of fair means, and that
+besides their house in Vilna they had a comfortable residence in the
+Kirotshnaya, in Petrograd. She moved in that rather gay, go-ahead set of
+which, prior to the war, the reckless Madame Soukhomlinoff was the
+centre, and she had recently become quite a notable figure in Petrograd
+society.
+
+Rasputin, furious at her interruption, roared:
+
+"Silence, woman! Go out of the room at once!"
+
+But Madame Svetchine, springing to her feet, cried: "It is monstrous!
+Disgraceful! Blasphemous! It is true what Purichkevitch has said in the
+Duma--that you are the evil force in Russia! Though a woman, I will have
+none of your mock piety and disgraceful licentiousness!"
+
+"Ah! I see, madame, that you are an enemy--eh?" he said in a slow,
+deliberate way. "And let me tell you, when Gregory Rasputin has an enemy,
+he does not rest until that enemy is swept from his path. If you defy me,
+you defy your God!"
+
+"I defy you!" cried the woman shrilly, making a dramatic scene. "But I
+fear my God, and Him alone."
+
+"Oh! be silent, I beg!" cried Countess Lazareff in French, wringing her
+hands, she having introduced her, while all were horrified that the holy
+Father should be thus openly denounced before his "sisters."
+
+"What is that woman saying?" the monk shouted across to me, for he did
+not know French, and was suspicious that the words contained yet another
+insult until I translated them to him.
+
+"I refuse to be silent!" declared the colonel's young wife. "I will
+describe to all whom I meet what has taken place here to-day--the mockery
+of it all. It is shameful how any woman in her senses, refined and
+educated, should fall beneath the fascination of such a brute!"
+
+This was greeted with wild exclamations of surprise and indignation.
+Indeed, so furious became the "sisters" at such open insult that I was,
+at Rasputin's orders, compelled to conduct her out.
+
+In the hall the young lady, who was certainly very pretty, became quite
+quiet again, and turning to me said:
+
+"Monsieur Rajevski, I came here on purpose to denounce that infernal
+charlatan who is your employer. I am not without friends--and influential
+ones. I have spoken my mind fearlessly and openly. No doubt I have made
+an enemy of Grichka, but for that I care nothing, so long as I have
+exposed him."
+
+Little did the unfortunate young lady know of Rasputin's low cunning and
+diabolical unscrupulousness when she had uttered those words. I made no
+reply, for I feared that she would live to regret having created that
+scene in the monk's holy-of-holies.
+
+Late that evening, having been out, I returned to find the "saint" seated
+with the Minister Maklakoff, the man whom the newspaper _Utro Rossy_
+described as "The love-sick Panther." Both were in an advanced state of
+intoxication, and when I entered, Rasputin, in a thick voice, exclaimed:
+
+"Ah! my dear Feodor, I have just been describing the scene to-day with
+that woman Anastasia Svetchine--the little spitfire! But a pretty woman,
+Feodor--very pretty woman, eh? It's a pity"--he sighed--"a great pity!"
+
+"Why?" asked the long-moustached Minister, who had just come from an
+official reception, and was in his hussar uniform, with gold braid and
+many decorations. "Are you not better rid of her, my friend? Women of her
+sort are usually dangerous."
+
+"I know she is dangerous," growled the holy Father, taking a deep gulp of
+champagne. "That is why I intend that she shall pay dearly for her
+defiance."
+
+"Is she worth troubling about?" I queried. "You have so many affairs to
+attend to just now."
+
+"Gregory Rasputin always attends to his enemies first, Feodor," he
+replied huskily.
+
+The eyes of "The love-sick Panther" twinkled through his rimless
+pince-nez. Well he knew the bitter revenge which the Starets wreaked upon
+any who dared to challenge his divinity.
+
+Maklakoff was at the time the Tsar's favourite Minister, and it was quite
+usual after a Cabinet Council for the Emperor to ask him and
+Soukhomlinoff to remain behind, as both were voted "really jolly
+fellows." Then Their Majesties would unite with the children and a few
+intimates, including the Father and Anna of course, and they would have a
+little fun. Maklakoff was famed for his power of mimicry. He could
+imitate the barking of dogs, and frequently announced his presence to the
+Imperial family by barking in the corridors of Tsarskoe-Selo, while his
+most famous imitation was that of a panther. And this of a Cabinet
+Minister in days of war!
+
+"O Nicholas Alexievitch, _do_ let us see you as a panther!" the Emperor
+would often say.
+
+Then the Minister of State would coil himself up beneath a sofa and roar
+like a panther. Then, crawling slowly out on all fours, he would suddenly
+take a leap and land in an arm-chair or upon a sofa, greatly to the
+delight of the Imperial family, while the Grand Duchesses and the
+Tsarevitch would go wild with glee.
+
+When, by the way, Maklakoff was dismissed in 1915, as a result of the
+anti-German riots in Moscow, the paper _Utro Rossy_ was fined three
+thousand roubles for publishing an article headed "The Leap of the
+Love-sick Panther."
+
+Maklakoff was a bosom friend of Rasputin, a dissolute evil-liver after
+the monk's own heart, and more than once had, in my presence, mentioned
+the names of certain good-looking women in various classes of society who
+might be invited to become disciples of the sadic Anti-Christ.
+
+Within a week of the scene created by Madame Svetchine, Rasputin had
+already commenced to seek his revenge in a deep and cunning way. He had
+heard from several persons that Madame Anastasia was going about
+Petrograd openly denouncing him, and that she had been in communication
+with Monsieur Miliukoff of the Cadets, and also Count Bobrinski. For the
+time being Rasputin was devoting his days to the reorganisation of his
+"disciples." His traitorous interference in politics had already borne
+fruit in favour of Germany.
+
+The events that were happening at that very moment mercilessly showed up
+the faults of our Russian administration, which was Germanic by origin in
+its traditions and its sentiments. Indeed, at that moment, when the enemy
+at the gates was knocking over the fortresses of Poland like ant-hills,
+intrigues for place and honour were rife everywhere, and Maklakoff was
+playing the "panther" to amuse the ladies of Tsarskoe-Selo!
+
+Rasputin one day called to him one of his half-dozen sycophants of the
+secret police, whom the Minister Protopopoff had placed at his disposal
+for purposes of personal protection, but in reality to act as his spies
+and _agents-provocateurs_.
+
+To this fellow, Depp by name, he had given instructions that the
+_dossiers_ of both Colonel Svetchine and his wife should be brought to
+him. Next day they arrived, and for half an hour Depp sat reading over to
+him the various police reports from Vilna and those of Petrograd.
+
+The monk, leaning back in his arm-chair, stroked his unkempt beard, his
+eyes fixed out of the window, brooding over his devilish scheme.
+
+An hour later, after he had dispatched Depp to make certain inquiries in
+Petrograd concerning the doings of the colonel's young wife, he said to
+me:
+
+"Feodor, I must see Soukhomlinoff to-night. Telephone to him at the
+Ministry. If he is not there, you will find him at the palace. If so,
+tell him to call here at once when he returns to Petrograd."
+
+I found the Minister of War was at Tsarskoe-Selo, and spoke to him there,
+giving him Rasputin's message, and receiving a reply that he would be
+with us at ten o'clock that night.
+
+I had to keep an appointment, at Rasputin's orders, with Protopopoff--to
+deliver a letter and receive a reply; therefore I was not present when
+His Excellency the General arrived. What the pair arranged I had no idea,
+for when I returned to the Gorokhovaya the general was just stepping into
+his big car with its brilliant headlights.
+
+"Good night, Feodor!" he shouted to me merrily, for he was of a genial
+nature, and next moment the powerful car drove away.
+
+Events marched rapidly during the next fortnight. I had gone with
+Rasputin to the General Headquarters of the Army at the Polish front, a
+journey which the intriguer had been sent upon by those at Court whose
+mouthpiece he was--to discuss a peace necessary for the Empire, he
+declared.
+
+Truth to tell, I knew that three days before the secret messenger Hardt
+had arrived from Berlin by way of Sweden, bearing a dispatch with
+elaborate instructions to the Starets.
+
+The Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaievitch received us on the evening of our
+arrival at Headquarters, and, of course, the monk was full of one of
+those fantastic tales which succeeded so well with many, either the
+ignorant or credulous, or those to whose personal advantage it was to
+pretend to believe him.
+
+The Grand Duke received the Starets politely but stiffly, for he well
+knew the power he wielded in the Empire, and that his will was law.
+
+"Ah, Highness!" exclaimed the monk, "war is indeed a calamity. Alas! that
+Russia hath offended God by entering upon it. But thou, in thy wisdom,
+must put an end to it. The Holy Virgin appeared to me in a dream, and
+told me we must conclude peace. I come to inform thee of her will."
+
+"When didst thou see the Virgin?" asked the Grand Duke.
+
+"Three days ago."
+
+"Now that's odd," he replied. "I, too, saw her, but it was only two days
+ago, and she said to me: 'Gregory is coming to see thee. He will advise
+peace. Don't listen to him, but expel him like the scoundrel he is. If he
+goes on troubling and intriguing have him thrashed.'"
+
+The monk went livid.
+
+"And further," continued Nicholas Nicholaievitch, "if you remain here,
+you infernal charlatan and blackmailer, that is what I shall do. So you
+can return to Alexandra Feodorovna and tell her what I say. My soldiers
+are fighting for Russia, and they will continue to do so, however many
+visions you may have--and however much German gold you may grab with your
+filthy paws. Get out!"
+
+Rasputin stood speechless for a moment. Then, with an imprecation upon
+his lips, he turned and retired.
+
+Three days later we were back in Petrograd, but the monk, who never
+forgot, at once set about plotting the Grand Duke's retirement.
+
+One morning, among the monk's correspondence, I found a letter for
+Rasputin, which had been brought by hand from the Ministry of War, marked
+"Strictly private." On opening it, I read the following, which bore as
+signature the initials of Soukhomlinoff:
+
+     "In a further reference to the suspicions against Colonel
+     Svetchine, inquiries made fully confirm your view. The political
+     police who made domiciliary visits to his house in Petrograd and
+     his apartments in Vilna found nothing of importance. In Vilna,
+     however, it has been discovered that, immediately prior to the
+     war, he had established friendly relations with Elise Isembourg,
+     who was an agent of Germany and a friend of Miassoyedeff. At my
+     instructions we have allowed the Colonel leave, and he returned
+     to Vilna to meet the woman, who had, at our orders, written to
+     him. She, acting upon our instructions, offered him a sum of
+     money to betray certain plans of the defences of Grodno, agents
+     of secret police being concealed during the interview. At first
+     he stoutly refused, but next day he met her again and succumbed
+     to the temptation, so at the present moment he is preparing the
+     information she seeks."
+
+I read this over to the monk, who at once rubbed his hands together in
+satisfaction.
+
+"Ah! all goes well, my dear Feodor!" he exclaimed. "That woman will be
+sorry she denounced me, I assure you."
+
+I could discern the motive of the conspiracy, but as yet had no idea of
+its true depth.
+
+It was not until a week later, when one night the Minister of War called
+upon the monk, and in my presence they discussed the Svetchine affair.
+
+"You did well, General," declared Rasputin, with an evil smile. "What has
+really happened in Vilna?"
+
+"Well, the woman Isembourg, though she was a spy of Germany, is now on
+our side in the contra-espionage service," was his reply. "From the first
+she assured me that the colonel was extremely honest and patriotic.
+Though before the war she had several times tried to induce him to give
+her military information, yet he always declined and endeavoured to avoid
+her."
+
+"Well, that difficulty can be overcome, surely?" asked the monk.
+
+General Soukhomlinoff, a traitor himself, laughed lightly as he replied:
+
+"Of course. There were other means. Elise, three days ago, handed over to
+me a typewritten document revealing the secrets of the defences of
+Grodno, which she reported had been given to her by Colonel Svetchine in
+return for a promise of ten thousand roubles when she could obtain the
+money from a secret source in Petrograd."
+
+"Then he is a traitor!" exclaimed the monk eagerly.
+
+The general winked, and replied: "Elise Isembourg declares that he is,
+and that he gave her the document."
+
+"He, of course, denies it?"
+
+"He knows nothing as yet," said His Excellency. "I have issued orders for
+his arrest to-day, and have given instructions for the court martial to
+be held here, in Petrograd."
+
+The evil monk laughed gleefully.
+
+"Ah! I see," he remarked. "And probably the colonel has never yet seen
+this typewritten document?"
+
+"Probably," replied the Minister of War, with a mysterious smile. "There
+have been such cases. I have fixed the court martial for next Thursday,
+and I assure you it will be difficult for the colonel to prove his
+innocence!"
+
+From that conversation I gathered the diabolical nature of Rasputin's
+plot against a perfectly innocent man, as revenge for his wife's insults.
+
+Next day we were called to the palace, for the Empress was sorely worried
+over the health of the Tsarevitch, and she implored the holy Father to
+pray for him, little dreaming that the ever-recurring attacks were due to
+the subtle poison administered in secret by her most trusted favourite,
+Madame Vyrubova. For several days we remained at the palace, while
+Rasputin performed one of his "miracles," namely, the restoration of the
+lad to his normal condition.
+
+What if the Empress had known that the "miracles" in which she so
+fervently believed were merely performed by the administration of certain
+antidotes to the poison already given!
+
+While at the palace on that occasion I witnessed some strange doings at a
+spiritualistic seance to which Bossant, the notorious French medium, had
+been commanded. The Emperor, Empress and their intimates were present,
+including Rasputin and myself, and when the circle was formed and the
+seance in full swing the Tsar consulted the spirit of his dead father as
+to how he should act in the conduct of the war against Germany.
+
+The reply, of course, arranged by the Empress and her friends, was
+something as follows:
+
+     "Thou hast done well, my son, and thou art worthy the throne of
+     the Romanoffs. Continue to defend our beloved land. Trust in the
+     counsels of those about thee, of thy wife, of thy Ministers,
+     especially Stuermer, Protopopoff and Soukhomlinoff, as well as the
+     advice which the holy Father is ever giving thee. All have been
+     sent to thee as good and faithful guides. My blessing is upon
+     thee, O my son!"
+
+Such was the "message" so cleverly given to the credulous monarch by the
+traitors and intriguers about him. And alas! he believed truly and
+absolutely, ignorant of the fact that some thousands of roubles had gone
+into the medium's pocket as price of his connivance.
+
+On returning to Petrograd late on Thursday night I found among the monk's
+correspondence a letter from Madame Svetchine, a long, regretful letter,
+in which she expressed the greatest sorrow for the words she had uttered
+at the assembly of the sister-disciples, and begged to be forgiven.
+Further, she announced her intention of calling upon the Father "upon a
+serious and urgent matter."
+
+I told him this, whereat he growled:
+
+"Ah! the woman is coming to her senses. Yes. If she comes I will see her.
+She is pretty, Feodor--pretty--yes, very pretty."
+
+I drew a long breath. The unfortunate woman knew, no doubt, the serious
+charge against her husband, but never dreamed that Rasputin was the cause
+of that false accusation.
+
+Just before I ascended to my room to retire--the hour being about one
+o'clock in the morning--the telephone bell rang, and I answered it.
+
+One of the officials at the War Office was, I found, at the other end.
+
+"His Excellency the Minister has an urgent message to transmit to the
+Father," said the voice.
+
+"Very well," I said, stating who I was.
+
+"Then listen, please. The message he has written reads: 'Colonel
+Ivan Svetchine has been tried by court martial, which sat until half an
+hour ago. He has been condemned on a charge of dealing with the enemy and
+revealing military secrets to Germany, and ordered to be executed for
+treason. The execution is fixed to take place in the Peter and Paul
+Fortress at dawn on Saturday.'"
+
+I replaced the telephone receiver with a heavy heart. Yet another
+innocent man was to die as victim of Rasputin's overweening vanity and
+evil influence in every quarter.
+
+When I entered and told the monk, who was already in bed in a
+half-drunken state, he merely turned over and continued snoring.
+
+On Friday night, when, as usual, we had returned from Tsarskoe-Selo in
+one of the Imperial motor-cars, I was told that a lady was waiting to see
+the Starets, but she would give no name. She was persistent that she must
+see him, and had already waited nearly three hours.
+
+When I entered the waiting-room, a small chamber at the end of a
+corridor, I found it to be the wife of the condemned man. She was dressed
+in dead black, her beautiful face tear-stained and deathly pale.
+
+"Ah! Monsieur Rajevski!" she cried, rushing towards me. "You know
+me--Madame Svetchine--eh?"
+
+"Yes, madame," I said. "I remember you."
+
+"You will let me see him--won't you?" she cried in great distress, as she
+gripped my hand nervously. "He has, I hope, forgiven me; surely he----"
+
+"I gave him your letter," I said.
+
+"Yes--and what did he say?" she gasped in eagerness.
+
+"Well, the truth is that he said nothing," I replied, adding: "He was
+much occupied with other things."
+
+"Ah! I must see him!" cried the frantic woman. "I was wrong to speak as I
+did. The Father is the great power in Russia. I must throw myself upon
+his mercy."
+
+I promised to take her to him, and left her to inform Rasputin of the
+arrival of his expected visitor.
+
+With an evil glint in those terrible eyes of his, he rubbed his hands
+together.
+
+"Good, Feodor!" he said, striding across the room. "I will see the woman.
+Oh, yes, if she wishes to see me I will not deny her that pleasure," he
+added with biting sarcasm. Truly, he was weird and horrible in the hour
+of his triumph.
+
+A few moments later I ushered the pale, wan woman in black into his
+presence.
+
+"Holy Father!" she cried wildly, "forgive me--say that you forgive the
+unconsidered words of a weak and unworthy woman."
+
+"Forgive--why?" he asked, standing erect and fingering his bejewelled
+cross. "I do not understand why I am honoured by this visit, madame."
+
+"Ah! Of course you do not know. Pardon, I have forgotten to explain. My
+husband----" And she broke into tears. "My dear husband----"
+
+"Well, what of your husband?" asked Rasputin. "He is at the front. Has he
+been wounded--or----"
+
+"No, no--not that!" she cried. "They have made a false charge against
+him. Some woman named Isembourg, whom he knew in Vilna before the war,
+has made an allegation against him of traitorous dealings with the
+enemy. She has given over to the Ministry of War some documents
+containing the plans of the defences of Grodno, which she declares he has
+sold to her! But it is lies--all lies. I know it!"
+
+"Really, this is quite a romantic story, madame," said Rasputin, quite
+unmoved. "Why should this woman make such charges?"
+
+"How can I tell? Ah! but you do not know the worst!" she went on. "The
+court martial actually accepted this woman's statements--statements that
+were lies--all of them! My husband is devoted to me, and I love him--ah,
+so dearly! He is all in all to me. And----"
+
+"But the woman--Isembourg, I believe you say--she is a friend of his,
+eh?" interrupted the monk, his hands crossed over his breast in that
+pious attitude he always assumed when listening.
+
+"She says she was his friend before the war--before we married, indeed.
+Perhaps she was," answered the condemned man's wife. "But she is
+undoubtedly an _agent-provocateuse_ of police set to tempt men to their
+downfall."
+
+"Of that I have no knowledge," was Rasputin's cold reply.
+
+"But you will help me, holy Father! Do--for the sake of a man who is
+innocent--for the sake--the sake of his unborn child! Ah! you will show
+mercy, won't you?" she begged.
+
+"I do not follow you," was the monk's reply, in pretence of ignorance.
+
+In a frenzy of despair the wretched wife flung herself upon her knees
+before the scoundrel, and cried:
+
+"My husband! There is yet time to save him! He--he is to be
+shot--to-morrow--as soon as it is light! You--and you alone--can induce
+the Emperor to order a revision of the sentence or a new trial. You
+will--you are all-powerful and divine!"
+
+"Pardon, madame, that is not your true estimate of Gregory Rasputin," he
+said, with biting sarcasm. "Only a short time ago I was a charlatan and a
+fraud! No; your opinion cannot have altered in so short a time."
+
+"But you--if you are sent by God to Russia--will never allow an innocent
+man to be murdered in this fashion--condemned upon the word of a
+notorious woman."
+
+"The affair does not concern me, I assure you," he laughed. "If your
+husband has been condemned to death he must have had a fair and impartial
+trial by his brother officers. I am not a military man, and know nothing
+of such matters. If he has been found to be a traitor," added the unholy
+spy of Germany, "then the sentence is just."
+
+"But he is no traitor. He is as patriotic as you are yourself, Father! He
+has ever been so," cried the despairing woman.
+
+"I have no means of knowing that," he replied in a hard voice, gazing at
+her with those strange, wide-open eyes, and endeavouring to put that
+spell upon her that few women could resist. "Nevertheless, I will forgive
+you, and, further, I will exercise my influence to save your husband's
+life if you will consent to enter the circle of our holy disciples."
+
+The desperate young woman held her breath for a few seconds, staring at
+him wildly as upon her knees she still knelt, clutching the "saint's"
+dirty hands.
+
+"No," she replied. "That I will never do."
+
+Rasputin saw that his plot had failed. Here at least was one woman over
+whom he was powerless, one who regarded him as a fraud. In an instant he
+flew into a sudden rage.
+
+"Enough!" he cried, throwing her off. "You refuse to accept my
+condition--therefore your husband shall die!"
+
+The wretched woman, her countenance pale as death, tried to speak. Her
+lips moved, but no sound came from them. Next moment, by dint of supreme
+effort, she struggled to her feet and rose stiffly. Then, a moment
+later, her hands clenched and despair in her splendid eyes, she turned
+and staggered out.
+
+Four hours later Colonel Svetchine boldly faced a firing-party in the
+yard of the fortress. There was a word of command, and next second the
+gallant soldier fell forward on his face--dead.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+TRAITOROUS WORK
+
+
+THE true story of the tragic death of a Russian civil servant named Ivan
+Naglovski, and of the mysterious explosion which destroyed the great
+munition works at Okhta and killed over four hundred and fifty persons
+and injured seven hundred, has never been told.
+
+There have been sinister whisperings in Russia, but I am here able to
+unfold the amazing truth for the first time.
+
+I had accompanied Rasputin to the Verkhotursky Monastery at Perm; the
+house in the Gorokhovaya was closed, its wooden shutters were fastened,
+and the Empress was desolate without her "holy Father." Stuermer, the
+Prime Minister, was with the Emperor, daily plotting and striving for the
+betrayal of our nation to the Germans, and "Satan in a silk hat"--as one
+of the Grand Dukes had nicknamed the Minister of the Interior,
+Protopopoff--had gone on a mission to London, ostensibly in Russian
+interests, but really as a spy of Germany. The latter was, of course, not
+known at the time, for the British Government sent him on a tour of
+munition and other centres, showed him what they were preparing, and
+feted him in London as the representative of their ally. We now know
+that, on his return to Petrograd, he at once became violently
+anti-British, and made a full report of all he knew to the
+Wilhelmstrasse!
+
+The purpose of the monk's pilgrimage to Perm was to form a branch of his
+believers in that city. He had left Petrograd dressed as a pilgrim, with
+hair-shirt and staff complete, and as such he posed to everybody. The
+world, however, did not know that the rooms allotted to him in the
+monastery by the rascally bishop, whom he had himself appointed, were the
+acme of luxury, and that in them he held drunken orgies every night.
+
+After we had been there three weeks an Imperial courier brought him a
+letter from Peterhof. It was night, and the monk was in an advanced state
+of intoxication with his companions, three other mock-pious rascals like
+himself.
+
+When I handed him the letter he glanced at the Imperial cipher on the
+envelope, and, grinning, exclaimed:
+
+"It is from the Empress. Read out what the woman says."
+
+I hesitated, suggesting that it would be better if I read it to him in
+private.
+
+"Bah!" he laughed. "There is nothing private in it. Read it, Feodor."
+
+So, thus ordered, I obeyed. The letter was written in Russian, but with
+mistakes in grammar and orthography, for the Empress had never learned to
+write Russian correctly. These are the words I read for the delectation
+of the dissolute quartette:
+
+     "HOLY FATHER,--Why have you not written? Why this long dead
+     silence when my poor heart is hourly yearning for news of you and
+     for your words of comfort?
+
+     "I am, alas! weak, but I love you, for you are all in all to me.
+     Oh! if I could but hold your dear hand and lay my head upon your
+     shoulder! Ah! can I ever forget that feeling of perfect peace and
+     blank forgetfulness that I experience when you are near me.
+
+     "Now that you have gone, life is only one grey sea of despair.
+     There was a Court last night, but I did not attend. Instead Anna
+     [Madame Vyrubova] and I read your sweet letters together, and we
+     kissed your picture.
+
+     "As I have so often told you, dear Father, I want to be a good
+     daughter of Christ. But oh! it is so difficult. Help me, dear
+     Father. Pray for me. Pray always for Alexis [the Tsarevitch].
+     Come back to us at once. Nikki [the Tsar] says we cannot endure
+     life without you, for there are so many pitfalls before us. For
+     myself, I am longing for your return--longing--always longing!
+     Without our weekly meetings all is gloom----"
+
+Here I broke off. What followed ought, I saw, not to be read aloud to
+that trio, who might at any moment turn to be enemies of the Starets.
+
+"Yes," he said, smiling in gratification. "The woman evidently misses me.
+It places a woman in her proper position to discard her for a while," he
+added with a drunken laugh. "What else does she say?"
+
+"Only that they are due to go to Yalta, but that Her Majesty awaits your
+return," I replied.
+
+"Then let her wait. I am very comfortable here. Perm is pleasant as a
+change."
+
+I knew well that he was enjoying himself hugely and had already formed a
+great circle of hysterical women who believed in his divinity and
+practised the rites of his disgraceful "religion."
+
+The final words of that amazing letter, which in itself showed the terms
+upon which Alexandra Feodorovna was with the convicted horse-stealer from
+Pokrovsky, were as follows:
+
+     "Here, O dear Father, we have only the everlasting toll of war!
+     Germany is winning--as she will surely win. She must. You will
+     see to that! But we must all of us maintain a brave face towards
+     our Russian public. In you alone I have faith. May God bring you
+     back to us very soon. Alexis is asking for you daily. We are due
+     to go to Yalta, but shall not move before we meet here. I embrace
+     you, and so do Nikki and Anna.--Your devoted daughter, ALIX."
+
+The unkempt quartette, treating the Empress's expressions of affection as
+a huge joke, filled their glasses with champagne and drank heavily again,
+while Rasputin began to regale his "saintly" companions with stories of
+the intimate life of the pro-German Empress.
+
+Truly, it was a gay, dissolute life that the verminous rascal was leading
+at the Verkhotursky Monastery, and many were the women over whom he
+exercised his weird, uncanny fascination.
+
+"Believe in me and you will receive God's blessing," was his constant
+blasphemous declaration to every woman whose looks were even passable.
+"Doubt me and you will be damned."
+
+By Russia's millions in the provinces he was looked upon as the holy man
+sent by God to the Tsar. Did not the "saint" eat at the Emperor's table,
+and did he not prompt His Majesty in fighting the Germans? None ever
+dreamed that the unkempt miracle-worker, whose fascination for women was
+so astounding, was the secret ambassador of the Assassin of Potsdam.
+
+Two of those companions of his nightly drinking bouts at Perm were named
+Rouchine and Yepantchine, brawny fellows whose evil life was almost as
+notorious as Rasputin's. Rouchine had been a conjurer before he adopted a
+"holy" life, and by reason of his knowledge of magic and illusions he
+frequently assisted the Starets in performing those "miracles" that so
+astounded the mujiks who witnessed them with open mouths.
+
+Whenever things grew a little dull, or Rasputin believed that his
+divinity was being doubted, he would calmly announce:
+
+"I have had a vision. Last night the Holy Virgin appeared unto me and
+declared that I must again perform a miracle so that the world should be
+made aware that God, through me, is protecting our dear nation Russia."
+
+Instantly the news would spread from mouth to mouth--Rasputin's name
+being forbidden to be mentioned in the newspapers--that the Starets was
+about to perform a miracle, and thousands would assemble in some open
+place, where one of Rouchine's conjuring tricks would be performed.
+
+By this time so deeply had Rasputin corrupted the Russian Church in its
+centres of power and administration that half the highest ecclesiastical
+dignitaries were of his creation, his fellow-thief in Pokrovsky having
+been appointed to a bishopric.
+
+Very naturally, Rasputin had made many enemies. His overbearing vanity,
+his relentlessness in dealing with any who stood in his path, and the
+exposure of his use of _agents-provocateurs_ in securing the conviction
+and imprisonment of anyone who displeased him, had aroused against him a
+fierce hatred in certain quarters both in Petrograd and Moscow. Many of
+those who had sworn to be avenged were wronged husbands and fathers, a
+number of whom it had been my duty to endeavour to pacify even at
+personal risk to myself as the rascal's secretary.
+
+It was while at Perm that Rasputin received news that a man named Ivan
+Naglovski had been in Pokrovsky busily inquiring into his past, and
+interviewing his sister-disciples who were living there. Further, it was
+reported that he had been in communication with the monk Helidor, a man
+named Golenkovski, whose young wife was a "disciple" in Petrograd, and
+with Marie Novitski, who was preaching loudly against the erotic doctrine
+of the new "religion."
+
+It was plain that Ivan Naglovski was a secret enemy.
+
+Acting upon the monk's instructions I returned to Petrograd, and at the
+headquarters of the Secret Police made application that Naglovski's
+movements should be watched. Three days later I was assured that a small
+league of patriotic men and women had been formed, with Naglovski at
+their head, determined to unveil and unmask the traitorous rascal who was
+my employer.
+
+I was compelled to return to Perm and inform Rasputin of the result of my
+investigations. Before doing so I went, at Rasputin's instructions by
+telegraph, to Peterhof and was admitted by Madame Vyrubova to the
+Empress's presence.
+
+The handsome woman was resting in a gorgeous negligee gown prior to
+dressing for dinner, but she was quickly eager and interested when I
+explained that I had come from the monk and was returning to Perm at
+midnight.
+
+"When will the Holy Father's pilgrimage end?" she inquired with a sigh.
+"He has been away weeks, and never replies to my letters."
+
+"His time is no doubt fully occupied with constant devotion," remarked
+Anna Vyrubova in excuse.
+
+"The Father is much occupied, Your Majesty," I said.
+
+"Tell him for me that I am daily longing for his return," she said. "But
+wait. I will write to him and you shall convey the letter," at which
+order I bowed.
+
+"The Father is much troubled and perturbed," I remarked.
+
+"About what?" asked Her Majesty.
+
+"He has enemies. Some men and women have leagued themselves with the
+object of doing him harm."
+
+"Harm!" she echoed. "What harm can come to him when, being sent to us by
+God, he is immune from any harm that can befall us who are merely human?
+I do not understand."
+
+Her words were in themselves sufficient to reveal how completely and
+implicitly the Empress of Russia believed in the pretended divinity of
+the blasphemous ex-convict.
+
+"All I know, Your Majesty, is that the holy Father is unduly perturbed."
+
+"Ah! surely he can have no apprehension?" she said. "Tell him from me
+that as Christ had enemies so, of course, he has. But his enemies cannot
+do him injury." Then rising and going across to a beautiful buhl
+escritoire, she added: "I will write to him. I sent him another letter by
+messenger only yesterday--eight letters, and not a line of response!"
+
+For ten minutes or so, while the Empress sat writing, I chatted with
+Madame Vyrubova, and gave to her news of the monk.
+
+"Tell him to return as quickly as possible," the woman said in a low,
+confidential voice. "If there really is a plot on foot against him he is
+safer in Petrograd than in Perm. Besides, being on the spot, he will be
+able to combat his enemies with a swift and relentless hand."
+
+As Her Majesty was writing the telephone rang. Next moment it was plain
+that she was speaking with the Emperor, who was away at the headquarters
+of the army in Poland.
+
+Having listened to something he told her, she said:
+
+"The holy Father's secretary is here with me. The Father still remains at
+Perm. I am writing him urgently asking him to return to us. I wish you
+also to send a messenger to him to induce him to come back to Petrograd.
+You will be back here next Friday, and is it not wise to hold another
+seance next day, eh?"
+
+Then she listened eagerly.
+
+"Ah!" she exclaimed. "I am glad you agree with me, Nikki. Yes, let us try
+and get the Father back by Saturday at latest. Good-bye."
+
+And having rung off, she calmly finished the letter and secured it with
+the well-known big seal of black wax.
+
+"Remember," she said as she gave it to me, "the Father must be here next
+Saturday for the seance, which the Emperor will attend. He wishes again
+to consult the spirit of his father Alexander. Urge the Father to return
+at once."
+
+I promised to do her bidding, and, retiring, at once left the palace, and
+at midnight was on my way back to the far-off town on the Kama.
+
+On the evening of the following day I drove up to the monastery and there
+found Rasputin at dinner with the ex-conjurer Rouchine. When I entered
+the cosy little room in which the pair were seated, Rasputin had removed
+his long robe and was seated in his shirt-sleeves like the peasant he
+was. I handed him the letter from the German-born Empress, whereupon he
+said:
+
+"Oh! read it to me, Feodor. The woman's handwriting is always a puzzle to
+me."
+
+I knew how illiterate he was and the reason of his excuse.
+
+I tore open the envelope and quickly scanned the scribbled lines.
+
+"No," I replied, "not now, Gregory; later."
+
+"But I insist!" cried the Starets fiercely.
+
+"And I refuse!" was my determined reply. "I have reasons."
+
+Those last three words were not lost upon him, for Grichka was nothing if
+not the very acme of shrewdness. Not an adventurer or _escroc_ in Europe
+could compare with him in elusiveness.
+
+"Well, Feodor, if you have reasons, then I know that they are sound
+ones," he said. Then, turning to the "holy" conjurer, he grinned and
+said: "Feodor is a most excellent secretary. So discreet--too discreet, I
+often think."
+
+"One cannot be too discreet in the present international crisis," I
+remarked. "Enemy eyes and ears are open everywhere. One can never be too
+careful. Russia is full of the spies of Germany."
+
+"Quite true, Feodor--quite true!" exclaimed Rasputin, smiling within
+himself. "Don't you agree, friend Rouchine?"
+
+"Entirely," replied his accomplice, who, though he was well paid to
+assist in working "miracles" before the peasants, never dreamed that the
+Starets, who handed him money with such lavish hand, was the chief agent
+of Germany in Russia.
+
+Indeed, Rouchine's only son had been killed in the advance on Warsaw,
+hence he held the Hun in abhorrence, and I am certain that had he known
+Rasputin was the Kaiser's personal agent matters would have gone very
+differently, and in all probability the enemy plots so cleverly connived
+at by Alexandra Feodorovna would have been exposed in those early days of
+the war.
+
+The Russian nation even to-day still reveres its Tsar. They know that he
+was weak but meant well, and he was Russian at heart and intent upon
+stemming the Teutonic tide which flowed across his border. But for "the
+German," Alexandra Feodorovna, not one in all our Russian millions has a
+word except an execration or a curse, and as accursed by Russia, as is
+all her breed, she will go down in history for the detestation of
+generations of those who will live between the Baltic and the Pacific.
+
+Rasputin grew indignant because I crushed the woman's letter into my
+pocket without reading it aloud, but I knew well how to treat him,
+therefore I began to explain all that I had learnt from the Secret Police
+concerning the activities of Ivan Naglovski.
+
+Both men listened with rapt attention.
+
+"Then the fellow really intends evil?" asked the monk, as he laid down a
+chicken-bone, for he always ate with his fingers.
+
+"I fear he does," was my reply. "But Her Majesty wonders why you should
+trouble. She says that you, being sent as Russia's saviour, are immune
+from bodily harm."
+
+"Ah! but remember when that young fellow shot at you and grazed two of
+your fingers at Minsk," remarked the conjurer with a grin.
+
+"Yes, quite so. I don't like this fellow Naglovski and his friends. I
+will see Kurloff."
+
+Now, Kurloff was another treacherous bureaucrat, a creature of
+Rasputin's, who sat in Protopopoff's Ministry of the Interior, and who
+later on collected the gangs of the "Black Hundred," those hired
+assassins whom he clothed in police uniforms and had instructed in
+machine-gun practice--those renegades who played such a sinister part in
+the first Revolution.
+
+I then gave the monk the urgent message from the Empress.
+
+"Very well," he replied, "I will be back by Saturday; not because I obey
+the woman, but became I must see Kurloff, and I must take active steps
+against this Ivan Naglovski and his accursed friends."
+
+Half-an-hour later, when alone in the bare little room allotted to me, I
+took out the Empress's letter to the Starets and re-read it. It was as
+follows:
+
+     "HOLY FATHER,--It is with deepest concern that from your trusted
+     Feodor I hear of the plot against you. That you can be harmed I
+     do not believe. You, sent by God as Russia's guide to the bright
+     future of civilisation which Germany will bring to her, cannot be
+     harmed by mere mortal. But if there are any who dare dispute your
+     divine right, then, with our dear Stuermer, take at once drastic
+     steps to crush them.
+
+     "We cannot afford to allow evil tongues to speak of us; neither
+     can we afford the vulgar scandal that some would seek to create.
+     If you, O Father, feel apprehensive, then act boldly in the
+     knowledge that you have your devoted daughter ever at your side
+     and ever ready and eager to place her power as Empress in your
+     dear hands. Therefore strike your enemies swiftly and without
+     fear. Lips prepared to utter scandal must be, at all costs,
+     silenced.
+
+     "Our friend Protopopoff has returned from England and tells me
+     that Lloyd George and his friends are exerting every effort to
+     win the war. Those British are brave, but, oh! if they knew all
+     that we know--eh? They are in ignorance, and will remain so until
+     Germany conquers Russia and spreads the blessing of civilisation
+     among the people.
+
+     "Nikki is returning. A seance is to be held on Saturday. You must
+     be back in time. He is sending a messenger to you to urge you to
+     return to us to give us comfort in these long dark days. Anna and
+     the girls all kiss your dear hand.--Your devoted daughter,  ALIX."
+
+On the following day a middle-aged, fair-haired, rather well-dressed man,
+who gave the name of Nicholas Chevitch, from Okhta, a suburb of
+Petrograd, was brought to me by the monk who acted as janitor, and
+explained that he had private business with Rasputin.
+
+I left him and, ascending to the monk's room, found him extremely anxious
+to meet his visitor.
+
+"I will see him at once, Feodor. I have some secret business with him.
+Here is the key of a small locked box in your room. Open it and take out
+ten one-thousand rouble notes and bring them to me after you have brought
+in Chevitch."
+
+This I did. Having admitted the visitor to Rasputin's presence, I opened
+the small iron box which the Starets always carried in his supposed
+"pilgrimages," and took out the money, leaving in it a sum of about
+twelve thousand roubles.
+
+The ten thousand I carried to Rasputin, but as I opened the door I heard
+the fair-haired man say:
+
+"All is prepared. The wire is laid across the river. We tested it five
+days ago and it works excellently."
+
+"Good! Ah, here is my secretary Feodor!" the monk exclaimed. "He has the
+ten thousand roubles for you, and there will be a further ten thousand on
+the day your plan matures."
+
+I wondered to what plan the Starets was referring. But being compelled to
+retire I remained in ignorance. The man Chevitch stayed with the monk for
+over an hour, and then left to return to the capital.
+
+Later on I referred to the visit of the stranger, whereupon Rasputin
+laughed grimly, saying:
+
+"You will hear some news in a day or two, my dear Feodor. Petrograd will
+be startled."
+
+"How?"
+
+"Never mind," he replied. "Wait!"
+
+We arrived back in Petrograd on the following Friday morning, but
+although the Empress sent a messenger to the Gorokhovaya urging the monk
+to go to Peterhof at once, as she desired to consult him, he disregarded
+her command and did not even vouchsafe a reply. Indeed, Rasputin treated
+the poor half-demented Empress with such scant courtesy that I often
+stood aghast.
+
+"The woman is an idiot!" he would often exclaim to me petulantly when she
+was unusually persistent in her demands.
+
+Next evening, however, we went to the palace, whither another French
+medium, a man named Fournier, had been summoned, having, of course, been
+administered palm-oil to the tune of some thousands of roubles to give a
+"message from the dead" in the terms required by the wire-pullers in
+Potsdam.
+
+I was not present at the seance, but later that night, when Rasputin was
+sitting alone with me over a bottle of champagne which an "Araby" flunkey
+had brought him, he revealed that the "message" from the Tsar's dead
+father had been precise and much to the point.
+
+"Nicholas, I speak unto thee," the spirit had said. "Though thou art
+brave and thine armies are brave, yet thine enemies will still encompass
+thee. Loss will follow upon loss. The great advance will soon become a
+retreat, and the hordes of William will dash forward and Poland will
+become German. Yet do not be afraid. Trust in the good counsel of thy
+wife Alexandra Feodorovna and in thy Father Rasputin, whom Heaven hath
+sent to thee. Believe no evil word of him, and let his enemies be swept
+from his path. Such is my message to thee, O my son!"
+
+As Rasputin repeated those words with mock solemnity, he laughed grimly.
+
+The pity of it was that Nicholas, Tsar of All the Russias, believed in
+those paid-for messages, uttered by those presented to him as mediums and
+able to call up the spirit of his lamented father.
+
+"Poor idiot!" Rasputin remarked, first glancing to see that the door was
+closed. "He must have something to occupy his shallow brain. That is why
+the Empress arranges the sittings. But Feodor," he added, "I must see
+this enemy of mine, Ivan Naglovski. He is not a person to be disregarded,
+and it seems from what you told me he has a number of important friends.
+We will discuss the matter to-morrow."
+
+He afterwards dismissed me with a wave of his dirty hand, and I retired
+to bed in a room at the farther end of the long softly carpeted corridor.
+
+At noon next day we had news of a terrible disaster. Precisely at
+half-past eleven the city of Petrograd had been shaken to its foundations
+by a terrific explosion, followed by half a dozen others, which shattered
+windows and blew down signs and chimneys in all parts of the city. At
+first everyone stood aghast as explosion followed explosion. Then it
+transpired that the great munition works at Okhta, across the Neva,
+opposite the Smolny Monastery, had suddenly blown up, and that hundreds
+of workers had been killed and maimed and the whole of the
+newly-constructed plant wrecked beyond repair.
+
+I was just entering Rasputin's room at the palace when a flunkey told me
+the news.
+
+When a moment later I informed the Starets he smiled evilly, remarking:
+
+"Ah! Then that further ten thousand roubles is due to Nicholas Chevitch.
+If he calls when we return to Petrograd this afternoon, you must pay him,
+Feodor. He has done his work well. Russia will be crippled for munitions
+for some time to come."
+
+On our return to Petrograd we found the city in the greatest state of
+excitement. The succession of explosions had caused the people to suspect
+that the disaster was not due to an accident, as the authorities were
+fondly declaring, but the wilful act of the enemy. Rasputin heard the
+rumour and piously declared his sympathy with the poor victims.
+
+Yet we had not been back at the Gorokhovaya an hour when the man Chevitch
+called, and at the monk's orders I handed him the balance of his
+blood-money.
+
+That same evening Hardt, the secret messenger from Berlin, arrived,
+having travelled by way of Aboe, in Finland.
+
+"I have a very urgent despatch for the Father," he said when he was
+ushered in to me, and he handed me a letter upon strong but flimsy paper,
+so that it could be the more easily concealed in transit.
+
+At once I took him up to the monk, who was washing his hands in his
+bedroom.
+
+"Ah, dear friend Hardt!" exclaimed the Starets, greeting him warmly. "And
+you are straight from Berlin! Well, how goes it, eh?"
+
+"Excellently well," was the reply of the messenger from the Secret
+Service Department in the Koeniggraetzerstrasse. "Germany relies upon you
+to assist us, as we know you are doing. Count von Wedell has sent you a
+letter, which I have handed to your friend Feodor."
+
+"Read it, Feodor," said the monk. "There are no secrets in it that may be
+hidden from our dear friend Hardt."
+
+He spoke the truth. Hardt was the confidential messenger who passed
+between the Emperor William and Alexandra Feodorovna, and nowadays he was
+travelling to and fro to Germany always, notwithstanding that Russia was
+at war with her neighbour.
+
+At Rasputin's bidding I tore open the letter, but found it to be written
+in cipher.
+
+Therefore I sat down at the little desk and at once commenced to decode
+it. It was in the German spy-cipher, the same used all over the world by
+German secret agents--the most simple yet at the same time the most
+marvellous and complicated code that the world has ever known.
+
+The keys to the code were in twelve sentences that one committed to
+memory. Hence no code-book need ever be carried. The cipher message, in
+its introduction, told its recipient the number of the sentences being
+used--a most ingenious mode of correspondence.
+
+With the paper before me I discovered that in sentence number eight I
+would find the key. The sentence in question, a proverb something like
+"Faint heart never won fair lady," I wrote down, and then at once began
+to decipher the cryptic message from Berlin.
+
+And I read out the following:
+
+     "MEMORANDUM NO. 43,286.
+
+     "From No. 70 to the Holy Father.
+
+     "If the blowing up of the Okhta Munition Works is successful,
+     endeavour to get your friend C. [Chevitch] to do similar work at
+     the new explosive factory at Olonetz, where a sub-inspector named
+     Lemeneff is one of our friends. Tell this to C. and let them get
+     into touch with each other.
+
+     "We approve of C.'s suggestion to destroy the battleship
+     _Cheliabinsk_, and it is suggested that this be carried out at
+     the same price paid for Okhta.
+
+     "From what we are informed you are in some danger from a man
+     named Naglovski, who has shown himself far too curious concerning
+     you of late. Steps should be taken against him.--Greetings,    W."
+
+The initial, I knew, stood for von Wedell, one of the directors at the
+Koeniggraetzerstrasse.
+
+Rasputin heard me through, and, taking the cipher message, applied a
+match to it, after which Hardt, having swallowed a glass of vodka, left
+us.
+
+But the monk, as a result of that message, was at once aroused to evil
+activity, and by means of a clever ruse invited Ivan Naglovski to dinner
+next day. He accepted, hoping, of course, to discover more concerning the
+monk, and quite unconscious that Rasputin knew of his hostile intentions.
+To dinner there were invited the Prime Minister, Boris Stuermer, and a
+sycophant of his named Sikstel. Stuermer was in uniform and Sikstel in
+civilian attire. Naglovski, I found, was a youngish man, who, when I
+introduced him, appeared highly honoured to meet at Rasputin's table the
+Prime Minister of Russia, while the monk went out of his way to
+ingratiate himself with his enemy. Naglovski and his friends had been
+preparing a plot either to expose or assassinate the monk, hence the head
+of the conspiracy was congratulating himself that the plot was
+unsuspected by anybody.
+
+The dinner passed off quite merrily until, of a sudden, Stuermer,
+addressing his fellow-guest, said:
+
+"News has been conveyed to the holy Father that you and your friends have
+formed a plot against him. Is that true?"
+
+Naglovski started and turned pale. For a moment he was taken entirely off
+his guard.
+
+"Ah!" went on Stuermer in his deep, thick voice, Rasputin having risen to
+go to the sideboard, "I see it is true. Now, what can you gain by
+endeavouring to belittle the efforts of our dear Father for the salvation
+of Russia? Think. Are you patriots? No. Well," he went on, "the reason
+the Father has invited you here to-night is to come to terms with you.
+For a list of your friends--a secret list that will be afterwards
+destroyed--the Starets will pay you twenty thousand roubles, and,
+further, I will give you a diplomatic appointment in one of the embassies
+abroad--wherever you desire."
+
+"What!" cried the young man. "You ask me to betray my friends to that
+blasphemous rascal!" and he pointed his finger at Rasputin, who moved
+aside. "Never! I refuse! And, further, I tell you," he shouted, rising as
+he spoke, "I intend to expose the mock-saint and his conjuring tricks;
+the criminal miracle-worker who, according to secret information I have
+just received, was the actual instigator of the terrible disaster at
+Okhta. This is what my friends, when I reveal to them the truth, will
+expose."
+
+As Ivan Naglovski uttered his biting condemnation Rasputin had crept up
+behind him, and drawing his revolver suddenly cried in a loud voice:
+
+"Enough! You don't leave this house alive. Gregory Rasputin knows how to
+crush his enemies, never fear. All your friends will share your fate.
+Take that!"
+
+And he fired, the bullet striking the unfortunate man in the back, where
+it entered a vital spot.
+
+Two hours later the body of Ivan Naglovski was discovered on some waste
+ground out at Kushelevka, on the other side of the city. Though the
+Director of Secret Police guessed what had occurred, he pretended that it
+was a complete and unfathomable mystery--and a mystery it has ever
+remained until this present exposure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+POISON PLOTS THAT FAILED
+
+
+BY the spring of 1916 Rasputin, though constantly revealing himself as a
+blasphemous blackguard, had become the greatest power in Russia.
+
+His name was whispered by the awe-stricken people. All Russia, from the
+Empress down to the most illiterate mujik, accepted him as divine and
+swallowed any lie he might utter.
+
+The weekly meetings of the "sister-disciples" were becoming more popular
+than ever in Petrograd society, and there were many converts to the new
+"religion."
+
+One evening a reunion for recruiting purposes was held by the old
+Baroness Guerbel at her big house in the Potemkinskaya. The
+yellow-toothed, loud-speaking old lady had been persistent in her appeals
+to Rasputin to hold one of his meetings at her house, and he had, with
+ill-grace, acceded. On fully a dozen occasions the baroness, who was a
+close friend of old Countess Ignatieff, had interviewed me and
+endeavoured to enlist my services on her behalf. At last the monk had
+said to me:
+
+"Well, Feodor, if the old hag is so very persistent, I suppose I had
+better spend an evening at her house and inspect her lady friends."
+
+Thus it had been arranged, the "saint" little dreaming of the outcome of
+that fateful reunion.
+
+It seems that Baroness Guerbel had arranged it because she wished to
+introduce to Rasputin a certain Madame Yatchevski--the wife of an officer
+who was very rich--who saw that, by Rasputin's influence, she could
+aspire to a position at Court.
+
+Olga Yatchevski proved to be a pretty, fair-haired little woman of
+girlish figure and sweet expression, and from the moment of their
+introduction the unkempt monk, after crossing himself and uttering a
+benediction, became greatly interested in her, the result being that she
+became an "aspirant," and her initiation into the secrets of the cult was
+arranged to take place on the following Wednesday.
+
+The meeting ended, the dozen or so neurotic women, all of them of the
+highest society in the capital, each bent and kissed the unwashed hand of
+Russia's "saviour," as was their habit, and when they had gone the monk
+sat down and drank half a bottle of brandy served to him by his ugly old
+hostess.
+
+Next night I happened to be out at the theatre when Rasputin, who was
+alone, emerged to walk round to a professional blackmailer named Ivan
+Scheseleff, who lived in the Rozhsky Prospekt. Suddenly he was set upon
+by three Cossacks--afterwards found to have been men hired by Madame
+Yatchevski's husband--who, hustling the "saint" into a narrow side
+street, gagged him, stripped him of the silk blouse embroidered by the
+Tsaritza's own hands, his wide velvet breeches, and his beautiful boots
+of patent leather.
+
+Then they drew a knout and administered to the rascal a sound drubbing,
+afterwards binding him with rope and shutting him up in a neighbouring
+stableyard, attired only in his underwear!
+
+His clothes they packed up in a cardboard box and delivered to
+Yatchevski, who, having sealed it, sent it by special messenger to
+Tsarskoe-Selo, where it was delivered into the Empress's own hands.
+
+Alexandra Feodorovna, on having it opened and discovering the insult to
+her "holy Father," waxed furious. Meanwhile, Rasputin had been
+discovered, and was at home foaming at the mouth at the indignity. He,
+"the saviour of Russia," had been thrashed and degraded!
+
+At two o'clock that morning he took a car to the palace, and I
+accompanied him. He had an interview with Her Majesty, who was attired in
+a rich dressing-gown of pale-blue silk, and the pair resolved upon a
+rigid inquiry regarding the affair.
+
+"It is monstrous that you, our dear Father, should have such enemies
+about you! We will crush them!" she declared angrily. "I will see Nikki
+about it in the morning. To send me your clothes is a personal insult to
+myself. It is abominable! These people shall suffer!"
+
+That night we remained at the palace, and next morning Protopopoff was
+called from Petrograd and informed by the Empress of what had occurred.
+Later the Minister came to the room wherein I was writing at the monk's
+dictation, and promised that the whole of the machinery of the Secret
+Police should be set in motion to discover the perpetrators of the
+outrage.
+
+Rasputin knew that many of the husbands of his devotees were enraged
+against him; therefore he could not, at the moment, suggest any
+particular person who had plotted the affair, and probably the police
+would have failed to obtain any information had not Captain Yatchevski
+himself boasted in the Officers' Club of how he had had the Tsaritza's
+pet "saint" stripped and thrashed.
+
+In Petrograd the very walls had ears; therefore within three hours the
+"saint" knew the identity of the instigator of the outrage, and gave his
+name to the Empress.
+
+"We will make an example of him," she said. "Otherwise it may be
+repeated. I leave it to you, dear Father, to take what reprisals you
+wish. In any course you adopt you will have the full authority of both
+Nikki and myself."
+
+For nearly a week Rasputin was undecided as to how he should wreak
+vengeance upon the unfortunate Yatchevski, whose wife had by this time
+become one of the monk's most devoted "sisters."
+
+On two or three occasions he went to the Minister of War and chatted with
+the traitor, General Soukhomlinoff.
+
+Once he remarked to me, after a meeting of the "disciples" at our house
+in the Gorokhovaya:
+
+"That captain shall pay--and pay dearly--for his insult! Think!--only
+think of it, Feodor--of sending my clothes to Her Majesty! What must she
+have thought! To me it seems that she doubts whether I can take care of
+myself. And am I not inspired, divine!--sent as the saviour of Russia,
+and immune from the attacks of mankind!"
+
+His subtle mujik mind clearly saw the bad impression which must be
+produced upon the woman who was so completely beneath the thraldom of his
+hypnotic eyes. If he could be beaten as a charlatan, then such action of
+his enemies must naturally create a doubt in her mind. Hence he was
+scheming to exhibit his power.
+
+The worst feature of the position was that from the Officers' Club the
+incident had leaked out all over Petrograd, until it had become common
+talk in the cafes. The story of Grichka sitting upon a dung-heap was on
+the lips of everybody, while a well-known member of the Duma remarked:
+
+"A pity he was not buried in it, never to see the light of day again!"
+
+Yatchevski was, of course, unconscious of the knowledge held by the monk.
+He was at the Ministry of War, head of one of its many departments, a
+loyal patriotic Russian, who, like our millions, believed that
+Soukhomlinoff was "out to win." He was ignorant of the irresistible power
+which the dirty "saint" could wield.
+
+One day, to Captain Yatchevski's delight, he found himself raised in rank
+and appointed military commandant of the town of Kaluga, south of Moscow,
+with permission to take his wife to reside there. Naturally he was
+gratified to receive so influential an appointment. Though possessed of
+much money, he had hitherto not progressed very far in his official
+career, and this favour shown him by the Tsar, who had made the
+appointment, pleased him immensely.
+
+His wife, of course, felt otherwise. She would be separated from her gay
+friends, the "sisters" of the monk's "religion." Besides, she saw that by
+entering Rasputin's cult there was a prospect of becoming on terms of
+personal friendship with the Empress.
+
+Anyhow, a week later Olga Yatchevski, having bidden farewell to the monk,
+was forced to depart with her husband to the important town of Kaluga,
+and for a fortnight I heard nothing.
+
+One morning, however, the monk received a certain General Nicholas
+Ganetski, of the Imperial General Staff, when, without much preamble, the
+officer remarked:
+
+"The warning you gave us concerning Yatchevski has proved quite true. He
+has been in communication with a German agent in Riga named Kloess."
+
+"Ah! I was quite certain of it, General," remarked the "holy" man, with a
+sinister grin. "I discovered it quite by accident. Well, what have you
+done?"
+
+"He and his wife are both under preventive arrest, pending an Imperial
+order. The papers we seized are conclusive. Among them was the enemy spy
+code. The whole case is quite clear, and there can be no defence."
+
+"Then there will be a court-martial?"
+
+"Of course. I have ordered it to be held on the seventeenth, in Moscow."
+
+"They are both clever agents of Germany," the monk remarked. "Be careful
+that they do not slip through your fingers."
+
+"No fear of that, Father," replied the general. "Possession of the German
+code is in itself sufficient to secure them conviction and sentence."
+
+The latter was indeed pronounced ten days later. The little fair-haired
+woman, who was so devoted to Rasputin, and who frantically appealed to
+him in vain to save her, was sentenced to imprisonment for life at
+Yakutsk, in Eastern Siberia, while her husband, condemned for treason,
+was next day shot in a barrack square behind the Kremlin in Moscow.
+
+Truly, Gregory the Monk swept with drastic and relentless hand any enemy
+who crossed his path.
+
+It was about a week after I heard of the execution of the Governor of
+Kaluga that I happened to be at Tsarskoe-Selo again with my evil-faced
+master, being busy writing in the luxurious little room allotted to him.
+
+Madame Vyrubova had been with us, discussing the condition of health of
+the heir to the throne, when, after she had left, there entered quite
+unexpectedly the Emperor himself.
+
+"Gregory," he said, standing by the window, attired in the rather faded
+navy serge suit he sometimes wore when busy in his private cabinet, "I
+have been told to-day that the Holy Synod are once again agitating
+against you. From what Stuermer has said an hour ago it appears that the
+Church has become jealous of your friendship with my wife and myself. I
+really cannot understand this. Why should it be so? As our divine guide
+in the war against our relentless enemies, we look to you to lead us
+along the path of victory. Alexandra Feodorovna has been telling me
+to-day some strange tales of subtle intrigue, and how the Church is
+uniting to endeavour to destroy your popularity with the people and your
+position here at our Court."
+
+"Thou hast it in thy power to judge me by my works," was the monk's grave
+reply, crossing himself piously and repeating a benediction beneath his
+breath. "Gregory is but the servant of the Almighty God, sent unto thee
+to guide and direct thee and thy nation against those who seek to destroy
+and dismember the Empire. Cannot I have the names of those of the Church
+who are seeking my downfall? Surely it is but just to myself if thou
+wouldst furnish them to me? Personally, I entertain no hope."
+
+"No hope!" cried the Tsar, starting. "What do you mean, Father? Explain."
+
+"No hope of victory for Russia, surrounded as she is on all sides by
+those who are conspiring to do thee evil. Against thee the Church is ever
+plotting. As Starets--I know!"
+
+"And the Procurator?"
+
+"He is thy friend."
+
+"And the Bishop Teofan? Surely he is not a traitor?"
+
+"No. For years I have known him. Trust Teofan, but make an end of the
+ecclesiastical camarilla which is against thee."
+
+"How can I? I do not know them?" was the Emperor's reply.
+
+"I tell thee plainly that if matters are allowed to proceed, the Church,
+suborned by German gold as it is, will contrive to defeat our arms. Hence
+it behoves thee to act--and act immediately!"
+
+The Tsar, his hands in the pockets of his jacket, stood silent.
+
+"Because by divine grace I possess the power of healing, thy Church is
+jealous of me," Rasputin went on. "The Holy Synod is seeking my
+overthrow! Always have I acted for the benefit of mankind. But the
+Russian Church seeks to drive me forth. Therefore, I must bow to the
+inevitable--and I will depart!"
+
+"Ah, no, Gregory! We cannot spare you, our dear Father," declared the
+Emperor. "This ecclesiastical interference we will tolerate no longer.
+You must help me. I give carte blanche to you to dismiss those of the
+Church who are disloyal and your enemies and mine, and replace them by
+those who are our friends, and in whom I can place my trust."
+
+"In the sweeping clean of the Church thou wilt find many surprises,"
+replied the monk, elated at the success of his clever reasoning.
+
+"No doubt. I know that the Empress and myself are surrounded by enemies.
+Plots are everywhere. Is not Protopopoff continuous in his declaration
+that the Church is against me? I know it--alas! too well. And I leave its
+reformation entirely to you, dear Father."
+
+Reformation! Within twelve hours Rasputin, who dictated to me over fifty
+letters, and had, in the name of the Emperor, dismissed most of the
+higher Church dignitaries in various parts of Russia, the new Procurator
+of the Holy Synod having been appointed by him only a few weeks before.
+
+Bishop Teofan, who had commenced life as a gardener, who had been
+convicted as a criminal by the court of Tobolsk, and whose sister was a
+"disciple" at Pokrovsky, held a long conference with the "saint" lasting
+well into the night. Truly, they were the most precious pair of unholy
+scoundrels in all Europe, both being in the immediate entourage of Their
+Majesties, and both pretending to lead "holy" lives, though they were
+gloriously drunk each evening.
+
+Nevertheless, within forty-eight hours of Rasputin's conversation with
+the Tsar, the Church of Russia had been swept clean of all its loyal
+adherents, and in their places--even in the bishoprics of Kazan, Tver and
+Odessa--were appointed alcoholic rascals of the same calibre as Rasputin
+himself.
+
+Is it, then, any wonder that Holy Russia has fallen?
+
+Indeed, the new bishop of Kazan was, three days after his appointment,
+found one night riotously drunk in one of the principal streets in the
+city, and, as he was wearing ordinary clothes, was arrested by the
+police, who did not recognise him, so that the precious prelate spent the
+night in a cell! Such was our dear Russia in the midst of her valiant
+struggle against the Hun!
+
+My dissolute master, possessed as he was of superhuman cunning, held the
+Empire in the hollow of his hand. He could make or break the most
+powerful statesman within a single day. In that small fireproof safe of
+his, concealed beneath the floor of the wine-cellar at the
+Gorokhovaya--that safe in which were preserved so many amorous letters
+from neurotic women whom the monk intended later on to blackmail--was
+also much documentary evidence of the "saint's" vile plots,
+correspondence which, later on, fell into the hands of the revolutionary
+party, who revealed only a portion of it after Rasputin's tragic end.
+
+Possessed of inordinate greed, the monk had a mania for amassing wealth,
+yet what really became of his money was to me always a mystery. Though he
+would have a balance of a million or so roubles at his bank to-day, yet
+the day after to-morrow his pass-book showed payments of mysterious sums,
+which would deplete his funds until often he had perhaps but a single
+thousand roubles.
+
+Into what channel went all that money which he received for bribery, for
+creating appointments, and for suggesting that young men of good family
+should be given sinecures, I was never able to discover.
+
+Personally, I believe he paid certain persons whose wives were
+"disciples" hush-money. But his power was such that I could never see why
+he should do so. Yet the mujik mind always works in a mysterious way.
+
+The true facts concerning the desperate conspiracy against Generals
+Brusiloff and Korniloff have never been told, though several French
+writers have attempted to reveal them, and the revolutionists themselves
+have endeavoured to delve into the mystery. As secretary to the Starets,
+I am able to disclose the actual and most amazing truth.
+
+It will be remembered by my readers that General Brusiloff, early in
+June, 1916, had his four armies well in hand, and made a superhuman
+effort to defeat the Central Powers between the Pripet and the Roumanian
+frontier. He was a fearless and brilliant tactician, and within two
+months had succeeded in capturing 7,757 officers and 350,845 men, with
+805 guns--and remember that this was in face of all the obstacles that
+the Minister of War, who was working with Rasputin as Germany's friend,
+had placed in his way.
+
+Brusiloff had done splendidly. No Russian general has eclipsed him in
+this war. He performed miracles of strategy, and Berlin had very
+naturally become genuinely alarmed. All their negotiations with Stuermer,
+Protopopoff, Rasputin and others of the "Black Force" had apparently been
+of no avail. They had staked millions of roubles, but without much
+result. Our armies were advancing, and the combined German and Austrian
+forces were daily being entrapped into the marshes or forced back.
+
+Even Rasputin realised the seriousness of the position, and more than
+once referred to it.
+
+Early one morning, before I was up, Hardt, the secret messenger from
+Berlin, arrived.
+
+After greeting me, he informed me that he had an urgent secret despatch
+for the Father--to be delivered only into his own hands. Therefore I at
+once conducted the travel-worn messenger to Rasputin's bedroom, where he
+delivered a crumpled letter from the belt which he wore next his skin.
+
+"Read it to me, Feodor," said the "saint," sitting up in bed and rubbing
+his eyes after a drunken sleep.
+
+Opening it, I found it to be in a code in what was known as "Sentence
+number seven"--words which, truth to tell, spelt an ancient Russian
+proverb, which translated into English means: "Actions befit men; words
+befit women."
+
+Taking a pencil, I sat down, and after ten minutes or so, during which
+time the monk chatted with Hardt, I succeeded in deciphering the message,
+which ran as follows:
+
+     "T. F. 6,823--88.
+
+     "Memorandum from 'No. 70.'                _Secret and Private._
+
+     "Further to the memorandum F. G. 2,734--22, it is deemed of
+     greatest and most immediate importance that the Pripet offensive
+     should at once cease. You will recollect that in your reply you
+     made a promise that the offensive was to be turned into a defeat
+     within fourteen days. But this has not been done, and a certain
+     Personage [the Kaiser] is greatly dissatisfied.
+
+     "The advance must not continue, and we send you further secret
+     instructions, herewith enclosed. Lose no time in carrying them
+     out.
+
+     "We hope you have not overlooked the instructions contained in F.
+     G. 2,734--22, especially regarding the destruction of the
+     munition factories at Vologda and Bologoye. It is a pity you have
+     allowed K. [Kartzoff, who blew up the explosive works at Viborg,
+     where four hundred lives were lost] to be shot. He was extremely
+     useful. The woman Raevesky, who was his assistant, was not in
+     love with him, as you reported. She would have assisted him
+     further if allowed her liberty. We wonder you were not more
+     correctly informed. Payment of 500,000 roubles will be made to
+     your bank on the 18th from Melnitzzki and Company of Nijni
+     Novgorod.                                                 S."
+
+Enclosed was a sheet of pale yellow paper, upon which had been typed in
+Russian the following:
+
+     "_Secret Instructions._--(1) You are to double the promised
+     payment to Nicholas Meder and Irene Feischer for the blowing up
+     of the works at Vologda and Bologoye, on condition that the
+     affair is carried out within fourteen days of the receipt of
+     this. If not, arrange with your friend P. [Protopopoff] to have
+     both arrested with incriminating papers upon them. They may
+     become dangerous to us unless implicated.
+
+     "(2) As you have failed to carry out the plans against Generals
+     Brusiloff and Korniloff, then you must adopt other means against
+     both generals, and thus ensure a lull upon the frontier. We note
+     that the attempt made by Brusiloff's body-servant, Ivan Sawvitch,
+     has unfortunately failed.
+
+     "The bearer of this will hand you a small packet. It contains two
+     tubes of white powder. Peter Tchernine, who has succeeded
+     Sawvitch as the general's servant, is to be trusted. You will
+     send the tube marked No. 1 to him in secret at General
+     Headquarters, with orders to mix the contents with the powdered
+     sugar which the general is in the habit of taking with stewed
+     fruit. The slightest trace of the powder will result in death
+     from a cause which it will be impossible for the doctors to
+     identify.
+
+     "(3) A young dancer at the Bouffes named Nada Tsourikoff, living
+     in the Garnovskaya, will call upon you for the tube marked No. 2.
+     She is a close friend of General Korniloff, and is about to join
+     him at headquarters at our orders. She has already her
+     instructions as to the use of the tube. The two deaths will be
+     entirely different, therefore doctors will never suspect.
+
+     "At all hazards the offensive must be ended. Greetings.
+                                                                 "S."
+
+After I had read the instructions Hardt produced a box of Swedish safety
+matches, which he emptied upon the table, and among them we saw two tiny
+tubes of glass hermetically sealed, one containing a white chalk-like
+powder and numbered "1," while the other was half filled with pale green
+powder and marked "2." These he handed to the monk, saying:
+
+"I will use your telephone, if I may? I have to ask the young woman Nada
+Tsourikoff to call here to see you."
+
+The monk having granted permission, Hardt, passing into the study, was
+soon speaking with the popular young dancer of the Bouffes.
+
+"You will call here at noon, eh?" he asked, to which she gave a response
+in the affirmative.
+
+Punctually at twelve I was informed that a young lady, who refused her
+name, desired to have an urgent interview with the Starets, and on going
+to the waiting-room, wherein so many of the fair sex sat daily in
+patience for the Father to receive them, I found a tall, willowy,
+dark-haired and exceedingly handsome girl, who, after inquiring if I were
+Feodor Rajevski, told me that her name was Tsourikoff and that she had
+been sent to see the Father.
+
+Without delay I introduced her to the "holy" man, who stood with his
+hands crossed over his breast in his most pious attitude.
+
+"My daughter, you have, I believe, been sent to me by our mutual friend,"
+he said. "You wish for something? Here it is," and he produced a small
+oblong cardboard box such as jewellers use for men's scarf-pins. Opening
+it, he showed her the tiny tube reposing in pink cotton wool. "It is a
+little present for somebody, eh?" he asked with a sinister laugh.
+
+"Perhaps," replied the girl as she took it and placed it carefully in the
+black silk vanity-bag she was carrying.
+
+"You have already received instructions through another channel?"
+inquired Rasputin.
+
+"I have, O Father," was her reply.
+
+"Then be extremely careful of it. Let not a grain of it touch you," he
+said. "I am ordered to tell you that."
+
+She promised to exercise the greatest care.
+
+"And when you have fulfilled your mission come to me again," he said,
+fixing her with his sinister, hypnotic eyes, beneath the cold intense
+gaze of which I saw that she was trembling. "Remember that!--perform what
+is expected of you fearlessly, but with complete discretion, and
+instantly on your return to Petrograd call here and report to me."
+
+The girl promised, and then, kissing the dirty paw which the monk held
+out to her, she withdrew.
+
+"Good-looking--extremely good-looking, Feodor," the monk remarked as soon
+as she had gone. "She might be very useful to me in the near future."
+Then after a pause he added: "Ring up His Excellency the Minister of War
+and ask where Brusiloff is at the present moment."
+
+I did so, and after a short wait found myself talking to General
+Soukhomlinoff, who told me that the Russian commander was that day at
+headquarters at Minsk.
+
+When I told the monk, he said: "You must go there at once, Feodor, and
+carry the little tube to the Cossack Peter Tchernine, who is now
+Brusiloff's body-servant."
+
+"I!" I gasped, startled at the suggestion that I should be chosen to
+convey death to our gallant commander.
+
+"Yes. And pray why not? Someone whom I can trust must act as messenger.
+And I trust you above all men, Feodor."
+
+For a moment I hesitated.
+
+Then I thanked him for his expression of confidence, but he at once
+noticed the reluctance which I had endeavoured to conceal.
+
+"Surely, Feodor, you are not hesitating to perform this service for the
+Fatherland? Think of all the sacrifices we are making to bring the
+benefit of German civilisation into Russia," added the pious scoundrel.
+
+"I will go--certainly I will go," I said. "But I cannot leave to-day. I
+shall require papers from the Ministry ere I can travel."
+
+"His Excellency the General will order them to be furnished to you," he
+said. "I will see to it at once."
+
+And five minutes later he went out to seek the Minister.
+
+I was horrified at my position, compelled as I was to convey the means of
+death to the hands of the German spy Tchernine, who had been placed as
+servant to the Russian commander. I saw that I must leave Petrograd for
+Minsk that night; therefore I set about preparing for my adventurous
+journey. Indeed, shortly before midnight I left the Gorokhovaya with the
+box of Swedish matches in my inner pocket.
+
+The journey from Petrograd due south to Polotzk, where I had to change,
+proved an interminable one and occupied nearly two days, so congested was
+the line by military traffic and ambulance trains. At last on arrival
+there I joined a troop-train with reinforcements going to Minsk, where I
+duly alighted, to discover that General Brusiloff's headquarters were out
+at a village called Gorodok, about five miles distant, in the direction
+of Vilna. The evening was bitterly cold, and as I drove along I became
+filled with ineffable disgust of Rasputin and the disgraceful camarilla
+who were slowly but surely hurling the nation to its doom.
+
+Had I refused to undertake that devilish mission, the monk would have
+instantly suspected me of double dealing, and sooner or later I should
+have met with an untimely end, as, alas! so many others had done. So
+completely had he placed me beneath his thumb that I was compelled to act
+as he dictated, in order to save my own life, for, as I have already
+explained, the "holy" man held the lives of those who displeased him very
+cheaply.
+
+At headquarters, which proved to be a veritable hive of military
+activity, I posed to a sergeant as Tchernine's brother, and begged that I
+might see him. It was nearly dark as I stood with the man, who had
+roughly demanded my business there.
+
+"I fear you will not be able to see him," he replied. "The Emperor has
+just arrived on a visit to headquarters, and he is with the general, and
+your brother is in attendance upon them."
+
+Tchernine, a spy of Germany, was actually in attendance upon the Emperor,
+and hence could listen to the conversation between His Majesty and the
+army commander!
+
+"But I have come all the way from Petrograd," I whined. "I have a message
+to give my brother from his wife, whom I fear is dying."
+
+This moved the honest sergeant, who, calling one of his men, told him to
+go to Tchernine and tell him he was wanted immediately.
+
+"Only for a few moments," I said. "I will not keep him from his duty more
+than two or three minutes--just to give him the message."
+
+I waited alone in a small, bare hut for nearly half an hour, when the man
+returned with Brusiloff's servant.
+
+"Ah, dear brother Peter!" I cried, rushing forward and embracing him ere
+he could express astonishment. "So I have found you at last--at last!"
+
+As I expected, the man who had accompanied him, not wishing to be
+present at the meeting, turned and left us alone.
+
+The instant he had gone I pressed the box of matches into his hand,
+whispering:
+
+"Take this. It has been sent to you from our friends in Berlin. Inside is
+a tube of white powder, which you will mix with the powdered sugar which
+General Brusiloff takes with fruit. It is highly dangerous, so be very
+careful how you handle it. Death will occur quickly, but the doctors will
+never discover the reason. It has already been used with effect by our
+friends among the Allies."
+
+"I understand," was the spy's grim reply. "Tell our friends that I will
+put it into the sugar to-night, and both His Majesty and the general
+shall have some. How fortunate, eh?" he grinned.
+
+I held my breath. It had never crossed my mind that Nicholas was to dine
+with the general.
+
+"No," I said. "Keep it till to-morrow, so that the general has it alone.
+It is intended for him. Those are the instructions."
+
+"I shall not," was his reply as he placed the box in his pocket. "If one
+has it, so shall the other. The German advance will be made all the more
+easy by the removal of both of them. I----"
+
+Footsteps sounded outside, and the sergeant appeared an instant later;
+hence we were compelled to separate after exchanging farewells as good
+brothers would.
+
+Back to Minsk I drove rapidly, and two hours later was in an ambulance
+train on my way to Petrograd, full of wonder as to what was happening at
+Gorodok.
+
+Peter Tchernine, spy of Germany, had no doubt mixed the contents of that
+tiny tube with the powdered sugar served to the general and his Imperial
+guest.
+
+Standing alone at the end of a long ambulance carriage, I leaned out of
+the window, breathing the fresh air of the open plain. We were running
+beside a lake, the water of which came up close to the rails. Here was my
+opportunity.
+
+I took a tin matchbox from my pocket and flung it as far as I could into
+the water.
+
+Then I returned to my seat, my heart lighter, for at last I had saved the
+life of our dear general, and also that of His Majesty, for, truth to
+tell, what I had given Peter Tchernine was only a little tube of French
+chalk made up to resemble that brought so secretly from Berlin.
+
+On reporting to Rasputin next day, he rubbed his hands with delight. I,
+of course, did not tell him of the Emperor's peril.
+
+Next day he, however, came to me in a state of high indignation.
+
+"The fool Tchernine has blundered, just as Sawvitch did!" he cried.
+"Brusiloff still lives and is continuing the offensive. Did he not
+promise to use the tube?"
+
+"He certainly did," I assured the monk. "He was filled with satisfaction
+that he would be able thus to help the Fatherland."
+
+"In any case he has failed!" said the "holy" man. "Not only that, but the
+plot against Korniloff has also failed. What shall I reply to Berlin?
+What will they say?"
+
+"Has the girl Nada Tsourikoff failed us, then?" I asked eagerly.
+
+"Yes," he replied in a hard, deep tone. "The little fool apparently had
+no courage. It failed her at the last moment--or----"
+
+"Or what?"
+
+"Or somebody knew the truth and threatened exposure."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because she was found dead yesterday morning at the Grand Hotel at
+Dvinsk, having broken the tube and taken some of its contents in her tea.
+A pity, too, Feodor, for she might have been so very useful." Then he
+added: "Bah! it is always the same with women, their courage fails them
+at the last moment! No. It is men--men like yourself, Feodor--that we
+want. The failure at Minsk is, however, very strange. We must inquire
+into Tchernine's actions and report fully to the Koeniggraetzerstrasse.
+Otherwise I shall once again be blamed. Surely I did my best--and so did
+you!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+RASPUTIN AND THE KAISER
+
+
+THE secret visit of Rasputin to Berlin and his second audience with the
+Kaiser were stoutly denied at the time, but as I accompanied the "saint"
+upon his adventurous journey I am in a position to know the exact facts.
+
+He, dressed as a Dutch pastor, and calling himself Pastor van Meuwen, and
+I, calling myself Koster, arrived at a small quiet hotel called the
+Westfaelischer-Hof, in the Neustadische-strasse, on the north of the
+Linden. We had travelled by way of Helsingfors, Stockholm, and Hamburg,
+Rasputin being bearer of letters from the Tsaritza to the Kaiser and
+Kaiserin, assuring them of her continued good wishes and her efforts to
+secure a German conquest.
+
+Hardly had we been in the rather dismal hotel an hour when a waiter
+introduced into our private sitting-room, where I stood alone, a tall,
+dark, middle-aged man, who clicked his heels as he bowed elegantly before
+me.
+
+Smiling, and without uttering a word, my visitor handed me half of a
+plain visiting-card that had been roughly torn across, after I had
+scribbled my signature across the back. From my cigarette-case I took the
+other half, and placing them together, ascertained that they fitted. The
+torn portion that the Baron von Hausen--for that was his name, I
+learnt--had handed to me had been conveyed to Berlin by Hardt a month
+before, in order that we might repose confidence in any person who called
+upon us and bore it as the credential of the Koeniggraetzerstrasse.
+
+My visitor was a pleasant, shrewd-eyed man, well dressed and wearing a
+fine diamond in his black cravat, who, when he had seated himself at my
+invitation, glanced to see if the door was closed, and then exclaimed:
+
+"Well, Herr Koster, I trust that the Father and yourself have had a
+comfortable journey."
+
+"Quite," I replied. "But, of course, it is a very roundabout route."
+
+"I expected you two days ago," said the baron, who at that moment rose at
+the entry of Rasputin and greeted him.
+
+The appearance of the monk in Berlin was very different from the figure
+he presented in Petrograd. His hair and beard had been trimmed, he had
+washed, and in his clerical garb he looked a typical Dutch pastor.
+
+I introduced the pair, whereupon the baron said:
+
+"His Majesty the Emperor wishes you to come to Potsdam at four o'clock
+to-morrow afternoon. You are to meet the Chancellor."
+
+To this the monk agreed, saying in his halting German:
+
+"It is not the first time I have been received by His Majesty. I shall
+bring Feodor."
+
+"As you wish. But I question if His Majesty will allow him to be present
+at the audience."
+
+"In that case, Baron, tell His Majesty that I shall not come," remarked
+the "saint" bluntly. "His Majesty the Tsar permits the presence of my
+secretary, therefore why should your Emperor object? Give him that
+message," he said, adding: "I have little time to spare here in Berlin,
+and am returning to Petrograd almost at once."
+
+The Baron von Hausen demurred, but Rasputin insisted on his message being
+given to the Kaiser.
+
+Then, when our visitor had left, the monk helped himself to a stiff glass
+of brandy, and laughing said:
+
+"The only way to treat these Germans is with dignity, Feodor. I want you
+to note all he says and translate the most important into Russian for
+me. Why does Bethmann-Hollweg want to be present, I wonder?"
+
+"To advise the Kaiser, no doubt."
+
+"About what? I will deal with His Majesty himself, and nobody else," he
+snapped.
+
+Even while we were discussing the situation another caller came, a
+German, also dressed as a pastor, who gave the name of Schwass. In a
+moment Rasputin, recognising him, locked the door and, turning quickly,
+asked in Russian:
+
+"Well, how do things go? You are not suspected?"
+
+"Not in the least," was the reply of the man, who had been an agent of
+the Russian Secret Police, and who was now a spy living in Berlin under a
+clerical guise.
+
+"You have a letter for me, I believe, Father, from the Minister
+Protopopoff, have you not?" he asked.
+
+I unlocked the small attache case and from among a number of other
+letters which we had brought from Russia was one in a plain envelope
+addressed to the Pastor Wilhelm Schwass.
+
+The spy tore it open, read it through carefully three times, and then
+placed it in the fire and watched until it was consumed. What the
+instructions were we knew not. They were evidently unwelcome, for the
+man's face went grey, and scarcely uttering another word he turned and
+left us.
+
+After dinner, which we took together in our sitting-room, we went out for
+a walk in the Linden. Rasputin was eager to go to one or other of the
+variety entertainments, but I dissuaded him from such an action, he being
+in clerical attire.
+
+"If you go you may arouse the curiosity of some stupid policeman, and
+inquiries might be made concerning us. No, while in Berlin it will be
+necessary for you to remain very quiet," I urged. "Remember, the baron
+and certain of his friends are watching us."
+
+So we idled along to the Cafe Bauer, where we spent an hour watching the
+gay crowd, among whom were a number of convalescent officers with those
+in the capital on leave from Flanders. Berlin life seemed quite
+unchanged, and the war had not by any means checked the spirit of gaiety
+in its "night life." There had been a successful attack upon the British
+that day, and the "victory" over the hated English was upon everyone's
+lips.
+
+For another hour we wandered, noting the merriment and confidence in
+conquest on every hand.
+
+"Truly," declared Rasputin, "these Germans spread reports of their own
+distress for propaganda purposes. Ah, they are indeed a great people,
+with a great leader!"
+
+I differed from him, for I have never had a liking for Germans. At heart
+Rasputin had, I knew, no great liking either. He admired them and
+assisted them because he was a born adventurer, and as the tool of the
+Kaiser was well paid for his services, while at the same time he had
+succeeded in placing himself in the position of autocrat over the Tsar
+himself.
+
+After an expensive supper at a small place near the Rosenthal Thor, where
+two scantily-clad girls danced while the patrons ate, we retraced our
+steps to the Neustadische-strasse.
+
+On re-entering the hotel the hall-porter gave me a message asking me to
+ring up Herr Weghinger at No. 2862, Potsdam.
+
+This I did from our sitting-room, asking for Herr Weghinger.
+
+"Yes," came the voice. "Are you Herr Koster?"
+
+I replied in the affirmative, recognising the voice of Baron von Hausen,
+who said:
+
+"Will you please tell your friend that I have arranged for your visit
+here, and that you will be welcomed. Be outside the French Embassy at
+three o'clock, when a yellow car will drive up. Enter it, and you will be
+brought here. I shall await you." And then he wished me good night.
+
+The wire over which I had spoken was, I knew, one of the private ones to
+the Neues Palais at Potsdam.
+
+Rasputin had again triumphed. When I told him he laughed coarsely,
+remarking:
+
+"People are too apt to regard this Kaiser fellow as lord of the world. He
+will never work his will upon Gregory. Nicholas tried, and failed. Let
+William try, and he will discover that at least one man is his equal--and
+more!"
+
+On the following day at three o'clock we both stood upon the kerb in the
+Pariser Platz, opposite the closed French Embassy, when suddenly from the
+Sommerstrasse a big yellow car approached us and drew up. The driver, who
+had evidently been given our descriptions, got down, saluted, and opened
+the door for us. Then a minute later we were on our way out of Berlin on
+the Potsdam road. The papers that day had reported that the Emperor was
+in Brussels, but such misleading statements are permissible in war.
+
+When we had come down the hill to the Havel and passed over the Glienicke
+Bridge, we sped through the pleasant town of Potsdam, until at last we
+entered the great Sanssouci Park, driving past the fountains straight up
+the tree-lined Hauptweg till we pulled up before the private door of the
+palace, that used by the Imperial family.
+
+The baron, in uniform and all smiles, was there to meet us, as he had
+promised.
+
+"I had a difficulty with the Emperor," he whispered to me. "But as the
+Father insists, His Majesty has given way."
+
+Rasputin overheard his words, and I saw upon his bearded lips a sinister
+smile.
+
+Through rooms with painted ceilings we were conducted, through the Shell
+Salon--the walls of which were inlaid with shells, the friezes being of
+minerals and precious stones--across the Marble Room, and then along an
+endless, thickly carpeted corridor, which reminded me of one at Peterhof
+leading to the Empress's private apartments, until the baron saluted a
+sentry, passed him, and a little farther on knocked discreetly at a
+polished mahogany door, that of the Kaiser's private workroom.
+
+A moment later we were ushered into a rather small room, plainly
+furnished, very much like an office. In a chair by the fire sat the
+grey-bearded Chancellor smoking a cigar, and standing with his back to
+the English grate was the Emperor William, looking grey and worn, dressed
+in a drab suit of tweeds.
+
+"Ah, Gregory!" exclaimed His Majesty, who took no notice of my
+unimportant self, "I do not forget our last meeting. Well, you have done
+well--excellent work for our Fatherland!" And he introduced the monk to
+the Imperial Chancellor, who, I thought, greeted the charlatan somewhat
+contemptuously.
+
+Now, Rasputin, wearing clothes to which he was unaccustomed, and devoid
+of his gold chain and jewelled cross, which he had so constantly fingered
+when he granted audiences to those who wished to bask in his
+smiles--which, of course, always meant great pecuniary advantage or
+official advancement--seemed at the first moment ill at ease.
+
+"I have done the bidding of my Imperial sister," was his reply. "I have
+for thee letters from her, also letters for thy wife," and from the
+pocket of his clerical coat he drew four letters, rather crumpled.
+
+The Emperor hastily scanned the two which Alexandra Feodorovna had
+addressed to himself, and I noticed a smile of satisfaction flit across
+his grey, mobile features.
+
+Then, placing them upon his littered writing-table, he gave us seats, and
+around the fire we sat to talk.
+
+Truly, that council of treachery was an historic one, and cost the lives
+of many innocent non-combatant women and children.
+
+The Kaiser began by chaffing Rasputin as to his disguise, saying with a
+laugh:
+
+"Really, you might pass unsuspected anywhere, Father! The baron has been
+telling me that you are at this moment the very reverend Pastor van
+Meuwen, from Utrecht. My police have no knowledge that you are Russian
+and an enemy. But there, you are clever, and your services to me are
+worthy far greater reward than you have yet received. Now tell me," he
+added, "how is Stuermer? I sometimes wonder whether he is acting straight
+or crooked. Only the other day he telegraphed to Downing Street that you
+Russians would never agree to a separate peace to isolate Britain. This
+is most annoying."
+
+"Thou art misled, as is all the world," replied the monk with a meaning
+smile. "That telegram was sent to London only after many conferences, in
+which Alexandra Feodorovna took part with Nicholas, Stuermer, Fredericks,
+and Protopopoff. The British Press was growing dubious as to our
+determination in winning the war, hence Stuermer's assurance to bamboozle
+the world was highly necessary."
+
+"That relieves us of much anxiety," remarked Bethmann-Hollweg, chewing
+the end of his cigar. "We were beginning to fear that Stuermer might be
+leaning towards England."
+
+Rasputin made a gesture in the negative.
+
+"Stuermer is ever a good friend of the Fatherland," was his slow reply,
+his eyes fixed upon the Emperor.
+
+"There must be famine in Russia," declared the Kaiser impatiently. "Your
+friend Protopopoff has not yet created it, as he promised when he saw me.
+Famine will bring Russia quickly to her knees, as it will eventually
+bring Britain. Our U-boats are doing marvels. Happily we warned the
+British, therefore we are contravening no convention."
+
+"Soon our friends in London who have sworn never to sheathe the sword
+until we are wiped from the face of the earth will begin to squeal,"
+remarked the Imperial Chancellor with a laugh. "And especially if we can
+carry out Professor Hoheisel's plan and create a pestilence. It must be
+tried in Russia first, and then in England," Bethmann-Hollweg went on.
+"The bacteria of anthrax, glanders, and bubonic plague must be sown in
+various parts of Russia, Gregory. Before you leave Berlin the plan will
+be explained to you."
+
+"The plan by which we sought to propagate cholera by sending infected
+fruit to various charitable institutions broke down because the delivery
+of the fruit was delayed, and it arrived at its destination in an
+uneatable condition," replied Rasputin. "No one would touch it, hence all
+our plans were upset."
+
+"The distribution of presents to charitable institutions must be
+repeated," declared the Chancellor, to which the Emperor agreed.
+"To-morrow you will be told our wishes in that direction," the Chancellor
+went on.
+
+"Yes," exclaimed the Emperor, "this military offensive must stop, and at
+once, if we are successfully to invade England. As soon as Russia makes
+peace our hands will be free to strike a staggering blow at John Bull.
+Not till then."
+
+"As soon as we bring Russia to her senses then we shall begin to twist
+the tail of the British lion," said the Chancellor. "All our plans are
+complete. As soon as there is quiet on the Russian front we can, within
+forty-eight hours, if we wish, put six army corps into East Anglia
+between the Tyne and the Blackwater," he added boastfully.
+
+"Hindenburg will lead them into London one day, never fear," declared the
+Emperor in the most earnest confidence.
+
+I sat in silence, listening to this strange talk of what was to happen to
+England when Russia was crushed.
+
+"The charges against Soukhomlinoff ought never to have been made," the
+Emperor went on, addressing the monk. "I understood from your report to
+Steinhauer that you were arranging that the Tsar should hush up the
+inquiry?"
+
+"The Emperor gave orders to that effect, in consequence of the advice of
+the Empress, but the charges were so very grave that Stuermer urged him to
+cancel his orders lest the public should suspect him of any intention of
+suppressing a scandal."
+
+It was true that the charges against the Minister of War were astounding.
+A high official in the Ministry, named Kartzoff, had betrayed his chief,
+whereupon Colonel Tugen Baranovsky, late Chief of the Mobilisation
+Department of the Russian General Staff, had declared that the
+mobilisation plans drafted by the general were full of wilful errors,
+while rifles, machine-guns, and field and heavy guns were all lacking.
+Allegations had been made by General Petrovsky, later Chief of the
+Fortifications Department, to the effect that the general had only twice
+visited the artillery administration during the whole time he held his
+portfolio as Minister, while Colonel Balvinkine, one of the heads of the
+Artillery Administration, had asserted that Soukhomlinoff had insisted
+upon important contracts for machine-guns being given to the Rickerts
+factory at a cost of two thousand roubles each, while the Toula factory
+could turn out excellent machine-guns at nine hundred roubles.
+
+Such were the charges whispered loudly from end to end of Russia.
+
+"It would be best for that fellow Kartzoff to disappear," declared the
+Kaiser. "His mouth should be closed, as he may become an awkward witness.
+Tell Protopopoff from me that it would be judicious to send him to some
+unknown destination, and that I shall expect to hear early news that he
+is missing."
+
+"I will carry out thine order," said Rasputin gravely. "I agree with thee
+that Kartzoff is highly dangerous. Besides, he is a friend of my worst
+enemy, Purishkevitch, the member of the Duma who has been agitating
+against the events at the front."
+
+Rasputin, by the way, did not fail to give Protopopoff the Kaiser's
+message, and three days after our return to Petrograd Kartzoff was
+enticed away from there by means of a forged telegram, a week later his
+body being found in a wood near Kislovodsk, in the North Caucasus, while
+two other witnesses against the Minister of War were arrested, and died
+later in the island fortress of Schluesselburg.
+
+The Kaiser seemed unusually cordial towards the monk, much more so than
+on the occasion when they met in Silesia. The Chancellor seemed to be
+watching the "holy" man, taking note of his every gesture and every
+remark.
+
+The Kaiser agreed entirely with his Chancellor's views, and was insistent
+upon the creation of a pestilence in Russia.
+
+"Cholera or plague could work more for our ends in Russia in a month than
+we can effect by military force in a whole year," he declared as he lit a
+cigarette, afterwards tossing the match carelessly into the fire. "What
+are the views of Alexandra Feodorovna?"
+
+"The same as thine own," the monk replied. "Unfortunately all our efforts
+failed. A man named Tsourikoff by some means obtained knowledge of what
+was intended. Her Majesty heard of it, hence I had him removed two days
+later. He was met by a certain dancer, and had supper with her at
+Pivato's, in the Morskaya. An hour after they parted Tsourikoff died
+mysteriously."
+
+"The dancer was a friend of yours, eh? Perhaps a sister-disciple?"
+remarked the Emperor with a meaning grin.
+
+"Thou hast guessed aright," answered the monk. "But after that we did not
+dare to carry the infection further."
+
+"It must be done. I have some ideas. The baron will explain them to you
+to-morrow, and I shall expect you to carry them out," said the great War
+Lord. "In Russia there must be revolt and disease, in England invasion,
+and in France--well, we know how we shall conquer both France and Italy,"
+he added, smiling mysteriously.
+
+He spoke as one who believed that he held the destinies of Europe in the
+hollow of his hand.
+
+"Middle Europe will conquer the world, of that I have no doubt. All is in
+God's hands," agreed the "saint" in bad German, crossing himself with a
+mock piety which seemed to amuse both the Emperor and his Chancellor.
+
+"Listen to-morrow to Hoheisel's scheme, which I have approved," said the
+Emperor, passing to his visitor another cigarette from the heavy golden
+box. "The professor will call on you with the baron and explain. Act
+boldly, dear friend Gregory, for recollect that you have behind you the
+whole resources of Prussia and the good will of myself."
+
+The monk, who had only on the previous day declared that he would subject
+the Kaiser to his influence, had fallen so completely beneath the thrall
+of the German Emperor's curious hypnotism that he sat ready and eager to
+do his bidding.
+
+"The letters you have brought to me from Tsarskoe-Selo are satisfactory
+so far as they go, but there is still much to be done," said the Kaiser.
+"Tell the Empress that I will reply to her by courier, but that she is to
+continue her efforts, and that you both have my full and complete
+support. The prosecution of Soukhomlinoff must be at once suppressed, and
+those hostile statements in the Duma from time to time directed against
+us must be made a penal offence punishable by deportation. Kartzoff must
+go, and Purishkevitch, who is so constantly speaking in the Duma against
+yourself and others, should be suppressed without delay. Perhaps he will
+come to a sudden end!" suggested the Emperor. "At least we can hope so."
+
+Next day at noon the baron brought to us a short, stout, yellow-haired
+man in gold spectacles, the famous German bacteriologist, Professor
+Hoheisel, of the Friedrichshain Hospital.
+
+With the door locked, we all four sat down while the deep-voiced
+scientist unfolded his plan for the devastating of certain populous areas
+in Russia by the dissemination of a newly discovered and highly
+infectious disease.
+
+"The disease was discovered a year ago by Gerhold, at the Alt-Moabit, and
+is closely allied to bubonic plague. It is more highly infectious than
+anthrax or smallpox, and inevitably proves fatal," the professor said,
+seated at the head of the small table. "Curiously enough, infants seem to
+be immune up to six years of age. Now, my proposal, to which both the
+Emperor and the Chancellor have agreed, is that the cultures which I
+have prepared, and of which a large quantity is already in Stockholm
+ready to be utilised, should be introduced into a consignment of meat
+extract and tinned beef which has come from South America, and which is
+being held back by a certain firm in Stockholm friendly to ourselves."
+
+"How do you propose to infect it?" asked the monk, the devilish plot
+appealing at once to his cunning and unscrupulous mind.
+
+"By puncturing the tins and introducing the culture by means of a
+hypodermic syringe, and closing up the hole with a spot of solder. The
+bottles will be treated by puncturing the corks with the needle and
+closing the hole with melted resin."
+
+"I might say," added the baron, "that the cargo has been purchased by our
+friends, Messrs. Juel and Ehrensvard, who are awaiting instructions
+before re-shipping it. When the meat is prepared it will be your work,
+Father, to see that it is distributed in the two cities in which we want
+to experiment, namely, Nijni-Novgorod and Vologda."
+
+"They are doomed cities, eh?" I remarked.
+
+"We intend them to be so," the professor said. "When once the disease is
+released it will spread everywhere, and no precautions can be taken
+because, up to the present, it is known to only half-a-dozen of us in
+Berlin, and we have no knowledge how to treat it successfully."
+
+Rasputin was silent.
+
+"It will certainly be far more dangerous than cholera or
+plague--dangerous to ourselves, I mean," he remarked.
+
+"Of course the epidemic must not be allowed to break out in Petrograd or
+in any of the army centres--at least, not at present. We must first watch
+the effect in Vologda and Nijni."
+
+"Well," said the monk, "what do you wish me to do?"
+
+"You are returning by way of Stockholm," replied the baron. "His Majesty
+wishes the professor to accompany you, and in the warehouse of the firm I
+have named you will see the canned goods and bottles. The professor will
+show you that the tins have been repainted and are labelled with the mark
+of a well-known firm, so that there can be no suspicion of them. Only the
+paint is a much brighter blue than that usually employed. The reason of
+this is that they can easily be identified by any in the secret, and
+prevented from being opened in any area save those two towns I have
+named."
+
+"When do you leave?" asked the deep-voiced demon in human form.
+
+"On Friday next. I have still a number of persons to see."
+
+"Then I shall be ready to travel with you, Father," declared the
+professor; and then, after taking some brandy and soda-water, the
+conference ended.
+
+The devilish ingenuity of the whole scheme appalled me. The sowing of
+cholera germs by means of infected fruit had happily failed, but now
+Germany intended to strike a blow at the civil population of Russia upon
+a scale more gigantic than I had ever imagined.
+
+Next day, a man who gave the name of Emil Doellen brought Rasputin a
+letter, which I opened.
+
+It was, I found, a code message which had been received at the great
+German wireless station at Nauen, having been dispatched from Petrograd,
+ostensibly to the warship _Petropavlovsk_ in the Baltic, as Rasputin had
+arranged before he left Russia.
+
+When I decoded it, I found it to be from the Minister Protopopoff,
+containing certain further instructions, as well as a message from the
+Tsaritza--which necessitated the monk having a second audience with the
+Kaiser.
+
+In reply--while the secret messenger Doellen retired for an hour--I sat
+down and wrote, at the monk's dictation, a long dispatch, in which he
+made brief allusion as to the proposed dissemination of disease, and
+stating his intention to remain some days in Stockholm.
+
+     "All is well," he dictated. "The Emperor William sends his best
+     greetings and acknowledgments of your dispatch of the 3rd inst.
+     It has been found necessary to recall the troops who have been
+     held ready at Hamburg and Bremen for the invasion of Britain. The
+     German General Staff have, after due consideration, decided that
+     an invasion before Russia is crushed might meet with disaster,
+     hence they are turning their attention to submarine and aerial
+     attacks upon Britain in order to crush her. I have learnt from a
+     conversation with the Kaiser that London is to be destroyed by a
+     succession of fleets of super-aeroplanes launching newly devised
+     explosive and poison-gas bombs of a terribly destructive
+     character. Urge S. [Stuermer] to disclaim at once all knowledge of
+     the Rickert contracts. The action taken against General S. is
+     again ordered to be dropped. See the Emperor and persuade him.
+     Blessings upon you.
+                                                       "GREGORY."
+
+Then I proceeded to put it into the special code which Rasputin and
+Protopopoff alone used, and when Doellen called it was ready for
+transmission from Nauen back to the Russian battleship, to which I had
+addressed it, to be "picked up" by the wireless station in Petrograd.
+
+The "holy Father" greatly enjoyed himself in a quiet way in Berlin.
+Indeed, he purchased a ready-made suit of clothes, and, attired in them,
+he went out on two occasions and did not return till dawn, and then half
+intoxicated. On the second occasion the baron called and remonstrated
+with him, pointing out that he was running great risk.
+
+"We have been watching you in order to avoid any unwelcome inquiries by
+the police. But if you continue we can accept no further responsibility,"
+he said. "You see, you pose as Dutch without being able to speak a word
+of the language!"
+
+After that Rasputin became more discreet, but I was nevertheless glad
+when one night we met Professor Hoheisel at the station and left for
+Hamburg, duly arriving at Stockholm two days later, where we lost no time
+in visiting the premises of Juel and Ehrensvard.
+
+Indeed, Mr. Juel, the head of the Hun firm which was doing a large export
+business between Sweden and Germany, called upon us at the Grand Hotel
+within an hour of our arrival, and together we all went to a narrow
+street off the Fjellgatan, not far from the Saltsjoebanans station, where
+we found a great warehouse filled to overflowing with tins of corned beef
+and cases containing bottles of beef extract, which had come from
+America, destined for Germany, but which had been held up to be diverted
+to Russia after being treated with disease germs.
+
+We were shown stacks upon stacks of tins of one pound, two pounds and six
+pounds of beef, all bearing a well-known label, but all painted a
+peculiar blue for identification purposes. In the store we were met by
+four German laboratory assistants of the fat professor, ready to commence
+work upon the tins.
+
+"I will show you what we shall do," said Hoheisel. "The manipulation of
+the tins is quite easy."
+
+He conducted us to a small room on the top floor, which I at once saw was
+fitted as a laboratory, and which contained microscopes, incubators,
+stands of test-tubes, and all the other apparatus appertaining to the
+bacteriologist.
+
+One of his assistants had carried up four small tins of beef, with a
+couple of bottles of beef extract. These he placed on the table, and as
+we stood around he took a small bradawl, and having punctured the tin at
+the large end close to the rim, he took from one of the incubators a
+test-tube full of a cloudy brown liquid gelatine. Then filling a
+hypodermic syringe--upon which was an extra long needle--he thrust it
+into the contents of the tin and injected the virus into the meat.
+
+Afterwards, with a small soldering-iron he closed the puncture.
+
+"That tin, infected as it is, is sufficient to cause an epidemic which
+might result in thousands of deaths," declared the Hun professor proudly.
+
+His assistant then took a bottle of beef extract, which in Russia is
+popular with all classes in preparing their cabbage soup, and refilling
+the syringe, plunged the needle through the cork, afterwards placing a
+spot of melted resin upon the puncture.
+
+"You see how simple it is!" laughed the professor, addressing the
+"saint." "All that now remains is for a firm in Petrograd to buy the
+consignment and arrange for it to be sold to wholesale dealers in Vologda
+and Nijni. This we expect you to arrange."
+
+"I certainly will," replied Rasputin promptly. "Truly, the idea is a most
+ingenious one--a disease which is as yet unknown!"
+
+We remained in Stockholm for four days longer. The professor and his
+assistants were working strenuously, we knew, preparing death for the
+population of those two Russian towns.
+
+One afternoon, after he had lunched with us at the hotel, he said:
+
+"If our experiment is successful, then we mean to repeat it from South
+America to England. It is therefore most important that news of the
+epidemic does not reach the ears of the Allies. You will point out that
+to the Minister Protopopoff. When the plague breaks out the censorship
+must be of the strictest."
+
+Rasputin nodded. He quite understood. He hated the British just as
+heartily as did the Tsaritza.
+
+A week later we were back at Tsarskoe-Selo, and the monk--who pretended
+to have been on a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Tver--made to the Empress a
+full report of his journey to Potsdam. He also told her of the diabolical
+plot to sweep off the population of Vologda and Nijni as an experiment,
+in order to see how Hun "science" could win the war.
+
+Protopopoff came to Rasputin's house half-a-dozen times within the next
+three days, and it was arranged that a firm of importers, Illine and
+Stroukoff, of Petrograd, should handle the consignment of preserved meat.
+Both partners in the firm were in the pay of the Ministry of the
+Interior, hence it was not difficult to arrange that the whole cargo
+should be sent to Vologda and Nijni to relieve there the growing shortage
+of meat.
+
+I strove to combat the clever plot, but was, alas! unable to do so. Every
+precaution was taken against possible failure. The cargo arrived, and was
+at once sent on by rail to its destination, payment being made for it
+through ordinary channels, and nobody suspecting. Food was welcomed
+indeed in Russia in those days of 1916.
+
+In the stress of exciting events that followed I forgot the affair for
+several weeks. One night, however, Rasputin, on returning from Peterhof,
+where the Court was at that moment, received Protopopoff, and the pair
+sat down to drink together.
+
+Suddenly His Excellency exclaimed, with a laugh:
+
+"Your mission to Berlin has borne fruit, my dear Gregory! For the past
+four days I have been receiving terrible reports from Vologda, and worse
+from Nijni-Novgorod. The inhabitants have been seized by a mysterious and
+terribly fatal disease. A medical commission left Petrograd yesterday to
+study it."
+
+"Let them study it!" laughed Rasputin. "They will discover no mode of
+treatment."
+
+"Both towns are rapidly becoming decimated. There have been over thirty
+thousand deaths, and the mortality is daily increasing."
+
+"As I expected," remarked the monk. "The professor knows what he is
+doing. Later on we shall be sending the infection into England and cause
+our John Bull friends a surprise."
+
+"But the position is terribly serious," said His Excellency.
+
+"No doubt. Berlin is watching the result. One day they may deem it wise
+to infect our army. But that must be left to their discretion."
+
+Truly the result of that devilish plot was most awful. In the three
+months that followed--though not a word leaked out to the Allies, so
+careful were Protopopoff and the camarilla to suppress all the
+facts--more than half the population of the two cities died from a
+disease which to this day is a complete mystery, and its bacilli known
+only to German bacteriologists.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+THE "PERFUME OF DEATH"
+
+
+     "I AM much grieved to hear of the disaster at Obukhov. The
+     accident to Colonel Zinovief is most deplorable. Please place a
+     wreath upon his grave from me. Pray always for us.
+                                                           "ALIX."
+
+This was the text of a telegram addressed to Rasputin from the Empress,
+which I opened when it was placed in my hands. It had been sent from
+Bakhtchisaray, the Oriental town in the Crimea, where Alexandra
+Feodorovna had gone to visit the military hospitals, it being necessary
+for her to pose before Russia as sympathetic to the wounded.
+
+The disaster to which she referred had taken place at the great steel
+works at Obukhov, the outrage having been committed by two German secret
+agents named Lachkarioff and Filimonoff, who had visited Rasputin and
+from whose hand they had received German money. Nearly five hundred lives
+had been lost, as the foundry had been in close proximity to an
+explosives factory, where Colonel Zinovief, the director, had been blown
+to atoms.
+
+It was late at night, and the monk, who was in a state of
+semi-intoxication, on hearing of the wish of Her Majesty, remarked:
+
+"Ah! a clever woman, Feodor--very clever. She never misses an opportunity
+to show her sympathy with the people. Oh! yes--order the wreath to-morrow
+from Solovioff in the Nevski--a fine large one." Then laughing, he added:
+"The people, when they see it, will never suspect that Alexandra
+Feodorovna knew of the pending disaster eight days ago. But," he added
+suddenly, after a pause, "is it not time, Feodor, that I saw another
+vision?"
+
+I laughed. I knew how, during the week that had elapsed since our return
+from the secret visit to Potsdam, he was constantly holding reunions of
+his sister-disciples, many fresh "converts" being admitted to the new
+religion.
+
+Both Lachkarioff and Filimonoff, authors of the terrible disaster at
+Obukhov, had been furnished with passports by Protopopoff, and were
+already well on their way to Sweden, but the catastrophe was the signal
+for a terrible period of unrest throughout Russia, and in the fortnight
+that followed, rumours, purposely started by German agents and the secret
+police under Protopopoff, assumed most alarming proportions.
+
+All was the creation of Rasputin's evil brain. With the Emperor and
+Empress absent in the South, he had, with the connivance of "No. 70,
+Berlin," determined to undermine the moral of the whole nation by
+disseminating false reports and arranging for disaster after disaster.
+
+In the "saint's" study in the Gorokhovaya there was arranged the terrible
+railway "accident" which occurred near Smolensk, in which a crowded troop
+train collided with an ambulance train, the wreckage being run into by a
+second troop train, all three trains eventually taking fire and burning.
+The exact loss of life will never be known.
+
+Another outrage was the destruction of the big railway bridge over the
+River Tvertza, not far from Kava, thus blocking the Petrograd-Moscow
+line, while a train conveying high explosives made in England a few days
+later blew up while passing the station of Odozerskaja, completely
+wrecking the line between Archangel and Petrograd and killing nearly
+three hundred people.
+
+Each of these outrages was arranged in my presence, and I was compelled
+to assist in counting the money which was afterwards given by the monk to
+their perpetrators as price of their perfidy.
+
+"We must create unrest," Rasputin declared one night to His Excellency
+the Minister Protopopoff, as the precious pair sat together. "We must
+prepare Russia for disaster."
+
+Hence it was that they arranged for a series of most alarming false
+rumours to be circulated throughout the length and breadth of the Empire.
+
+Indeed, on the day following, I heard in a bank where I had business that
+all Moscow was involved in a great revolution, that the Moscow police
+were on strike, and that the troops had refused to fire upon the
+populace. Everyone stood aghast at the news. But the truth was that the
+telegraphs and telephones between Moscow and Petrograd had been wilfully
+cut in three places by agents of Protopopoff, and while those alarming
+rumours were current in Petrograd, similar rumours were rife in Moscow
+that revolution had broken out in the capital.
+
+Rasputin and his friends in the course of a few days created a veritable
+whirlwind of false reports, hoping by that means to shatter or stifle all
+manifestations of patriotic feeling, and prepare Russia for a separate
+peace.
+
+Meanwhile he had contrived, as the Kaiser ordered, to prevent the
+offensive being resumed in Poland; and yet so cleverly did he effect all
+this that General Brusiloff, who was at the south-west front, actually
+gave an interview to a British journalist, declaring that the war was
+already won, "though it was merely speculation to estimate how much
+longer will be required before the enemy are convinced that the cause for
+the sake of which they have drenched Europe in blood is irretrievably
+lost."
+
+The cold white light of later events has indeed revealed the black hearts
+of Rasputin and his friends, for while all this was in progress Stuermer,
+though so active in the betrayal of his country, boldly made a speech
+deploring the fact that anyone credited the sinister rumours which his
+fellow-conspirators had started, and to save his face he warned the
+working-classes to remain patient and prosecute the war with vigour.
+
+I recollect well the day he had made that speech--the day on which the
+Labour group of the Central War Industrial Committee issued its
+declaration. There was a reunion of the sister-disciples, at which three
+new members were admitted to the cult, all society women under thirty,
+and all good-looking. Their names were Baroness Terenine, whose husband
+had been Governor of Yaroslav; Countess Chidlovski, one of the
+acknowledged society beauties of Petrograd, who had of late had an
+"affair" with an Italian tenor named Baccelli; and Anna, the pretty young
+daughter of a woman named Friede, who was also a "disciple."
+
+There was a large attendance, and Rasputin exhibited more than the usual
+mock piety. In his jumbled jargon, which he called a sermon--that mixture
+of quotations from the "Lives of Saints" mingled with horrible
+obscenities--he had referred to the terrible rumours.
+
+"These, I fear, my dear sisters, are, alas! too true," he declared.
+"Being in the position of knowing much, I beg of you all to pray
+ceaselessly, and let these three who to-day join our holy circle take
+upon themselves the duty of obtaining fresh converts, and thus ensure to
+themselves the blessing of him who stands here before you--the saviour of
+Russia."
+
+Then he paused, and all the kneeling women crossed themselves, piously
+murmuring, as was part of the creed:
+
+"God's will be done! God's will be done! Truly, our Father Gregory is
+holy! Truly, the sacrifice which each and all of us make is made to God!"
+
+The three newly-admitted aspirants, dressed in very flimsy black in the
+mode which the monk imposed upon them, knelt before the Father and kissed
+his hands, while from his lips fell those awful blasphemies, which,
+amazing as it was, hypnotised, neurotic society women believed to be the
+truth.
+
+Afterwards Rasputin gave them all tea and cake, he being personally
+waited upon by the three neophytes. Then, half-an-hour after the last one
+had departed--for the three had remained behind with him for further
+private instruction and conversation, as was usual--the Prime Minister
+Stuermer was announced.
+
+"I have made the speech you suggested," he declared to the monk as he
+sank into a chair. "Phew! what a smell of perfume, my dear Gregory!" he
+laughed. "Your sister-disciples have left it behind them. Open the
+window, Feodor," he exclaimed, turning to me. "Let us have some fresh
+air."
+
+The monk then explained that while Stuermer had made that public
+declaration he had told the women that the situation was grave, well
+knowing that they, in turn, would tell their husbands, and the rumours
+would quickly be propagated.
+
+"I have had another reassuring telegram from Downing Street," Stuermer
+remarked, with a grin. "I dare not publish it, otherwise it would upset
+our friends in Berlin."
+
+"As I have told you, the Kaiser forbids the publication of any of our
+reassurances from France or England--especially from the English, whom he
+hates so deeply. What, I wonder, will be the fate of the English when he
+is able to send an army of invasion across the North Sea?"
+
+"If he is ever able. I doubt it," remarked the traitorous Premier of
+Russia.
+
+"He certainly intends doing so," said Rasputin. "And when he does I
+should be sorry to be in Britain. They will treat the civilians worse
+than they did the Belgians."
+
+"Yes; he intended being in Paris two years ago," replied the goat-bearded
+_debauche_ in uniform.
+
+"It is time I saw another vision," said the monk presently. "I shall see
+one to-night most probably--one concerning our defeat."
+
+"Do," urged Stuermer. "You have not had a vision for quite a long time. It
+impresses all classes, and we can make so much use of it when dealing
+with Nicholas. He believes as thoroughly in your visions as in the
+spirit-voice of the dead Alexander."
+
+Next day the whole world of Petrograd was startled.
+
+To Grichka the Blessed Virgin had once again revealed herself, just as
+she had done years ago to the peasant girl at Lourdes.
+
+The Procurator of the Holy Synod called to see him at noon to inquire of
+him personally, and ascertain what he had seen. Rasputin, with his hands
+crossed over his breast, turned his dark eyes heavenward, and said:
+
+"It is true that last night, just after midnight, as I was praying in my
+room, Our Lady appeared unto me in a cloud of shining light. She was
+clothed in bright blue, and in her hands she bore a bunch of lilies.
+Behind her I saw a picture of a great battlefield, where our soldiers
+were retreating in disorder, being shot down in hundreds by the
+machine-guns of the enemy--and worse--and worse!" And the charlatan hid
+his face in his hands as though to shut out the horror of the
+recollection.
+
+"What else?" asked the head of the Russian Church. "Tell me, O Father."
+
+"It is too terrible--the public must not know----" he gasped, as though
+in fear. "I saw our Emperor killed on the field of battle; he was struck
+in the head by a piece of shell from one of the German long-range guns,
+and half his face was blown away. Ugh!" And he shuddered. "The sight of
+it was terrible. My blood ran cold. Nicholas, our Emperor, dead! I saw
+Brusiloff, too, lying shot, with a dozen other generals. Then the scene
+changed, and I saw the burial of the Emperor with all pomp, and his widow
+Alexandra Feodorovna following the coffin."
+
+"And then?"
+
+"Then Our Lady opened her lips, and I heard her voice," went on the
+"holy" liar. "She spake to me slowly and solemnly, saying: 'O Gregory,
+what thou hast witnessed is decreed to take place within forty days from
+to-day! These scenes will be enacted upon Russian soil--and worse. The
+people of Petrograd, Moscow and Warsaw will be put to the sword by the
+enemy, who have right and justice upon their side. Russia has fallen away
+from God, and is now accursed.' I shrieked at those fateful words. But
+she repeated them, adding: 'Thou, O Gregory, canst still save Russia if
+thou wilt raise thy voice in warning. Peace must be effected. Let those
+who are in alliance with Russia fight on if they will, but let Russia
+remain holy for the sake of its innocent people and its great Imperial
+house. Warn His Majesty at once, warn his Ministers, to cut themselves
+adrift from those nations which are seeking to profit by their alliance
+with Russia. Compel them to make peace with the Emperor William. If this
+is not concluded within forty days, then God's wrath will fall upon this
+land. Thou art sent by God as His apostle, therefore take heed and take
+instant action!' And a second later she had faded out, and there was
+nothing but darkness."
+
+I could see how greatly our visitor was impressed.
+
+"The Emperor should surely know," he said, astounded.
+
+"Yes, but we must not alarm the public too greatly," Rasputin replied.
+
+"Already it is on everyone's lips," exclaimed the other. "The wildest
+stories are afloat concerning the Blessed Virgin's appearance to you. We
+certainly must have peace with Germany. That is what everyone is saying,
+except members of the Duma and the war party."
+
+Thus, by pretending to have seen a vision at an hour when, truth to tell,
+he had been snoring in a drunken sleep, half Russia grew alarmed,
+including the Emperor and Empress, who both hurried back to
+Tsarskoe-Selo, where Rasputin repeated with much embellishment what he
+had told the Procurator of the Holy Synod.
+
+Just at the moment Rasputin was engaged upon a piece of outrageous
+blackmailing, which I think ought to be recorded against him.
+
+The facts were briefly as follow. The German agent Lachkarioff, who with
+his accomplice had blown up the Obukhov steel works and was now safe in
+Sweden, had, while in Petrograd, made the acquaintance of a certain
+Madame Doukhovski, the young wife of the President of the Superior
+Tribunal at Kharkof. She was a giddy little woman, and the monk had
+plotted with old Countess Ignatieff to entice her to join the cult, but
+she had always refused. Lachkarioff was a good-looking, well-dressed man,
+who posed as a commercial magnate of Riga, and she, I suppose, fell
+beneath his charm. At any rate, for a long time the pair were
+inseparable.
+
+One day the German agent, who was an exceedingly wily person, came to
+Rasputin and told him that he had induced the young lady of Kharkof to
+reveal to him certain secrets concerning the dealings of Soukhomlinoff
+and the supply of machine-guns for the Army--facts which had been
+presented in strictest confidence by one of the War Minister's enemies to
+the President of the Kharkof tribunal.
+
+Rasputin smiled in triumph when he heard the exact details which Madame
+Doukhovski had divulged.
+
+"Sit down yonder, my friend, and put that into writing, and sign it,"
+said the monk, indicating the table by the window.
+
+"You will not punish her for her indiscretion, I hope," remarked the man,
+who was at the moment plotting that series of terrible disasters.
+
+"Not in the least," Rasputin assured him. "Your friend is my friend. But
+when such statements are made I like to have them on record. If
+Soukhomlinoff comes up for trial--which I very much doubt--then the
+memorandum may be of use to prove what silly and baseless gossip has been
+in circulation."
+
+In consequence of this assurance, Lachkarioff wrote down what had been
+told him by the judge's wife, a document which the "saint" preserved with
+much care--until the Obukhov catastrophe had taken place and its author
+was out of Russia. Then he wrote to Madame Doukhovski and asked her to
+call upon him upon an urgent matter concerning her husband.
+
+In surprise, and perhaps a little anxious, she kept the appointment one
+afternoon, and I ushered her into the monk's room.
+
+He rose, and, addressing her roughly, said:
+
+"So you have obeyed me, woman! And it is best for you that you have done
+so. Hitherto you have held me in contempt and refused all invitations to
+visit me. Why?"
+
+"Because I am not a believer," was her open, straightforward answer.
+
+"Then you will believe me ere I have done," he declared, with an evil
+grin, stroking his ragged beard, and fixing his eyes upon her.
+
+"You insult me," she cried angrily. "Why should you speak to me like
+this?"
+
+"Because you have been an associate of Felix Lachkarioff--a traitor and a
+spy," he declared in that deep, hard voice of his. "Oh! you cannot deny
+it. Your husband has no knowledge that you were an intimate friend of the
+man who has fled from Russia after causing that frightful disaster at
+Obukhov. Is not that so?"
+
+The handsome, dark-haired woman whom the spy had so grossly betrayed
+turned pale, and sat utterly staggered that her secret was out. She had
+never dreamed that the handsome, polite man who had one day been
+presented to her in the lounge of the Hotel d'Europe was a German agent,
+that he was engaged in committing outrages on behalf of the enemy, or
+that he was friendly with the monk.
+
+"Your husband does not know that spy? Answer me?" demanded Rasputin
+roughly.
+
+"I have told my husband nothing," was her faltering reply.
+
+"That is not surprising, Madame," laughed the "saint," leaning back in
+the chair where he had seated himself, "especially when you have told
+that spy certain secrets of our Government, which you obtained by
+examining the dossiers which have been passing through your husband's
+hands."
+
+"What do you mean?" she cried, starting up in indignation.
+
+"Ah, no," he said; "it is useless to pretend ignorance, Madame. Read
+this!"
+
+And he handed her a copy of what the German agent had written, saying: "I
+have the original, which I am passing to the authorities, so that they
+may take what action they deem best against you as a traitor and against
+your husband for negligence!"
+
+The unfortunate woman, when she scanned the statement, went pale to the
+lips, fully realising the extreme seriousness of the nature of her
+offence, now that her admirer was known to be a spy of Germany.
+
+"But you won't do that?" she gasped. "Think, Father, what it would mean
+both to my husband and myself! Think!" she cried hoarsely.
+
+"You have revealed the contents of certain highly confidential documents
+to the Germans," the monk said. "You do not deny it. You, Madame
+Doukhovski, are a traitor to Russia, and evidence of your treachery is
+contained in that confession of a German spy whom you assisted and whom
+you----"
+
+"I looked at the dossiers on my husband's table because Monsieur
+Lachkarioff asked me to do so," she declared. "He told me he was a friend
+of Soukhomlinoff, and that he was doing all he could to assist in
+clearing him of the charges levelled against him. I believed him,
+alas!--I was foolish enough to believe that he spoke the truth. And now
+he has betrayed me!"
+
+"I suppose you were infatuated by the man," laughed the monk scornfully.
+"If you were so weak, then you must pay the penalty."
+
+"And that is--what?" she asked breathlessly, and pale as death.
+
+"Exposure," replied the charlatan who was the head of the traitorous
+camarilla around the throne. "Our dear land is in serious peril to-day,
+therefore those who attempt to betray her should be held up as examples
+to others."
+
+"But you will not--you'll not let anyone know of my indiscretion!" she
+begged.
+
+"That certainly is my intention," was his hard reply. "This statement was
+made to me by your lover, and it is but right that it should be
+investigated, so that we may know the extent of the harm that you have
+done."
+
+The frantic, despairing woman, bursting into tears, threw herself at the
+feet of the "miracle worker," begging hard for mercy.
+
+"Think!" she cried. "Think what it will mean to my husband and myself. He
+will probably be placed under arrest and lose his post, while I--I would
+rather die than face such exposure."
+
+"Ah! my dear Madame," said Rasputin tauntingly. "Life is very sweet, you
+know."
+
+"But you must not do this!" she shrieked loudly. "Promise me, Father,
+that you will not! Promise me--do!"
+
+Rasputin drew his hand roughly from her, for she had seized it as she
+implored him to show her mercy.
+
+"There may be some extenuating circumstances in your case--but I doubt
+it," he said.
+
+"There are!" she declared. "I grew to love the man. I was blind, mad,
+infatuated--but now I hate him! Would that I could kill the man who
+wrought such disaster in our land! Would that I could kill him with my
+own hand!"
+
+Rasputin drew a long breath. The wish she expressed had suddenly aroused
+within his inventive brain a means of executing a sharp and bitter
+revenge.
+
+"Perhaps one day, ere long, you may be afforded opportunity," he said in
+a changed voice. "If so, I will call you here again and explain what I
+mean."
+
+"Ah! Then I may hope for your pity and indulgence, eh?" she cried
+quickly, but still in deep anxiety.
+
+Yet Rasputin would not commit himself, for he was playing a very deep and
+intricate game.
+
+When the erring woman had gone the monk filled his glass with brandy,
+some of that choice old cognac which the Empress sent him regularly, and
+turning to me, said:
+
+"Feodor, the man Doukhovski is wealthy, I understand. Protopopoff has
+been making inquiry, and finds that he is owner of a large estate near
+Ryazhsk, and that from an uncle quite recently he inherited nearly a
+million roubles. He only retains his office because he does not regard it
+as patriotic to retire while the war is in progress. What will he think
+of his wife's betrayal when he knows of it?"
+
+"But you will not inform him," I exclaimed.
+
+"Not if Madame is reasonable. She is wealthy in her own right," replied
+the monk. "If women err they must be compelled to pay the price," he went
+on in a hard voice. "Felix Lachkarioff evidently deceived her very
+cleverly. But there--he is one of the most expert agents that the
+Koeniggraetzerstrasse possesses, and is so essentially a ladies' man."
+
+After a pause Rasputin, lighting a cigarette, laughed lightly to himself,
+and said:
+
+"The report furnished to me yesterday shows that Madame was one of the
+Plechkoffs of Lublin, and her balance at the Azov Bank is a very
+considerable one. The price of my silence is the money she has there. And
+I shall obtain it, Feodor--you will see," he added with confidence.
+
+So ruthlessly did he treat the unfortunate woman that, by dint of threats
+to place the original of that statement of Lachkarioff before the
+Minister Protopopoff, he had before a week had passed every rouble she
+possessed.
+
+I was present on the night when she came to him to make the offer, the
+negotiations having been opened and carried on by a man named Zouieff,
+one of the several professional blackmailers whom Rasputin employed from
+time to time under the guise of "lawyers." She was beside herself in
+terror and despair, and carried with her a cheque-book.
+
+The interview was a strikingly dramatic one. She penitent, submissive,
+and full of hatred of the spy under whose influence she had fallen; the
+monk cold, brutal, and unforgiving.
+
+"Yes," he said at last, when she offered him a monetary consideration in
+exchange for his silence. "But I am not content with a few paltry
+roubles. I am collecting for my new monastery at Kertch, and what you
+give will atone to God for your crime."
+
+Within ten minutes she had written out a cheque for the whole of her
+private fortune, while at the monk's dictation I wrote out a declaration
+that his allegations were false, a document which he signed and handed to
+her, together with Lachkarioff's original statement.
+
+Even then Rasputin's cunning was not at its limit.
+
+Lachkarioff's usefulness to Germany in Russia was at an end. He was in
+Gothenburg, and being a close friend of an English journalist there, it
+was feared lest he should allow himself to be interviewed, and reveal
+something of the truth concerning the subterranean working of Germany in
+Petrograd.
+
+"The man's lips ought to be closed," Steinhauer had written to Rasputin
+only a week before. "Can you suggest any way? While he lives he will be a
+menace to us all. Filimonoff is safe in an asylum in Copenhagen, though I
+believe he is perfectly sane. Only it is best that no risk should be
+run."
+
+Here were means ready to hand to close the mouth of Felix Lachkarioff,
+for the woman whom he had betrayed was furiously vengeful.
+
+"You said the other day that you would be ready to strike a blow at that
+enemy of Russia who has so grossly misled you," Rasputin said to her in a
+deep, earnest voice, as she sat in his room. "Would not such a course be
+deeply patriotic? Why not, as expiation of your sin, travel to Gothenburg
+and avenge those hundreds of poor people who were his victims at Obukhov?
+I can give into your hand the means," he added, looking her straight in
+the face.
+
+"What means?" she asked.
+
+He crossed to his writing-table, and, unlocking a drawer with a key upon
+his chain, he took out a tiny bottle of extremely expensive Parisian
+perfume, a pale-green liquid, which he handed to her.
+
+"It looks like scent," he remarked, with a grin, "but it contains
+something else--something so potent that a single drop introduced into
+food or drink will produce death within an hour, the symptoms being
+exactly those of heart disease. That is what deaths resulting from it are
+always declared to be. So there is no risk. Meet him, be friendly, dine
+with him for the sake of old days in Petrograd, and before you leave him
+he will be doomed," added Rasputin, in a low whisper. "He surely deserves
+it after deceiving you as he has done!"
+
+"He certainly does," she declared fiercely, unable to overlook how he had
+betrayed her. "And I will do it!" she added, taking up the little bottle.
+"Russia shall be avenged."
+
+"Excellent, my dear sister. You will indeed be rewarded," declared
+Rasputin, crossing himself. "When you return to Petrograd, give me back
+that precious little bottle of perfume, which I call the Perfume of
+Death."
+
+That the woman did not fail to carry out her promise was certain, for
+within a fortnight we heard in a secret dispatch that Hardt brought us
+from Berlin that the agent Lachkarioff had died suddenly from heart
+disease after dining with a Russian lady friend at the Grand Hotel in
+Stockholm.
+
+Truly, the grip in which Germany held Russia and its Government was an
+iron one, and death most assuredly came to those whom Berlin feared, or
+who were in any way obnoxious to the German war party.
+
+Ten days later a small packet was left at the house, addressed to the
+monk. When I opened it I found the little Parisian perfume bottle.
+
+One morning, a week later, I went with Rasputin to the Ministry of the
+Interior, where we were ushered into the small, elegant private room of
+"Satan-in-a-silk-hat" Protopopoff, who greeted us cordially. But as soon
+as the door was closed, and he had invited us to be seated, he rose,
+turned the key, and, facing us, gravely said:
+
+"Gregory, I fear something serious is about to happen. Late last night I
+received an urgent visit from the Under-director of Secret Police of
+Moscow, who had come post-haste to tell me that there has been a secret
+meeting between Miliukoff and the Grand Dukes Serge and Dmitri in that
+city, and it has been decided that at the reopening of the Duma Miliukoff
+will rise and publicly expose us."
+
+"What?" shrieked the monk, starting. "Is that what is intended?" he asked
+breathlessly.
+
+"Yes. He apparently knows the authors of the outrage at Obukhov and our
+association with them. It is believed that he actually holds documentary
+evidence of the money which we passed through the Volga-Kama Bank, in
+Tula."
+
+"But this must be prevented at all hazards," declared Rasputin. "We
+cannot allow him to denounce us. Not that anybody will believe him. But
+it is not policy at this moment. Public opinion is highly inflamed."
+
+"I agree. Of course, nobody will believe him. Yet he is dangerous, and if
+he denounces us in the Duma it will come as a bombshell. I called upon
+Anna Vyrubova early this morning, and she has gone to the palace," said
+Protopopoff.
+
+Rasputin remained silent, his hand stroking his ragged beard, a habit of
+his when working out some scheme more devilish than others.
+
+"Miliukoff will be supported by Purishkevitch, without a doubt," His
+Excellency the Minister went on. "Both are equally dangerous."
+
+The "saint" grunted and knit his brows, for he saw himself in a very
+perilous position. In three days' time the Duma would re-open, and
+Miliukoff would probably bring forth certain documentary evidence of the
+treachery of Stuermer, Fredericks, Soukhomlinoff, Anna Vyrubova, and a
+dozen others who formed the camarilla which was working for Russia's
+downfall.
+
+"The Duma must be prevented from opening," Rasputin declared at last.
+"The Emperor must rescind the order and further postpone it."
+
+"The Duma has been prohibited from meeting for over five months. It can,
+I agree, wait still further. His Majesty must find some excuse, or----"
+
+"I know what is passing in your mind, friend," interrupted the monk.
+"Yes, I will urge Nicholas further to prohibit it, and thus give us time
+to suppress our enemies."
+
+"Action must be taken at once," said the Minister. "I had a telephone
+message from the secret police in Moscow to say that Miliukoff left for
+Petrograd at nine o'clock this morning. The Grand Dukes have gone south."
+
+Two hours later, on our return to the Gorokhovaya, an Imperial courier
+arrived in hot haste from Tsarskoe-Selo with a sealed note for the monk,
+enclosed in two envelopes.
+
+These I tore open, and, signing the outer envelope as assurance of safe
+receipt, handed it to the courier, who left. Afterwards I read the
+message to Rasputin, it being as follows:
+
+     "HOLY FATHER,--Anna has just told me of Miliukoff's intention in
+     the Duma. The Emperor must further adjourn its re-assembling. I
+     have telegraphed to him urging him to do this. If not, let us
+     adopt Noyo's suggestion to pay the agents J. and B. ten thousand
+     roubles to remove him. I would willingly pay a hundred thousand
+     roubles to close his mouth for ever. This must be done. Suggest
+     it to P. [Protopopoff]. Surely the same means could be used as
+     with T. and L. and the end be quite natural and peaceful! You
+     could supply the means as before. But I urge on you not to delay
+     a moment. All depends upon Miliukoff's removal. If he reveals to
+     the Duma what he knows, then everything must be lost. I kiss your
+     dear hands. With Olga I ask your blessing.--Your dutiful
+     daughter,
+                                                                "A."
+
+It was thus evident that the Empress knew of what Rasputin gleefully
+called "The Perfume of Death." Ah! in how many cases, I wonder, was it
+used by the mock "saint" to stifle the truth and to sweep his enemies of
+both sexes from his path? Such a letter as this I have here given seems
+utterly incredible in this twentieth century, yet those who knew
+underground Russia immediately before the downfall of the Romanoffs will
+express no surprise.
+
+At once we went to Tsarskoe-Selo with all haste, and Rasputin had a long
+conference in private with the Empress and Anna, the outcome of which was
+that Alexandra Feodorovna dispatched an urgent message in cipher to the
+Tsar, who was still absent at South-West Headquarters.
+
+We remained at the palace all that day. At six o'clock Anna Vyrubova
+entered the room, where I sat writing some letters, and inquired for the
+monk.
+
+"He was here a quarter of an hour ago," I replied.
+
+"Then find him at once and give him this. It is most urgent," said the
+high-priestess of the cult of the "sister-disciples," handing me a sealed
+envelope.
+
+Ten minutes later I found Rasputin walking alone on the terrace,
+impatient and thoughtful, and opened the envelope. Within was a message
+in Their Majesties' private cipher, which had been deciphered by the
+Empress's own hand, and which read:
+
+     "Tell our dear Father [Rasputin] that to postpone the Duma would,
+     I fear, create an unfavourable impression, and I judge
+     impossible. Protopopoff has asked my authority to arrest
+     Miliukoff upon some technical charge, but I do not consider such
+     a course good policy. I agree that to-day's situation is grave,
+     and agree also that at the last moment some means should be taken
+     to prevent him from speaking.
+                                                              "NIKKI."
+
+The monk at once flew to the Empress's side, where Stuermer was being
+received in audience. Again the situation was eagerly discussed. That
+night, when we returned to Petrograd, although it was nearly midnight,
+Protopopoff was summoned by telephone, and when the pair met I learnt
+what had been arranged at the Palace.
+
+The Empress's wishes were to be carried out. The patriot Miliukoff was to
+be "removed."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+MILIUKOFF'S EXPOSURE
+
+
+MATTERS were now growing daily more desperate in Russia. Suspense,
+unrest, and suspicion were rife everywhere, while the deluded people were
+kept quiet by promises of a great offensive in the near future.
+
+The Minister Protopopoff, wearing his gorgeous uniform, his breast
+covered with decorations--the man whom Great Britain regarded as so
+extremely friendly--had just paid a visit to the British Embassy, and on
+his way home called upon Rasputin.
+
+"It is just as we heard from Moscow," he said to the monk anxiously.
+"Miliukoff intends to denounce you at the opening of the Duma. He has
+been in communication with both the French and British Embassies, and as
+far as I can learn both are in entire agreement with him."
+
+"Then I must save myself," Rasputin declared, stroking his matted beard
+thoughtfully.
+
+"The British never dream that I have been assisting you in your schemes
+with Alexandra Feodorovna. That is why they are so friendly with me at
+the Embassy. Indeed, only yesterday the French Ambassador handed me the
+latest report upon the output of munitions in France, and the details of
+their long-range gun. These I copied, and Hardt has left with them for
+Berlin."
+
+"Truly, we have fooled the Allies exquisitely," laughed the Black Monk.
+"But if I am denounced, you also will be discovered as my associate, as
+well as Stuermer, Fredericks, and our other friends."
+
+"That is why the Empress urges you to resort to the 'perfume,'" said the
+much-decorated traitor.
+
+"Yes, but how?" asked Rasputin. "There is no time."
+
+"There is sufficient."
+
+"What do you suggest?" asked the monk.
+
+"You know little Xenie, who married the Councillor of State, Kalatcheff,
+last year? She is one of your 'sisters,' is she not?"
+
+The "saint" nodded.
+
+"Well, according to a secret report made to me, she has conceived a
+violent hatred of Miliukoff, who was once a friend of her husband, and
+who still admires her. Miliukoff visits her home sometimes, and one day
+quite recently while in her salon he denounced you. She has been going
+about declaring him to be your bitterest enemy. If so, could she not
+invite him to take tea with her--and then?"
+
+"An excellent idea!" cried Rasputin. "Xenie Kalatcheff warned me against
+Miliukoff some time ago, I recollect. I will see her and sound her upon
+the subject." Then, turning to me, he asked me to inquire over the
+telephone if Madame Kalatcheff was at home.
+
+Five minutes later I informed the monk that the lady was at home, and was
+ready to speak with him if he wished.
+
+At once Rasputin went to the instrument, and, after greeting her gaily,
+asked if she could possibly come round to see him "on a very urgent
+affair," to which she at once acceded.
+
+"I had better not see her, so I shall get off," said His Excellency. "Be
+careful how you treat her. Recollect, her mind may have been poisoned
+against you by Miliukoff. These members of the Duma are often very clever
+and cunning."
+
+"Leave the matter in my hands," said the "saint," with a grin. "I will
+soon ascertain her exact attitude, and act accordingly. First, we must
+remove Miliukoff, and next Purishkevitch--who is equally our enemy."
+
+About twenty minutes later I ushered into the monk's presence a pretty,
+handsomely-dressed woman of about twenty-eight, who often attended our
+reunions, and who was one of the best-known society women in Petrograd.
+
+I was about to turn and leave when Rasputin said:
+
+"You can remain, Feodor. The matter upon which I have to speak with our
+sister here concerns you as well as myself."
+
+Then, when the wife of the Councillor of State was seated, Rasputin
+carefully approached the subject of Miliukoff.
+
+"It has been whispered to me that he is my bitter enemy, and that he is
+about to speak against me in the Duma," he said. "I believe your husband
+and he are friendly. Do you happen to know if there is any truth in this
+rumour?"
+
+"Yes, Father, I do," was madame's instant reply. "I warned you of him
+three weeks ago, but you did not heed. I also told Anna Vyrubova, but her
+reply was that you, being divine, would be perfectly able to take care of
+yourself."
+
+"So I am. But it is against God's holy law that human tongues should
+utter lies against me," he said, cleverly impressing upon her the fact
+that if Miliukoff were suppressed it would be no crime, but an act of
+duty.
+
+"To me, in my own house, he has declared his intention of denouncing
+you--and also our dear Anna and the Empress."
+
+The monk was silent. While she was seated he stood before her with folded
+arms, looking straight at her. Suddenly, fixing her with those remarkable
+eyes of his, he asked in a deep, hard voice:
+
+"Xenie, will you permit this man to besmirch the name of him whom God
+hath sent to you?"
+
+"I don't understand!" she cried, surprised at his attitude. "How can I
+prevent it?"
+
+"It lies in your hands," declared the mock saint. "You are his
+friend--and also mine. He visits your house--what more easy--than----"
+
+"Than what?"
+
+"Than you should invite him to take tea with you to-morrow--to discuss
+myself. He knows that you are a 'disciple,' I suppose?"
+
+"Yes, he has somehow learnt it--but my husband is in ignorance, and he
+has promised not to reveal the truth to him."
+
+"If he knows of our friendship he might tell your husband. He is
+unprincipled, and probably will do so. That is why I suggest you should
+ask him to tea."
+
+As he spoke he crossed to the writing-table, and, opening a drawer with
+the key upon his chain, he took out the tiny bottle of exquisite Parisian
+perfume.
+
+"What is that you have there?" she asked, with curiosity, noticing the
+little bottle. "Scent?"
+
+"Yes," he said, with a mysterious grin. "It is, my dear sister, the
+Perfume of Death."
+
+"The Perfume of Death?" she echoed. "I don't understand!"
+
+"Then I will tell you, Xenie," he replied, his great hypnotic eyes again
+fixed upon her. "I do not use perfume myself, but others sometimes, on
+rare occasions, use this. It is unsuspicious, and can be left upon a
+lady's dressing-table. A drop used upon a handkerchief emits a most
+delicate odour, like jasmine, but a single drop in a cup of tea means
+death. For two hours the doomed person feels no effect. But suddenly he
+or she becomes faint, and succumbs to heart disease."
+
+"Ah, I see!" she gasped, half-starting from her chair, her face ashen
+grey. "I--I realise what you intend, Father! I--I----"
+
+And she sank back again in her chair, breathless and aghast, without
+concluding her sentence.
+
+"No!" she shrieked suddenly. "No; I could not be a poisoner--a murderess!
+_Anything but that!_"
+
+"Not for the sake of the one sent by God as saviour of our dear Russia?"
+he asked reproachfully, in a low, intense tone. "That man Miliukoff is
+God's enemy--and ours. In your hand lies the means of removing him in
+secret, without the least suspicion."
+
+And slowly the crafty, insinuating criminal took her inert hand, and
+pressed the little bottle into its soft palm.
+
+"One drop placed upon the lemon which he takes in his tea will be
+sufficient," he whispered. "Only be extremely careful of it yourself, and
+return the bottle to me afterwards. It is best in my safe keeping."
+
+"No! I can't!" cried the wretched woman over whom Rasputin had now once
+again cast his inexplicable spell.
+
+"But you shall, Xenie! I, your holy Father, command you to render this
+assistance to your land. None shall ever know. Feodor, who knows all my
+innermost secrets, will remain dumb. The world cannot suspect, because no
+toxicologist has ever discovered the existence of the perfume, nor are
+they able to discern that death has not resulted from heart disease."
+
+"But I should be a murderess!" gasped the unhappy woman beneath that
+fateful thraldom.
+
+"No. You will be fulfilling a duty--a sin imposed upon you in order that,
+by committing it, you shall purify yourself for a holy life in future,"
+he said, referring to one of the principles of his erotic "religion."
+
+She began to waver, and instantly I saw that Rasputin had won--as he won
+always with women--and that the patriot Miliukoff had been sentenced to
+death.
+
+"Go!" he commanded at last. "Go, and do my bidding. Return to-morrow
+night, and tell me of your--_success_!"
+
+Then he bowed out the reluctant but fascinated young woman, who in her
+silver chain-bag carried the small bottle of perfume.
+
+That night Rasputin, after drinking half a bottle of brandy, retired to
+bed, declaring that women were only created to be the servants of men.
+Then I sat down, and taking a sheet of plain and very common
+writing-paper, I typed upon it a warning to the man who, at the Empress's
+suggestion, was to be so ruthlessly "removed." The words I typed were:
+
+     "You will be invited to tea to-morrow by Xenie Kalatcheff. Do not
+     accept. There is a plot to cause your death. This warning is
+     from--A Friend."
+
+I typed an envelope with Monsieur Miliukoff's address, and then, slipping
+to the door quietly, I stole out and dropped it in the letter-box at the
+corner of the Kazanskaya.
+
+That I had saved the deputy's life I knew next afternoon when Madame
+Kalatcheff sent round a hurried note to Rasputin, explaining that, though
+she had invited him to her house, he had rather curtly refused the
+invitation.
+
+At this the monk telephoned her to come round, and once again she sat in
+his room explaining that she had sent Miliukoff a note urging him to see
+her at four o'clock, as she wished to make some revelations concerning
+the monk that might be useful to him when speaking in the Duma. The
+reply, which she produced, was certainly couched in most indignant terms.
+
+"Can he suspect, do you think, Feodor?" he asked, turning to me.
+
+"How can he?" I asked. "Perhaps, knowing madame to be a 'disciple,' he
+doubts the genuineness of her promised disclosures."
+
+"Perhaps so," Xenie said. "But what can I do if he suspects me? Nothing
+that I can see."
+
+The pair sat anxiously discussing the situation for the next half-hour,
+until at last the State Councillor's wife, handing back the little bottle
+of perfume to the monk, rose and left.
+
+I was secretly much gratified that I had been able to save the Deputy's
+life, yet Rasputin continued to discuss other plans with me, repeating:
+
+"The fellow must die. Alexandra Feodorovna has willed it. While he lives
+he will always be a constant menace. He must die! He _shall_ die!"
+
+Our national hymn, "Boje Tzaria khrani" ("God save the Tsar"), was being
+sung at the moment in the streets, because news of a victory in Poland
+had just been given out to the public.
+
+Already the foundation stone of the revolution had been laid, and M.
+Miliukoff, with purely patriotic motives, had assisted in cementing it.
+The Senatorial revision which was ordained to inquire into General
+Soukhomlinoff's treachery had, owing to Miliukoff's activity, ordered a
+search at the amorous old fellow's private abode early in the spring,
+with the result that he found himself incarcerated in the fortress of
+Peter and Paul. When the general was arrested, madame his wife--an
+adventuress named Gaskevitch, who had commenced life as a typist in a
+solicitor's office, and who was many years his junior--had a terrible
+attack of hysteria, for things had taken for her a most unexpected turn.
+The woman had been implicated in intrigue and treachery ever since. After
+copying some secret papers for a man in Kiev, she had blackmailed him,
+obtained a big sum of money, and then married a man named Boulovitch, a
+prosperous landed proprietor. By thus entering the higher circle of
+society in Kiev, she got to know General Soukhomlinoff, its
+Governor-General, who connived with her to obtain a divorce from
+Boulovitch, so that she subsequently married the bald-headed old Don Juan
+a few months after his appointment as War Minister.
+
+Madame and Rasputin were ever hand-in-glove. From the moment the general
+was arrested she had worked with singular energy and adroitness to
+retrieve her husband's fallen fortune, and in doing so she assisted to
+lay the beginning of the first Revolution. She enlisted the sympathy of
+Rasputin, Anna Vyrubova and the Empress, all of whom were gravely
+apprehensive as to what might come out at the general's trial. She even
+threw herself at the feet of Alexandra Feodorovna, imploring her to
+intercede with the Emperor so as to save her calumniated and injured
+husband. And at last she succeeded.
+
+The inquiries were suspended, the newspapers were silent regarding the
+scandal, and suddenly it became known that, "owing to the general's
+mental state," it had been decided, on the advice of a board of
+well-known medical specialists, to liberate him!
+
+This astounding news passed from mouth to mouth, and Miliukoff, the
+patriotic fire-brand, declared everywhere that it was Rasputin's work.
+The news produced the most sinister impression upon the people,
+especially on those connected with the Army. The man who had been the
+primary cause of Russia's reverses was to escape punishment! It was,
+indeed, this insensate act of folly on the part of the Tsar which had
+undermined the people's trust in their Emperor, and gave Rasputin's
+enemies--and more especially Miliukoff--opportunity for his bitter
+denunciation.
+
+On the afternoon of the day before the opening of the Duma, Rasputin
+received another letter from the Empress, in cipher, as follows:
+
+     "DEAR FATHER,--Nikki still refuses to postpone the Duma, though I
+     have done all I can to induce him to do so. Come to us at once
+     and try to force him to our views. Not a moment should be lost. I
+     have just heard that Miliukoff is still active, so conclude that
+     what you told me has failed.
+
+     "P. [Protopopoff] has told me an hour ago that Skoropadski [a
+     German agent living in Petrograd as a jeweller in the Nevski] has
+     betrayed us all, and has placed some most incriminating documents
+     in the hands of Miliukoff, who has, in turn, shown them to
+     Purishkevitch. They will be produced in the Duma to-morrow. The
+     police traced Skoropadski to Riga, but they have failed to arrest
+     him, and he has, alas! escaped to Sweden.
+
+     "Holy Father, do not delay a moment in coming to your daughter to
+     comfort her in this her blackest hour! Miliukoff must be
+     prevented from denouncing you. I cannot conceive how your
+     arrangement with Madame Kalatcheff has failed. The perfume has
+     never failed before. Alix is constantly asking for you, and Olga
+     kisses your dear hand. Seek the Emperor at once before coming to
+     me, or he may suspect us to be in collusion. I have quarrelled
+     with him, because by his obstinacy he will ruin us all. How I
+     wish that Miliukoff would be stricken down! Do not delay.
+     Come!--Your devoted daughter,
+                                                                   "A."
+
+Well I knew that the German-born Empress was sitting alone in the palace
+breathlessly anxious as to what disclosures were forthcoming. She was
+not blind to her increasing unpopularity and to the unkind things said
+openly of her. Somebody had just started a rumour that there was a secret
+wireless plant at the palace, by which she could communicate direct with
+Potsdam. Indeed, so many people believed this that, after the Tsar's
+abdication, every nook, corner and garret of Tsarskoe-Selo was searched,
+but without success. Stuermer, Fredericks, Protopopoff, the poison-monger
+Badmayev, Anna Vyrubova, and half-a-dozen others, who formed the dark and
+sinister forces that were rapidly hurling Russia to her doom, were that
+day as anxious and terrified as the Empress herself. Well they knew that
+if Miliukoff, armed with those incriminating documents--the exact nature
+of which they knew not--spoke the truth in the Legislature, then a storm
+of indignation would sweep over them in such a manner that they could
+never withstand it.
+
+Rasputin, thus summoned, went at once to the palace, and I accompanied
+him. He proceeded straight to the Emperor's private room, while I waited
+in a room adjoining.
+
+I heard their voices raised. The Emperor's was raised in protest; that of
+the monk in angry threats.
+
+"If thou wilt not postpone the Duma, then the peril will be upon thine
+own head!" I heard Rasputin shout. "Why allow these revolutionary
+deputies to criticise thy policy and undermine thy popularity with the
+nation? It is folly! Such policy is suicidal, and if thou wilt persist I
+shall withdraw and return to my home, well knowing that to-morrow the day
+of Russia's doom will dawn."
+
+"The people are clamouring for the reopening of the Duma," replied the
+Emperor weakly. "I can do nothing else but submit."
+
+"I have had a vision," declared the monk. "Last night there was revealed
+unto me the dire result of thy folly. I saw thee, the victim of thy
+nation's anger, dethroned, degraded and imprisoned."
+
+But even that lie failed to induce the Tsar to alter his decision, and
+naturally so, for he was afraid of the dark cloud which he saw rising,
+and which he believed to be due to the long adjournment of the Duma.
+Hence he was afraid to take the monk's advice.
+
+Again I heard both men's voices raised in hot argument.
+
+"I am Emperor!" cried the Tsar at last, angrily, in a high, shrill tone,
+"and I refuse to be thus dictated to!"
+
+Next second there was a loud crash of glass, and I heard Rasputin shout:
+
+"Thou refuseth to listen to good counsel! As I have smashed that bowl, so
+will the people, I tell thee, rise and smash the House of Romanoff!"
+
+With those words he turned, and a moment later rejoined me, his face
+flushed with anger, and his knotted fingers clenched.
+
+He went straight to the Empress and told her of his failure to move
+Nicholas from his decision.
+
+"But surely this man Miliukoff must be prevented from speaking!" cried
+the unhappy woman, who saw all her deep-laid schemes crumbling rapidly
+away, and herself branded as a traitress. "Father, you must work yet
+another miracle. He must be seized by a sudden illness--an accident must
+happen to him, or--or something!"
+
+Rasputin shook his head dubiously, declaring that there was no time to
+arrange a second attempt.
+
+"Have you put it to Protopopoff?" she asked. "He might suggest some
+means, now that the woman Kalatcheff has failed us. If not--he will
+speak--and we are lost! Think, Father, what it all means! There is
+already public unrest created by the rumours that we have unfortunately
+spread of pending disaster, and if they are followed by such charges
+supported by documents, then revolution is inevitable!"
+
+I saw that the Tsaritza, now that every means to secure Miliukoff's
+silence had failed, was terrified lest she be exhibited in her own true
+traitorous colours.
+
+Back we went to Petrograd, where we called at Protopopoff's house, and
+where still another attempt against Miliukoff's life was plotted.
+
+By telephone an ex-agent of Secret Police named Stefanovitch, who had
+done much work as an _agent-provocateur_ for the camarilla, was called,
+and a price was at once arranged for the murder of the Deputy.
+
+He was to be shot at and killed outside the Tauris Palace, just before
+two o'clock, as he was entering the Duma. He would probably be walking
+round to the Chamber from his house with his bosom friend M.
+Purishkevitch.
+
+"You will surely know somebody to whom the affair can be entrusted,
+Ivan," said the Minister of the Interior. "If arrested, he will be
+allowed ample opportunity to escape. Naturally he would not come up for
+trial. I would see to that. So you can give him my personal assurance."
+
+"I should suggest a woman," said the man Stefanovitch. "I know one who
+would not hesitate to act as we wish. Her name is Marie Grozdoff, a
+Polish Jewess. I can trust her. She has done something similar for us
+before."
+
+"And the price?"
+
+"The price will be all right," replied the provocating agent, with a
+business-like air.
+
+"Then we entrust the affair to you, Ivan," said His Excellency. "You will
+receive for yourself ten thousand roubles if Miliukoff dies."
+
+And the man went forth to find the woman, who, for money, would not
+hesitate to commit murder.
+
+That night proved a sleepless one for us all. I tried to warn Miliukoff
+again by sending him an anonymous letter, which I posted in secret after
+the monk had retired. But my great fear was lest the letter would not
+reach his hand in time. Probably it would not be delivered till the
+midday post--and if so, he would not see it till after the opening of the
+Duma!
+
+Next morning passed anxiously. Protopopoff had told us over the
+telephone that Stefanovitch had seen the woman Grozdoff, and that all was
+arranged.
+
+I went early to the Duma, and sat among the crowd in the public gallery,
+while Rasputin remained at home, and the Empress at the palace, with Anna
+near the telephone, she having arranged for brief reports of the
+proceedings to be telephoned to her at intervals of a quarter of an hour
+each during the sitting.
+
+M. Michael Rodzianko, the President, gravely took his seat on the stroke
+of two, and the House was crowded. The diplomatic boxes were filled to
+overflowing, the British, French, Italian and United States Ambassadors,
+together with the Ministers of most of the neutral countries, being
+present.
+
+The usual prayer was offered, but neither M. Miliukoff nor M.
+Purishkevitch was in his place!
+
+Had the attempt been successful? I held my breath and wondered. I had
+been listening for a shot, but heard nothing.
+
+Suddenly my heart gave a bound. A pleasant-looking, grey-haired man, in
+gold-rimmed spectacles, and carrying a big bundle of papers, had entered
+by the back way, and was walking to his seat. It was M. Miliukoff! He had
+had my anonymous letter, and had come in by the back way, being followed
+by his bearded, bald-headed friend. Once again had I been able to warn
+him of danger.
+
+The Government was now dancing upon a volcano.
+
+The sitting opened, the President Rodzianko made a speech in which he
+criticised severely the policy of the Stuermer Government, and everyone
+realised the seriousness of the situation now that the President of the
+Duma came out against the Prime Minister.
+
+"The Government must learn from us what the country needs," said
+Rodzianko fiercely. "The Government must not follow a path different from
+the people. With the confidence of the nation it must head the social
+forces in the march toward victory over the enemy, along the path that
+harmonises with the aspirations of the people. There is no other path to
+be followed."
+
+Then the President went on to declare that, though there was no discord
+among the Allies, yet there was no trick that the enemy would not play
+with the treacherous object of wrecking their alliance. "Russia will not
+betray her friends," he declared, "and I say she, with contempt, refuses
+any consideration of a separate peace."
+
+The speech was greeted with thunderous outbursts of applause, while
+Stuermer, who was present, rose and left after its conclusion.
+
+Then, when the applause and cheering of the Ambassadors of the Allies had
+died down; Paul Miliukoff, the brilliant leader of the Constitutional
+Democrats, rose gravely and began to speak.
+
+That speech, which the camarilla had vainly striven strenuously to
+suppress, proved historic, and was mainly the cause of Stuermer's
+overthrow. Boldly and relentlessly he showed his hearers the favour with
+which the Teutons regarded Stuermer and the consternation caused in the
+Allied camp by his activities. Reading extracts from German and Austrian
+newspapers, he brought out the fact that the Central Powers regarded
+Stuermer as a member "of those circles which look on the war against
+Germany without particular enthusiasm"; that Stuermer's appointment to the
+Foreign Ministry was greeted in the Teutonic countries as the beginning
+of a new era in Russian politics, while the dismissal of Sazonov produced
+in the Entente countries an effect "such as would have been produced by a
+pogrom."
+
+The crowning sensation, however, was what he revealed concerning
+Stuermer's connection with the blackmailing operations of his private
+secretary, Manasevitch-Manuiloff, who, a few weeks before, had been
+arrested on a charge of bribery. The secretary told the directors of a
+Petrograd bank that proceedings were being instituted against them by the
+Ministry of the Interior for alleged trading with the enemy, and offered
+to suppress the affair "through influential friends" for a large
+consideration.
+
+The representatives of the bank had special reasons to get even with the
+"dark forces," and especially Protopopoff, since the retired Minister of
+the Interior, A. N. Khvostov, was a brother of the bank's president.
+Khvostov owed his dismissal to a plot to kill Rasputin, which was
+investigated by Manuiloff. The directors of the bank, therefore, accepted
+the fellow's offer, handing him over a large sum of money in marked
+notes.
+
+Later Manuiloff was arrested by the military authorities with the bribe
+in his possession. His release, however, followed soon, and the name of
+Manuiloff was on everybody's lips. Miliukoff, in his speech, said,
+regarding Manuiloff's liberation:
+
+"Why was this gentleman arrested? That has been known long ago, and I
+shall be saying nothing new if I tell you what you already know, namely,
+that he was arrested for extorting bribes, and that he was liberated
+because--that is also no secret--he told the examining magistrates that
+he shared the bribes with the President of the Council of Ministers."
+
+Thus was Boris Stuermer denounced as a traitor and blackmailer!
+
+But worse was to follow. M. Miliukoff vehemently condemned the Empress
+for her support of the plan, originated in Germany, of a speedy and
+separate peace, regardless of circumstances, conditions, or national
+honour. He quoted further passages from German newspapers, in which "_die
+Friedens-partei der jungen Tzarin_" (the Peace Party of the young
+Tsaritza) was freely discussed. He was very outspoken in referring to the
+"dark forces" which surrounded the Throne and had lately assumed such
+overwhelming dimensions, and he openly declared "that man, the monk
+Gregory Rasputin, the ex-horse-stealer and pet saint of Alexandra
+Feodorovna, is, gentlemen, nothing more than an erotic charlatan, who is
+the catspaw of the Kaiser!"
+
+The effect of this was electrical. The House sat staggered.
+
+"Yes, gentlemen," he went on, striking the bundle of papers which lay
+upon the desk before him, "I have here documentary evidence of the
+traitorous actions of this camarilla, who are attempting to lead Russia
+to her doom--papers which shall be revealed to you all in due course. It
+is said that the Prime Minister has already left the Chamber to make a
+personal report to His Majesty of the President's speech. All I trust is
+that the words I have just uttered will also reach the Emperor's ears,
+and that he will trouble himself to examine the irrefutable evidence of
+Rasputin's diabolical work at the Palace and in the Ministries, and the
+crafty machinations of the 'black forces' in our midst."
+
+The Manuiloff disclosures were sufficiently dramatic, but this outspoken
+exposure of Rasputin, the more bitter, perhaps, because of my warnings of
+the two attempts to assassinate him, caused the House to gasp.
+
+The very name of Rasputin had only been breathed in whispers, and his
+cult was referred to vaguely as something mysterious connected with the
+occult. But in that speech, to which I sat and listened, Miliukoff hit
+straight from the shoulder, and called a spade a spade. One of his
+phrases was, "Russia can never win so long as this convicted criminal and
+seducer of women is allowed to work his amazing power upon the rulers of
+the Empire. Remove him!" he went on. "Let him be placed safely within the
+walls of Peter and Paul, together with his 'sisters,' and with all his
+brother-traitors, and then there will be no more suggestion of a separate
+peace. Remove his evil influence!" shouted the fine orator, his voice
+ringing through the Chamber. "I say, remove him from the Imperial circle,
+or Russia is doomed!"
+
+I left the Duma by that long stone staircase with a feeling that at last
+the power behind the Throne, nay, the very Throne itself, was broken.
+
+I sped to Rasputin's house, and with pretended regret related all that
+had occurred.
+
+Hearing it, he sprang to the telephone, declaring in a hoarse voice: "The
+Censor must prohibit every word of it from publication. I will demand
+this of Nicholas!"
+
+And a few moments later he was speaking with the Emperor, urging that an
+order to the Censor be immediately issued--a suggestion that was at once
+carried out.
+
+Meanwhile a dramatic scene was being enacted in the Empress's boudoir,
+for that day proved the beginning of the end of the holy Father's career,
+as well as that of Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+THE TRAITOR DENOUNCED
+
+
+THE Empress, on hearing what had happened in the Duma, had a fit of
+hysterics. Nicholas was present while the Court physician administered
+restoratives. Then, without a word, he turned, and, leaving his wife in
+the care of the traitress Anna Vyrubova, he left for General
+Headquarters.
+
+When Rasputin was informed by telephone of the Emperor's departure he
+became furious.
+
+"He fears to meet Stuermer!" he cried to me. "He is leaving him in the
+lurch."
+
+And this he did, for the next day the fate of Russia trembled in the
+balance, while the Black Monk went about to the Ministers in frantic
+haste, hoping and plotting to turn public opinion again in his favour.
+The charlatan, who could work miracles, and was the Heaven-sent saviour
+of Russia, had been exposed as a mere impostor. Stuermer's position had
+also become desperate under the concerted attacks of the Duma. A meeting
+of the Cabinet was held, at which the monk was present. Stuermer, with
+Protopopoff's support, proposed to dissolve the Duma. Some members
+opposed the suggestion, whereupon Stuermer resolved to execute it upon his
+own initiative.
+
+In Rasputin's room, and in my presence, he drew up a document to that
+effect, but to make it law it required the Tsar's consent, and Nicholas
+was far away. It was Stuermer or the Duma.
+
+Alexandra Feodorovna and Rasputin were both working with Stuermer to
+dissolve the people's representatives, and again prevent them from
+reassembling.
+
+As Rasputin put it to me clearly that night:
+
+"Feodor, this is a great crisis. The Duma and Stuermer are incompatible.
+The victory of the latter will mean revolution. The triumph of the Duma
+will indicate the winning of the battle by the democracy. To achieve his
+purpose, Stuermer needs an audience with the Tsar, and he must have it.
+Alexandra Feodorovna seems to be failing us, for Nicholas has hidden
+himself, hoping that the storm will blow over."
+
+Stuermer strained every effort to obtain audience with the Emperor, but he
+was elusive, and for days no one knew where he was. An audience would
+mean the dissolution of the Duma, and this Nicholas feared would bring
+revolution.
+
+As is well known, by a record published by an American journalist, there
+suddenly appeared in the Duma the Ministers of War and Marine, General
+Shuvaiev and Admiral Grigorovitch. They announced that they had a
+statement to make. The representatives of the people held their breath in
+suspense. The War Minister mounted the tribune, and paid a tribute to the
+people's efforts in the cause of national defence, requesting the Duma's
+and the country's future co-operation in the work of equipping the army.
+The Minister of Marine reiterated General Shuvaiev's demand for
+co-operation between the Government and the Duma. The latter, perhaps,
+never witnessed such a scene as that which followed the two Ministers'
+speeches. There was a great ovation, after which Miliukoff rose and said:
+
+"The War and Marine Ministers have declared themselves on the side of the
+Duma and the people. We, on our part, have said that the Duma is with the
+army and the people."
+
+This sealed the fate of Boris Stuermer. The people had achieved their
+first victory over the "dark forces," and Stuermer, driven out, came one
+night to us, and, pacing the room, tore his beard and cursed both the
+Emperor and Empress.
+
+Then, turning upon Rasputin, he cried with a sneer:
+
+"And you, the holy Father and our divine guide, have been powerless to
+save us! Where are your miraculous powers? Only in your own imagination,
+I am beginning to think."
+
+These words led to a serious quarrel and bitter recriminations, for the
+Empress, to save herself, had dropped Stuermer, so that Protopopoff had
+become instantly the favourite at Court, and, indeed, dictator.
+
+Two weeks went by, weeks of the tensest scenes in the contest between the
+democracy and the conspirators, of whom Rasputin and the Empress were the
+head. Protopopoff defied the new Premier, Alexander Trepov, a hide-bound
+bureaucrat, as well as the Duma, and it was then that the crisis was
+reached.
+
+Each day we went regularly to Tsarskoe-Selo, and there another plot was
+quickly hatched. While the public were daily expecting the downfall of
+Protopopoff as a natural outcome of Stuermer's denunciation and
+degradation, they were one day suddenly staggered by the news that the
+retired Premier was about to be appointed Ambassador to a neutral
+country.
+
+Everywhere I went I heard the most sinister dissatisfaction. The people
+knew what was meant, namely, that the Germanophile Stuermer was to
+negotiate a premature peace, and this within three weeks of his downfall!
+The whole Empire was agog at the news, yet Rasputin remained calm and
+silent, believing that his clever plot would be successful.
+
+Certainly it might have been had not the Duma continued its concerted
+attack on the "dark forces," demanding a responsible Ministry. Even half
+of the Extreme Right, the most rabid monarchical faction in the Duma,
+joined the Opposition, a fact which, when told to the Empress, sent her
+again into hysterics.
+
+I remember that day well. Hardt had arrived hot-foot from Berlin, and
+brought the monk a dispatch which, when deciphered, read as follows:
+
+     "MEMORANDUM FROM NO. 70. A.43,286.
+                                              "November 8th, 1916.
+
+     "The attitude of the Duma is creating much alarm for your
+     personal safety. As you have failed to suppress Miliukoff,
+     endeavour at once to remove his chief supporter Purishkevitch.
+     Inform A. [Anna Vyrubova] that Korniloff has revealed to P. her
+     duplicity in the Zarudni affair, and P. has in his possession
+     certain documents incriminating her. These should be secured at
+     all hazards. [G. Zarudni, active in political law cases, and who
+     was, after the Revolution, appointed Minister of Justice in the
+     Kerensky Cabinet.] P. intends to make use of these in the Duma.
+     It is suggested, therefore, that the woman X. [Xenie Kalatcheff]
+     be again given the perfume, with instructions from yourself. If
+     not, employ the girl Olga Bauer. She posed as a domestic servant
+     in the Princess Tchekmareff affair, and was successful. Why not
+     utilise her again?
+
+     "Inform Her Majesty that Stuermer must come back to power very
+     shortly. But this is impossible while Miliukoff and Purishkevitch
+     have the ear of the people. Not a second should be lost in
+     suppressing them. We have heard with satisfaction of the removal
+     of the woman Marya Ustryaloff and the man Paul Krizhitsky. Both
+     knew too much, and, though they served us faithfully, were not
+     further required. [When the sphere of usefulness of German secret
+     agents ends they generally meet with untimely deaths.]
+
+     "Also inform Her Majesty that she and her daughters should
+     exhibit a keener interest in the wounded in order to win back
+     public favour. You, too, should perform another miracle.
+
+     "We hear with regret that, though the allegations made by
+     Miliukoff were suppressed by the Censor, typewritten copies of
+     the speech are being widely distributed everywhere. If you do not
+     act with a firm hand, this will upset all our plans. The moment
+     is critical, and all depends upon your own drastic
+     actions.--Greeting,
+                                                     "S." [Steinhauer].
+
+That same evening the bearded blackguard communicated to the Tsaritza and
+the elegant _morphineuse_ Anna Vyrubova the contents of the secret
+dispatch.
+
+Both Empress and lady-in-waiting, in their rich evening gowns, came to
+the fine apartments which were allotted to the monk in the palace, and as
+they were seated I read over the message.
+
+"Yes," declared Her Majesty when I had finished; "I quite agree that the
+girl Olga Bauer should receive instructions. Order Protopopoff to make
+inquiry into the best means by which she can approach Purishkevitch. The
+fellow must be prevented from implicating our dear Anna in the Zarudni
+affair."
+
+"Yes," said Madame Vyrubova in alarm; "it would ruin not only myself, but
+the Empress also."
+
+"I will do thy bidding," Rasputin responded, standing with his hands
+behind his back, his great cross suspended from his neck scintillating
+beneath the light.
+
+"The girl Bauer, posing as a domestic servant, managed to ingratiate
+herself with Prince Tchekmareff, and gave the perfume to her mistress
+with success," remarked Anna. "And there was not the slightest suspicion.
+Xenie Kalatcheff failed, therefore I am not in favour of her being
+employed again."
+
+"True, Olga is a girl of great daring, and her lover has long been in the
+German service," Rasputin remarked. "I will see her to-morrow." Then,
+turning to me, he said: "Feodor, write to her and ask her to call on me
+to-morrow evening at eight. Send the letter by special messenger."
+
+This I did, and next evening the girl Bauer called. She was slim, very
+pretty, and dressed as she was, as a girl of the people, none would
+suspect her of having committed several secret murders at Rasputin's
+instructions.
+
+"Olga," he said, when she was shown into his room, "really you are
+growing prettier each day! I envy Ivan Ivanovitch, for he has good
+taste."
+
+"You flatter me, Father," said the girl, blushing.
+
+"I speak the truth," declared the monk, twisting the end of his beard in
+his fingers and fixing his strange eyes upon hers. "But," he went on, "I
+asked you here because I want you to help our cause once again--with the
+perfume."
+
+She grew serious in an instant.
+
+"Who is obnoxious?" she asked quickly, in a hard voice.
+
+"Purishkevitch," declared the monk. "The man has somewhere in his house
+certain incriminating papers regarding Madame Vyrubova. These, however,
+do not concern you. When the Deputy is dead I will have the police search
+the house at once, and the papers when found will be handed to me. You
+must repeat the role you played in Prince Tchekmareff's household."
+
+With these words he rose and took from a drawer he unlocked a small
+bottle containing a piece of cotton-wool, saying:
+
+"This wool has been soaked in the perfume and dried, so that it is more
+easily carried and less suspicious than in liquid form. Just place a
+little water on the wool and squeeze it out, when you have the perfume
+ready to hand."
+
+The pretty girl took the little wide-mouthed bottle and held it against
+the light.
+
+"The Deputy will be difficult to approach," she said. "He is not a
+fast-living man, like some with whom I have dealt."
+
+"He will not be able to resist a pretty face like yours," Rasputin said
+confidently.
+
+"Well," she said at last, "I will try, Father. Give me your blessing."
+
+And she went upon her knees, while the erotic blackguard placed his dirty
+hands upon her head, and, raising his eyes to Heaven, pretended to place
+upon her his benediction.
+
+Afterwards, before she left us, she told us that she knew that the Deputy
+had a young man-servant named Protzenko, and it would be her object to
+first attract his attention and become on intimate terms with him, by
+which means she would be enabled to visit the servants' quarters of
+Purishkevitch's house.
+
+"Excellent--if you do not think that you could obtain a place there as
+servant."
+
+"That would be difficult, for I happen to know that all the servants have
+been there for years, and that there is no vacancy."
+
+"Well, Olga, act just as you like," the monk said. "Only remove him, and
+then telephone instantly to me, so that the police can search
+immediately."
+
+Of the girl Bauer we heard nothing for a fortnight. Time after time I
+felt impelled to warn the doomed man, but I feared lest Rasputin should
+suspect me of treachery, the other plots having failed. One night, while
+at the palace, I was informed by a flunkey that someone wished to speak
+with the monk on the public telephone, therefore I went to the
+instrument.
+
+The voice I heard was that of Olga Bauer, who, when she recognised me,
+said:
+
+"Tell the Father that his wishes were carried out half an hour ago. You
+know what I mean--eh?"
+
+"Yes," I replied. "I know--I will tell him at once." And then I rang off.
+
+Returning to Rasputin's handsome room I repeated the message, whereupon
+he sprang up with eager delight, and ringing up Protopopoff at his house
+in Petrograd, told him to order an immediate police search of
+Purishkevitch's house, as had already been arranged.
+
+After that I had some business with the Master of the Imperial Household
+in the opposite wing of the palace, and it was not till half-an-hour
+later that I re-entered the "saint's" room.
+
+I found Rasputin foaming with rage and stamping up and down the room in
+fury.
+
+"I told the Empress and Anna the good news, now to find that it is
+false!" he cried. "The police made a domiciliary visit only to be greeted
+by Purishkevitch himself. Think of it!"
+
+"Then the fellow is not dead!" I gasped in amazement.
+
+"No. He is still alive. His valet Protzenko died an hour ago. That fool
+of a girl has blundered!"
+
+As he uttered these words the door opened and the Empress appeared,
+looking pale and desperate.
+
+"Father," she said, "this is a very serious contretemps for us all. How
+do we not know that the girl Bauer purposely removed the valet in place
+of his master? The visit of the police will arouse the suspicion of our
+enemy, and he may trace the crime to his valet's female acquaintance.
+What then?"
+
+"I had never thought of that!" replied the monk, halting erect before
+her. "She might, in that case, betray us! Truly thou hast spoken words of
+wisdom!"
+
+"Yes. In the girl I discern a possible enemy--and in this crisis we
+should take no risks."
+
+"I agree. I will take steps. If she has betrayed us, then she shall be
+tried for the murder of Princess Tchekmareff. Whatever allegations she
+makes against me will not be allowed to transpire at the trial."
+
+"Or get Nikki to sign an order for her banishment to Siberia as an
+exile," suggested the scheming Empress.
+
+"Ah! my daughter, thou art always wise. An excellent plan! I will first
+make inquiries, and then ask for the Emperor's signature."
+
+Though matters had assumed the most serious aspect in those last days of
+November, Rasputin, bent upon revenge and full of chagrin at being unable
+to obtain possession of those incriminating letters of the high priestess
+of his disgraceful cult, Madame Vyrubova, was busy making inquiries, and
+among those he questioned was Ivan Ivanovitch, a bookbinder in Petrograd,
+who was Olga's lover, and who regarded the monk with considerable
+disfavour, a fact of which Rasputin was unaware.
+
+The young man, in consequence of the nature of the questions put to him
+by the monk, guessed what was in his mind, and that same day told Olga
+that Rasputin disbelieved her story how the valet had drunk the glass of
+kuemmel that had been poured out for his master, and that, full of
+chagrin, he was plotting a revenge.
+
+Of this we knew nothing till afterwards. But on the same night as Ivan
+Ivanovitch revealed the truth to her Olga called upon Rasputin, and I
+admitted her.
+
+"I wish to see the Father," she said, in a deep, earnest voice.
+
+"I will go and see if he will receive you," I answered, and I left her in
+the ante-room.
+
+Rasputin ordered her to be shown in, whereupon, as soon as she crossed
+the threshold, she drew a revolver, and, dashing toward him, fired. The
+bullet missed, and she fired again, also without effect, before I could
+rush up and seize her. She struggled with me with a strength born of
+madness.
+
+"What does this mean, woman?" asked the monk, standing with his arms
+folded, while I held her wrists, the weapon having fallen upon the
+polished floor during our wild struggle.
+
+"It means that I intend to rid the world of a base blackguard and
+betrayer of women!" she said. "I have been in your toils and done your
+dirty work, and now, because I have failed, you intend to denounce me,
+and so close my lips. But they will never be closed. The evidence which
+Purishkevitch holds is complete. I have seen it. Protzenko discovered me
+tampering with his master's papers, so I first assured him it was out of
+curiosity, and then I gave him a little of the perfume."
+
+We both stood aghast at learning the truth.
+
+"It surprises you!" she shrieked, still in my grip. "But you may be more
+surprised when you know that I have become a friend and partisan of the
+Deputy, and that with Ivan I have united to hasten the downfall of
+you--the Black Monk of Petrograd!"
+
+"Silence, woman!" thundered Rasputin, casting an evil glance at her.
+"Hold her, Feodor. I will lock the door!"
+
+Then, picking up the revolver, he strode to the door, which he locked and
+took the key. Passing to the telephone, he was soon speaking with
+Protopopoff, whom he ordered to send police officers to conduct the girl
+Bauer to the fortress of Peter and Paul.
+
+"And I also order you to arrest the girl's lover, Ivan Ivanovitch, as a
+dangerous political. You know his address," he said to the Minister.
+
+"Now you can release her!" he added, turning to me. "And write at my
+dictation."
+
+The girl stood staggered at hearing Rasputin's orders to the Minister of
+the Interior.
+
+"No, no!" she shrieked. "Forgive me! forgive me, Father! I--I was
+mad--_mad!_ Ivan urged me to do this--to kill you!"
+
+"Write as I tell you, Feodor," Rasputin ordered.
+
+Then, as I sat at the table, he dictated the following lines:
+
+     "It is by our order that the woman Olga Alexandrovna Bauer,
+     native of Orel, shall be deported without trial to Yakutsk, in
+     Eastern Siberia, and there sent to penal servitude for life. And
+     further, that Ivan Ivanovitch shall be confined for life in the
+     Fortress of Schluesselburg. Given at our Palace of Tsarskoe-Selo,
+     December 1st, 1916."
+
+"The Emperor will sign that to-morrow," he added.
+
+The unfortunate girl, shrieking loudly, threw herself at the feet of the
+monk, imploring forgiveness.
+
+"No, my pretty one!" he replied. "You would open your lips if I gave you
+the chance. But you will not have it. You are my enemy, and the enemies
+of Gregory Rasputin never prevail for long, for he takes good care of
+that!"
+
+She had a fit of hysterics, but quickly came to consciousness again, only
+to find herself in the hands of six grey-coated police officers, who
+roughly bundled her out into the hall, shrieking and cursing the
+blasphemous blackguard who was the real ruler of the Empire.
+
+An hour after the girl Bauer had been taken away a secret messenger from
+Berlin brought us another dispatch in cipher, which, when I decoded it,
+read:
+
+     "MEMORANDUM FROM NO. 70. 68,428. G.
+
+     "Instructions from the Emperor William are to the effect that
+     Germany will deliver a peace offer to Russia on December 12th.
+     Inform Her Majesty of this, and tell her to use all her influence
+     with the Emperor and all the Ministers towards an acceptance.
+
+     "Instructions to our friend P. [Protopopoff] are to continue his
+     destructive activities. He must muzzle the Press more closely,
+     hold up all food, and continue provocative work in all quarters.
+     It is only by producing extreme suffering that you can bring
+     about an uprising for peace. Code now changed to No.
+     5.--Greetings,
+                                                                "S."
+
+Duly the German offer of peace was made on December 12th, and Russia was
+tottering to her doom. The offer, engineered by the "black forces," gave
+opportunity to the Duma to express its pent-up feelings. Both Miliukoff
+and his friend who had so narrowly escaped the "perfume" declared
+publicly that the camarilla favoured the acceptance of the offer.
+
+Of the truth of this I can myself vouch, for Alexandra Feodorovna had,
+since her holy Father had received the secret dispatch, spared no effort
+to induce the Emperor and the Cabinet to accept the olive branch.
+
+Nicholas refused. Whatever may be said of him, I know personally that on
+many occasions he proved his loyalty to the Allies against the evil
+counsels of Stuermer and the others.
+
+The nation, however, had to be pacified, so the Tsar called the
+newly-appointed Foreign Minister, Petrovsky, who represented the best
+type of bureaucrat, and instructed him how to act. In consequence, three
+days after the Teuton proposal was made, he announced Russia's rejection
+of a "premature peace." Immediately after the Foreign Minister's
+declaration, the Duma passed a resolution, which contained the following
+declaration:
+
+     "Having heard the statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
+     the Duma unanimously favours a categorical refusal by the Allied
+     Governments to enter, under present conditions, into any peace
+     negotiations whatever."
+
+Truly, public opinion was becoming more than ever inflamed.
+
+Yet "Satan in a silk hat," seated in the Ministry of the Interior, was
+working his evil machinations upon the nation to create the greatest
+possible suffering and unrest, as his taskmaster in Berlin had ordered.
+And in this he had an able assistant in the unwashed "saint," who a few
+days before, in collusion with his friend the ex-conjurer, had in a low
+quarter of Petrograd performed a trick which all believed to be a
+"miracle."
+
+One of Protopopoff's schemes, which he successfully carried out, was that
+of sowing discontent among the masses by spreading mysterious leaflets
+calling for rebellion on the issue of peace. By this he attempted to
+disrupt the organic life of the country and of the army. With Rasputin he
+was plotting to create a clamour which would justify the Government in
+opening separate peace negotiations and throwing the Allies overboard.
+
+Unfortunately for him, however, the unions of zemstvos and of towns
+remained patriotic. So he prohibited their meetings in order to cause
+demonstrations and riots.
+
+To all pleas and the warnings of those who saw the handwriting on the
+wall the Emperor remained deaf.
+
+One afternoon, while I was with Rasputin in his apartments at the palace,
+the Empress entered, flushed and excited.
+
+"Father! I have had such a blow. What do you think has happened?" she
+gasped. "Nicholas [the Grand Duke] has just had the audacity to read
+before Nikki and myself a statement which was outrageous. I snatched it
+from his hand and tore it up! Oh! it is infamous that I should be thus
+treated!"
+
+"What has happened?" asked the monk, in his slow, deliberate way. "Do not
+distress thyself, my sister." And he made the sign of the cross.
+
+"He has declared that you, our dear Father, have become the ruler of
+Russia; that Protopopoff was appointed through you, and that about you
+is centred a clique of enemy spies and charlatans, and he actually urged
+Nikki to protect Olga and myself from you! When he had finished his
+statement, fearing that he had gone too far, Nicholas said, 'Now call
+your Cossacks and have me killed and buried in your garden.' Nikki merely
+smiled."
+
+"He would hear nothing against thee, I hope," said Rasputin anxiously.
+
+"Nothing. Nikki assured him that I had nothing to do with politics, and
+dismissed the allegations by declaring that he entirely disbelieved
+them."
+
+"Excellent!" exclaimed the monk; but afterwards, when he sat in the room,
+he remained silent and thoughtful for a long time.
+
+At last he exclaimed aloud to me:
+
+"Miliukoff must be removed. While he lives we are all in danger. We must
+try another method."
+
+Matters had now reached a most desperate crisis, for on the following day
+Vladimir Purishkevitch, who had opposed the Government so strenuously in
+spite of his monarchical affiliations, came to see the Tsar to warn him
+also of the evil forces about him. But His Majesty took no heed.
+Therefore, two days later, he delivered from the tribune of the Duma some
+terrible allegations against the camarilla.
+
+Meanwhile Rasputin had been active, and, with Stuermer's aid, had got hold
+of a man named Dubrovin, the leader of "the Black Hundred" and a close
+associate of the "dark forces." This man had, in turn, induced a man
+named Prohozhi, a member of the organisation, to accept a sum of money in
+return for the assassination of Miliukoff by means of a bomb.
+
+All was arranged for the night of December 20th, and Rasputin sat with
+the Empress eagerly awaiting news that the deed had been accomplished.
+Instead of that, however, Protopopoff rang up from his house in Petrograd
+to say that Prohozhi had, on reflection, hesitated to harm Miliukoff, and
+moreover had revealed to young Prince Felix Youssoupoff and several
+others the whole of the conspiracy!
+
+When told of this the Empress fainted. She saw that all was now lost.
+Indeed, on the following day Miliukoff rose in the Duma and made a second
+and more powerful attack upon the camarilla, singling out Protopopoff as
+one of the worst offenders. Again he held in his hand his famous bundle
+of documents, evidence of the treachery of the "dark forces," and in a
+magnificent speech he defied the Government, and urged the people to
+judge matters for themselves in the light which those documents would
+cast upon events. In that latest denunciation of Rasputin and his friends
+there was a ring that resounded through Europe.
+
+The Tsar had again left for the front, while the Empress, nervous and
+trembling, held Rasputin and Anna ever at her side. The precious trio
+which had wrecked Russia were now seriously perturbed at the ugly state
+of public opinion. A dark storm-cloud had arisen, but Rasputin, with his
+boldness and contempt for the people, assured the Empress that there was
+no cause for anxiety, and that all would be well.
+
+The seances of the sister-disciples in Petrograd had been suspended, for
+the monk remained at the palace, and scarcely ever left it. Protopopoff
+came daily to consult with the Empress, with her mock-pious favourite and
+the treacherous pro-German Fredericks, for yet another fresh plot was
+being formed against those who were so antagonistic to the Government, a
+plot which was to be worked by unscrupulous _agents-provocateurs_, with
+the object of placing among their effects incriminating correspondence
+relating to a widespread conspiracy (which did not exist) to overthrow
+the monarchy and suppress the House of Romanoff. The idea, having
+originated in Rasputin's fertile brain, had been taken up with frantic
+haste, for each member of the "dark forces" had decided that "something
+must be done," and that the situation had become most perilous for them
+all.
+
+In those snowy December days, the people at last realised that they were
+being tricked, and that the German-born Empress was striving, with her
+sycophants and with the "holy" rascal, for a separate peace. Secret
+meetings were being held everywhere in Petrograd, the police were making
+indiscriminate arrests, and Schluesselburg was already overflowing with
+its human victims whom Rasputin had indicated, for a hostile word from
+him meant imprisonment or death. He was, indeed, Tsar of All the Russias.
+
+Such was the breathless state of things at Tsarskoe-Selo in the last days
+of December.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Then came the final dramatic coup.
+
+Of its exact details I have no knowledge. I give--as I have given all
+through this narrative of fact--only what I _know_ to be actual truth.
+
+On December 29th, at eleven o'clock, I left the palace to take a message
+to Protopopoff, and to interview the much-travelled Hardt, who was coming
+to Petrograd from Stockholm with his usual fortnightly dispatch from
+Berlin. I returned to the Palace about eight o'clock in the evening, when
+I received a message through one of the silk-stockinged servants, whose
+duty it was to wait upon "his holiness," to the effect that the monk had
+gone suddenly to Petrograd upon urgent business, and would return on the
+morrow.
+
+Naturally, I accepted the message, ate my dinner, read the paper, and
+after a chat with Madame Vyrubova, who lived in the adjoining apartments,
+I retired to bed.
+
+Next day I returned to the Gorokhovaya, but the monk had not come back.
+Countess Ignatieff called upon him, but I had to express my ignorance as
+to his whereabouts. I told her that he might possibly have gone upon
+another pilgrimage.
+
+Late that night I went back to the palace, where I found Madame Vyrubova
+much perturbed.
+
+"It is strange, Feodor!" she exclaimed. "He never leaves Petrograd
+without first informing me."
+
+I set her mind at rest by suggesting that, as affairs were so critical,
+he was probably with Stuermer and Protopopoff plotting further
+manoeuvres.
+
+Next night, however, a thrill went through the Court, as well as through
+the Russian people, by the six-word announcement in the Exchange
+newspapers, which coldly said:
+
+"_Gregory Rasputin has ceased to exist._"
+
+I read the statement aghast. I saw Anna Vyrubova, who was beside herself
+with grief and anxiety, and for a moment I spoke with the distracted
+Empress. Then I left with all haste for the capital.
+
+On arrival I learnt at the Ministry of the Interior that a policeman on
+night duty along the Moika Canal had heard shots and cries coming from a
+house belonging to the young Prince Felix Youssoupoff, who had married a
+cousin of the Tsar, and who was well known in London, where he passed
+each "season." In the house were the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovitch,
+ex-Minister of the Interior Kvostov, Deputy Purishkevitch, and others.
+When the policeman went to ask what had happened, he received no
+explanation.
+
+A little later two motor-cars drove up to the door. In one of the cars a
+large bundle was placed. It was the body of Rasputin. Beside this bundle
+a man took his seat and ordered the chauffeur to drive to an island at
+the mouth of the Neva. Traces of blood were left in the garden. There
+were also marks of blood on the ice of the frozen Neva, where the car had
+stopped. Near these marks was a freshly made hole, and close to the hole
+lay a pair of blood-stained rubber shoes.
+
+Alexandra Feodorovna, frantic and bewildered, informed the Emperor by
+telegraph, and by the time he had returned the monk's body had been
+recovered from the river. I was present at the Mass served by the
+Petrograd Metropolitan Pitirim, an evil-liver of Rasputin's creation,
+after which I went with the body, which was conveyed to Tsarskoe-Selo.
+There, at the burial, Protopopoff was one of the chief mourners, and he,
+together with General Voyeykoff, Fredericks, and the Emperor himself,
+carried the silver coffin containing the remains of one of the worst
+rascals in Christendom, while the Tsaritza, Anna, and the whole Court
+followed in deep mourning.
+
+Such a scandal roused the ire of the people to fever heat, but it freed
+me of my hateful compact, and I cut myself adrift for ever from the
+fascinating Madame Vyrubova and her vicious circle.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Perhaps, in concluding this volume of strange and amazing reminiscences,
+which I have written with the sole purpose of revealing the truth to
+Europe, I cannot do better than summarise the career of Rasputin as
+Alexander Yablonovski, one of our ablest Russian critics, has done. He
+declared that the part of the Black Monk in history was an era in itself.
+
+Practically the entire historic role of Rasputin consisted of the fact
+that he united all Russia in a general hatred for the dark, irresponsible
+forces.
+
+The Imperial Duma, the Imperial Council, the united nobility, the social
+organisations, the Press--all were permeated by the same conviction,
+namely, that it was high time to remove from the Russian political arena
+the Government gamblers.
+
+More than that, Rasputin became even a matter of concern to Europe. The
+foreign Press printed articles about him. The foreign ambassadors cabled
+long reports in code to their Governments in connection with him. But, of
+course, to Europe he was more of a sad anecdote than an historical fact.
+To Russia, on the other hand, he was not only a fact, he was an era.
+
+Russia has experienced immeasurable humiliation on account of him. But
+this humiliation has fused the Empire into a single body, creating
+citizens out of human pulp.
+
+Russians all their lives have fought the irresponsible bureaucracy. Her
+literature, Press, science, parties, all, according to their resources,
+plucked the roots of this rotten plant. But how big were the results of
+their half-century of labour?
+
+And then a Siberian mujik appeared, and against his own will he cut the
+arteries of the dark force, he stamped it in the mud, spitting at the
+very principle, the very idea, of autocratic bureaucracy.
+
+Rasputin was killed for the purpose of cleansing Russia of the dark
+forces. Yet, alas! his evil influence lived to bear fruit in Germany's
+favour even after the Revolution and the downfall of the Romanoffs.
+
+No more sinister or astounding figure has ever appeared in all history,
+and the memory of no one is more bitterly hated in Russia than that of
+Gregory the ne'er-do-well, the erotic scoundrel and assassin, who held
+the fate of the Russian Empire within the hollow of his hand.
+
+
+PRINTED BY CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C.4
+
+450.818.
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+Obvious punctuation errors have been corrected.
+
+Page 66, "off" changed to "of"
+Page 84, "camerilla" changed to "camarilla"
+Page 85, "Miliukof" changed to "Miliukoff"
+Page 89, "Geurassimof" changed to "Guerassimof"
+Page 105, "lght" changed to "light"
+Page 118, "Kirovchein" changed to "Krivochein"
+Page 134, "disicple" changed to "disciple"
+Page 149, "Vyruboya" changed to "Vyrubova"
+Page 221, "Purishkevich" changed to "Purishkevitch"
+Page 221, "denouncng" changed to "denouncing"
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Minister of Evil, by William Le Queux
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