Part 15 (1/2)
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 a.s.sistance 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 a.s.sistant 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 compa.s.sion upon the people. Hundreds of men and women now flocked round him to kiss the edge of his ragged robe, and as he pa.s.sed 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 Sturmer, 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 Kantstra.s.se, 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 Wilhelmstra.s.se, and I am never interfered with. Indeed, they a.s.sist 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.