Part 21 (1/2)

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 a.s.sistance 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 a.s.sure 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 a.s.sembly 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 doc.u.ments 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.