Part 29 (1/2)
”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 p.r.o.nounced 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 Sturmer has said an hour ago it appears that the Church has become jealous of your friends.h.i.+p 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 G.o.d, 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.”