Part 8 (1/2)
”Thou canst realise the great danger to us all. If that man is brought before the Court believing that we have not endeavoured to save him, he will, no doubt, reveal and produce certain letters I have sent to him.
Our plans will then become public, and Russia will rise and crush us!
At present they do not suspect thee of any pro-German leanings. Thou art the great and patriotic Tsaritza. But if this prosecution proceeds, then a.s.suredly will the truth become known!”
”But, Holy Father, what can I do?” asked the weak hysterical woman, alarmed and distracted.
”Thou must telegraph at once to thy husband to order the prosecution to be dropped,” said the crafty scoundrel, standing in that erect att.i.tude he was so fond of a.s.suming, with one hand upon his breast and the other behind his back.
”I will do all that you wish,” was her eager response, and she sat down at once to write the message to the Tsar who, on that night, was with his gallant soldiers at the front.
”Paul Letchitzki, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Munitions, has been arrested for embezzlement of public funds,” she wrote. ”It is highly necessary, for our peace, that the prosecution shall be instantly stopped. Every moment's delay means danger. I will explain when you return. Telegraph your order for his immediate release and the end of all proceedings against him. I await your acknowledgment.--Alec.”
Then, having read the telegram, of which both men approved, she gave Rasputin her golden bangle from her wrist. From it was suspended the tiny master-key of the escritoire in her boudoir.
”Will you, my Holy Father, fetch me my private cipher-book?” she asked the mock-monk, at the same time bending and kissing his hand.
The fellow knew where the little book was kept in such privacy, and in a few moments he had brought it. Then Sturmer at once sat down and put the message into cipher, afterwards taking it himself to the clerk in the telegraph room on the other side of the Palace, for transmission to the Emperor.
At ten o'clock next morning a reply in code was handed to the Empress.
When, with the aid of her little book, she de-coded it, she read:
”I cannot understand how the prosecution of a thief of whose name I am ignorant can affect us adversely. I have, however, at your desire ordered his release and the suppression of all proceedings.--Nikki.”
To this, the Tsaritza, after she had sent a copy of the rea.s.suring despatch to Rasputin, replied:
”I thank you for your kind generosity. How n.o.ble of you! Accused was an innocent victim of his enemies, and our action shows that you are open and just. Our Father and myself anxiously await your return.-- Alec.” The moment Rasputin received the message from the hands of the trusted Cossack, Ivan Khanoff, the personal guardian of the young Tsarevitch, whom the Empress trusted with all her private correspondence, he telegraphed to Boris Sturmer at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, telling him of the order of the Tsar.
And both laughed triumphantly at each other over the telephone. Yet both certainly had had a very narrow escape of exposure, and for the first time the Tsaritza saw the handwriting on the wall.
CHAPTER FIVE.
RASPUTIN'S SECRET ORDERS FROM BERLIN.
Some pages of Rasputin's _dossier_ concern his intimate friends.h.i.+p with the Imperial family, and more especially with the Tsar's daughters, whom the Empress herself had placed beneath his ”tuition” and influence.
It seems that the monk Helidor--who because of his patriotism fell out of favour when Rasputin commenced to perform his conjuring tricks, which the Imperial Court believed to be miracles--still retained his friends.h.i.+p with the Grand d.u.c.h.ess Olga, and the governess of the Imperial children, the honest and straightforward Madame Tutcheva.
To Helidor--who afterwards revealed all he knew to the Revolutionary Party--the young Grand d.u.c.h.ess confessed her love for a certain very handsome officer, Nicholas Loutkievitch, of the Imperial Guard. She saw him often in the vicinity of the Palace, and also when she went to church, and he used to smile at her.
”Holy Father,” she said one clay to Helidor, ”what can I do? I love him. But alas! love is forbidden to me--for I am an Imperial princess.
It is my torment.”
Helidor had tried to console her by saying that she was young, and that she would love many times before she found the man who was to be her husband. It was surely not strange that the handsome young Grand d.u.c.h.ess should be attracted by a handsome man, for after all, even Imperial princesses are human.
Helidor, who belonged to the Pravoslavny Church, under Bishop Teofan, saw Rasputin a few days later and incidentally mentioned the youthful infatuation of the young Princess.
”Oh! I have already cured all that!” said the scoundrel with a laugh.
”Her infatuation has been dispelled. I have cast the devil out of her.”
Then Rasputin boastingly disclosed to Helidor certain things which left no doubt in the latter's mind as to the true state of affairs existing at Tsarskoe-Selo, or the truth of what Madame Tutcheff had alleged.
Indeed, among the filed pages of the _dossier_ which deal with this particular incident, is a letter which I venture here to reproduce.