Part 14 (1/2)

On receipt of that very unsatisfactory reply the Tsaritza summoned the mock-monk, who was remaining at the Palace evidently awaiting the Emperor's reply. Sturmer and Madame Vyrubova, the high-priestess of the Rasputin cult, were also present. What actually transpired at that Council of Three is unknown. It is, however, beyond question that it was arranged that M. Miliukoff, whom they held in such fear--as well as a friend of his, a Conservative deputy named Puriskevitch--should be ”removed.” That the illiterate scoundrel, with his unique knowledge of the scriptures, was an adept in the art of using certain secret drugs, and that by his hand several persons obnoxious to the camarilla had died mysteriously is now proved beyond any doubt, for as cleverly as he systematically drugged the poor little Tsarevitch, so also he could with amazing cunning ”arrange” the deaths of those who might betray him.

M. Miliukoff, knowing that his patriotic and hostile intentions were being suspected, took such precautions, however, that even the bold emissaries of Rasputin failed to approach him.

At noon, on November 14th, the Minister Protopopoff wrote a hurried note upon the paper of the Ministry of the Interior, which is on record, and is as follows:

”Dear friend Gregory,--How is it that your plans have so utterly failed and M. (Miliukoff) is still active? To-day at 2 the Duma meets!

Cannot you arrange that he is absent? Cannot you work a miracle?

Skoropadski (a well-known German agent) has betrayed us and put the most incriminating doc.u.ments into M.'s hands. We tried to arrest the fellow last night in Riga, but, alas, he has eluded us. Take every precaution for your own safety. If M. attends the sitting we are all lost.--Yours cordially, D.A.P.”

The plot to kill M. Miliukoff had failed! The Empress knew of it and sat in the Winter Palace, pale, breathless and eager for messages over her private telephone. The vile, black work done by her ”Holy Father”

was to be exposed! What if her own Imperial self were exhibited in her true traitorous colours!

Meanwhile, at two o'clock, M. Rodzianko took his seat as President at the Tauris Palace. The usual service was held and then the historic sitting of the Duma opened. The House was crowded, and the British, French and Italian Amba.s.sadors being in the diplomatic box, the members, Octobrists, Progressive Nationalists, the Centre, the Zemsto Octobrists and Cadets, rose in one body and gave vociferous cheers for the Allies.

”Russia will win!” they cried.

The first speaker was M. Garusewicz, who, on behalf of the Polish Club, addressed the Allied Powers, protesting against the Austro-German action and expressing the hope and confidence that a final solution of the Polish problem would be the outcome of the war.

The two men whom the camarilla had plotted to murder were calmly in their places. M. Miliukoff, a pleasant-looking grey-haired man, sat gazing at the speaker through his gold-rimmed spectacles, listening attentively until the speaker had concluded. Meanwhile the Tsaritza, sitting in her luxurious little room in the Palace with the dissolute Anna Vyrubova as her sole companion, was listening to messages which, as arranged, came to her over the telephone every ten minutes.

At last M. Miliukoff rose, quite calm, and bowed to the President.

Instantly there was silence. Without mincing matters in the least he told the House--in a speech which was wholly suppressed by the authorities--how the camarilla had endeavoured to remove him but in vain; and then, after many hard words which electrified all present, he denounced the ”Saint” as the dark and sinister force which was hurling the Russian Empire to its destruction. Then, branding the pro-German Prime Minister Boris Sturmer as ”Judas the Traitor,” he took up a bundle of doc.u.ments, and shaking them in his hand dramatically he declared: ”I have here, gentlemen, the evidence of Judas. Evidence in cold figures-- the number of shekels, the pieces of silver, for betrayal.”

The House sat breathless! The ghastly truth was out. When M.

Miliukoff sat down his friend M. Puriskevitch rose politely and asked permission and indulgence to make a speech in German--the hated language--promising it should be very brief. All he uttered were the two words: ”Hofmeister Sturmer!” The Duma, understanding, cheered to the echo.

Over the telephone the Empress, pale and neurotic, listened to what had been alleged against her ”Holy Father” and his friend Sturmer, whereupon she suddenly gave a low scream and fainted.

The truth was out at last! The first blow of retribution had on that afternoon fallen upon the Imperial House of Romanoff.

But Rasputin, the amazing, remained unperturbed. He merely smiled evilly. The game had become desperate, he knew, but he still had other cards to play.

CHAPTER TEN.

DISCLOSES THE CHARLATAN'S WILES.

Up till this juncture the penalty for even mentioning the name of Rasputin was imprisonment. The censors.h.i.+p, controlled by his catspaw Protopopoff, took care to adopt the most drastic measures to suppress every mention of the mysterious ”Saint” who was the centre of that band of neurotic n.o.blewomen who kissed his filthy hands and bowed their knees to him.

”O Holy Father! the Chosen One of G.o.d! Give us thy blessing and we beseech of thee to pray for us. May the sin we here commit be committed for the purification of our souls; and may we, thy sister-disciples, be raised to thine own plane of piety by G.o.d's great mercy.”

Thus ran the blasphemous opening prayer repeated at each of the scoundrel's erotic reunions--those meetings held with closed doors both within the Palace of Tsarskoe-Selo, in the Gorokhovaya, and elsewhere.

But on that historic November 14th, 1916, the ”Saint” had been publicly named, and hence became seriously alarmed. Two hours after the fearless Miliukoff had denounced him in the Duma the whole of Petrograd palpitated with excitement. All knew that the utterances of the fearless patriot who had actually pilloried the monk in public would be denied publication in the Press. Therefore those who were bent upon winning the war at once arranged to have typewritten copies of the speech circulated from hand to hand, and by that means the bold denunciation obtained a wider circulation than any other words ever spoken in the Duma.

The newspapers appeared with black columns. ”M. Miliukoff continued the debate,” was all that was allowed to appear in print. The cables to the Allies were rigorously censored, so that in England even Downing Street were in ignorance of what had really occurred. Paris, London and Rome were still living in a fool's paradise, thanks to the grip which Germany had gained upon official Petrograd, and were being led to believe that all in the Russian Empire were united against the hated Hun.

The reports in the British Press of that period were most mystifying.

That the Duma were dissatisfied with the state of affairs was plain, but had not the House of Commons often expressed equal dissatisfaction? The fact, however, that the name of Rasputin had actually been mentioned and that the ”Holy Father” had been exposed as Germany's spy, who controlled the ”Hofmeister Sturmer,” was never dreamed until a month later, even by such outspoken journals as the Paris _Matin_.

At Tsarskoe-Selo, however, all were in deadly fear. Even Anna Vyrubova viewed the situation with greatest alarm. She wrote to him an hour after Miliukoff had denounced him, as follows: