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 censorship, 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:

"Her Majesty is prostrated. All seems lost. The Emperor departs for the front again at midnight. He fears a rising in Petrograd, and is regretful that M. (Miliukoff) was not suppressed in time to save us.

Someone, he says, has blundered. If you would save yourself go instantly upon a pilgrimage. Describe a vision that will allay the people's anger and give them further confidence in you. M. has denounced you as a mocker of G.o.d and a mere juggler with woman's credulity. Our dear Empress knows you are not. But she must continue in that belief. Shall Alexis be taken with another seizure? If so, prophesy the day and hour. I await word from you in secret, and ask your blessing.--Your sister, Anna."

The suggestion in this letter is, of course, that a dose of the secret drug be administered to the poor little Tsarevitch at an hour to be previously prophesied by the mock-monk. The Matter was, however, on the alert. On receipt of the letter he went at once to the Palace, abruptly leaving the camarilla who had a.s.sembled to plot further, and to save themselves and their own fat emoluments by more juggling with the security of the Empire.

To the Empress, whom he found in her _neglige_ in her boudoir, with Anna in sole attendance, he said:

"Truly, O Sister! our enemies seek to encompa.s.s us! But G.o.d is our strength. As surely as the Russian people have denounced me, so surely will G.o.d in His wrath send His punishment upon the Heir to the Throne.

Miliukoff, who has sought the protection of Satan himself, has spoken his poisonous words against me. Therefore I go to-morrow upon a pilgrimage to retire and to pray for the future of the Empire, and the forgiveness of those who have dared to speak ill of one sent by G.o.d as the Deliverer."

"No! No!" gasped Her Majesty, starting from her chair in pale alarm.

"You will not leave us at this juncture--you will not, Holy Father, leave us to our fate?"

"It is decreed," he said in that low hard voice of his. "I have witnessed a vision even an hour since--I have heard the Voice! I must obey. But," he added seriously, "I tell thee, O Sister! that near five o'clock in the morning of the day following to-morrow thy dear son will be visited by G.o.d's wrath. He--"

"He will be again ill!" gasped the unhappy woman, who believed that the bearded man in the black kaftan before her was sent by Providence as Russia's deliverer. "Surely you cannot mean that! You will pray for him--you will save him. Remember he is my son--my all!"

"Truly I mean what I have spoken, O Sister!" was his reply. "But I will pray for his recovery--and all can be achieved by the sacrifice of the flesh and by prayer. G.o.d grant his recovery!" he added piously, making the sign of the cross and raising his mesmeric eyes heavenwards.

At this the hysterical traitress in her pale-pink gown edged with wide Eastern embroidery of emeralds and turquoises, fell upon her knees and kissed the scoundrel's knotted, unclean fingers, while her faithful Anna looked on and crossed herself, muttering one of the prayers in the blasphemous jargon of the "sister-disciples." The failure to a.s.sa.s.sinate Professor Miliukoff had brought home to the camarilla and also to the spy-bureau in Berlin--acting through Swedish diplomatic channels--that the Grand Dukes Nicholas, Serge and Dmitri, together with their small circle of staunch friends of the n.o.bility, were determined to place them in the pillory.

The agent of Germany, Skoropadski, a friend of the notorious Azeff, of the Russian Secret Police, whose exploits before the war were often chronicled, had betrayed his employers. Commencing life as a Russian _agent provocateur_, employed in Warsaw against the Revolutionists, and consequently a most unscrupulous and heartless person, he had entered the service of Germany with Protopopoff's connivance and had been the means of the ruin and downfall of dozens of patriotic Russian officials.

By virtue of his office as spy of Germany he knew the double game that the Prime Minister, Sturmer, was playing at Rasputin's instigation.

Doc.u.ments pa.s.sed through his hands, and often he pa.s.sed in secret between Petrograd and Berlin and _vice versa_, posing as a Swede and travelling by way of Stockholm.

He was an expert spy, and ready to serve any paymaster. Furthermore, he had a grudge against Rasputin because one of his own lady friends had joined the cult of "Believers," and thus had his hatred been aroused.

Therefore, when the little band of patriots at the head of which was the Grand Duke Nicholas approached him in secret, he was at once ready to place the most d.a.m.ning doc.u.mentary evidence in their hands--those papers which Professor Miliukoff had flashed in the faces of the Duma.

The anger of Sturmer and Protopopoff was now at a white heat. The latter, as Controller of the Secret Police, made every effort to arrest the artful Pole, but he happily escaped, and is now believed to be in Paris.

Such was the story, revealed here for the first time, of the manner in which the Revolutionists were able to present to the people's representative the infamous acts of the monk Rasputin and his official "creatures" who wore their tinselled uniforms, their tin decorations and enjoyed t.i.tles of "Excellency." Traitors have been in every land since the Creation; and, as I examined this amazing _dossier_ collected by the patriotic party in Russia, with its original letters, its copies of letters, its photographs and its telegrams in the sloped calligraphy of their senders, I marvel, and wonder who in other countries are the traitors--who while pretending to serve their own kings or their presidents are also serving the Mammon of Germania?

I pen these chapters of the downfall of Tsardom with unwilling hand, for I have many friends in Russia and, as a traveller in the Land of the Tsar over many thousands of versts, I have grown to know--perhaps only slightly--the hearty, homely and hospitable Russian people. I have suffered discomforts for months among those clouds of mosquitoes on the great "tundra," and I have travelled many and many weary miles over the snows of winter, yet never did I think that I should sit to chronicle such a _debacle_.

Notwithstanding the tears of the Empress, the villainous Rasputin, having arranged with Anna the hour when she should drug the poor little Tsarevitch, departed on a pilgrimage to the Monastery of Tsarytsine.

Facts concerning this journey, when he fled from the wrath of the people, have just been revealed by his friend the monk Helidor, who having learnt the manner in which he betrayed the Empire, has come forward to elucidate many things. .h.i.therto mysterious.

Helidor, who is a man of high intelligence and true religious principles, has stated that at Rasputin's invitation both he and Monsignor Hermogene joined "Grichka," as he terms his dissolute friend, upon the pilgrimage. Rasputin the traitor was received everywhere as an angel from Heaven. The people of all cla.s.ses prostrated themselves and kissed his unclean hands. In Tsarytsine during two days he entered many houses, where he embraced all the good-looking women, but discarded the old and ugly. He was often drunk and riotous.

On entering the monastery at last he isolated himself for four days on pretence of prayer, but he was a.s.sisted in his religious exercises by a good-looking young nun with whom he openly walked in the monastery grounds.

Tired of the retirement and the nun's companionship, he travelled to his native Siberian village of Pokrovsky, Helidor accompanying him.

"During our journey, which was a long one," Helidor says, "I tried to discover some testimony to the sanct.i.ty of my companion. I only found him to be a most uncouth and dissolute person, whose constant talk was of women, and who drank incessantly. I had been mystified by him until then, but I realised that even having been denounced in the Duma, he was quite undisturbed, for his egotism was colossal, and he constantly declared to me that he was the actual Autocrat."

Helidor's description of the so-called "monastery" at Pokrovsky is interesting as being from an authentic and reliable source.

"We arrived there at last," he declared in an interview the other day.