ch
Tikhon would be next dictator of Russia.

The Archbishop of Minsk smiled gently and ironically, and then said
quietly:

"Never. And he has too simple a mind to cope with the enemies of
Russia."

"Do you not think Holy Russia will reassert herself? You know the
famous lines of Solovyof: 'O Russia, what sort of an East will you be,
the East of Xerxes or the East of Christ?'"

"It looks rather like the East of Xerxes," said the old man. "But you
believe differently----"

And he smiled indulgently.

I could not say whether he spoke sincerely or out of the depths of
personal and national humiliation.

I suppose it is hard for those who are not Russians to realize what has
happened in Russia. Propaganda has discredited news. The western
world thinks of Russia as the same country with a change of government.
The colossal fact of the complete removal of the upper crust of Russia
is not realized.

A third group of _deracines_ whom I came across in Serbia was an
_artel_ of Rostof engineers. I met a family I had known in Russia.
Last time I had seen them it was one evening with their children
scampering round a tall Christmas tree on which all the candles were
lighted. They were comfortable and capable people, and proud in their
way of what they could do and of what they possessed. Now, with all
the other engineers of the Vladikavsky Railway, they had fled from the
"terror" and were giving their services for the reconstruction of
Serbia.

Serbia did not particularly want them, and was not ready for their
grand schemes.

"You can't start anything in this country," said Engineer N----
regretfully. "Every one wants to make money out of it. The
administration lives on the enterprise of the people. We have
presented the Government with a complete plan for the reorganization of
the Serbian railroads. We have brought the treasury of the Vladikavsky
Railway with us, so we have a little capital, and given the authority
we could make a gigantic improvement in Jugo-Slavia. But all we have
been able to do so far is to arrange a few services of motor transport
to places not reached by railway."

My friends were in a poor little wooden hut on the outskirts of
Belgrade, very courageous and very sad, and their children, once petted
and even pettish, were now grown and serious and facing life earnestly
for themselves and for their parents' sake.

A great chance for Serbia lay in the use of these Russian engineers.