rcles by the German wives of Russian czars. These still retained
enough of their German sympathies to counteract any consideration they
might otherwise have felt for the interests of Russia itself,
especially as this was further strengthened by their realization that
the defeat of Germany would also mean the doom of Russian autocracy,
of which they were a part.

CHAPTER LXXIV

RASPUTIN, THE EVIL SPIRIT OF RUSSIA

The dominating figure of this dark circle of pro-Germans within the
Russian court was the monk Rasputin--Rasputin the peasant, the
picturesque, the intriguing, the evil medium through which the agents
of Germany manipulated the Russian Government toward their own ends,
the interests of the German autocracy. Such a figure could have played
a part in no other than a court of Oriental pattern, and such the
Russian court was.

Gregory Novikh was a Siberian by birth, the son of a common,
illiterate mujik, as illiterate and as ignorant as his father. Early
in life, while still a common fisherman, he showed abnormal qualities.
Degenerate, unrestrained in all his appetites, he possessed a magnetic
personality sometimes found in persons of that type. It was said that
no woman, even of the highest culture and quality, could resist his
advances. So loose was his behavior that he acquired the nickname of
Rasputin, which means a rake, a person of bad morals. And by this name
he gradually became notorious all over the land.

From fishing Rasputin turned toward easier ways of making a living.
He became an itinerant monk, a holy man, a mystic. A role he was able
to play on account of his peculiar hypnotic powers. As a religious
fakir he acquired influence over women of high degree, though his
manners were coarse and his person was decidedly unclean.

Eventually Rasputin made the acquaintance of Madame Virubova, the
favorite lady-in-waiting of the czarina. With the credulity of a
superstitious woman of her class, the czarina was a patroness of many
occult cults and had a firm belief in the influence of invisible
spirits. Rasputin was presented to her by the lady-in-waiting as an
occult healer and a person of great mystic powers. Immediately he was
asked to show his powers on the young czarevitch, Alexis, heir to the
throne, who was constitutionally weak and at that moment was suffering
especially from attacks of heart weakness. Rasputin immediately
relieved the sufferings of the child and so permanently establish