ypin master of the situation.

Though Rasputin behaved graciously towards him and often dined at his
table, he was in secret his enemy. So cleverly did the monk form and
carry out his plot that to the last he never believed but that the holy
man, who prayed so fervently for his success in the guidance of Russia,
was his most devoted friend.

Many crimes have been committed in Russia beneath the shadow of the Black
Wings, but perhaps none more ingenious than the one under notice.

The first I knew of the deep conspiracy was in the spring of 1911, by the
visit one night to Rasputin's house in the Poltavskaya of a tall,
fair-haired man named Hardt, whom I knew as a frequent visitor to the
monk. He was a merchant in Petrograd and a man of considerable means,
but, as I afterwards discovered, was an agent of Potsdam specially sent
to Russia as the secret factotum of the Tsaritza. He was ever at her beck
and call, and was the instrument by which she exchanged confidential
correspondence with the Kaiser and other persons in Germany.

On that evening when Hardt called quite half-a-dozen of the
sister-disciples were taking tea with the saint and gossiping, for each
Thursday he would hold informal receptions, and with horrible blasphemy
bestow upon the society women who attended his accursed blessing. The
ladies there on that night were all of the most exclusive circle in
Petrograd.

On Hardt's arrival the reception was cut short after he had whispered
some words to the Starets, who made excuse that he had to leave to return
to the palace.

Indeed, he went to the telephone at the farther end of the room and held
a conversation with the Tsaritza's confidante, Mademoiselle Kamensky.
None knew, however, that that private telephone by which the charlatan so
impressed his visitors was merely a fake one, its wires not extending
farther than the end of the garden.

Grichka sometimes when alone rehearsed those conversations, until he
succeeded in producing a perfect series of answers which would strike the
hearer as a most intimate conversation concerning either Emperor or
Empress.

From the chatter upon the mock telephone the assembly concluded that his
presence was required at the palace immediately, therefore they rose and
retired, leaving the mysterious Hardt alone with us.

Instead of going to Tsarskoe-Selo we retired to the saint's little den,
where we opened a bottle of champagne, of which we all three drank.

"Well, my