ng?" asked the man Hardt eagerly.

The monk grinned meaningly.

"Her Majesty is taking precautions," he replied evasively. "Possibly
Stolypin has discovered the reason you travelled to Berlin a month ago. I
have an idea that you were watched by the Okhrana."

"Do you really think so?" gasped the German in quick apprehension. "Why
do you suspect?"

"From something whispered to me a week ago."

"Then Stolypin may know that Alexandra Feodorovna is behind the
traitorous dealings of Colonel Miassoyedeff on the frontier--eh?"

Rasputin, his eyes fixed upon his visitor, slowly nodded in the
affirmative.

"That means ruin--perhaps imprisonment for me!" Hardt gasped, his face
pale and anxious.

"I might say the same thing," remarked the saint, stroking his long,
untrimmed beard. "But I do not. We are both strong enough to resist all
attacks. Any suspicion against Miassoyedeff must be removed. I will see
that the Emperor promotes him to-morrow. Our one stumbling-block is Peter
Stolypin."

"One that, I take it, must be removed?"

"Yes--at all costs. That is why the Empress has sought out this woman
Baltz, who, if my estimate of her sex is correct, is a wild firebrand."

"She certainly is viciously vindictive."

"One thing is certain, our friend Stolypin has no idea that he is seated
on the edge of a volcano," remarked the monk. "He lives extremely happily
with his wife and children in that beautiful villa over on the Islands of
the Apothecaries, and has no suspicion of the coming storm. I promised
his wife to go to her salon to-morrow night."

"And will you go?"

"Of course. There must be no suspicion. Are we not, all of us, his best
friends?" asked the monk, grinning evilly.

"I am returning to Berlin by way of Stockholm on Thursday," Hardt said,
for he gave as the reason for his frequent visits to Germany and
Scandinavia that he bought leather in those countries. "Have you anything
to report?"

"Yes. One or two things," replied the Starets, who ordered me to write at
his dictation as follows:

"MEMORANDUM.

"FROM GREGORY TO NUMBER SEVENTY.

"Have acted upon your instructions regarding the Kahovsky affair.
Some important correspondence was seized by the police at his
arrest, and for two days matters looked extremely unpromising. I
paid T. twenty thousand roubles to close his lips, and induced
the Emperor to release Kahovsky and restore his papers. I suggest
that he