of what the count had
told the Emperor, and she would at once conspire with the holy Father to
cast him into social oblivion--or worse!

That the cupidity of Rasputin knew no bounds I was well aware. He
intended to obtain that most lucrative gambling concession for himself,
for Russians are born gamblers, especially the better classes, and the
establishment of a casino on the Black Sea, with French hotels and
restaurants, pretty villas, and an opera house in imitation of Monte
Carlo, would in summer attract those thousands of rich Russians who in
winter went to the Riviera to gamble.

It was a chance which Rasputin would never allow to slip. Of that I was
quite certain.

The evening I returned to Petrograd the monk had left me a message to go
to Tsarskoe-Selo; therefore I took my green pass, which admitted me past
the many guards of the innermost holy-of-holies, the Imperial apartments,
where I knew I should find the real ruler of Russia.

He had been spending the evening with the Empress, her daughter Olga, and
Anna, and when I sent word to him he joined me in a small ante-room, and,
closing the door, eagerly questioned me.

"When does Yakowleff return from Paris?" he asked when I had read over to
him the list of those adventurous London financiers who had put their
money into the Otchakov scheme.

"Next Thursday he leaves," I said. "Madame has gone to Paris on pretence
of shopping, but in reality to keep watch. 'Axanda, Poste Restante,
Avenue de l'Opera,' will find her. She arranged it with me before we
parted."

"Then this money-bag has really formed an influential syndicate in London
to exploit our country--eh?" asked the monk grimly. "I have been speaking
to the Empress about it, and she declares that the whole circumstance of
Nicholas granting a concession, and for such service, is scandalous."

Scandalous! Surely Alexandra Feodorovna knew that her own actions had
caused her name to be execrated through the length and breadth of Russia.
Helidor and the "Blessed Mitia" had both attempted to reveal what they
knew. Helidor and Mitia had many powerful friends, so they were severely
left alone by the police; yet others who but opened their mouths and
criticised had been sent to prison without trial, while those who had
gained undue knowledge and might transmit it to England or America were
sent to those dreaded oubliettes of Schluesselburg--worse even than the
Bastille, and not one has ever returned across the