and unworthy woman."

"Forgive--why?" he asked, standing erect and fingering his bejewelled
cross. "I do not understand why I am honoured by this visit, madame."

"Ah! Of course you do not know. Pardon, I have forgotten to explain. My
husband----" And she broke into tears. "My dear husband----"

"Well, what of your husband?" asked Rasputin. "He is at the front. Has he
been wounded--or----"

"No, no--not that!" she cried. "They have made a false charge against
him. Some woman named Isembourg, whom he knew in Vilna before the war,
has made an allegation against him of traitorous dealings with the
enemy. She has given over to the Ministry of War some documents
containing the plans of the defences of Grodno, which she declares he has
sold to her! But it is lies--all lies. I know it!"

"Really, this is quite a romantic story, madame," said Rasputin, quite
unmoved. "Why should this woman make such charges?"

"How can I tell? Ah! but you do not know the worst!" she went on. "The
court martial actually accepted this woman's statements--statements that
were lies--all of them! My husband is devoted to me, and I love him--ah,
so dearly! He is all in all to me. And----"

"But the woman--Isembourg, I believe you say--she is a friend of his,
eh?" interrupted the monk, his hands crossed over his breast in that
pious attitude he always assumed when listening.

"She says she was his friend before the war--before we married, indeed.
Perhaps she was," answered the condemned man's wife. "But she is
undoubtedly an _agent-provocateuse_ of police set to tempt men to their
downfall."

"Of that I have no knowledge," was Rasputin's cold reply.

"But you will help me, holy Father! Do--for the sake of a man who is
innocent--for the sake--the sake of his unborn child! Ah! you will show
mercy, won't you?" she begged.

"I do not follow you," was the monk's reply, in pretence of ignorance.

In a frenzy of despair the wretched wife flung herself upon her knees
before the scoundrel, and cried:

"My husband! There is yet time to save him! He--he is to be
shot--to-morrow--as soon as it is light! You--and you alone--can induce
the Emperor to order a revision of the sentence or a new trial. You
will--you are all-powerful and divine!"

"Pardon, madame, that is not your true estimate of Gregory Rasputin," he
said, with biting sarcasm. "Only a short time ago I was a charlatan and a
fraud! No; your opinion cannot have altered in so short a time