emarked to me, after a meeting of the "disciples" at our house
in the Gorokhovaya:

"That captain shall pay--and pay dearly--for his insult! Think!--only
think of it, Feodor--of sending my clothes to Her Majesty! What must she
have thought! To me it seems that she doubts whether I can take care of
myself. And am I not inspired, divine!--sent as the saviour of Russia,
and immune from the attacks of mankind!"

His subtle mujik mind clearly saw the bad impression which must be
produced upon the woman who was so completely beneath the thraldom of his
hypnotic eyes. If he could be beaten as a charlatan, then such action of
his enemies must naturally create a doubt in her mind. Hence he was
scheming to exhibit his power.

The worst feature of the position was that from the Officers' Club the
incident had leaked out all over Petrograd, until it had become common
talk in the cafes. The story of Grichka sitting upon a dung-heap was on
the lips of everybody, while a well-known member of the Duma remarked:

"A pity he was not buried in it, never to see the light of day again!"

Yatchevski was, of course, unconscious of the knowledge held by the monk.
He was at the Ministry of War, head of one of its many departments, a
loyal patriotic Russian, who, like our millions, believed that
Soukhomlinoff was "out to win." He was ignorant of the irresistible power
which the dirty "saint" could wield.

One day, to Captain Yatchevski's delight, he found himself raised in rank
and appointed military commandant of the town of Kaluga, south of Moscow,
with permission to take his wife to reside there. Naturally he was
gratified to receive so influential an appointment. Though possessed of
much money, he had hitherto not progressed very far in his official
career, and this favour shown him by the Tsar, who had made the
appointment, pleased him immensely.

His wife, of course, felt otherwise. She would be separated from her gay
friends, the "sisters" of the monk's "religion." Besides, she saw that by
entering Rasputin's cult there was a prospect of becoming on terms of
personal friendship with the Empress.

Anyhow, a week later Olga Yatchevski, having bidden farewell to the monk,
was forced to depart with her husband to the important town of Kaluga,
and for a fortnight I heard nothing.

One morning, however, the monk received a certain General Nicholas
Ganetski, of the Imperial General Staff, when, without much preamble, the
officer remark