and you a small packet. It contains two
tubes of white powder. Peter Tchernine, who has succeeded
Sawvitch as the general's servant, is to be trusted. You will
send the tube marked No. 1 to him in secret at General
Headquarters, with orders to mix the contents with the powdered
sugar which the general is in the habit of taking with stewed
fruit. The slightest trace of the powder will result in death
from a cause which it will be impossible for the doctors to
identify.

"(3) A young dancer at the Bouffes named Nada Tsourikoff, living
in the Garnovskaya, will call upon you for the tube marked No. 2.
She is a close friend of General Korniloff, and is about to join
him at headquarters at our orders. She has already her
instructions as to the use of the tube. The two deaths will be
entirely different, therefore doctors will never suspect.

"At all hazards the offensive must be ended. Greetings.
"S."

After I had read the instructions Hardt produced a box of Swedish safety
matches, which he emptied upon the table, and among them we saw two tiny
tubes of glass hermetically sealed, one containing a white chalk-like
powder and numbered "1," while the other was half filled with pale green
powder and marked "2." These he handed to the monk, saying:

"I will use your telephone, if I may? I have to ask the young woman Nada
Tsourikoff to call here to see you."

The monk having granted permission, Hardt, passing into the study, was
soon speaking with the popular young dancer of the Bouffes.

"You will call here at noon, eh?" he asked, to which she gave a response
in the affirmative.

Punctually at twelve I was informed that a young lady, who refused her
name, desired to have an urgent interview with the Starets, and on going
to the waiting-room, wherein so many of the fair sex sat daily in
patience for the Father to receive them, I found a tall, willowy,
dark-haired and exceedingly handsome girl, who, after inquiring if I were
Feodor Rajevski, told me that her name was Tsourikoff and that she had
been sent to see the Father.

Without delay I introduced her to the "holy" man, who stood with his
hands crossed over his breast in his most pious attitude.

"My daughter, you have, I believe, been sent to me by our mutual friend,"
he said. "You wish for something? Here it is," and he produced a