hat of His Majesty, for, truth to
tell, what I had given Peter Tchernine was only a little tube of French
chalk made up to resemble that brought so secretly from Berlin.

On reporting to Rasputin next day, he rubbed his hands with delight. I,
of course, did not tell him of the Emperor's peril.

Next day he, however, came to me in a state of high indignation.

"The fool Tchernine has blundered, just as Sawvitch did!" he cried.
"Brusiloff still lives and is continuing the offensive. Did he not
promise to use the tube?"

"He certainly did," I assured the monk. "He was filled with satisfaction
that he would be able thus to help the Fatherland."

"In any case he has failed!" said the "holy" man. "Not only that, but the
plot against Korniloff has also failed. What shall I reply to Berlin?
What will they say?"

"Has the girl Nada Tsourikoff failed us, then?" I asked eagerly.

"Yes," he replied in a hard, deep tone. "The little fool apparently had
no courage. It failed her at the last moment--or----"

"Or what?"

"Or somebody knew the truth and threatened exposure."

"Why?"

"Because she was found dead yesterday morning at the Grand Hotel at
Dvinsk, having broken the tube and taken some of its contents in her tea.
A pity, too, Feodor, for she might have been so very useful." Then he
added: "Bah! it is always the same with women, their courage fails them
at the last moment! No. It is men--men like yourself, Feodor--that we
want. The failure at Minsk is, however, very strange. We must inquire
into Tchernine's actions and report fully to the Koeniggraetzerstrasse.
Otherwise I shall once again be blamed. Surely I did my best--and so did
you!"

CHAPTER XII

RASPUTIN AND THE KAISER

THE secret visit of Rasputin to Berlin and his second audience with the
Kaiser were stoutly denied at the time, but as I accompanied the "saint"
upon his adventurous journey I am in a position to know the exact facts.

He, dressed as a Dutch pastor, and calling himself Pastor van Meuwen, and
I, calling myself Koster, arrived at a small quiet hotel called the
Westfaelischer-Hof, in the Neustadische-strasse, on the north of the
Linden. We had travelled by way of Helsingfors, Stockholm, and Hamburg,
Rasputin being bearer of letters from the Tsaritza to the Kaiser and
Kaiserin, assuring them of her continued good wishes and her efforts to
secure a German conquest.

Hardly had we been in the rather dismal hotel an hour when a waiter