o find herself in the hands of six grey-coated police officers, who
roughly bundled her out into the hall, shrieking and cursing the
blasphemous blackguard who was the real ruler of the Empire.

An hour after the girl Bauer had been taken away a secret messenger from
Berlin brought us another dispatch in cipher, which, when I decoded it,
read:

"MEMORANDUM FROM NO. 70. 68,428. G.

"Instructions from the Emperor William are to the effect that
Germany will deliver a peace offer to Russia on December 12th.
Inform Her Majesty of this, and tell her to use all her influence
with the Emperor and all the Ministers towards an acceptance.

"Instructions to our friend P. [Protopopoff] are to continue his
destructive activities. He must muzzle the Press more closely,
hold up all food, and continue provocative work in all quarters.
It is only by producing extreme suffering that you can bring
about an uprising for peace. Code now changed to No.
5.--Greetings,
"S."

Duly the German offer of peace was made on December 12th, and Russia was
tottering to her doom. The offer, engineered by the "black forces," gave
opportunity to the Duma to express its pent-up feelings. Both Miliukoff
and his friend who had so narrowly escaped the "perfume" declared
publicly that the camarilla favoured the acceptance of the offer.

Of the truth of this I can myself vouch, for Alexandra Feodorovna had,
since her holy Father had received the secret dispatch, spared no effort
to induce the Emperor and the Cabinet to accept the olive branch.

Nicholas refused. Whatever may be said of him, I know personally that on
many occasions he proved his loyalty to the Allies against the evil
counsels of Stuermer and the others.

The nation, however, had to be pacified, so the Tsar called the
newly-appointed Foreign Minister, Petrovsky, who represented the best
type of bureaucrat, and instructed him how to act. In consequence, three
days after the Teuton proposal was made, he announced Russia's rejection
of a "premature peace." Immediately after the Foreign Minister's
declaration, the Duma passed a resolution, which contained the following
declaration:

"Having heard the statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
the Duma unanimously favours a categorical refusal by the Allied
Governments to enter, under present conditions, int