hop received a letter from the Dowager Empress
which was brought by a German war prisoner. Others think that this
letter was an act "de provocation" and has been fabricated by the
Bolsheviki to circulate a bad story about the Bishop.

They speak a great deal about taking the Emperor from here to European
Russia and the whole family is scared.

The situation is very precarious: there is a decided tendency on
the side of the Bolsheviki to take the family away--some say,
to Ekaterinburg, others to Berezov; deputies from Petrograd and
Ekaterinburg, arrived in Tobolsk asking the local soviet to give up
the family. The members of the "Detachment of Special Destination"
do not allow that, saying that the Family will be given only to
the Constituent Assembly and the population is on the side of this
detachment. There may be an outbreak. In certain houses there are
firearms. The situation would be better if the soldiers from the
detachment had been paid; but since last September they have not been,
so discontent is growing. Colonel Kobylinsky's behavior seems to be
strange.

The Ufa movement is gaining in strength.

Yours,

Al. Syv."

30

(_Fourth letter to M. Goroshkin_)

"In case you would like to eliminate the work of my companion,--let me
know, and it could be very easily done: she could be taken out of the
house and put on the train going in any direction. Schmelin would help
in this case. Then I would go away, for instance to Ekaterinburg
or Omsk. I shall wait for your letter in regard to this, and in the
meantime I'll remain just as I am now. Please do not let me stay in
my actual position. I simply refuse to be aiming at her back with a
concealed dagger. Even as it is, my life is untenable--the way I live,
and the people I have to meet, make it perfectly horrid...."

(_end of letter missing_)

31

I never knew that a wireless apparatus for a range of more than one
hundred miles could be such a small thing. Really this war has brought
about some wonders, and it is clear to me this particular station,
that was delivered yesterday, is a military outfit. I remember little
about wireless telegraphy; only few explanations given to me by
Capt. Volkhovsky, and after the very solemn inauguration of the
"Spark-Radio" we had a gala-performance. It is but a superficial study
indeed.

I cannot understand this strange silence of Goroshkin. Is he dead? If
he is dead--what happened to Marchenko? Are the