an
is being worked out this way: his people will buy out the sentinels
and take the Emperor and the Heir (perhaps the Princesses, but, as he
says "the old woman will never be considered") and rush both eastward
by the old highway. On the stations Mamaev's people are now hiring
horses and coachmen. They have collected money amongst the merchants.
They plan to take the Emperor as far as Blagoveshchensk-on-Amur.
Thence to San-Haliang, on the Chinese side of the river. From
San-Haliang somewhere out of the country,--I never heard where to. The
organization works successfully in the region of Tomsk, where all is
ready for immediate action.

There is much imagination in Mamaev's plan, and though I know his
preparations are watched in Ekaterinburg, they do not meet with
approval at all. Captain Kaidalov of the Crimea Horse Regt. is now the
soul of Ekaterinburg and he does not approve. He is a fine fellow, I
know, and very courageous: he went to the local soviet, became their
confident and _persona grata_ and I think is virtually the only one
who really understands the problems and realizes their difficulty and
their danger. Please let me know whether I should inquire any longer
about all of this!

Yours,

Alex. Syv."

33

Sunday she came back from the trip. I felt quite lonesome all of this
week. Two men were with her: one--a Russian, the silent type, with a
big hat, who was taking care of the horse: the other, a tall, broad
faced Anglo-Saxon fellow, whose bronzed face would be appropriate
in the tropics but not on the white steppes of Siberia. A little
longhaired pony brought the trio in a fancy sledge early in the
morning. The Englishman (his name is Stanley) started to work with
the radio, silent, serious, smoking a short black pipe. He took me for
Lucie's servant. If I had had any doubt of his nationality, I never
could have mistaken his tobacco: Navy Cut,--_the one make_ I can't
tolerate. He filled our small house with blue clouds of stink. When
they all came I ran to the sledge, but from a distance Lucie signaled
to me with her eyes that no tender expressions were needed. She sent
me out for food, then to a drug store, then to the post-office, etc.,
etc. I obeyed.

So around noon I went to see the Princess. They all make me sick,
especially since the L. tragedy. "If God does not help--we cannot." A
certain Mme. K-v is now hanging around her. A suffragette--that's what
she is. She said "some women are no