"... The Métropole performer is a Baroness sure enough.... She knows
a Syvorotka but declines to give his rank or whereabouts.... She tells
me that this place was founded by Count Tatischshev in 1721 ...
when Catherine was a baby.... The Monastery of 'Our Lady of Tikhvin'
looming up before me is a very graceful compliment to the Mosque of
St. Sophia it resembles in so many ways.... fine place to radio
from to friends at Odessa ... especially if the NUN has been obeying
orders.... Lvov is out of the way, over in the city prison, _cooking_,
where he can't betray the prisoners at Ipatiev's.... When I was alone
with my Imperial prisoner I tore the patch off from my shirt
sleeve and handed it to him.... '_Sa lettre!_' he exclaimed in an
undertone.... His manner was exceedingly polite.... '_Ouvrez, lisez_,'
I advised.... '_Oui, oui, je sais! je sais!_' he said softly, '_mais
malheureusement cela est impossible!_'... 'Soak it in water', I
replied.... '_Et vous, monsieur_, _êtes-vous américain ou français_?'
he came back.... '_Je suis né a Paris, mais je suis américain_, and if
the prisoner has no objection I'd rather speak in English.'... 'That
will be delightful,' he said; 'I shall do as you say.'... He ran back
to the bathroom. In a moment he returned holding the patch up before
him.... 'Ah!' he continued aloud, 'this merely says that the Heir
Apparent will make a cruise of the world in a man-of-war; what does
that signify?'... 'If you recognize the writing,' I replied, 'you
will, doubtless, remember the methods of its author when extending an
invitation.'... 'Yes, yes, I see; how clever of you! Had you been a
subject of mine I should have made you an ambassador!'... 'That would
imply infinite wisdom on my part, _Sire!_ I bowed very humbly.... It
made a hit with my prisoner."
This entry follows:
"Alice will give up her wheel chair when the NUN gives the word ...
she is worrying about my prisoner's sister, Olga, and her two
companions, who insist on offering their services to the poor in the
Crimea ... and well she may!... '_Facing the East,'_ they are likely
to travel _south_!... I must get rid of this old valet, _Parafine
Domino_, who makes a nuisance of himself hovering around my prisoner
like a hawk.... Gallipoli says he'll get rid of Alice's physician
before the TENTS arrive,--substituting a fake doctor from the Red
Guard, who'll tell me when the prisoners are fit to travel.... As
'Captain' of this Soviet Guard I am as cold-blooded as Gallipoli
before the spies and hangers-on.... '_Captain?'_... that title seems
to stump the old Russian soldiers,--they claim that there is no such
animal.... The Sergeant has suggested that I put the prisoners under a
SMALL GUARD when we take them to the Ural District Soviet Court of
Workmen.... Nice trap to catch me.... If I agreed to this I'd be in
the same category as Denikin or Dutov or Ekhart and be shot by the
gang outside by _mistake_, so as to fulfill the prophecy of my lady of
Buckingham.... My answer was to order the guard on the balcony to keep
their guns pointed at the prisoners whenever they appear in the garden
... this will satisfy the eavesdropper in the red brick across the way
and scare the wits out of old Parafine, besides giving him something
to talk about when we get away.... To satisfy that suspicious Sergeant
that there is no Japanese money secreted by the prisoners I have
ordered my men to use their bayonets against the walls and ceilings
... even the frame of the bathroom is not to escape!... Gallipoli is
growling around that I'm doing my work too damned well to _seem
reasonable_!... The poor boob! His idea of being _reasonable_ seems to
consist in spreading rumors that the prisoners have been disposed of
in a dozen different ways.... When Maria and Tatiana mounted the truck
in the yard this confiding swaggerer started the gossip that they were
being loaded up to be taken out of town and shot.... Now I am told by
some of the excited guard that that report is TRUE because they heard
some one in the attic of the red brick yelling: '_The baggage is at
the station_!'...
"When I asked them what we wanted with 'BAGGAGE' they went away
growling that I wasn't playing fair!... To my somber-robed lady of
Buckingham, who seems to have deserted me, as well as the slender
guard at the Huis ten Bosch, as well as those at the Wilhelmstrasse
and Odessa, who are part of this 'BAGGAGE,' my guard's agitation will
assume the humorous character of unconscious prophecy.... Suspicion
is in the air!... This undisciplined gang of cutthroats under that
half-baked Sergeant are demanding HOSTAGES from _me_ for _my_ conduct
of this business ... they want 'the Grand Dutchess Olga,' her two
companions, and FIFTY other women!... AT LAST!... the _planes are
buzzing in the sky_.... The Ikon of Holy Nicholas is being
wrapped up.... The NUN has copies of the letters to Oldenburg and
Gendrikov.... It's time to say to my prisoner: _Come with ME to the
U.D.S. of W.A.R.A.D._'.... If he has the code from Odessa he will ask:
'_Are you taking me to be shot_?'... '_RUNMOBS_'.... I'll have the
guard go through his pockets to find the letters that'll turn him over
to my '_vengeance_' ... then for Ekhart's tunnel and OBLIVION!"
23. Then this entry follows. It seems to be sufficiently
circumstantial to justify its reproduction here:
"Murder, like jealousy, in this country is a disease," begins the
narrative. "My part in this international murder will paralyze the
politician and mystify the sober mind of intelligent belief....
History will not be satisfied, however, without a VICTIM, and I must
furnish a victim that will satisfy the mob outside!... The Order has
been given.... There are celebrations among the banditti.... there are
moistened eyes among many peasants; there are strong men and gallant
men among the gang out yonder whose very looks betray the HATRED they
entertain for the suspected _executioner_ of their former ruler and
his excited family.... They fear, they try to avoid me; and I can
see in their looks that, given a favorable opportunity, they _will
hang me to the highest electric wire pole_ in the city!...
"I am not so certain, though, that EVERYONE outside will accept my
theatric 'slaughter' as the Gospel truth.
"Diagonally across the way there has been a Red Cross nurse eternally
peeking through her window in this direction.... If we go out into the
courtyard she can see us plainly behind the other buildings, for there
is nothing to obstruct her vision.... and she seems mighty anxious to
keep tab on all proceedings in the yard.... I have tried to figure
out a resemblance between this nurse and the capricious Métropole
Baroness, but the nurse _seems_ much older.... Perhaps she is
disguised.... If she ever reveals her identity she will remember me as
the man who tipped _my_ cap to her after posting the two sentries
in front of the palisade between the telephone poles and the British
Consulate.... If she remembers me she will also recall the drillings
I gave my awkward squad for the few days I kept them parading after my
prisoners in the yard.... and if anything happens to me she will KNOW
that I did my job well up to the minute I write this.... In a few
hours more the future political history of the world may be changed
forever.... To blot out _seven_ lives is all.... _Dokónchet the
Romanoffs!_"