The daring reference by Fox, in the foregoing, to personages and
events, to locations and the life incident thereto, that may easily
be confuted are they false in any of their details, leads to but one
conclusion.
Yet there are other incidents that reinforce that conclusion, that are
only casually touched upon by Fox. The references to "the Performer at
the Métropole" who "is a Baroness sure enough" and to the person
named as "Syvorotka," in whom the Baroness is interested, display an
unconscious connection between the mysterious underground diplomats
and the Secret Agents who were acting independently in the _rescue_,
and supplementing the activities of Fox, will be found to be fully
authenticated in the vivid incidents recorded by the diarist of _Part
Two_.
This diarist was doubtless a Russian gentleman of the official class,
of elevated standing with the former Government, and of pronounced
aristocratic sentiments. His previous official connections seem to
have been with the High Administration, the Ministry of Finance, or
with the Council of Ministers. Like many others of his class in
the old régime, when the Revolution broke, he was forced to degrade
himself and mingle with the evil elements that were bent on loot
and rapine. By May, 1918, he appears to have been transformed into
a perfect type of "Red" that deceived and terrorized the Russian
population and gave credence to the Bolshevik assertion that "former
officialdom is now acting with the proletariat." How well the diarist
deceives the Bolsheviki and sustains this claim of Trotzky is fully
revealed in the dramatic incidents recorded: _nowhere in literature
is found a better illustration of social metempsychosis,--of the
abasement of moral and intellectual refinement to the elemental and
unconscious vulgarity and irresponsibility of predatory Communism
and mob indifference to shame_! It is the devolution of Moral
Responsibility into organized iniquity and characterizes primordial
Passion released from sentiment and law,--and _it was the necessary
camouflage of the diarist in his struggle for life and in his efforts
to promote the Czar's escape_.
In translating Part Two, or the memoranda of this Imperial rescuer,
from Russian into English, or the frequent French, to characterize the
event recorded, there were found to be many situations, phrases and
expressions that may shock the sensitive reader; in the conceptions of
the diarist, however, in his cynicism and degradation he photographs
_Red_ _Russia_ and reveals the characteristics necessary to visualize
the horror that accompanied the event. A truthful picture of
this unique segment of human history can be preserved only in a
_word-for-word_ translation of this document. Therefore, with the
exception of a few letters involving the name of A.F. Kerensky,
nothing has been withheld from the inspection of the reader to view
the conduct of nobility subjected to privations, temptation and the
fascinating power of sin.