and would not hesitate had it not been because of the age difference.

On a certain Friday morning something kept me from going as usual to
the British Embassy where our offices were located. This proved to be
my salvation for that same morning the Embassy was raided by the
Bolsheviks. They invaded the Embassy, arrested all the British
officers and killed Commander Crombie right on the entrance steps
when he tried to stop them from entering. They hung his body head
down out of one of the windows.

All the Russian officers who worked with the Mission were also
arrested and promptly shot. Of 16 such officers, only three including
myself ultimately got away. Thirteen were shot.

After the Embassy raid my position became extremely precarious, for I
was now on the black list and being searched for. While previously my
connection with the Mission had been a protection, now it was just
the opposite. I could not very well remain in our apartment and we
all scattered, except my mother who remained. My father was still in
Moscow. Nelka went to some friends. I spent some time in the country
where I hid for some time in our empty house.

It is to be noted that food was practically unavailable and that
there was no money to buy it with if there was any. So we all had a
pretty desperate time, but so did everyone else.

In the midst of all this, Nelka finally agreed to marry me. Perhaps
the Revolution, the circumstances, the constant danger which we were
all facing all of the time, helped her make her decision. But decide
she did and so one day early in September 1918 we went to Tsarskoe
Selo, an hour by train from Petrograd where an old aunt of mine
lived. We were married in a church there with just a handful of
friends in attendance. Nelka wore a white sister's uniform for her
wedding dress. My old aunt who was very fond of Nelka took off a gold
bracelet she wore and put it on Nelka's arm. Nelka never took it off
throughout her life.

Some friends of ours let us use their empty apartment for our
honeymoon. We had a 5 pound can of British bully beef and subsisted
on that until it was used up. We then returned to Petrograd and moved
into one room of a tiny flat where a Polish woman, Mrs. Kelpsh, lived
who had worked in Nelka's hospital in Kovno. This was in a back yard
of a small side street. She registered Nelka under her maiden name
and me not at all. If seen, I was just supposed to be a boy-friend
visiting.

However, thi