man
in charge of the lift below noticed nothing.

We saw several processes of opening letters by steaming them, first
taking an impression in plaster of any seal, and also by cutting off the
end of the envelope by means of a small guillotine. The letters were
dexterously opened, photographed, replaced in their respective envelopes,
refastened and new seals made, or in other cases the ends of the cut
envelopes were resealed by means of paper pulp to match the colour of the
envelope, and placed under pressure in a hot press, thus actually
remaking the paper!

The watchman of this secret chamber was an illiterate, deaf and dumb
peasant.

"Each functionary on being first admitted here," said Rogogin, "is
compelled to take a solemn oath never to divulge its existence to a
living soul--not to his wife, father, sister, brother, or dearest
friend."

All was remarkable, a spying system of which I had never dreamed.

When we entered the Director's well-furnished private room and the door
was closed, Rogogin took from a locker drawer a letter which he handed to
the monk, saying:

"Here is the letter of which I spoke; if I hold it back it may arouse
suspicion."

Rasputin, who could only read with difficulty, looked at the letter, and
then, handing it to me with that lofty air he assumed in the belief that
he could conceal his ignorance, said:

"Feodor, read it to me."

It was on grey paper, and was as follows:

"IMPERIAL RUSSIAN EMBASSY,
"UNTER DEN LINDEN, 7.
"June 8th.
"_Secret._

"YOUR EXCELLENCY,--In accordance with your instructions I beg to
report confidentially as follows: On arrival here I presented my
credentials of His Excellency our Ambassador, and in consequence
was allowed to conduct a confidential inquiry among the staff of
the Embassy, and in other quarters, in which I have been actively
assisted with excellent results by P. Ostrovski, agent of the
Okhrana in Berlin, whom I recommend for advancement.

"My discoveries are several, and of an interesting nature. First,
a person named Hardt, who is often resident in Petrograd, is the
secret courier of the Empress between Potsdam and Tsarskoe-Selo.
Secondly, a sum of one hundred thousand marks was paid by the
Dresdner Bank on March 11th last to the account of one Boris
St