lent!" exclaimed the monk; but afterwards, when he sat in the room,
he remained silent and thoughtful for a long time.

At last he exclaimed aloud to me:

"Miliukoff must be removed. While he lives we are all in danger. We must
try another method."

Matters had now reached a most desperate crisis, for on the following day
Vladimir Purishkevitch, who had opposed the Government so strenuously in
spite of his monarchical affiliations, came to see the Tsar to warn him
also of the evil forces about him. But His Majesty took no heed.
Therefore, two days later, he delivered from the tribune of the Duma some
terrible allegations against the camarilla.

Meanwhile Rasputin had been active, and, with Stuermer's aid, had got hold
of a man named Dubrovin, the leader of "the Black Hundred" and a close
associate of the "dark forces." This man had, in turn, induced a man
named Prohozhi, a member of the organisation, to accept a sum of money in
return for the assassination of Miliukoff by means of a bomb.

All was arranged for the night of December 20th, and Rasputin sat with
the Empress eagerly awaiting news that the deed had been accomplished.
Instead of that, however, Protopopoff rang up from his house in Petrograd
to say that Prohozhi had, on reflection, hesitated to harm Miliukoff, and
moreover had revealed to young Prince Felix Youssoupoff and several
others the whole of the conspiracy!

When told of this the Empress fainted. She saw that all was now lost.
Indeed, on the following day Miliukoff rose in the Duma and made a second
and more powerful attack upon the camarilla, singling out Protopopoff as
one of the worst offenders. Again he held in his hand his famous bundle
of documents, evidence of the treachery of the "dark forces," and in a
magnificent speech he defied the Government, and urged the people to
judge matters for themselves in the light which those documents would
cast upon events. In that latest denunciation of Rasputin and his friends
there was a ring that resounded through Europe.

The Tsar had again left for the front, while the Empress, nervous and
trembling, held Rasputin and Anna ever at her side. The precious trio
which had wrecked Russia were now seriously perturbed at the ugly state
of public opinion. A dark storm-cloud had arisen, but Rasputin, with his
boldness and contempt for the people, assured the Empress that there was
no cause for anxiety, and that all would be well.

The seances of the siste