The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1896-04-29

dor with a threatening air, as he ad-
vanced his kings bishop TO the one
square had omitted to guard. And he
le~nt back in his seat and smiled as if
he considered the game already won.
sat silently studying the position.
But my opponent was not man who
played chess merely by moving the
pieces on the board. He did not neglect
the opportunity TO distract my atten-
tion by conversation.
"The game of chess is an admirable
one for men of my calling" he observed.
"There is something truly instructive
in the lessons which il conveys. Look,
for instance, at the pawn, piece which
in it's earlier career scarcely repays the
trouble of capture, but to which, later
on, even the queen may be sacrificed"
Unconsciously swayed, perhaps, by
these remarks, 1 pushed forward
pawn between my king and the attack
ing piece. The ambassador affected tc
hardly notice the move.
Consider again how delicately the
kings dignity is preserved" he went
on, taking up a knight with elaborate
carelessness, and setting it down dam
gerously near my pawn. "You advance
upon him, you threaten him, you pre-
pare for him the certainty of capture,
but you neve- remove him from the
board"
"And the moral uf this ?" suggested,
as vainly sought way out of the diff.
-eulties in which my OWN king was in
volved.
"The moral is perhaps contained in
q story which / would relate TO you il
i were not certain that you would re-
fuse to believe it,"
"But why?" / demonstrated. do
you mean that il requires one to credit
the existence of the supernatural, for
example?"
A look of the deepest, the most panied
disgust overspread his excellency's
"My friend, have by any chance led
you to mistake me for a romapcer, a
poet? Rest assured that the facts
shall narrate to you are perfectly au-
thentic and are known to several per-
sons in the inner circle of the Russian
court. merely observe TO you that my
story Is incredible. i do not say that IL
Is absurd"
1 resigned myself to the prospect of
losing the game, and prepared to listen.
"The peoples of western Europe do
not understand Russia. 1t is, of course,
of official Russia, the Russia of the gov
ernmen,t that 1 speak. During the
whole time that spent at the embassy
in st. Petersburg | could always per-
ceive that / was mere spectator, al
lowed to see no more of the true con-
dition of affairs than it suited the pur-
pose of the officials to display to me.
Nevertheless, / fatter myself that
penetrated farther behind the scenes
than they were aware.
"Outwardly, as everybody knows, the
government of this empire is an autoc-
racy, the absolute power being vested In
the hands of the car. But the trua
government of Russia is secret So
ciety, the mysterious 'Tchin, which in.
clades the whole of the official class, and
In whose hands the czar Is often no more
than n puppet, powerless to exert his
own will. How burdensome this po.
sition is may be estimated from the fact
that only sixty years ago Grand Duke
Constantine deliberately refused to as
cend the throne, which passed to his
younger brother, Emperor Nicholas 1.
Nor has the 'Tchin' ever shrunk frcm
asserting it's supremacy by the most de-
plorable deeds. IL is not the nihillsts
who have set the fashion of assassinat.
ing czars. 1t is by the hands of their
own ministers and courtiers that the
monarchs of Russia have most often
perished.
"It Is necessary to bear these facts in
mind in order>to understand the Incl.
dent l am about TO relate.
1T is not long since the attention OF
Europe was concentrated upon the
death of Alese nder Ill. Occurring, ms Il
did, i'm a remote corner of his dominions,
on the shores of the Black sea, the nc.
counts supplied by the newspaper cor.
respondents who 1ocked like vulturcs
TO the spot were as circumstantial as IL
each one had been admittsh' 10 the bed
side of the dying monarch. The interest
taken I'm this event was moreover en-.
hanced by the romantic circumstances
of the marriage OF the present czar,
Nicholas III. IL was natural that the
press, ever ready TO give itself up TO
transports over those incidents i'm which
royalty is concerned. should have Law,
ished its powers of description upon the
sudden summons to Princess Alix of
Hesse, her hurried and desolate jour
ney across the frozen continent. her
riarriage with the czarewitch. celebrat.
cd. as il were, in the very death chann
Der. and then the grand passing away Of
the emperor. consoled in the happiness
OF his son ana fortified by all the rites of
his church.
shortly after these events the new
czar seturned to Sc. Petersburg with his
bride. and took up his quarters in the
yLt,tar ,..l,.. A.. l.. -. A.