Tombstone epitaph., 1915-05-09

NN@ '"S hiAS OAsAop 10 tue one square l had omitted 10 guard. And he leaned back in his seat and smiled as fl he considered the game already won.
 l sat silently studying the position But my opponent was rot man who played chess merely by moving the pieces on the board. He did not neg iect the opportunity to distract my at tention by conversation.
 The game of chess is an admirable one for men Of my calling" he ob- served. There is something truly in structiye in the lessons which it con veys. Look. for instance. at the pawn. B piece which in its earlier career scarcely repays the trouble of capture. but to which, later on, even the queen may have to be sacrificed"
 l resigned myself 10 the prospect of losing the game. and prepared to listen.
 The people of western Europe do not understand Russia. It is. of course, Russia, the Russia of the government, that speak. During the whole time
 
 always perceive that 1 was a mere spectator. allowed to see no more of the true condition of affairs than 1t suited the purpose of the officials to display to me. Nevertheless, fatter myself that I penetrated farther be- hind the scenes than they were aware. 'Outwardly. as everybody knows. fha pF tbfs mi is n autocracy, the absolute power being vested in the hands Of the tsar. But the true government of Russia is a secret society, the mysterious Tchil. which includes the whole Of the off cial class, and in whose hands the tsar is often no more than puppet, pow erless to exert his own will. How burdensome this position is. may be estimated from the fact that eight tine deliberately refused 10 ascend the throne. which passed to his younger brother, the Emperor Nicholas l.
 Nor has the Tchin ever shrunk from asserting its supremacy by the most deplorable deeds. It is not the Nihilists who have set the fashion Of assassinating tsars. It is by the hands of their own ministers and courtiers that the monarchs of Russia have most often perished.
 Tt is necessary to bear these facts in mind in order to understand the in cident am about to relate"
 1t is not so very many years since the attention of Europe was concen- trated upon the death of Alexander III. Occurring as it did in remote corner of his dominions, on the shores of the Black sea, the accounts sup piled by :he correspondents of the Flu ropean press. who flocked in vast num- bers to the spot, were as circumstan- rial as if each one had been admitted to the bedside of the dying monarch. The interest taken in this event was moreover enhanced by the romantic circumstances of the marriage of the present tsar, Nicholas II.
 However. the result of all this was that the Nihilists relaxed their ac- tiyity. and for a time there was abso- late repose in the Russian capital This repose was broken by strange and disturbing rumor, which circu- lated. observe. merely among the eX- elusive circles of the court. This ru- nor was to the effect that the winter palace had become haunted.
 Tt was stated that ghost had been seen walking in one Of the corridors at midnight And there were those who asserted that the spirit in ques- tion was that of the dead tsar.
 As you may imagine, such report could not be long in attracting the at tention of the secret police. The result was very soon apparent
 Never was the marvellous power Of the police exerted with more crushing effect The rumor died out as swiftly and suddenly as it had arisen. it never penetrated beyond the inner circle of society, and, above all, never reached the ears of a single correspondent or any journal outside the Russian em- pire. In the Russian press, of course, it was impossible for anything 10 pass inc stern scrutiny Of the censorship.
 Tt is for this reason that the public of Europe has never had even an ink ling of a secret of which. outside the immediate court circle, I am perhaps the sole possessor. That mere curl osity is not one of my failings. you have doubtless long ago observed. But in the interests of France l deemed it necessary to penetrate to the bottom ot this extraordinary affair. and cir cumstances fortunately put 1t in my power to do so-
 "I was rot there in any political capaclty. was favored in my inVes- tlgation by the accident of my friend ship with a very charming woman, the Princess Nestikon. whose son. Prince Boris Nestikoa. ~as an imperial page, .t that time on duty in the winter palace.
 .I had formed the acquaintance of the princess during my former official ,.s,deuce at the embassy. and. though acme years had elapsed since 1 had aeon her. she received me with un ,h.ted friendliness on my return.
 to hn Aiming af her ma n