Whilst this was going on, Nicholas II. was lunching with his mother in the latter’s special train, which all the time of her stay in Mohilew had remained at the station, and which she had not left during these days. General Alexieieff was the one who took it upon himself to tell the Czar that he had been made a prisoner. He boarded the train of the Empress, pushed himself most unceremoniously into the carriage where she was sitting with her son, and acquainted the latter with his fate. Neither the deposed Sovereign nor the widowed Empress said a word. She simply got up and went to the window. She saw a crowd of people standing around her train, and the one that was about to carry away her son, then she turned back, and folded him in one long embrace. Speech was impossible to either of them and Marie Feodorovna remained tearless all through this tragedy. On the platform were standing several officers who had formerly been attached to the person of the Emperor, whilst he had been in command of the army. They were waiting to say good-bye to their former chief. A guard, no longer of honour alas! was also standing at the door of the railway compartment assigned to him, who a few days before had been the Czar of All the Russias, together with the commissioners of the Duma, into whose hands Alexieieff delivered his prisoner. Nicholas II. passed on from his mother’s train to his own. Every head was uncovered; he spoke to no one, and no one spoke. A silence akin to that of the grave prevailed. Standing at the window of her carriage could be seen the figure of the Empress Marie watching this sad departure. A few minutes later the train started on its mournful journey. Another act in this drama had come to an end. Whilst this was going on at Mohilew, the officer in command of the garrison of Petrograd, General Korniloff, had repaired to Tsarskoie Selo. From the station he telephoned to Count Benckendorff, the head of the Imperial household, asking him when he could see the Empress. The Count asked him to wait a few minutes at the instrument, and then told him that Alexandra Feodorovna would be ready to receive him in half an hour. At the appointed time the General was introduced into the presence of the Sovereign who entered the room dressed in deep black, but as haughty as ever, and asked him in ironical tones to what she was indebted for the honour of his visit. Korniloff got up, and briefly communicated to her the decision of the government in respect to her person, and warned her that the Palace would be strictly watched, and all communications between her and the outside world forbidden. The Empress then enquired whether her personal servants and those of her children would be left to her, and after having been reassured as to that point, she withdrew as impassible as ever, though strong hysterics seized her as soon as she was once more alone in her private apartments.