To Western readers the whole facts may well appear incredible. But those who know Russia, with its complex world of official corruption and "religious" chicanery, are well aware how anything may happen to that huge Empire when at war. After a fortnight's silence, during which the sinister hand of Anna Vyrubova regularly administered that secret drug to the poor, helpless son of the Emperor, Rasputin, with amazing effrontery, dared again to put his foot in Petrograd. On the night of his arrival the Tsaritza, awaiting him anxiously at Tsarskoe-Selo, sent him a note by Ivan Radzick, the trusted body-servant of the Emperor for fifteen years, a note which the miracle-worker preserved most carefully, and which ran as follows: "Holy Father,--I await you eagerly. Boris (Sturmer) and Fredericks are with me. Things are increasingly critical. Hasten to us at once and cure poor little Alexis, or he will die. The doctors are powerless. I have had urgent news from Berlin. Miliukoff must be removed, and so must Kerensky and Nicholas (the Grand Duke). Boris has arranged it. You have the means. Something must happen to them within the next forty-eight hours. Nicholas has handed Nikki an abominable letter of threats. The British Ambassador is wary and knows of this. His despatches to London to-night must be intercepted. I am sending the car for you, and await in eagerness once again to kiss your dear hands.-- Your devoted sister, Alec." CHAPTER ELEVEN. BAMBOOZLING THE ALLIES. As a result of the denunciation in the Duma of "Russia's dark forces," Boris Sturmer was deprived of the Premiership and appointed by the Tsaritza's influence to a high office in the Imperial household, where he could still unite with Baron Fredericks in playing Germany's game. A few days after this re-shuffling of the cards, M. Trepoff, the new Premier, made a reassuring statement to the Duma, in which he said: "There will never be a premature or separate peace. Nothing can change this resolution, which is the inflexible will of the august Russian sovereign, who stands for the whole of his faithful people." How Rasputin and the camarilla must have chuckled when they read these words of reassurance! On the very day that declaration was made the monk had received a telegram in cipher from Stockholm, whither it had been first sent from the Koniggratzer-strasse in Berlin, and which, de-coded, reads as follows: "Gregersen (a well-known German agent who had actively assisted von Papen in America) is arriving at Archangel upon a munition ship from New York. You will have early news of him. See that he is placed under P.'s (Protopopoff's) protection. He will bring you four boxes. Do not open them, but see they are stored carefully. Hand them to our friend R. (Professor Rogovitch, of Samara, a bacteriologist and friend of Rasputin).--Number 70."