I A JOURNEY TO EKATERINA 1 II THE DARK HAVEN 11 III THE NEW ARCHANGEL 25 IV THE COST OF LIVING 36 V LIFE IN THE COUNTRY 49 VI FATHER YEVGENY 60 VII A RUSSIAN COUNTESS 72 VIII RUSSIAN LITERATURE IN 1916 81 IX RUSSIA IN 1916 101 X RUSSIAN MONEY 110 XI WITHOUT VODKA, BEER, OR WINE 118 XII GAY LIFE 133 XIII OLD FRIENDS 143 XIV RUSSIA’S NEW WAR PICTURE 152 XV IN THE HOSPITAL 157 XVI THE PROSPECTS FOR PEACE 166 XVII HOME 181 RUSSIA IN 1916 I A JOURNEY TO EKATERINA I PROPOSED to go from Newcastle to Bergen, to go by Norwegian steamer from Bergen to Vardö or Kirkenaes on the far north-eastern limits of Norway, and then wait for some sort of boat to take me to Ekaterina. In this I was successful, though it was not possible to book any passage beforehand in England. I left the night the first misleading news of the North Sea battle was received. If that news had been correct it would have meant that the German Fleet had broken through and was at large, and that each war vessel had become a commerce trader. We stood a chance of being revised by Germans and perhaps of all English of age being taken away. A British captain said to me afterwards, “We received that first news as we were leaving a South American port with a cargo of nitre. We realised at once that the chances must now be considered against our arriving safely at a home port.” Because of the battle the mail boat which had been due in at Newcastle in the morning, arrived only at nightfall, the revising officers were late in coming from the examination of the one to the examination of the other--the _Rhanvald Jarl_, due to go out from Newcastle that night. I did not get to my cabin till half-past-one in the morning, and had spent some hours among drunken sailors, one of whom was sick on the stairs of the Aliens Officer’s room. The journey to Bergen was not pleasant. No one to breakfast, no one to lunch, no one to dinner. I doubt if any one felt in the least anxious about German cruisers or stray mines. There was other preoccupation. At Bergen I stayed three days in a hotel. The news in the Norwegian papers did not flatter the efforts of the Allies. Explanations of the real significance of the North Sea battle began to appear, but they had the suggestion of merely trying to give a better face to what was in reality a very unpleasant happening. For the rest the Germans seemed to be going ahead, and had captured the fort of Vaux. The only set-off against these things was the first intelligence of the Russian advance in Galicia.