I returned to the house and asked Tatischeff to let me know who were the persons who intended to go. I promised to call in an hour’s time for the answer. I came back and Tatischeff said to me that the following persons were leaving Tobolsk: the emperor, the empress, the Grand Duchess Maria, Botkin, Dolgoruky, Tchemodouroff, Sedneff, the waiter, and Demidova, the maid. When I reported the names to Iakovleff he answered: “It’s all the same to me.” I suppose Iakovleff’s only idea was to get the emperor out of Tobolsk as soon as possible. When he noticed the emperor’s unwillingness to go alone, Iakovleff thought: “That’s all the same to me; let him take whom he likes; but do it quickly.” That was the reason why he repeated so often: “That’s all the same, let them take anybody they want”--not expressing the second part of this thought--“Do it quickly.” He did not mention it but all his actions indicated that that really was his desire. He was also in a great hurry and for this reason too he gave the order to limit the amount of baggage. I did not enter the house any more on this day. I thought that they would feel better if they were left to themselves, so I did not go there. The family at this time was making preparations for the departure. As Gilliard told me, the empress was extremely downhearted. Though a very reserved woman, she nevertheless worried much about her decision to go with the emperor, which involved leaving her beloved son behind. If the empress knew that they were going to take her to Yekaterinburg, why should she have been depressed? Yekaterinburg is not so far from Tobolsk. But she felt from all of Iakovleff’s actions, and so did everybody else in the house, that he was not taking them to Yekaterinburg, but to some other distant place, such as Moscow. And that they were not taking them away in order to advance their interests in any way, but for something else, that was connected with the state’s interest, and that once in Moscow the emperor would be compelled to make some very serious and responsible decisions. The emperor had the same ideas and apprehensions. He expressed them when he spoke of the Brest-Litovsk treaty. I did not sleep all that night. According to the order of Iakovleff, in the evening I assembled the soldiers again. Iakovleff explained to the men that he intended to take the emperor out of Tobolsk; he did not name the place he was taking him to, and asked the soldiers to keep the matter secret.