"Because I know from my friend Venikoff, one of the assistant-directors of Secret Police, that the man, a discharged _agent-provocateur_ and incensed at the way he has been treated by Stolypin, has joined forces with some mysterious young woman named Baltz. There is a whisper that between them they are engineering a plot to assassinate the Prime Minister!" Rasputin's strange eyes met mine. Both of us knew more than this struggling sycophant. "Bagrov?" the saint repeated. "Who is he?" "Oh! A fellow who was assistant to Azeff in some disgraceful matters in Warsaw--an _agent-provocateur_ who lived afterwards for some time in Paris and on the Riviera. He attributes his downfall to Stolypin, and hence is most bitter against him. He has, I hear, fallen in love with the woman Baltz, who hails from Samara." "Well?" asked the saint. "Well?--nothing," laughed the man with the goat-beard. "I simply tell you what I know. There is a plot--that is all! And as far as I can discern the swifter Stolypin leaves the Court, the easier it will be for Her Majesty and ourselves--eh? While Stolypin is daily with the Emperor there is hourly danger for us." "In that I certainly agree," declared Rasputin. "We must be watchful--very watchful." We remained alert--all of us. That same night Rasputin informed the Empress of the secret plot of the black-haired Vera and her lover Bagrov. The Court left for the Crimea next day, and Rasputin travelled with the Imperial family. Stolypin, in ignorance of what was in progress, was of the party, I being left in Petrograd to follow three days later. On arrival at Kiev, where the Emperor had arranged to review the troops, a gala performance was held in the theatre that night. Opposite the Imperial box sat Stolypin, with two other high officials of the Court, when, during the entr'acte, a man dashed in, and in full view of the Emperor and Empress fired a revolver at the Prime Minister. The confusion this caused was terrible. Her Majesty fainted and was dragged out of the box by Mademoiselle Kamensky, while the Tsar swiftly jumped to his feet and regarded the scene calmly. "I'm done!" gasped the patriotic and honest Stolypin, as those present seized the assassin, who was none other than the ex-_agent-provocateur_ Bagrov. Six hours later the Prime Minister breathed his last, a victim of the Empress and her Potsdam camarilla, while Vera Baltz fled to Switzerland. Rasputin afterwards told me that he urged the Court to leave Kiev at once, adding: "It was far best for Alix and Nicholas to pretend horror of the tragedy than to offer condolences." And so ended another chapter of Russia's underground history. CHAPTER V THE POWER BEHIND THE THRONE