I hastily arranged my sadly crumpled Red Cross uniform, and two soldiers with fixed bayonets stationed themselves on either side of me. The A.D.C. led the way down endless stairs and lengthy corridors. At last we halted before a half-open door, and, as I stood there, I smelt the delicate fragrance of roses. Surely no roses grew in this terrible prison soil? But the perfume was unmistakable, and I was not left long to wonder from whence it proceeded. I was ushered into a large, well-furnished reception room, formerly occupied by some Minister under the Empire, and on a table stood an enormous basket of blood-red roses. On another table was a basket of scarlet carnations, the warm air was heavy with the mingled odours of roses and clove pinks. So the Ministers of the Revolution were able to indulge their taste for roses in March, whilst the Sons of Freedom clamoured in the snow for bread! The door at the extreme end of the room was ajar; presently it opened, and Kerensky came in. He glanced at me, walked to the writing-table, where he seated himself, and indicated a place for me. KERENSKY: “Well, what do you want. You asked to see me?” MYSELF: “I want to ask you why I am under arrest. I have never meddled in politics, they are the last things that interest me. I can’t regard myself as a political prisoner.” KERENSKY (taking a roll of paper off the desk, and perusing it): “Listen.... Firstly, you are accused of staying voluntarily with Their Majesties when you had no official position at Court. Can you deny this?” MYSELF: “Certainly not, I have no wish to do so. I stayed with Their Majesties, as I could not possibly desert them at such a moment. I love the Imperial Family as individuals. Surely this cannot constitute a crime in your eyes.” KERENSKY: “Well ... let it pass.... What is this close friendship between you and the Empress?” MYSELF: “I am honoured with the friendship of the Empress. She knows my husband, she has been so good to us that we cannot be devoted enough to her.” KERENSKY (impatiently): “Enough of the Empress. What do you want?” MYSELF: “What I ask is _not_ freedom, but imprisonment in my own house. My child is ill. I want to be with him.” KERENSKY (laughing satirically): “You didn’t consider your child when you left him alone in Petrograd in order to remain with your beloved Empress.” MYSELF (angrily): “I know best _why_ I left him. You call yourself a patriot ... I suppose you put the love of your country before family ties? I love the Imperial Family, they come before my family ties. You’ve taken me away from _them_--I haven’t gone willingly. Why deprive me of my child?” KERENSKY (with sinister emphasis): “Listen, Madame Dehn, _you know too much_. You have been constantly with the Empress since the beginning of the Revolution. You can, if you choose, throw quite another light on certain happenings which we have represented in a different aspect. You’re DANGEROUS.” A long silence.