Anna’s room still looked like a “lever du Roi”; Allie had taken her departure, so Mme Tanieff told me, and had gone to the Palace of the Grand Duke Paul. I lost no time in delivering the Empress’s message, and quickly returned to her. The evening wore on.... News came that Petrograd was in a state of upheaval, and that crowds of mutineers were everywhere. The Empress begged me to ’phone Linavitch, the A.D.C. to the Emperor, and ask him to tell us what was happening. Linavitch was in command of a company of Horse Artillery at Pavlosk, two miles from Tsarkoe Selo, so it was not difficult to “get” him. “Tell Her Majesty,” he said, “that I am here with my company, and that all will be well.” I spent the evening with the Empress in the mauve boudoir, and she told me how glad she was to have me near her. “I know the Grand Duchesses want you to be somewhere close to their room, so I’ve decided that the red drawing-room will be the best place for you to sleep.[1] Come with me. Anastasie is waiting for us,” she said. The red drawing-room was a fine room; everything in it was upholstered in scarlet, and scarlet and white chintz covered the easy chairs. A bed had been arranged on one of the couches, and the two Grand Duchesses, with tender solicitude, had seen to the minor details themselves. Anastasie’s nightgown lay outside the coverlet, Marie had put a lamp and an ikon on the table by the bed; and a snapshot of Titi, taken from their collection of photographs, had been hastily framed, and occupied a place next to the holy ikon. How dearly I loved them all ... how glad I was that I was privileged to share their danger! The Empress left me with Anastasie, as she wished to see Count Benckendorff, so Anastasie and I sat down comfortably on the red carpet, and amused ourselves with jig-saw puzzles until she returned. The Empress came back from her interview with Count Benckendorff in a state of painful agitation, and, directly Anastasie had gone to bed, she told me that the reports were worse. “I don’t want the girls to know anything until it is impossible to keep the truth from them ...” she said, “but people are drinking to excess, and there is indiscriminate shooting in the streets. Oh, Lili, what a blessing that we have here the most devoted troops ... there is the Garde Equipage ... they are all our personal friends, and I place implicit faith in the tirailleurs of Tsarkoe.” I think that this thought comforted her: she seemed happier when she bade me good night. I woke early on Tuesday morning.... Sleep [Illustration: BACK ROW left to right: Grand Duchesses Marie, Olga, and Tatiana CENTRE left to right: H.I.M. The Tsaritsa, Tsar Nicholas II. Grand Duchess Anastasia FRONT The Tsarevitch THE IMPERIAL FAMILY]