_Saturday, February 2nd._--23° R. below zero. Prince Dolgorouky and I watered the snow mountain. We carried thirty buckets of water. It was so cold that the water froze on the way from the kitchen tap to the mountain. Our buckets and the snow mountain “steamed.” To-morrow the children can begin tobogganing. _Monday, February 4th._--The thermometer is said to have dropped last night below 30° Réaumur (37° Centigrade). Terrible wind. The Grand-Duchesses’ bedroom is a real ice-house. _Wednesday, February 6th._--It appears that on the initiative of the 2nd Regiment the soldiers have decided that Commissary Pankratof and his deputy, Nikolsky, must resign. _Friday, February 8th._--The soldiers’ committee has to-day decided to replace Pankratof by a Bolshevik commissary from Moscow. Things are going from bad to worse. It appears that there is no longer a state of war between Soviet Russia and Germany, Austria, and Bulgaria. The army is to be disbanded, but Lenin and Trotsky have not yet signed the peace. _Wednesday, February 13th._--The Czar tells me that the demobilisation of the army has begun, several classes having already been disbanded. All the old soldiers (the most friendly) are to leave us. The Czar seems very depressed at this prospect; the change may have disastrous results for us. _Friday, February 15th._--A certain number of soldiers have already left. They came secretly to take leave of the Czar and his family. At tea in the evening with Their Majesties, General Tatichtchef, with a frankness justified by the circumstances, expressed his surprise at finding how intimate and affectionate was the family life of the Czar and Czarina and their children. The Czar, smiling at the Czarina, said, “You hear what Tatichtchef says?” Then, with his usual good-humour tinged with a touch of irony, he added: “You have been my aide-de-camp, Tatichtchef, and had ever so many opportunities of observing us. If you knew so little about us, how can you expect us to blame the newspapers for what they say about us?” _Wednesday, February 20th._--The Czar tells me the Germans have taken Reval, Rovno, etc., and are still advancing along the whole front. It is obvious that he is deeply affected. _Monday, February 25th._--Colonel Kobylinsky has received a telegram informing him that, from March 1st, “Nicholas Romanoff and his family must be put on _soldiers’ rations_ and that each member of the family will receive 600 roubles per month drawn from the interest of their personal estate.” Hitherto their expenses have been paid by the state. As the family consists of seven persons, the whole household will have to be run on 4,200 roubles a month.[64]