After the New Year’s Day celebrations the Czar resumed his periodical visits to the front. The army was then preparing for the great offensive which was to take place in March. * * * * * Throughout this winter the health of the Czarevitch had been very satisfactory, and his lessons could proceed along regular lines. In the early spring Her Majesty informed me that the Czar and she had decided, in view of the circumstances, to dispense with the appointment of a _vospitatiet_ for Alexis Nicolaïevitch for the moment. Contrary to my expectations, I thus found myself compelled to shoulder the immense burden of responsibility alone for some time longer, and to find some means of filling up the gaps in the Heir’s education. I had a strong feeling that it was essential that he should get away from his ordinary environment, even if it were only for a few hours a day, and try to establish contact with real life. I applied for and obtained a General Staff map of the country, and I planned a series of motor drives which enabled us gradually to cover all the district around within a radius of twenty miles. We used to start out immediately after lunch, and often stopped at villages to watch the peasants at work. Alexis Nicolaïevitch liked questioning them, and they always answered him with the frank, kindly simplicity of the Russian _moujik_, not having the slightest idea whom they were speaking to. The railway lines of the suburbs of St. Petersburg had a great attraction for the boy. He took the liveliest interest in the activities of the little stations we passed and the work of repair on the track, bridges, etc. The palace police grew alarmed at these excursions, which took us beyond the guarded zone, especially as our route was not known beforehand. I was asked to observe the rules in force, but I disregarded them, and our drives continued as before. The police then changed their procedure, and whenever we left the park we were certain to see a car appear and follow in our tracks. It was one of Alexis Nicolaïevitch’s greatest delights to try and throw it off the scent, and now and then we were successful.