About nine in the evening Baroness Buxhœveden entered my room. She had just heard that the garrison of Tsarskoïe-Selo had mutinied and that there was firing in the streets. She was going to tell the Czarina, who was with the Grand-Duchesses. As a matter of fact, she came into the corridor at that moment and the Baroness told her how things stood. We went to the windows. We saw General Reissine, who had taken up position outside the palace at the head of two companies of the composite regiment. I also saw some marines of the bodyguard and cossacks of the escort. The park gates had been occupied in special strength, the men being drawn up in four ranks, ready to fire. At that moment we heard on the telephone that the rebels were coming in our direction and had just killed a sentry less than five hundred yards from the palace. The sound of firing came steadily nearer and a fight seemed inevitable. The Czarina was horrorstruck at the idea that blood might be shed under her very eyes; she went out with Marie Nicolaïevna and exhorted the men to keep cool. She begged them to parley with the rebels. It was a terrible moment, and our hearts almost stopped beating with suspense. A single mistake and there would have been a hand-to-hand fight followed by bloodshed. However, the officers stepped in and a parley began. The rebels were impressed by the words of their old leaders and the resolute attitude of the troops which remained faithful. The excitement gradually subsided and a neutral zone was fixed between the two camps. Thus was the night passed, and in the morning formal orders from the Provisional Government arrived which put an end to the dreadful situation. In the afternoon Her Majesty sent for the Grand Duke Paul and asked him if he knew where the Czar was. The Grand Duke did not know. When the Czarina questioned him about the situation he replied that in his opinion the grant of a constitution at once could alone avert the peril. The Czarina shared that view, but could do nothing, as she had been [Illustration: IN THE CHAIR, THE GRAND-DUCHESS MARIE RECOVERING FROM HER ILLNESS. ON THE LEFT, ANASTASIE NICOLAÏEVNA. ON THE RIGHT, TATIANA NICOLAÏEVNA. APRIL, 1917.] [Illustration: THE FOUR GRAND-DUCHESSES IN THE PARK AT TSARSKOÏE-SELO. MAY, 1917. {_Facing page 212._] unable to communicate with the Czar since the previous evening. The day of the 15th passed in an oppressive suspense. At 3.30 a.m. next morning Dr. Botkin was called to the telephone by a member of the Provisional Government, who asked him for news of Alexis Nicolaïevitch. (We heard subsequently that a report of his death had been circulating in the city.) The Czarina’s ordeal was continued the next day. It was three days since she had had any news of the Czar and her forced inaction made her anguish all the more poignant.[59]