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"Thy name?" he asked quickly, looking straight into his face with those wonderful eyes. "Aivasoff Ivan Aivasoff." "Whence do you come?" "From Ossa, in the Government of Perm." "And you are His Majesty's valet, eh?" "I am one of His Imperial Majesty's valets. He told me that the Tsaritza had commanded you here, and that I was to introduce you and your secretary, Féodor Rajevski."
A minute later the man Aivasoff straightened himself and, pointing to a door on the opposite side of the room, asked: "Are you both ready? The Tsaritza is awaiting you." Rasputin, though pretending to be careless of his personal appearance, stroked his long beard, and then announced his readiness to pass into the presence of the Empress. "You will go first, and bow," said our attendant.
There sat two ladies, one of whom was in a silk gown of bottle green, which was, no doubt, the latest creation of the Rue de la Paix the Empress while the other, who was in elegant black, I afterwards recognised as her bosom friend who had accompanied her to Kazan, Mademoiselle Zéneide Kamensky. Ivan Aivasoff bowed low as he uttered his stereotyped words of introduction.
Aivasoff was, as I afterwards learnt, but one of many peasants in immediate contact with the Emperor and Empress, the other servants being German. As we bowed before the two ladies they rose smiling, while the Father with raised hands pronounced upon them his blessing in that pious, slightly hoarse, but deeply impressive voice of his.
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