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The succession of explosions had caused the people to suspect that the disaster was not due to an accident, as the authorities were fondly declaring, but the wilful act of the enemy. Rasputin heard the rumour and piously declared his sympathy with the poor victims.
It was a good-sized one on the corner of the Kantstrasse, and the old woman who opened the door at once ushered us into a pretty drawing-room, where we were greeted by a rather tall, dark-haired and refined young lady, who welcomed us in Russian, and whose name Rasputin had told me was Mademoiselle Paula Kereicha.
"Think what it will mean to my husband and myself. He will probably be placed under arrest and lose his post, while I I would rather die than face such exposure." "Ah! my dear Madame," said Rasputin tauntingly. "Life is very sweet, you know." "But you must not do this!" she shrieked loudly. "Promise me, Father, that you will not! Promise me do!"
Whether it was this realization which determined Rasputin to wield his powerful influence in favor of Prussianism, or whether he had been bought by German gold, the fact remains that he became the central figure about which revolved all those "dark forces" which were working for either a separate peace with Germany or the utter military defeat of Russia in the war.
The young Gregory, known by the diminutive of Gricha, began his exploits at a very tender age, and earned the sobriquet of Rasputin, which means "debauched." He was mixed up in all kinds of dubious affairs for instance, thefts of horses, the bearing of false witness, and many acts of brigandage.
To all pleas and the warnings of those who saw the handwriting on the wall the Emperor remained deaf. One afternoon, while I was with Rasputin in his apartments at the palace, the Empress entered, flushed and excited. "Father! I have had such a blow. What do you think has happened?" she gasped. I snatched it from his hand and tore it up! Oh! it is infamous that I should be thus treated!"
It seems that Baroness Guerbel had arranged it because she wished to introduce to Rasputin a certain Madame Yatchevski the wife of an officer who was very rich who saw that, by Rasputin's influence, she could aspire to a position at Court.
"We intend them to be so," the professor said. "When once the disease is released it will spread everywhere, and no precautions can be taken because, up to the present, it is known to only half-a-dozen of us in Berlin, and we have no knowledge how to treat it successfully." Rasputin was silent.
Rasputin reflected for a few moments as he stood gazing out of the window, and then, having given his opinion as to the proper course to pursue, he added: "There is another matter which should have thy attention a matter which is being hidden very carefully from thee." "And pray what is that, Father?" inquired the Emperor.
The Wilhelmstrasse paid well, but threatened exposures if this or that person were not removed. Hence Azef, as one of the heads of the Terrorists, received his orders through Rasputin, and, obeying, was paid his blood-money. Many of the dastardly crimes which Azef, aided by the monk, committed at Germany's orders will never be known.
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