[24] Western readers perhaps do not know how indispensable is vocal music in Russian church services where no organ is permitted. All priests are trained musicians, and there is much congregational singing.
[25] By this the Empress meant that the secret messenger would give me particulars she dared not write in her letter.
[26] To a convent as they desired.
[27] All purely personal letters were burned in the palace at Tsarskoe Selo as soon as the news of the Emperor’s abdication reached us, the Empress being determined that her most sacred possessions should not be made public by the Provisional Government. She never recovered from the grief of destroying her youthful love letters, which were more to her than the most costly jewels she possessed, the richest of any sovereign in Europe. To me this is a singular revelation of the real character of the Empress.
