19. The following entry reads:
"A man who has escaped death is not to be trusted on a point of discretion,—he doesn't know how to select his friends. He is like a spirit emerging from nowhere in the eternal void and grabs at the first apparition that promises companionship in his embarrassing and momentary isolation…. Well, I was so glad to see that Buckingham Clorinda that I was willing to take her into my confidence at once…. She seemed so sympathetic!… 'I commend your bravery,' she said prettily, offering me her hand…. It was small and beautifully moulded, yet firm and steady, and sent an electric thrill through me like a flash…. Her eyes would disarm the most suspicious diplomatic free-lance in the world…. Struck with admiration, hypnotized by her voice, I could only blurt, 'I thank you.'
"…'We are looking for a man of approved courage,' she continued earnestly; 'we are more than satisfied that YOU are the man.'… Again I muttered my thanks…. 'How long have you been a member?' she then asked carelessly…. THIS was not so easily answered…. I thought quickly…. 'Long enough to KNOW my lesson!' I answered oracularly…. 'You still remember your instructions?'… 'What instructions?' She answered my question by asking, 'Were they not BURNED?'… 'Who is this encyclopædic lady?' I asked myself. 'What manner of TRAP is she setting for me now?'… 'Why did you SANDBAG me?' was MY answer…. 'You are NOT to ask questions,' she returned. 'Are you not satisfied with results?'…
"… 'I am still alive.'… 'Well,' she smiled, 'a live Bolshevik, of OUR kind, is much better than a dead diplomat!'… I was taken into an improvised kitchen and indulged in a splendid meal…. I took no wine….
"… My meal being finished she offered me an excellent cigarette…. Glancing up through a ring of smoke my eyes fell upon a rough black-and-white sketch of a tall, smooth-faced, keen-eyed man with rather large ears, firm and thin-cut lips, high forehead and steadfast gaze, dressed in the uniform of a General Officer, with a single decoration on his left breast…. she observed me closely as I gazed…. I KNEW this man and was about to exclaim: 'The savior of this country!'… but something restrained my enthusiasm…. 'You recognize him, I see,' she insinuated…. 'WHO is he?' I dodged…. She merely smiled…. She evidently realizes the wonderful power of that disarming smile and the fascination of good teeth in a shapely head…. 'You'll do!' she said with apparent reservation as she tapped a tiny bell….
"… A short, thickset man appeared—he is not positively ugly, but he has a way of staring at one that is rather ill-bred…. There is a gold band around his left wrist and a scar upon his right cheek…. I am sure he is the SAME man I met at one of Sadakichi-Hartmann's readings from Ibsen's Ghosts…. He may recall the time…. It was in an abandoned palace on Russian Hill, somewhere in America; the lady at his left was discussing the difficulties of getting her motor car into Ragiz; the younger one on his right was known as Alma and gave her address as East 61st Street, New York…. and ALL THREE were quite convinced that the Central Powers will defeat the Allies…. He is an international character and will remember this incident as well as the following: '… This gentleman will join your party for Ekaterinburg tonight, YOU understand. If there are any mistakes I shall not answer for results!' There were NO introductions…. The man bowed and began to back away…. 'YOU may accompany him,' she said, rising and flitting from the room…. I believe I understand what this party means!… There is to be a SHOOTING party at Ekaterinburg under the auspices of the Bolshevists in a day or two and I may be ONE of the 'mistakes' for which that mystifying lady disclaims responsibility…. My companion certainly looks like a bandit, and manifests the strength of a wild bull…. He seems much interested in that patch on my shirt sleeve…."
VII
THE ROYAL BOLSHEVIK AND THE NURSE
20. "My Charybdis conducted me to the barracks where a lot of undisciplined philosophers were discussing the parceling out of land…. The ringleader was a round-headed, long-nosed and bulky individual with a shaggy beard and dirty uniform…. I knew him in an instant, but he did not recognize me … he was one of Von der Goltz' men who aided in the defense at Gallipoli…. The night before the Allied fleet withdrew he was lying beside a short, thickset and dark-haired Associated Press reporter with a German name and tortoise-shell eyeglass and was telling that same reporter that unless REINFORCEMENTS arrived AT ONCE the defenses would collapse!… The next day he was at Headquarters informing the General in command that BUT FOR HIM the Turkish forces would have surrendered!… He is NOW wearing a number of decorations for his military skill and bravery…. Such are the fortunes of war!… This is the man who one minute preaches communism and another minute gravely asserts that it will be a good thing for the Kaiser to get killed in the war so as to guarantee the SUCCESSION of the Empire…. Perhaps he is doing this for my benefit…. Anyway he occupies the center of the stage at present and GOVERNS this greedy and unruly mob by kicking discipline into a cocked hat and allowing every unshaved Bolshevik his own unrestricted way!… Under other circumstances I should dearly like to meet this boasting Furioso in a ten-foot ring when a little exercise is needed to keep myself in trim…. But NOW I am accepted as a BOLSHEVIK,—one of the elect, privileged to select my lady and rob and pillage when I please!… This suits me very well … but on mature reflection it seems to me that a FEW in this literally UNGODLY gang are playing a very cunning part…. If that BE so I am not so sure how far my own assumed conversion to the doctrine of rapine will protect my skin…. So far, however, I have adopted the policy of vindictiveness, and, when asked a question, I merely growl and swear like a trooper…. I am making an impression…."
21. "On the way here the HERO of Gallipoli took quite a fancy to me, because I could beat him swearing perhaps…. Growing confidential over his liquor and Turkish cigarettes he asked point-blank: 'Didn't I see you at the TWELFTH DAY CEREMONY at the Winter Palace the time the Archbishop lost the golden cross in the river, a few years ago?'… I thought it better to deny the acquaintance and the incident…. I could have easily recalled the ceremony on the Neva, the decorated pavilion on the ice in front of the palace, the procession of church dignitaries in their stiff Byzantine robes and scintillating mitres moving slowly across the road followed by the Grand Dukes and the Emperor, the clear voices of the choir cutting through the frosty air, the ladies of the Court standing near the window and crossing themselves as the Czar stood motionless beneath the gilded and fretted canopy,—I could have recalled it all … but I swore profanely and declared emphatically that ALL RELIGION WAS A COBWEB AND A SNARE to emancipated minds…. I pretended to get violently MAD about it and told him I would strangle any man who insulted me by accusing me of the most distant relationship with any religion excepting the religion of FREE LOVE…. He laughed like a lion with a sliver in its paw. 'You are absolutely the best COUNTERFEIT in circulation that I know of!' he guffawed. 'Well, I'm going to fire Syvorotka and put you in charge of a little FIRING SQUAD when we get to our camping ground at Ekaterinburg!' were his exact words, half whispered, half insinuated and wholly growled across the table in the diner…. With assumed hostility I actually barked: 'The dirtier the deviltry the more diverting!'… He opened his eyes widely like one emerging from a solemn drunk and WINKED knowingly as he shook my hand…. 'You know where Kerensky got his orders to release our fellows, of course,' he whispered. 'I guess you KNOW why he sent some people to Ekaterinburg a couple of days before the Czecho-Slovaks are scheduled to take it, and I guess you know too how it happened that so many MOTOR TRUCKS came all the way from Archangel to Ekaterinburg so as to be on hand when a certain Indian officer shows up, the ridiculous ranter raved…. But…."