THE TSAREVICH ALEXIS AND HIS SPANIEL JOY, IN THE PARK AT TSARSKOE
wept bitterly. He also wept another time when he saw the colours of the Svodny regiment being taken out of the waiting-room. Some days later, I do not remember the date, I was notified by telephone of the arrival of the emperor. I went to the station. After the arrival of the train the emperor left his car and walked very quickly through the station without throwing a single glance at anybody, and took his seat in an automobile. He was accompanied by a marshal of the court, Count Vasily Alexandrovitch Dolgoruky. Together with Dolgoruky the emperor seated himself in the automobile.
Two men dressed in plain clothes came towards me; one of them was Vershinin, a member of the Duma. They told me that their mission was ended and that from this time on the emperor was to be under my guard.
I can not forget a certain circumstance I witnessed at that time. There were quite a number of persons who had been in the emperor’s train. When the emperor left the train these people crowded out to the station platform and quickly dispersed, throwing frightened looks in all directions. It appears that they were very much afraid of being recognised. All this looked rather disgusting.
I accompanied the emperor to the palace. He immediately went upstairs to see his children who were sick.
Shortly afterwards the emperor’s baggage was brought from the station.
The life of the imperial family during their stay in Czarskoe-Selo was in keeping in every way with the conditions that the imperial family had the right to expect. The instructions limited the connections of the imperial family with the outer world, and, of course, brought some restrictions in their interior life. The mail always went through the hands of the commandant of the palace. It was allowed to leave the palace only through the park. The palace and the park were always surrounded by sentinels. Walking in the park was allowed only from morning till dark.
These were the only restrictions, and the government by no means interfered in the intimate life of the family. Except the above-mentioned limitations as to the time of walking in the park, the government imposed no hardships.