“The Czar is coming back to-morrow. Alexis must be told everything. Will you do it? I am going to tell the girls myself.”
It was easy to see how she suffered when she thought of the grief of the Grand-Duchesses on hearing that their father had abdicated. They were ill, and the news might make them worse.
I went to Alexis Nicolaïevitch and told him that the Czar would be returning from Mohileff next morning and would never go back there again.
“Why?”
“Your father does not want to be Commander-in-Chief any more.”
He was greatly moved at this, as he was very fond of going to G.H.Q.
After a moment or two I added:
“You know your father does not want to be Czar any more, Alexis Nicolaïevitch.”
He looked at me in astonishment, trying to read in my face what had happened.
“What! Why?”