“Go to the telephone,” he said when she came in, “ask the Countess I—— to come at once. She must come herself to the telephone, and if a servant replies, say that he must call her immediately, and then tell her that I require her presence here at 12 o’clock to-night; not one minute earlier or later, mind.”
The woman went away, and I could hear her talking at the telephone in the next room in an authoritative tone. Soon she returned with the words:
“The Countess sends her humble respects to Gregory Efimitsch, and she will be here at midnight as she has been ordered to.”
Rasputin turned toward me with a triumphant smile on his coarse cunning countenance.
“Thou canst see, they are losing no time to obey me. Thou dost not know what women are, and how they like to be handled. Wait, and thou shalt see something better. Avdotia,” he called again. “Is Marie Ivanovna here?” he asked, when she came in response to his call. “Yes, since three hours,” was the reply. “Call her here.”
A young woman of about twenty-five years of age appeared. She was very well dressed in rich furs, and ran up to Rasputin, kneeling before him, and kissing with fervour his dirty hands.
“How long hast thou been here?” he asked.
“About three hours, Batiouschka,” she answered.
“This is well, thou art to remain here until midnight, and neither to eat or to drink all that time, thou hearest?”
“Yes, Batiouschka,” was the reply, uttered in timid, frightened tones.