The Book of All-Power

eth, and there was a sparkle of amusement in his grave eyes. He stood seventy inches in his stockings, and an excellent judge of men who looked him over, n

itary _intooski_, a thoughtful-looking man with a short, square beard, looking mo

alk smiled and walke

Russian, "would you condescend to

ngly the shape of Malcolm's shoulde

-I thought

lish, and Malcolm look

your face, too

r tapped his

a dinner party in Kieff--you are the manage

shed young man, "but--I

ky drive

ext the Grand Duchess Irene--later, when war

m's jaw dropped. "

manding one little horse. If you will get into my excellent cab I will drive you t

d of a glittering throng of staff officers. There was a function at the Grand Hotel to meet the new Commander, a great parade at that ancient palace

ger noted that the driver was careful to avoid the big thoroughfares which

the ground. He left his horse unattended and, leading the way, pushed open the swing doors of the r

a fair but by no means sybarite feas

orkman's blouse sitting at the next table, and t

iver, snapping his fingers towards a stout waitress. "Colonel Nicholas Vassilitsky is not only

briefly, and turn

terrogate you. You are o

have been controlling allied supplies in L

f, and he spoke seriously and without bitterness. "A coun

his padded

am a reactionary with a leaning toward discipline. I cannot breathe the air of democracy. I used to think I had Liberal ideas. There was a

t beneath the solemn words was a gentle irony, and yet for the while h

y are y

ple; I must have a room to sleep in. I need cigarettes, and clean shirts at least three times a week--for

ent man's embarrassment. "Forgive me butting int

A bottle of kavass, my peach of Tur

ution!" wheezed the

little mother!" res

one he squared roun

you. No, I have no money. My balance in the State bank has been confiscated to the sacred cause of the people. My estate, a hundred versts or

our co

He laid down his knife and fork

ed me because I had written a book in my youth urging popular government and had been confined in the fortess of Vilna for my crime. When the army was disbanded I came to Moscow, a

an posts outside of Tiflis. You'll never leave Russia. The Bolsheviks have gone mad--blood-mad, murder-mad. Every foreigner is suspect. The Amer

is chair and looked tho

t so

ad-house. Listen--d

ion Malcolm caught a sound

ers meet after breakfast each day and decide amongst ourselves which of the streets shall be avoided. We are pretty well informed--Prince Dalgoursky, who was a captain in the Preopojensky Guard, sells n

mentarily ceased. When she had gone Malcolm put the que

ny news of the Gra

r shook

n Petrograd when I

s been with the Russian Red Cr

hot a queer glanc

nces did you see h

m hesi

told that the Grand Duke and his daughter had left by the early northern express for the capital. Of Boolba, that hideously blinded figure, he heard nothing. When he inquired for Israel Kensky, men shrugged and said that he had "di

ou why I ask. You know that her Grand Ducal Highness was

shook

and Odessa are full of refugees and rumours

, though I once helped to carry him up to bed--he drank heavily even in those days. God rest him! He

he is not

silent, beckon

" he said, "what

the scores an

now?" asked

st a stranger do before

arters. You will certainly go to a place adjacent to the hotel to register yourself, and afterwards to the Commissary to register all over again, and, if you are regarde

ization of its membership. Its corridors and doorway were crowded with soldiers wearing the familiar red armlet, and when Malinkoff secured an interview with a weary looking and unk

d see the Commissary unless you want to be pulled out of your bed one night and shot before you're thoroughly awake.

lm st

-a gun

koff

th. I would like to have met him--but I presume he is dead. Justice is swift

these people administer?"

ugged his pad

d regime--that is not saying much, is it? The cruelty of our rule to-day is due rather to ignorance than to ill will. A few of the men higher

y're mad," s

philosophically. "Now get into my little c

such noble proportions that at first Malcolm thought it was one of the old pu

" said Malinkoff quietly. "I think you were in

. There was a sentry on the _podyasde_--an untidy, unshaven man, smoking a cigarette

s he had gone to Petrograd--who knew? There was nobody to see but the Commissary--on this fact they insisted with such vehemence tha

issary was still out. It was nine o'clock, after five inquiri

f, "and the future depends upon the p

opped in t

l----"

off quickly. "Citizen or com

ve been horribly selfish and thoughtless. Will

f shook

nce I have taken you in hand I might as well see him as stay outside on my cab, because he is certain to inquire who brought you here, and it

st and half joking,

cause he was a British traveller, having no feeling one way or the other toward the Soviet Government. But Malinkoff would be a marked man, under suspicion all the time. Before the office of the Commissary was a sentry without rifle. He sat at a table w