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Newspaper Page Text
i i n ii i ii ivwmfpp gers." These men, primed for their task, produced' diagrams to proVe that Nicholas II. would triumph over all his enemies about 1916; but they did not produce the gold given them by the czaritsa for influencing the ruler of Russia. Czarina Alix is known all over Russia as the Empress of Bad-Luck. Pew queens have been more un happy. The Cinderella of the Russian court, capricious and harsh-tempered, with a Prussian capacity for calling a spade a spade, soon gave cause for offense. Determined that none btit grand dames above reproach should be re ceived at her court, Alix of Hesse in augurated a social spy system to un earth long-forgotten scandals. Petrograd society boycotted the palace, was warmly welcomed by the dowager empress, and war to the tongue's edge followed. Mother or four unwanted daugh ters and constantly longing for an heir to the throne, Alix sought com fort in the occult. Presently Elizabeth, Grand Duch ess Serge, now a nun in a Moscow convent, sent to her imperial sister the monk Gregory Rasputin, warn ing the neurotic empress that so long. as Rasputin consented to remain at Tzarskoe Selo she and her children would be safe. Elizabeth had shrewd ly installed" an intrepid German agent behind the imperial throne; a hundred million moujiks recognized that menace. Last but not least of the Three Fates is Grand Duchess Xenia Czar Nicholas elder sister a second edi tion of her Danish mother, married to her cousin, Alexander Mfchaelo vitch, an intriguer of morbid intelli gence. Husband and wife were past masters in the art of controlling the czar. Alexander Michaelovitch, owner of vast forests in Siberia, insisted it was his imperial prerogative to supply the Trans-Siberian railway with sleep ers and fuel at his own price. In 1903 he sent the minister of the interior a new contract with prices doubled. M. Witte returned the document un signed. Alexander rushed to the em peror denouncing Witte's "revolu tionary behavior." In three days the great minister was" dismissed; his successor signed. Not content with her husband's Si berian graft, Grand Duchess Xenia deterimned to induce her brother to 1 approve the. exploitation of Immense tracts of land near Yalu in Korea, and to finance a company. Nicholas II. hesitated. But Xenla raised the shade of their ancestor, Alexander II., conqueror of Turkey, to advocate the scheme. "Nickie" entirely convinced, at once subscribed 6,000,000 rubles. The grand duchess' company as promptly erected fortifications; Ja pan protested, Russia cogitated, and the Russo-Japanese war followed.' 5TUFFe?LOSE 'iSIEEPOVER THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CONTAINS ABOUT 15Q MILLION WORDS-lANV PARRIEP MAN KNOWS THAT)