Alexandra used liberally.
He thumbed through several volumes and found nothing beyond the usual rants of two love-torn mates. Then he came upon two stacks of correspondence. From his briefcase he obtained the photocopy of Alexandra’s letter to Nicholas dated October 28, 1916. Comparing the copy to the originals, he discovered that the handwriting, along with the frilly border of flowers and leaves, was identical.
Why had this one letter had been secreted away in Moscow?
Perhaps more of the Soviet purge of tsarist history, he assumed. Or simple paranoia. But what made this single letter so important that it was sealed in a pouch with instructions not to open for twenty-five years? One thing was certain. Semyon Pashenko was right. He clearly possessed a historically important document.
He spent the remainder of the afternoon reviewing what he could find on Lenin. It was nearly four o’clock when he first noticed the man. He was short and thin, his anxious eyes watery. He was dressed in a baggy beige suit and, for some reason, Lord more than once thought the stranger’s gaze lingered longer than it should. But Zenov sat nearby, on guard, and he chalked his suspicions up to paranoia and told himself to calm down.
Near five o’clock he finally found something, again in Lenin’s own hand. Ordinarily it would mean nothing, but Yussoupov’s name drew his attention, his mind cross-referencing with the Moscow note.
Felix Yussoupov lives on the rue Gutenburg near Bois de Boulogne. He associates with the large population of Russian aristocracy that has invaded Paris. The fools think the Revolution will die and that they will shortly return to their position and wealth. I am told that one former dowager keeps a suitcase packed and ready, thinking she will be leaving soon for home. My agents report reading correspondence between Yussoupov and Kolya Maks. At least three letters. This is a concern. I realize now the mistake we made relying on the Ural Soviet to handle the executions. The developing reports are becoming troublesome. We already have one woman under arrest who claims to be Anastasia. She came to our attention because of her constant letters to King George V, pleading for his help in escaping. The Ural Committee reports that two of the tsar’s daughters are being hidden in a remote village. They have identified them as Maria and Anastasia. I have dispatched agents to check. Another woman has appeared in Berlin and conclusively asserts that she is Anastasia. Informants report that she bears a striking resemblance to the daughter.
This is all troubling. If not for the fear I harbor about what happened at Yekaterinburg, I would dismiss these reports as nonsense. But I am afraid there is more to it. We should have killed Yussoupov with the rest of the bourgeoisie. That arrogant ass is at the center of something. He openly hates our government. His wife has Romanov blood and some have talked of a restoration with him as tsar. That is foolish dreaming by foolish men. The Motherland is gone to them, this much they should clearly understand.
He finished the rest of the page but there was no further reference to Felix Yussoupov. Certainly Lenin was concerned that Yurovsky, the man in charge of the Romanovs’ execution at Yekaterinburg, had filed a false report about what had happened.
Were eleven people murdered in that cellar, or only nine?
Or perhaps eight?
Who knew?
Lord thought about the royal pretenders who’d surfaced by 1920. Lenin referred to a woman from Berlin. She came to be known as Anna Anderson and was the most celebrated of all the subsequent pretenders. Movies and books detailed her story, and for decades she basked in a celebrity limelight, steadfastly maintaining, until her death in 1984, that she was the tsar’s youngest daughter. But DNA testing on tissue that survived her death conclusively proved that she was not related to the Romanovs in any way.
There was also a persuasive account
He thumbed through several volumes and found nothing beyond the usual rants of two love-torn mates. Then he came upon two stacks of correspondence. From his briefcase he obtained the photocopy of Alexandra’s letter to Nicholas dated October 28, 1916. Comparing the copy to the originals, he discovered that the handwriting, along with the frilly border of flowers and leaves, was identical.
Why had this one letter had been secreted away in Moscow?
Perhaps more of the Soviet purge of tsarist history, he assumed. Or simple paranoia. But what made this single letter so important that it was sealed in a pouch with instructions not to open for twenty-five years? One thing was certain. Semyon Pashenko was right. He clearly possessed a historically important document.
He spent the remainder of the afternoon reviewing what he could find on Lenin. It was nearly four o’clock when he first noticed the man. He was short and thin, his anxious eyes watery. He was dressed in a baggy beige suit and, for some reason, Lord more than once thought the stranger’s gaze lingered longer than it should. But Zenov sat nearby, on guard, and he chalked his suspicions up to paranoia and told himself to calm down.
Near five o’clock he finally found something, again in Lenin’s own hand. Ordinarily it would mean nothing, but Yussoupov’s name drew his attention, his mind cross-referencing with the Moscow note.
Felix Yussoupov lives on the rue Gutenburg near Bois de Boulogne. He associates with the large population of Russian aristocracy that has invaded Paris. The fools think the Revolution will die and that they will shortly return to their position and wealth. I am told that one former dowager keeps a suitcase packed and ready, thinking she will be leaving soon for home. My agents report reading correspondence between Yussoupov and Kolya Maks. At least three letters. This is a concern. I realize now the mistake we made relying on the Ural Soviet to handle the executions. The developing reports are becoming troublesome. We already have one woman under arrest who claims to be Anastasia. She came to our attention because of her constant letters to King George V, pleading for his help in escaping. The Ural Committee reports that two of the tsar’s daughters are being hidden in a remote village. They have identified them as Maria and Anastasia. I have dispatched agents to check. Another woman has appeared in Berlin and conclusively asserts that she is Anastasia. Informants report that she bears a striking resemblance to the daughter.
This is all troubling. If not for the fear I harbor about what happened at Yekaterinburg, I would dismiss these reports as nonsense. But I am afraid there is more to it. We should have killed Yussoupov with the rest of the bourgeoisie. That arrogant ass is at the center of something. He openly hates our government. His wife has Romanov blood and some have talked of a restoration with him as tsar. That is foolish dreaming by foolish men. The Motherland is gone to them, this much they should clearly understand.
He finished the rest of the page but there was no further reference to Felix Yussoupov. Certainly Lenin was concerned that Yurovsky, the man in charge of the Romanovs’ execution at Yekaterinburg, had filed a false report about what had happened.
Were eleven people murdered in that cellar, or only nine?
Or perhaps eight?
Who knew?
Lord thought about the royal pretenders who’d surfaced by 1920. Lenin referred to a woman from Berlin. She came to be known as Anna Anderson and was the most celebrated of all the subsequent pretenders. Movies and books detailed her story, and for decades she basked in a celebrity limelight, steadfastly maintaining, until her death in 1984, that she was the tsar’s youngest daughter. But DNA testing on tissue that survived her death conclusively proved that she was not related to the Romanovs in any way.
There was also a persuasive account
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