"A son?" "I have a son?" "Eight pounds." "And Sunny?" "Is she all right?" "Shall I make the announcement?" "It's incredible." "I have a son." "He's not the first boy ever born, you know." "Does he have to be Alexis?" "Can't we call him something else?" "Alexis was a gentle czar." "Perhaps the only one." "Not counting you." "I thought we'd go on having girls forever." "I still can't believe..." "Oh, you're dribbling." "Let me." "I prayed so hard." "I'm sure that's how it happened." "You heard him cry." "Not much." "I'll pinch him, shall I?" "He's going to be enormous." "Even bigger than your father was." "We couldn't call him Alexander, could we?" "He's asleep." "Undoubtedly, we've bored him." "Do you want him for a minute?" "Not particularly." "I've had a son." "For years, I've daydreamed how I'd feel." "And all that time, I never dreamed..." "I'm filled with..." "I don't know." "It isn't joy or anything like that." "It's more." "It's terribly important." "And I don't know why you're smiling." "Du bist ein Dummkopf." "Du auch." "Tegleva, if he wakes up hungry, bring him back." "Yes, Majesty." "At once, no matter what the time is." "The dispatches from Port Arthur." "They've been in for hours." "Can't that wait?" "I wish it could." "The boy will bring us luck." "We'll smash the Japanese and drive them from Korea." "I have a son to fight for now." "We have a son." "If you don't get some rest, he'll starve." "Have I made you happy?" "No, not much." "I think I like your gentle czar." "Let's call him Alexis." "I don't like entertaining with a war on." "Not right somehow." "So we've kept it small." "Just family." "I can't wait." "Good girl!" "You'll make a partygoer yet." "See you in Saint Petersburg tonight." "Come on now, Nicky." "All right, Uncle." "Who's the sober-looking fellow?" "Gilliard, the new French tutor." "Can't you stay?" " We're seeing Witte." " That man!" " He's a brilliant prime minister." " I never liked him." "I'm the one he bellows at." "You shouldn't let him." "He's your servant." "Everyone's your servant." "You're too gentle." "You should slam your fist down as your father always did." "It's no use." "Frowning helps." "It's baby." "Did he have a good night?" "Did he miss me?" "Come look." "I haven't seen him since last night." "I think he's aged." "What's this?" "Nothing." "Pull out or I'll not answer for it!" "You must show me how you do that." "Have I Your Majesty's permission to review the facts again?" "If Port Arthur falls..." "No fact begins with "if."" "Port Arthur has been under siege for six months." "It has cost us 30,000 dead." "A student stopped me in the street the other day." ""Excuse me, sir, but why are we at war?"" ""Because, my boy, we want Korea but the Japanese will insist on fighting us for it."" ""Thank you, sir." "But what does Russia need Korea for?"" ""Because, my boy, we have no ice-free port on the Pacific."" ""I see." "In that case, sir, it isn't good enough."" "He's right, sir." "It's not good enough at all." "Imagine, sire." "Imagine that you are a factory worker." "You're really poor." "Your belly is never full." "You freeze eight months of the year." "Your children have no school, no doctor." "Your country taxes you and sends your sons a continent away to die on a piece of land on the Pacific." "Now, sir, Japan is a third-rate power." "If she defeats us if Port Arthur falls we shall be disgraced in the eyes of the world and here at home we'll have an insurrection." "My people love me, Sergei Julievitch." "They want a constitution and the right to vote for an elected Duma." "They're angry and they're serious." "Are you advising me to give my rights away?" "I am advising you to stop a hopeless war." "Is it so hopeless, Nikolasha?" "Well, Nicky let me put it this way." "Here's a bullet, a bullet made in St. Petersburg." "I send it off to war." "How does it get there?" "On a single spur of track 4000 miles long." "And in the middle, no track at all." "God help it, it spends three days packed on sleds." "And every boot, shell or pound of tea we send." "Get out now, Nicky while there's time." "The Russia my father gave me never lost a war." "What shall I say to my son when the time comes?" "That I had no pride?" "That I was weak?" "I've always thought God meant me to rule." "He put me here." "He chose me, and whatever happens is His will." "We shall fight on to victory." "There will be no victory." "Only strikes and riots." "You must give your people a little of what they want, sir." "Not all just a taste." "The English have a parliament." "Our British cousins gave their rights away." "The Habsburgs and the Hohenzollerns too." "The Romanovs will not." "What I was given I will give my son." "These comrades want a larger movement that will embrace all politically-minded people who can subscribe to a wider dogma." "They wish to join hands..." "Excuse me." "May I?" "This is my first conference." " I've been in Siberia." " So was I." "How long?" " I was sentenced to three years." " So was I." "I only stayed for a month." "I made a run for it." "He wants to introduce himself." "Stalin." "I've inquired about you." "Trotsky." "You've been avoiding me." "How are you going to vote?" " Against your motion." " You're a fool!" "I'm sorry." "I can't always do what you tell me." "The Romanovs are crowing over their new heir and the Party's a mess." " I'll win in spite of you." " You'll split the Party." "I intend to." "It needs it." "Martov, will you vote for me?" "No, against." "Come on, Martov." "He doesn't realize what you're doing." "I'm sure you're right." "Good." "So you're going to vote for me?" "I would, but I'm not a delegate." "I can't vote." "Mr. Lenin." "Excuse me, Mr. Lenin." "I'm from the "Socialist Worker."" "What do you think of the Socialist movement in England?" "The English cut their meat wrong." "Their tea is terrible." "And the weather was better in Siberia." "But you keep your policemen under control." "The vote will now be taken." "Pay attention." "You're about to see the birth of the Bolshevik Party." "How do you spell that?" "I'm going to vote." "Come on, Pankratov." "B-O-L-S..." "Good night, Papa." "Good night, Mama." "Good night, darlings." "I wish we didn't have to go." " It's Mama's birthday." " Can't we say I have a headache?" "You're just shy." "You're too old for that now." "You enjoy yourself at parties." "I get headaches." "If you sat there knowing everyone disliked you, feeling like a foreigner..." " No one dislikes you." " Yes, they do." "You never see unpleasant things." "You drift away." "I wonder if you hear me half the time." "Just now I find you all too audible." "Guess what?" "You've got your headache." "Mother, dear." "Not even London on a Sunday is as boring as a room full of Romanovs." "We see them rarely, Mama." "You see everyone rarely." "We'd see more of you if you traveled less." "Witte had tea with me today." "He talked about the war, like everyone else." "He ate all my sturgeon, but he never stopped talking, clever man!" " He thinks..." " I know what he thinks." "He thinks we can't afford wars." "It's too ambitious." "We're an 18th century country in a 20th century world." "We need all our strength and money to look after Russia." "Don't waste it on those little yellow Buddhists, or whatever they are." "It's a great mistake to get involved in all these strikes and wars." "You only encourage them by taking them seriously." " Your father always said..." " Thank you for your kind advice." "I haven't finished yet, Nicky." "I know I'm not as clever as I pretend to be, but I'm sure of this:" "Get out of Korea and forget about Japan." "I'm 36." "You must let me look after this war." "I'm going to see if Sunny is all right." "And I suppose everyone will be expecting me to dance." "Well, I mustn't disappoint them." "I hope it's not too cold for you." "Can I get you some champagne?" "Thank you." "Look." "There's this fantastic holy fellow just arrived." "You must meet him." "He's a live, authentic starets, straight from the fields." "Cures diseases by the laying on of hands." "I've seen him do it." "Saw this fellow wheeled in legs like pretzels." "Then the starets Gregory Rasputin is his name gave him a deep look touched him prayed a bit and up the pretzel popped and skipped about the room." "A bit grotesquely, I admit but you could tell he was skipping." "I'll send for him." "Must you?" "Batushka Tsar." "Matushka." "Why are you afraid?" "Why am I what?" "I think you're frightened." "Strangers frighten you." "I knew a woman in Prokorvskoe that's my home, a little village in Siberia." "And this woman she was so afraid of strangers that she bought herself a pinewood box and lived in it." "Then one day her husband nailed the lid on dug a hole and dropped her into it." ""Ivan, don't!" she cried." ""But I only want to make you happy," he said." ""I know." "But Heavers full of strangers." "Let me out!"" "Damned barn of a place." "Like an icehouse." "Never could stand marble." "It gives you rheumatism." "Have a drink." "Quite right." "Have some of this vodka." "Keep you warm." "You know, I want to sell this place or give it away." "But no one will be fool enough to take it." "God bless." "I started late to be a starets." "I was 20 when this vision came." "We peasants get them all the time." "The Virgin comes and tells them when to sell their sheep if they want to make a profit." "She told me to become a pilgrim." "So I started to walk." "I waited for her to tell me when to stop, but she didn't." "I walked 2000 miles and when I got to Greece I couldn't walk any further." "So I stopped." "I spent two years in a monastery and then I walked home again." "Sometimes people say to me "What do I need to become a starets?"" "And I say, "Good feet."" "Father Gregory do you have visions?" "Sometimes." "Why does God send them to you?" "God knows." "I don't." "I used to be a Lutheran." "They take God very seriously." "I take Him as He comes, Matushka." "When it pleases Him, He uses me." "You mean He actually appears?" "You see Him?" "What's a vision like?" "Sometimes it's voices." "Other times, I'm not sure what I see." "I know exactly what you mean." "It happens to me sometimes when I pray especially late at night." "The candles flicker and it's dark and out of the corner of my eye, I think I see..." "I don't know what." "And when I turn to look, it's gone." "You missed the ballet." "It was lovely." "We can leave now, if you like." "Already?" "But we haven't danced yet." "May I say something intimate?" "In public?" "I'll whisper it." "Well, if you must." "I adore you." "I had such a lovely time." "And Father Gregory, I thought he was delightful, didn't you?" "An interesting fellow, I suppose." "They tell me in Siberia the woods are full of them." "The Tsarevitch's bruise worried me." "I made some tests." "I wasn't sure." "I'm not a specialist." "But I'm afraid these gentleman concur." "There is no doubt of it?" "No doubt of any kind?" "It is unquestionably hemophilia." "I see." "Excuse me, but it takes a moment to absorb." "And what's the treatment?" "Nothing, sire." "That's not possible." "There must be medicines." "There are no medicines." "Nothing at all?" "I see." "The female is the carrier." "The mother gives it to the son." "Your mother got it from her mother, Queen Victoria and passed it on to you." "It strikes some males and misses others." "Of Victoria's four sons, just one had hemophilia." "And just one of mine." "Some hemophiliacs grow up to lead quite long and normal lives." "And some do not." "The chemical that makes the blood clot is missing." "When he cuts himself, he bleeds extensively." "Then we'll see to it that Alexis does not cut himself." "It's more than that." "A surface wound..." "Let me." "They tell me cuts don't matter much." "They tell me if Alexis cuts his hand, they tie it very tight and after a little while the bleeding stops." "It's when he bleeds inside..." "Inside?" "They tell me any bump can make him bleed inside." "One never knows." "An awful blow may do no harm at all and then again, a tiny tap and it begins." "They tell me the blood seeps slowly, sometimes going on for days." "They tell me the area begins to swell, fills up like a balloon until the pressure is so great the bleeding stops." "Then, while the swelling lasts, the blood attacks the bone..." "It can leave a limb all bent and twisted." "While this is going on, there's nothing they can do." "That's what they tell me." "Tell them..." "Tell them they are mistaken." "Tell them we shall go to other doctors." "Tell them to get out." "My son is perfect." "He will have a long life and grow up to be a great Tsar like his father." "More troops!" "He's going to send more men to die!" "Port Arthur falls and Nicholas is sending more men!" "I say we students lead the way!" "I say we give him a Port Arthur here!" "I say we mobilize..." "They're coming for us!" "Now, do we run or do we fight?" "We fight!" "This way, Father!" "Hurry!" "It's all over, Petya." "She's dead." "She lived her life here in this place." "She got married." "I was born." "Father died." "My eldest son is playing here in this place and they go on working." "Why not?" "They have to live." "I work when they die." "Let me hold him." "I want to kill somebody." "They come here sometimes the other factory workers and they tell us that we should burn things down." "Make bombs." "Well, I want to fight back once!" "All violence begets is violence." "They'll beat you." "There's a better way." "We are going to see the Tsar." "You know what they say, Father:" "God is too high and the Tsar's too far away." "The Tsar is here in Petersburg to bless the troops." "He's staying at the Winter Palace." "Thousands of us will march there on Sunday morning." "I'll go to him on the balcony and read this:" ""Sire we working men and inhabitants of St. Petersburg for truth, justice and protection." "Only you can hear our prayers." "And if you do not we shall die here on this square before your palace."" "God is with you." "St. George will guard you." "St. George will guard you." "Batushka Tsar." "Come on, my friend." "Stand up." "It's beautiful to watch them." "Bless you." "We must get back to Tsarkoe Selo." "I've ordered the train already and I'll cancel all the engagements." "Vladimir, what is it?" "A message from Botkin." "The Tsarevitch is bleeding." "Oh, my God!" "How long before our train comes?" "I don't know." "Perhaps half an hour." "I want to go." "We will." "We will." "Now!" "Nicky, take me home." "The train's the fastest way." "We must wait." "I can't!" "My baby's bleeding." "I'm in Petersburg." "He needs me." "Half an hour!" "God, save my little boy!" "Sunny, stop!" "Take me away." "I want my baby." "Let me go!" "You bless them." "Think of the soldiers." "Think of the war, the weather." "Think of anything, but not baby." "I can't!" "Do it." "God is good." "Believe in His mercy." "He will not punish the pure in heart." "Believe in His mercy." "Well..." "What if the bleeding doesn't stop?" "It must." "Botkin doesn't think Alexis will..." "Die." "Thank God." "It isn't much to thank Him for." "Botkin said..." "What do doctors know?" "They're useless." "It's in God's hands." "Submit, submit!" "You should have been a monk." "Won't you ever fight?" "I can't fight you." "My baby's dying." "There are no medicines." "Christ Jesus!" "Don't come near me." "Matushka." "I can't seem to get them right." "Matushka, tell me what it is." "I keep thinking the arrangement matters." "I can't even remember which saints they are." "It doesn't matter." "They know you." "I knew all their names once." "I had to." "To marry Nicky, I had to change my faith." "That was a great sin, don't you think?" "God thinks so." "He won't hear me when I pray." "I've sinned and he won't listen." "All saints were sinners once." "God loves sinners." "Then why is he killing my baby?" "We had a man in Prokorvskoe." "He didn't wash or work." "He lied, stole, cheated, drank chased all the women." "He was a sinner." "Why, out of all men, did the Virgin come to him?" "Perhaps he lied." "You said he was a liar." "She came." "I saw her." "I know all there is to know about sin." "Pray with me, Matushka." "God is here." "I can't." "That's my punishment." "I shouldn't have sent for you." "I don't know you at all." "If baby wakes, he'll need me." "Goodbye." "The child will die if you don't get down on your knees and beg for his life like a peasant begging for crusts at your door." "You will be taken back to St. Petersburg." "Wait outside." "I knew you were going to send for me." "I knew the child was sick." "I know what's the matter with him." "You can't!" "I see blood when I shut my eyes." "A lot of blood." "I saw blood once before when I was in Jerusalem." "And then my father died." "In Kazan, there's an ivory Christ, and the wounds bleed." "Someone told me there's a Madonna in Kharkov that sheds real tears." "Matushka." "I see things." "I have power!" "I cure the sick." "Holy men kneel to me and kiss my hands." "I am a vessel of the Lord." "I have spoken with God." "It must be so." "How else can I do these things?" "I save souls and bring peace." "God leads me." "He brought me here." "He speaks through me." "I am the voice of God." "It is His will." "I have been sent to do great things." "Your Majesty." "Baby's better." "Go back!" "Stop!" "We come in peace!" "We come to see our Tsar!" "We come in peace!" "Go back!" "We come to see our father!" "Peace!" "Peace!" "High angle!" "Fire!" "Slaughtered like cattle!" "He didn't come." "He never came." "Nicholas, the murderer." "The bloody, bloody murderer." "Mama!" " Why wasn't I told?" " Your Majesty." "Who gave the order?" "How did it happen?" " Why wasn't I told?" " As I understand it..." "How many dead?" "Who ordered the shooting?" "Hundreds of bodies." "Nobody ordered it." "Someone's responsible." "You run this government." "This came last night." "It reads:" ""Sire, we working men..."" "Answer me!" "How many were killed?" "I don't know yet, certainly hundreds." "Why wasn't I told they were marching?" " Would you have met them?" " How could I?" "Would you have given them a Duma?" "Elections?" "Schools?" "Why bother to inform you?" "You wouldn't have done anything!" " I want a good life for my people." " On your terms." "I know what will make them happy." "They're children and they need a Tsar." "They need tradition, not this." "They're the victims of agitators." "A Duma would make them bewildered and discontented." "And don't tell me about London and Berlin!" "God save us from the mess they're in." "I see." "So, they talk, pray, march, plead petition and what do they get?" "Cossacks, prison, flogging, police!" "And now, after today, they will be shot!" "Is this God's will?" "Are these His methods?" "Make war on your own people." "How long do you think they'll stand and let you shoot them?" "You ask me who's responsible!" "You ask!" "Russia will explode!" "A massacre in Petersburg!" "Now the Japanese have forced Nicholas to accept peace on their terms." "He's lost the war!" "Thousands of soldiers killed, and all for nothing." "This time Nicholas has destroyed himself." "I'm going to Petersburg!" "But you'll need bombs and explosives and ammunition." "They can be smuggled in, Leon." "For God's sake, don't discuss that with her!" "She probably thinks you can wheel machine guns across the frontier in a baby carriage." "Who wrote this extraordinary rubbish?" "You're not going to print it?" "I was going to speak to you about it first." "This must be some of your nonsense, Trotsky." ""Lenin's theory comes to this:" "The Party decides what the people think." "An elite decides what the Party thinks." "The Central Committee decides what the elite thinks." "And Lenin decides what they all think."" "You will print it?" "I can't." "The style's atrocious." "I'll never understand you." "You hate anyone who's not your kind of Bolshevik more than you hate the Tsar." "No wonder they call you Robespierre." "Everybody's got to think like you or they're out." "He thinks freedom is something you write on a wall but don't practice." "That's not true." "Of course I agree you're free to say what you like." "You must agree I'm free to shoot you for saying it." "Murder, arson, terror." "I'll agree to anything that gives us power." "Power!" "And we can't have power if we compromise." "Even though it takes years." "Terror and power!" "Be careful!" "Are you all right, Alexei?" "Alexei, Alexei, mustn't run and mustn't play!" "Mustn't jump and mustn't climb." "Must be careful all the time." "You must try to understand." "Your mother worries." "We both do." "Alexei, Alexei, mustn't run and mustn't play!" "Mustn't jump and mustn't climb." "Must be careful all the time." "I found some mushrooms." "Father wouldn't let me pick them." "He said they were poisonous." "They were green." "I'm hungry." "All you ever serve is bread and butter." "It's tradition." "I'll do better in the kitchen." "Nagorny, don't let him run too fast!" "He's always happy here at Livadia." "The Crimea's good for him." "It's good for all of us." " Some tea?" " One cup." "Before Stolypin comes, I'd like to play a little tennis." "We have so few days here." "Can't your ministers leave us alone?" "You used to like him." "For my sake, be as gracious as you can." "He's not a good man." "He's against us." "Nonsense." "He's a great prime minister." "I sent Father Gregory to see him." "You sent Rasputin?" "What in God's name for?" "Our friend reads people's hearts." "He knows who loves us and who doesn't." "He can tell." "Stolypin is a bad man." "In future, may I ask you, please..." "I don't care if he talks to God or not Rasputin is a peasant!" "Is my judgment so inadequate?" "Am I too dense to tell a statesman when I see one?" "What on earth..." "Stolypin, you look terrible." "Here's what we'll do." "Peter Arkadiavitch!" "Only you could wear a briefcase with a bathing suit." "I think I'd feel naked without it." "Besides, I must have somewhere to put my lifebelt." "What you've done for Russia since Witte's retirement is a miracle." "Or a mirage." "Russia's too large." "It's impossible to govern." "I'm not what holds it all together." "You are." "Which is why the Tercentenary next month is so important to us." "Final schedule is pending your approval." "I'm afraid the tour is long and taxing." "But it's critical that people feel the dynasty is permanent and strong." "Three hundred years of Romanovs." "That fact is vital to us." " It implies, first of all..." " Come on, Peter." "Out with it." "We leave for Petersburg tomorrow." "What's so urgent that it brings you all this way?" "One finds these everywhere." "All over Petersburg." "The printing is poor but the thought is clear." "What's wrong with the Okrana?" "Can't 10,000 secret agents find a printing press?" "They can't find all of them." "I want it stopped." "It's too late." "They plan to debate it in the Duma." "Damn the Duma!" "Witte's work." "He made me give it to the people." "Close it." "Shut it down." "I don't like the Duma any more than you do." "But I'd rather they talk than riot, strike and march." "Better to give them more power than face that." "I am the Tsar." "And I would never accept that." "Police reports on Gregory Efimovitch Rasputin." "Drunk half the time." "Whores, generals' wives..." "He's generous with himself." "I'll say that." "That's his only Christian virtue." "He'll sleep with anyone." "It's no secret, everybody knows it." "He came to see me." "Apparently with Her Majesty's blessing." "He even tried to hypnotize me." "Why is such a man admitted to the palace?" " You know why." " Your people don't." "I'll tell them, shall I?" "Citizens, your Tsarevitch could get a bloody nose and die from it." "You must send him away from Petersburg." "How can I?" "People think he violates your daughters and wife!" "Get him out!" "I can't control the situation if you don't." "And if I do?" "What happens if..." "Your Highness!" "It's all right, Nagorny." "You'll always save me." "It's all Nagorny's fault." "Botkin warned us Alexis would behave like this." "It's a typical reaction." "It's even got a name." "I don't care." "A sailor for a nurse." "It's an absurd idea." "It's mine." "I still say Alexei needs a nurse." "He needs the company of men." "Does he?" "He's with you all day long." "You hardly ever come to meals." "I never seem to see you anymore." "My place is where I'm needed most." "It must be hard to have so many people need you." "I'll be patient." "If I wait, my turn will come." "What a mess I make of things." "I meant to look so nice for you." "I meant our last night in Livadia to be beautiful." "Sometimes I wonder how you live with me." "I wonder too." "Only I know I could never live without you." "My decision stands." "I've seen you out of courtesy." " If you've come here to plead..." " I came to say goodbye." "I'm going home." "I don't like St. Petersburg." "It makes me drink too much." "And when I drink the women come." "The women here are worse than the peasants in my village." "They've no restraint." "Is Matushka angry with me?" "She won't admit you even take a drink, much less..." "No." "She believes in you completely." "She is a saint." "Matushka if you need me while I am gone pretend I'm with you." "Say the things that trouble you, as you always do, and it will help." "I only sit and listen anyway." "The voice of God is in you and no harm will come." "It was necessary." "Why?" "Stolypin recommended it." "Our friend warned me he was bad." "Rasputin drinks, takes bribes." "He is an adulterer." "He is a saint." "Little men always abuse them." "I can show you the police reports." "More little men." "People say he sleeps with you." "What do I care what people think?" "I have to care!" "I want him." " Bring him back." " I can't." " Can't you do anything?" " I am." "I'm standing up to you for once." "Who's going to save Alexei?" "We have doctors." "Damn your doctors!" "What about my son?" "I've other important things to answer for." "I don't." "Give me Rasputin back!" "No, I will not." "If baby dies, you murdered him!" "I didn't give him hemophilia." "Murderer!" " I'll never forgive you." " You gave it to him!" "It was you!" "Don't you think I know it?" "When I see him bleed I think I did it as if I'd put a knife in him." "I've tried to make up for it." "I've seen so many specialists and doctors and surgeons." "Sometimes I did not tell you." "I know most of them were quacks but I still tried." "I have spent nights on my knees praying." "And Rasputin's the only one who has helped me bear my punishment." "That's why I cling to this common peasant from Siberia." "They laugh at me in the streets." "You have turned against me." "But I cannot help it." "It's me." "Whatever happens, I deserve it." "It's my punishment." "It's mine." "Stalin's been sentenced to Siberia again." "What else?" "The Okrana's infiltrated our cells in Moscow." "They found all our explosives in Minsk." "Perhaps I should go back to Petersburg." "You didn't do much good last time." "What else is happening?" "Not much." "Not since Rasputin went back to Siberia." "Yes, it's a pity." "He can't cause much trouble there." "He was worth more than an army of Bolsheviks in Petersburg." "They've arrested Sverdilov in Kiev." "Spies everywhere." "No one trusts anyone." "Some of our party leaders work for the Okrana." "I see you were in the Minsk group when it was raided." "You got away?" "I managed to hide." "And all the others were caught?" "You got somewhere to live?" "Not five minutes away from here." "Good." "Thank you for bringing the message." "Come and see us again soon." "And don't drink." "Too many of our men take to drink in Paris." "If Sverdilov's been arrested..." "He's a double agent." "He works for the Okrana." "Go home." "I don't feel like talking tonight." "I've got nothing to say." "We've got old." "They've gone?" "I'll get your supper." "That's all right." "There's no hurry." "In the last ten years, I've spent three months in Russia." "I'm out of fashion." "No one's wearing me this year." "I talk and no one listens." "I write and no one reads." "Think what we'll be like in 10 or 15 years." "Emigrés go off their heads in the end, you know." "Mad, old cranks with no money, no country always worrying about the laundry..." "Being ill in charity hospitals and buried with the paupers." "No, Ilyich." "It won't be like that." "Three hundred years of Romanovs?" "Why not 300 more?" "Long live the Romanovs!" "Three hundred years!" "Come on!" "Come on!" "I didn't want to come on this Tercentenary tour, Peter Arkadiavitch." "But, God help me, I do love it when they stand and wave." "He's shot!" "Guards!" "Guards!" "For God's sake, hurry!" "What's to be done?" "Is he dead?" "No." "There's a lot of blood, pain." "The doctors are with him." "Good." "He's a good man." "They always kill the good men." "The ones who help them most." "They killed my grandfather." "He freed the serfs, you know." "He helped them." "So they threw a bomb." "Stolypin's a good man." "I can't find a match." "They've got the man who shot him." "The man?" "Some kind of revolutionary." "Damn them all." "You help them and they kill you for it." "Give them Dumas and they give you bombs." "I want them paid in kind." "You understand me?" "I want something done!" "You bastard!" "This is our home!" "Not anymore!" "We live here!" "Arrest him." "Tell the Tsar that he can close this building but the Duma won't be closed." "That's enough, Mr. Kerensky." "No, it's not, Mr. Prime Minister." "You cannot repress this body and you cannot repress the people." "That's the road to revolution." "We're not revolutionaries here." "Most of us want a system like the British." "Let there be a Tsar but let there be a parliament with rights and powers." "We won't be denied, Mr. Kokovtsov." "This government deplores brutality and violence." "But when dissent gets out of hand when opposition ceases to be peaceful law and order must and will be kept." "Not at this price!" "The Duma is not a street corner." "There is no violence here." "But even we are not free to speak." "Where is the Tsar?" "The Tsar is at the hunting lodge in Poland." "I don't care if he's in Scotland shooting grouse!" "Find him and tell him he's bringing ruin on his head!" "Tell him while there's still a Tsar to tell!" "You all right?" "Alexei, Alexei, mustn't run and mustn't play!" "Mustn't jump and mustn't climb." " You must be more careful." " It was nothing." "I will run away and be an actress when I grow up." "It's my destiny." "Once you've felt the call of the stage, you know." "It's in your blood." "A princess can't be an actress." "You may well say you want to be a trollop." "What's a trollop?" "Trollop." "Yes, that sounds nice." "Perhaps I'll be a trollop instead." "Monsieur Gilliard, what's French for trollop?" "I'll marry a prince and have eight children." "Ten, if he's really nice." "How many will you have, Olga?" "What's the use in daydreaming?" "I should like to be a teacher when I grow up." "Teaching is such a noble profession." "That's Monsieur Gilliard!" "Do you think I've caught his eyes?" "Monsieur Gilliard how do you say smouldering in French?" "You silly, stupid child!" "Think of it." "Russian princesses performing an English play in French for an audience of Polish nobles." "I hope somebody understands it." "At least we have the day to ourselves." "Mother I'm bleeding." "Dear God!" "How far is it back to Spala?" "Two or three miles." "As fast as you can go!" "Well?" "It's a most severe attack." "The hemorrhaging may last for days." "I cabled the specialists in Petersburg." "They won't reach here until tomorrow night." "And the pain?" "It comes in waves." "His fever's high." "There may be complications." "All we can do is watch and wait." "He will recover, won't he?" "He's a strong boy." "He really is, you know." "The swelling..." "Did you see?" "I hate this house." "Of all the godforsaken places." "Our guests." "What shall I say?" "God." "I'd forgotten." "I'm not sure I can manage." "As long as we are here, no one will ever know about Alexis." "I think it's best to wait." "But if you wait, he may die." "This is the heir to all the Russians." "Would you want his body on your operating table?" "You could not have chosen a worse time." "My son, as we sit here, is with the doctors." "I didn't choose it, sire." "It was forced on me." "I beg Your Majesty to understand." "Get on with it." "There must, in my opinion, be a change in policy." "Two hundred strikers have been shot at Lena." "At this rate, we'll soon have a million workers on strike." "We can't shoot them all." "The Duma must be reconvened." "Just leave your papers." "I'll read them when I can." "I need some answers now." "I haven't any now." "Your Majesty, I must insist!" "Stay here, go back to Petersburg." "I don't care what you do!" "They want their Duma give it back to them!" "I hope to God they rot in it!" "As for..." "They think it best to wait." "That's all?" "What for?" "What are they waiting for?" "Developments." "I see." "And how long will the wait be?" "I want our friend." "The prime minister's been here." "He says they've shot more strikers." "I can't even remember how many this time." "We decided something important." "Oh, yes." "The Duma." "I want this message sent now." "I want Father Gregory." "I was too young when Father died." "You were 26." "I want our friend." "If he's at home and starts tonight, the trip will take a week." "It's senseless." "Send it." "A funny thing." "My son is dying and I can't cry." "When your father died you wept for days." "You never knew." "I never said how I felt listening to you sobbing telling everyone how afraid you were." "Most men are men at 21." "You made me so ashamed." "All right." "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost amen." ""The Tsarevitch has been taken ill." "The heir's condition is considered to be grave." "His response to treatment so far..."" "This one for midday to announce a severe relapse." "And one for tomorrow night." "The final bulletin." "I see." "As to the funeral plans..." "For God's sake, Vladimir!" "But you need to know." "The funeral train will consist of 11 cars." "You should try to sleep." "No." "Some tea, at least." "It's come!" "He's answered." "Listen." ""God has seen your tears and heard your prayers." "Do not grieve." "The little one will not die." "Do not let the doctors bother him." "Be at peace." "I am leaving immediately and will be at your side soon."" "He's not to be disturbed." "I want your promise." "But, Your Majesty..." "No more doctors." "I can bar the door if need be." "I can sleep now." "All is well, my darling." "Will it make any difference if Alexis is left alone?" "No, I suppose not." "Alexei likes me best in rubies." "Come." "We'll see him now." "Good morning, my darling." "Good morning, Mother." "Good day, and the Lord be with you." "And the Lord be with you!" "It's all right, baby." "We're here." "It's all right." " Blood!" " Why do you have such nasty dreams?" "I heard a gun." "There was blood everywhere." "You were dreaming about Archduke Franz Ferdinand." "It was nothing." "I had a dream." "If you had a dream, let's talk about it." "Are you all right now, Alexei?" "Franz Ferdinand's assassination is bad for Austria and the Serbs and for the assassin and his family." "But politics is like that in the Balkans." "The English vote and the Serbs assassinate." "You see, Serbia wants its freedom." "Austria won't give it to them and so this happens." "It has happened here." " They threw a bomb..." " Nicky, it's so late." "They're not children anymore." "They must accept these things." "Grandfather was killed by a bomb." "So was Uncle Sergei." "But Serbia is a long way off." "And we don't need to have bad dreams about Archdukes." "The diplomats will send some angry notes." "A few generals will go on exercises and everyone will be sensible again." "All over Europe, kings and queens are sleeping safely in their beds." "And that's what we're going to do." "Your Majesty must not." "This is only a partial mobilization." "It is against Austria, not Germany, nor anyone else." "If Russia mobilizes, there will be a war." "The Austrians are shelling Belgrade." "We must be ready to defend ourselves." "I'm ordering prayers for peace to be said in all the churches." "But now I must see my ministers for armaments and recruitment." "It is in our hands, not God's." "He gave us minds to reason." "We can talk sanity to lunatics." "We can calm mad dogs." "God help us if we have to start praying!" "We can pray when we bury the dead!" "Here is some wonderful news." "A telegram from the Kaiser." "Just what we wanted." "Offering to mediate between us and Austria." "I knew I could count on Willy." "You see?" "He's signed it, "Your sincere and devoted friend and cousin, Willy."" "With due respect to your cousin, sire the Kaiser is a deceitful megalomaniac." "If he is offering to help then it is time to pray." "They won't last a week." "We'll bury the German army and that pansy of a Kaiser and be home for Christmas." "Colonel Volkov." "Inform the staff that the situation has improved greatly." "I'll brief them fully in half an hour." "But shall we continue to prepare for the general mobilization?" "In case?" "I'll brief you fully in half an hour." "We can't run a modern war, sir." "We're not fighting Napoleon this time." "Germany has ten miles of railway to every one of ours." "They have 100 factories to every one of ours." "All we have is men." "They'll be slaughtered like flies." "We have 11/2 million men in uniform." "Next week we'll have 41/2 million men in uniform." "At a casualty rate of 20% wounded and 10% killed we can maintain an army of five million men." "The Kaiser can't beat that." "Austria wants to humiliate us." "We must show her we'll be firm." "We need the mobilization or your government will be outmaneuvered." "But if we mobilize, the Kaiser will have to." "And France, and England." "Nobody will be able to stop." "Send a telegram to the Kaiser with a message from me." "Say that though we've both mobilized, it doesn't mean we'll fight." "And nothing will break our old friendship." "Sign it "Nicky."" "Order the general mobilization." "Madness." "This one can't get to the colors soon enough, can you?" "I'm old, sir." "I've seen so many wars." "They all seemed so important at the time." "Now I don't even remember what they were called." "Millions of dead men." "I don't know why." "Nobody knows." "You could so easily stop this war, sir." "All you have to do is to get up now quietly go home to your family." "You'd be the greatest of all the Tsars." "Your Majesty's foreign minister, Mr. Sazanov has received a note from the German Ambassador." "Your Majesty at ten minutes past seven this evening Germany declared war on Russia." "Gentlemen Germany has declared war on Russia." "God save Russia!" "God save the Tsar." "God save the Tsar!" "None of you will be here when this war ends." "Everything we fought for will be lost." "Everything we loved will be broken." "The victors will be as cursed as the defeated." "The world will grow old." "And men will wander about, lost in the ruins and go mad." "Tradition." "Virtue." "Restraint." "They all go!" "I'm not mourning for myself, but for the people who come after me." "They will live without hope." "And all they will have will be guilt revenge and terror." "And the world will be full of fanatics and trivial fools." "Set all differences aside!" "We are Russians first of all!" "And until the day of victory dawns we stand united in the defense of Holy Russia!" "God save the Tsar!" " There's no transport." "Can they walk?" " Yes, sir." "They're needed at the front tonight." "See to it." "Right face!" "Forward march!" "Bitch!" "German bitch!" "Shut up!" "Have you seen them?" "What happened?" "Would you like some tea?" "I've always hated this time of year." "It gets dark so early." "Oh, Niki!" "You gave in again." "You look so tired." "Did you even see the ministers?" "You want the minutes of the meeting?" "Just the gist of it." "I told them I proposed replacing Nikolasha with myself and was leaving for headquarters to take command." "Go on." "They said...?" "Nothing much." "They said they'd all resign." "They said the government would fall, that it was madness." "And you took it?" " You gave in?" " They're my advisors." "You're their Tsar." "But what if they're right?" "They might be." "How can I be sure?" "You must go." "Nikolasha is a bad man." "Father Gregory has said so." "I'm sick to death of Father Gregory." "All my life my whole life, I've done what you want." "I gave Mother up." "You hated her, so we don't see her anymore." "I gave my friends up." "Do you know I haven't a single friend?" "I've got my family." "Four girls, one sick boy and you." "I ask before I eat or sleep or change my clothes:" ""Is this what Sunny wants?"" "And it never is." "There's always more!" "Sweet Jesus!" "How much do you want of me?" "I want this." "Don't you know I want to go?" "For months there's been no ammunition." "In Galicia, they ration bullets." "Three a day." "My soldiers get three shots a day!" "What can I do?" "I can't make shells." "I fire ministers I hire ministers, and nothing happens." "I'm no use here." "I belong at Stavka with my men!" "Don't tell me." "Tell your ministers." "You know people want me to divorce you?" "Father Gregory warned me of that." "If I thought it would help, I would go away." "But it would be disastrous." "Has Father Gregory told you that too?" "I don't need anyone to tell me about us." "This is the beginning of the glory of your reign." "Our friend told me so." "It will be the greatest page in Russian history the story of these weeks and days." "And when you go don't worry over what you've left behind." "I'm here." "Lean on me." "Use me." "I'm not wise or strong but God will show me what to do." "With our armies in retreat, you must not take command." "You could not have chosen a more unfortunate time." "Faith in Your Majesty is the one thing that keeps the whole country together." "Have I heard it all?" "One thing." "The headquarters at Stavka is 500 miles from here." "Go on." "While you're away, who will run the government?" "When the Tsar is with the Army, the Tsaritza takes his place." "Sire!" "With all respects, the Tsaritza's lack of experience and limited understanding of the Russian people, gracious though she..." "I shall continue to make the decisions but you'll have to make your reports to her." "Thank you for your advice, gentlemen." "I have thought about this." "And I know that God is with me." "I leave for Stavka in the morning." "My very own darling remember last night when we were together." "I yearn for your caresses." "I can never have enough of them." "I kiss you, caress you love you, long for you can't sleep without you." "Bless you Sunny." "Get up." "We're moving out." "I said get up!" "Your Majesty." "You can't be glad to see me." "You understand my reasons?" "You think I'm wrong." "The Tsar comes second after God." "I would die for him." "I'm sorry, Nikolasha." "Don't be." "It's a great relief." "Can't get away from here soon enough." "I've appointed General Alexeiev Chief of Staff." "Good man, first class." "Listen to him." "Let him run things." "I intend to." "Can't do worse than I did." "You know I've got a million corpses on my hands." "I weep too easily these days." "Getting old." "It's bitter, Nicky." "Bitter." "I don't envy you." "What do you think I should do?" "Retreat." "Preserve the Army." "That's the only thing." "And what else?" "Wear socks to bed." "Floors freeze in the winter." "I'll ask Sunny to knit me some." "She sends her love." "The devil she does!" "I could have won this war if I were only fighting on one front." "But I had two enemies at my back:" "Your Sunny and her monk!" "Not long ago he wrote to me could he come and bless the troops?" "I told him if he came, I'd hang him." "Should have let him come." "Hung the bastard when he got here." "God help you, Nicky." "God save the Tsar!" "God save the Tsar!" "So, you'd like to be an opera singer?" "Yes, you have the chest for it." "Have you ever sung in public before?" "Go to the Imperial Theater give them this." "It's an introduction." "I have them printed up now to save time." "Father Gregory." "There's a gentleman arrived, says he's the Minister of something." "Foreign Minister." "He's early." "Send him in." "He might enjoy this." "Now let's hear you sing a little." "Don't worry." "I'm no judge." "Father Gregory says come in." "Has the Empress now made him responsible for the arts?" "My dear man!" "Isn't she delightful?" "Absolutely charming." "I had no idea you had asked me here for a recital." "She wants to sing." "I like to help people." "You don't mind?" "You've placed 3 men in my Ministry who can neither read nor write." "Why should I mind?" "I don't hate anyone and yet so many enemies." "I'm not rich." "What I get, I give away." "I take no vengeance on the men I've removed from office." "When you fall, I won't abuse you." "We are appointed and dismissed by the Tsar." "You're his enemy!" "You and all the other ministers." "You're all against him." "Can it be your dream to have us all removed from office?" "Every one." "You are destroying Russia!" "Don't you know it?" "What's your price?" "Do you want to be made a pope or..." "Grishka!" "How are the miracles going today?" "My God!" "They're elevating Grishka to the Cabinet." "Grand Duke Dmitry." "Prince Yussoupov." "Pray excuse me." "He tells me I'm destroying Russia." "What, single-handed?" "If you're friends of his, take him away." "Get him out of Petersburg." "Take your girls, or your boys." "Frolic in the provinces but get him out of here!" "Your Excellency sounds hysterical." "Your Highness ought to be." "Whatever happens, I'll survive." "There's always room for one more bureaucrat." "I'll survive but will you princes?" "No." "We're going to be torn to pieces." "You politicians think you're in control but you'll be swept away like the rest of us." "Rome, Athens Petersburg." "You can't stop it." "In the meantime, I shall enjoy myself." "Come to my place on Thursday." "I'm having a special little party." "Look." "This beautiful scarf." "Have it." "I can't stop the revolution." "But until it comes, let's have some fun." "Even if it's only for a few more days." "For God's sake!" "Look, if I brought you money if it were enough, would you leave Petersburg?" "I can't leave." "I want to serve Batushka and Matushka." "I want peace and food for peasants everywhere." "I want that girl you saw and all the girls I haven't seen." "I want to sleep but can't sleep unless I'm drunk." "I want to die and go to Heaven." "I want music." "I want God to love me and I want to see you dance!" "Hello, Mama." "This is my Commander in Chief, General Alexeiev." "How are Sunny and the children?" "This is the first Christmas I've spent away from the family." "You look well." "I came to congratulate you, Nicky." "What for?" "For finding from all Russia's countless cretins idiots and incompetents the men least qualified to run your government." " Would you like some tea?" " I've taken tea." "I've tried to understand you, but I can't." "I sometimes fail to judge men well." "Sometimes?" "How can one man make so many mistakes?" "Why did you stop our Austrian campaign?" "Our casualties were terrible." "You knew they would be before you started." "Theirs were larger." "Mother, what do you know about strategy?" "What do you?" "What are you doing here, anyway?" "There isn't a battlefield within 500 miles." "It's important that I'm here." "Your place is in Petersburg." "Don't you know about the riots and scandals and starvation?" "They hate your wife." "They think she's a German spy." "How can you let that foolish woman ruin your country?" "Leave Sunny out of this." "Someone has to make you see sense about her." "Can't you think of anyone else?" "Can't you think of the rest of your family?" "Can't you think of Russia?" "I wish your father were alive." "Don't throw him at me!" "He knew how to be a Tsar." "He'd have burnt Vienna down, stamped on the Germans and shot the strikers." "Anything to give Russia peace." "And he'd certainly have known how to deal with Rasputin." "He is a man of God." "Do you believe that?" "He works miracles." "He keeps my son alive." "Do you believe that, Nicky?" "Sunny does." "She needs him." "Hang him!" "I don't wish any man harm but so many Russians will die if you don't." "I can't." "At least send him to Siberia." "I can't!" "He's going to destroy us." "Millions will suffer." "And all because you can't say no to your wife." "It's in God's hands." "That's no answer!" "I see what's happening!" "Then act!" "Come back home." "Hang this man, send Alexandra to Livadia and deal with the real problems." "I can't!" "In Heavers name, Nicholas, what can you do?" "Just what I'm doing, Mama." "There's nothing else that can be done." "I hope you are not on a diet, Father Gregory." "To Batushka and Matushka." "I'll die soon, my friends." "I've made my will." "I won't live to see the New Year." "And it makes me angry." "It's good to enjoy yourself with your friends." "I don't want to die." "Russia!" "Father Gregory needs a woman to cheer him up!" "I've been poisoned." "You've tried to kill me." "You all have." "You silly fools." "I thought I could trust you." "You silly little fools." "You can't even kill properly." "You're too small to destroy me." "Look." "Cyanide!" "Now get up, Prince!" "Get up!" "Try!" "Let's see you try to kill me." "Cyanide!" "I begged Batushka not to start this war." "I know who dies." "You don't die." "The people die." "The wise old men, the generals, the ministers the ones who say, "Do this, go there!"" "No mud on their boots!" "No bullets in their brains!" "Where's your rifle, Prince?" "Why aren't you at the front, where the blood is?" "I'm not a German!" "I come from the Russian soil and you fools will never destroy me!" "Thank God Russia has sons like me and isn't at the mercy of scums like you!" "Let's have the other side." "We must get rid of his body." "God bless the Tsar." "Your Majesty the Cabinet has been waiting for over an hour." "I can't see them today." "But we need you to sign the decrees." "Petersburg is starving!" "I can't." "You're glad he's dead!" "You wanted him to die." "Please tell the ministers my mother cannot see them today." "They will be informed of a convenient time to come again." "Have Grand Duke Dmitry and Prince Yussoupov arrested." "Only the Tsar can order the arrest of one of his own family." "It's his monarchical privilege." "Please try." "His will." ""I feel that I shall leave life before January the first." "If any of your relatives have wrought my death then no one of your family none of your children or relatives will remain alive." "They will be killed by the Russian people." "Brother will kill brother and there will be no nobles left in the country."" "The beast is dead!" "His killers are heroes!" "Russia is saved!" "Mr. President." "Mr. President!" "Mr. President!" "I have the floor, Mr. Kerensky." "One madman has been murdered and you are celebrating." "There is no food, no fuel." "A third of our army is still unarmed and they are surrendering in tens of thousands." "Nothing is changed." "The German Tsaritza is still running the country." "The Tsar must stop hiding with his soldiers and come back to Petersburg!" "Chaos is coming to Russia and he should be here to deal with it!" "Your Majesty?" "What is it, Alexeiev?" "There is a general strike in St. Petersburg." "The city is in chaos." "It can't be." "We're at war." "There are demonstrations in the streets." "The Army refuses to fire on them." "Telegraph this to the Military Governor:" "All riots are to be stopped at once." "The Duma is to be dissolved." "I return immediately to Petersburg." "And sign it Nicholas." "Sire, I hope there is someone in Petersburg to take our orders." "Madame, his fever is still the same." "If only it would break." "Why did they have to go and get measles now?" "Lie down, darling." "I heard it again." "It's nothing." "You must keep warm." "When you've finished, get some rest." "Still no news from the Tsar." "They don't answer our telegrams." "We must reach him." "He must come back." "God knows what'll happen." "I heard some more firing." "We're cut off." "Soldiers on the track ahead, Your Majesty." "They've got artillery." "I must get through to Tsarkoe Selo." "My family's there." "We can't." "There's open track to Moscow or to northern headquarters at Pskov." "I see." "Where should we go?" "They're rioting in Moscow." "Well, then." "To Pskov." "Thank God you're here." "Prepare an order..." "Your Majesty, I'm afraid it's too late." "The Duma has appointed a provisional government." "And all your ministers have been arrested." "Order your troops to march..." "At this moment, Your Majesty if my troops knew the Tsar was here there's every chance they would turn on you." "Whole garrisons are going over." "Sire, the Duma also insists on your abdication." "Surely my generals stand with me?" "I have already been in touch with the Commanders." "General Kornilov:" ""I cannot order an attack on Petersburg."" "Admiral of the Baltic Fleet Nepenin:" ""It is with greatest difficulty I keep my troops and the fleet in check." "I urge the Tsar to abdicate."" "General Ruzsky:" ""I cannot answer for my troops." "I implore His Majesty to abdicate."" "His Imperial Highness, General Nicolaievich..." "What does Nikolasha say?" ""On my knees I beg you to abdicate and save the dynasty."" "Nicky, please come home." "Tell me, Dr. Federov." "If my son as the future Tsar would remain behind to be educated in Russia while I and my family went abroad how long would he be likely to live?" "Deprived of your love and care and what I call "customary surroundings," it's hard to say." "It's a matter of luck and chance, Your Majesty." "There are no real statistics." "One would hope that he could live a normal span of life, but..." "Well twenty would be a good age." ""Accordingly, in agreement with the Imperial Duma we have thought it right to abdicate from the Russian throne and to lay down the supreme power." "Therefore..."" "It seems in order." "May I?" " "Therefore, in the name..."" " I won't tear it up." "Shall I sign it in your lap?" "I wish to add one thing more." "I shall abdicate for myself and also for my son." "But, Your Majesty the Duma thought that..." "Everyone expected that your son would..." "May I know the reasons?" "My reasons are personal." "In that case, I shall add the appropriate clause." "It will be spring soon at Livadia." "Is that where you'll send us?" "Yes, if you like." "We've had no time to plan ahead." "I've often thought I'd like to be a country gentleman." "I've always liked to watch things grow." "It's lovely there." "The sun is warm." "And they say the soil is very good." "Much of the happiness I've known I've had there." "It's now in order." "March the 15th 1917." "The Ides of March." "If only you had acted sooner, sir." "You think this could have been avoided?" "Who is there?" "Nicholas Romanov." "Let him pass." "I'm sorry." "Please don't..." "Please!" "Please!" "I didn't mean to." "Please!" "I'm so ashamed." "I didn't mean to do it." "Please don't!" "Please don't!" "Please!" "Graduated at Kazan University with a degree in law." "Brother hanged for terrorism in 1887 by the present Tsar's father." "Married." "No children." "Doesn't smoke." "And won't let his comrades smoke." "Grandson of a serf." "Well-traveled, I see." "The Tsar should have had your secret police." "My party will make a study of your methods." "They fail to mention your sense of humor." "It gets even funnier." "I want to get to Petersburg." "You want to get to Paris." "It's outrageous." "We are here in Zurich, and if I understand you you want the German government, which is at war with Russia to take you across Germany to Sweden because you can get to Russia from there." "I'm offering to stop the war." "I didn't know you had so much authority." "If we had a Bolshevik government we'd immediately make peace with Germany." "Then how many German divisions could you transfer to the western front?" "And now you are asking me for classified information." "Do you know my government locked up more Bolsheviks than anyone else?" "How can you expect us to help you make a revolution?" "You have no sense of proportion." "All I'm interested in is power in Russia." "It's lying on the streets waiting to be picked up." "Kerensky won't last." "He's still fighting the war and the people are desperate for peace." "I shall offer them peace." "Then you'll see the real revolution." "I see your jokes are very subtle." "A Marxist wants to use the Kaiser." "And perhaps the Kaiser can use a Marxist." "There." "In a few months, these will be turnips." "They're carrots." "And when they grow will we still be here to eat them?" "Nicholas Romanov!" "My name is Kerensky." "I always used to offer sherry in this room." "There's none left." "I haven't much time." "We must talk." "What's happening to the war?" "We hear the soldiers talking." "One hears of terrible defeats." "Will we fight on?" "Certainly." "The future of my government depends on it." "We stand pledged to victory." "What all of us have been through has some meaning after all." "Will we be staying here much longer?" "You will be leaving here in a few days." "All we do is dream of England." "We've been very happy there." " May I sit down?" " I'm sorry." "England won't accept you." "Won't accept?" "King George is my cousin." "He doesn't seem to want you, either." "He has to think of his own position." "Of course." "I must not make difficulties for..." "Nor will the French." "None of our allies want to risk it." "They are at war to save democracy and you were a tyrant." "I'm a prisoner." "Damn them, I'm a father with a family!" "You will be safe." "I'll see to that." "There's blood enough on everybody's hands." "I won't have yours on mine." "Just as soon as possible you'll be leaving for Siberia to a village near Tobolsk." "Siberia?" "You will be staying there for a week or so until I can organize some way for you to leave the country." "From there on I wash my hands of you." "Why not send us out to Finland?" "It's just 30 miles away." "I'd never get you through St. Petersburg alive." "Do you realize I'm all that stands between you and the block?" "No munitions." "No supplies." "I don't know where the Army stands." "Treasury is bankrupt." "The students riot." "Workers carry arms." "The Socialists want this." "The Menshiviks want that." "The radicals, the centrists, the cadets." "The Bolsheviks." "I can't arrest them even if I wanted to." "We have rights and laws now." "You had power and no laws." "I have laws and no power." "I wish I could help you." "You had your chances." "I wish I had mine." "Revolution!" "Revolution, now!" "Land!" "Peace!" "All power to the Soviets!" "Not quite like your Parliament." "We haven't English manners yet." "My government is more concerned with content than style." "One detects a sentiment for peace." "That worries us." "It's mostly the Bolsheviks." "Nobody pays any attention to them." "They only have 6 members in the Duma." "In your position, I'd put this Lenin quietly in jail." "On what pretext?" "I've read his speeches." "Surely you have too." "I cannot put a man in jail for what he thinks." "It's in your Bill of Rights." "He wants to overthrow the government by force." "We Americans call that treason." "In Russia, it's always been too easy to lock a man up because he disagrees with you." "It's a bad habit." "If the people want Lenin they can vote him into power in December." "Until that time..." "Rodzianko has finished." "I must speak now." "I trust I've made my government's position clear." "America wants Russia in the war." "The British government is equally worried about the peace demonstrations." "No more than France." "Russia's contribution is vital to the Allied cause." "Let me be blunt, Mr. Kerensky." "We're offering you 300 million dollars if you fight." "No war, no loan." "You cannot buy Russia." "We will fight because we've already sacrificed too much." "We owe it to the dead!" "They must count for something!" "Victory!" "Nothing less than victory!" "Look!" "Look!" "I've found Tobolsk on the map." "It's further away than London." "Yes, ma chère." "Now remember, you are princesses." "If I hear of any misbehavior I shall be very angry." "We'll be good." "You're all so big now." "Help Mama and Papa." "Yes, we will." "Goodbye, Alexis." "I'm glad we're going." "I hate this place." "Let me come with you." "You're too old for Siberia." "You'll be all right." "But who will look after you?" "You've never been anywhere without me." "Take care of yourself." "The train is ready." "This is Colonel Kobylinsky." "You will be under his command until you leave the country." "His orders carry my authority at all times." "Nicholas, I want my things." "I want my pictures and scrapbooks." "I want..." "Frau Romanov." "You have kept your head." "You should be grateful." "Come along." "It doesn't matter." "No, Vladimir." "One goodbye was enough, please." "Things." "Things one can do without." "They break, get lost." "One buys and sells them." "The main thing is we are together." "Power stations." "All railway stations." "State bank." "Central telephone exchange." "The Bolsheviks have taken over the station the telegraphs the banks." "How strong are they?" "If we had loyal troops how many would it take to dislodge them?" "One regiment would be enough." "But I haven't got a regiment." "Not one I can trust." "Yes, but there's only a handful of them, surely!" "We could smash them if we acted now!" "We told the people to go on with the war." "Lenin offered peace." "That's where we went wrong." "Look at this." "The cruiser Aurora." "And every gun is trained on us." "The government has fallen." "We shall now begin to construct the Socialist order." "What's it say?" "It's twenty-one below." "It feels like it." "How can you go out in this weather?" "Gilliard's waiting." "And besides, I quite enjoy it." "That's the second time this morning." "There's so little else to do." "I keep forgetting." "Aren't you bored, Madame?" "At times, I actually like it." "Mending clothes and teaching class and quiet afternoons." "I doze and daydream and I think about my life." "I don't know what I did wrong." "I'd feel better if I did." "Here, take it if it helps." "Christ!" "I can't trust my own men." "Anything could set them off." "I don't give orders anymore." "I make suggestions." "They go and vote." "Tomorrow they could vote to hang me." "It's absurd." "They're decent boys." "They were once, but they're lonely now." "Cold and scared to death." "Have you got any money?" "Not much." "Why?" "Has it crossed your mind I represent a nonexistent government?" "Who put me in this post, gave me authority?" "Whose money pays the troops?" "Kerensky's gone." "The money's gone." "I haven't paid them in a month." "You think I should pay them?" "The prisoners keep the guard." "I wish I'd had you for my finance minister." "You'd have revolutionized the penal system." "Don't laugh." "Shall I take the collection?" "In Tobolsk, there are rumors of civil war." "God only knows what's going on!" "Out here, exposed like this." "That's not to keep you in here." "It's to keep them out." "Them?" " Who are you expecting?" " I don't know." "I hate this damned assignment!" "I can't answer for your safety." "I can't do my job." "You care what happens to us, don't you?" "It's my job to." "What was that about?" "Apparently there's a civil war." "I'm not surprised." "Too many people had too much to lose." "He's worried." "We all are." "Put it down, Vollinski." "Go to hell!" "I'll shoot." "Monsieur Gilliard wants you for your history lesson." "Don't keep him waiting." "You too, young man." "I'm fine." "I'm fine." " You're cut." " Hands off!" "You'd better see the doctor." "I said, hands off!" "Dr. Botkin hasn't had a thing to do for weeks." "It's making him difficult to live with." "You'd be doing us all a favor." "You dizzy?" "I'm all right." "Come on, then." "My wife's a nurse." "They'll fix you up between them." "So that's how it's done." "I've never celebrated Easter with real eggs." "When they dry, rub them with bacon fat to make them shine." " I want to do the next one." " I used to dread Easter." "I had to kiss the whole court three times." "Sixteen hundred people!" "They used to line up to be kissed." "It puts you off kissing." "Christ has risen." "Christ has risen." "They've started to dance." "Can we see?" "Please!" " Come on." " Let's!" "Open the door." "They look so happy." "Let's go out to them." "I don't think we should." "Mother, please!" "Let's!" "Go and join your sisters." "No." " And authorizing transfer of command to me." "By order of the Central Committee in Moscow." "It seems in order, Commissar." "Are you at liberty to say what Moscow wants them for?" "No, Colonel, I can't tell you." "I don't know." "How soon can transport for the prisoners be organized?" " What kind of transport?" " Anything that moves." " Tomorrow sometime." " Good." "We leave tomorrow night." "May I know why?" "The civil war." "The Whites, they call themselves." "Conservatives and Monarchists and Tsarist generals." "All our enemies." "They're moving towards Siberia." "They're powerful." "Our troops have yielded half the Ukraine." "On all fronts, the revolution is in danger." "And out here it's open season on your Romanovs." "I'll see them now." "Can't your government protect us here?" "We're so out of touch." "Has your government lost it...?" "Has your government lost its authority too?" "My government is 3000 miles away." "Out here, they listen when they like." "When they don't the lines go dead." "The Ural Soviet has ordered your arrest." "They have a prison, just for you, in Ekaterinburg." "You're less than popular out here." "Am I beloved in Moscow?" "Do they want me for a public trial?" "Is that it?" "And when they find me guilty, what then?" "They can roast you on a spit for all I care." "My duty is to get you there intact." "From now on, strict security will be observed." "You're confined to this house until we leave." "I'll have him first." "I'm sorry." "He's an educated man, at any rate." "They could have sent an executioner." "Father?" "There's no hope, is there?" "Nonsense." "None at all." "Sit." "May I ask why?" "Surely my features are familiar?" "Front face and profile." "Sit down!" "Look at me!" "It's just awful." "You look like a thief." "You look like a trollop." "I don't." "What's a trollop?" "Dear Lord, so she does!" " I don't find that amusing." " Just look." "It's not amusing at all." "The girls won't stop crying." "How is he?" "I don't know." "It's not as bad as some." "The knee will go on swelling for a bit." "It may be weeks before he walks again." "But he'll mend." "Mend!" "I'm all right, Father." " Botkin tells me you'll be fine." " I tripped." "I don't believe you." "I ought to sleep." "They told me to get some rest." "We are going God knows why to God knows where and you do this!" "I have a family to protect." "What are you doing for them?" "What did you ever do?" "You abdicated, you gave in!" "I thought Tsars had to die!" "I did it for you." " You could have fought." " For you?" "I'm so ashamed of you." "Look at us!" "Look where you've put us." "Thinking back..." "When I think back, I can see them so clearly now corners that I didn't turn." "You've had no life." "The girls have had no life." "I wasted you." "I had your future in my hands and spent it." "Look at you." "You're all I see." "Your faces." "Why did you abdicate for me?" "Why?" "You didn't even ask." "I didn't want you to pay for my mistakes." "Am I not paying for them now?" "Aren't all of us?" "I should have had a chance the right to live my own life, make my own decisions." "I could have tried to help Russia help Mother and my sisters, and perhaps, even you." "I could have been a Romanov a Tsar." "It all went wrong." "I hardly know why or how." "Instead, I just bleed." "It's my fate." "I bleed." "I love you." "Please understand." "I do, Father." "But does it really matter?" "Goodbye." "What will you do now?" "What can I do?" "Whatever side I join, I kill Russians." "I don't know what to do anymore." "We're ready." "What a world this is." "God bless you." "It's too late for that." "But thank you." "Are you all right?" "Does it hurt?" "Would you like it to?" "Not at all." "Why are you moving a sick boy?" "It's inhuman." "I am just taking you to Moscow, that's all." "And what happens to us there?" "Get in." "And pray that when we get out of here, there'll be a train." "How long till Moscow?" "Five or six days." "What are our chances?" "Of what?" "Living till Christmas?" "I haven't thought about it." "You puzzle me." "You'd be happy to see us dead, and yet you help us get away." "I haven't your taste for murder, Bloody Nicholas." "I've never had a chance to get used to it." "How many men have you killed?" "Have you the least idea?" "God knows how many peasants died!" "Nobody counted children." "You only know the number of soldiers because somebody counted them for you." "Seven million!" "Six quarts a man times seven million." "It's an ocean." "You ever seen a battle?" "I'm wrong." "You're not Bloody Nicholas." "You're a man of no imagination." "Fit for a king." "Comrade Commissar!" "Comrade Commissar!" "Greetings from the Ural Soviet at Ekaterinburg, comrade." "I have an order authorizing me to take charge of your prisoners." "From the Ural Soviet." "My orders come from the Central Committee in Moscow." "I'm not in your jurisdiction." "Move your train." "I want the Romanovs." "I have a legal order for them." "There's only one legal government in Soviet Russia." "One government?" "Where is it?" "What's it doing?" "They're losing to the Whites!" "They've taken Omsk." "And they're coming here to save your Tsar!" "Can your Central Committee stop them?" "He's not my Tsar." "He's my responsibility." "I'm not saving him, I'm taking him to trial." "We must stay inside the law!" "We're not the Okrana." "That's why we had a revolution, comrade." "We're going through." "Try." "I'll shoot you." "And I'll get a medal for it." "Mine or Moscow's, Commissar?" "Whose legal orders do you take?" "Get away!" "Get in!" "What are you doing?" "Only Russians in the truck." "You're Swiss neutrals." " They're with us." " I've got my orders." "Get in!" "Monsieur Gilliard!" "I'll write!" "I'll try to see you!" "Come on." "Get out!" "Come on!" "Hurry up!" "Come on!" "You must be very tired." "Come inside and get dry." "Is today your birthday?" "That was weeks ago." "Of course it was." "And mine too." "I was 46." "Imagine that." "Breakfast?" "I'm not hungry." "You eat it." "Nor am I." "What's the day like?" "I don't know now." "It doesn't matter." "It goes on and on." "I don't know anymore." "What can God have in mind for us?" "They've left a crack!" "What difference does it make?" " Look." "Something might happen." " What?" "Something might." "Go away!" "What do you want?" "Do you want to see me?" "Is that it?" "I'm 21 and I'm pretty." "Everyone says I'm pretty." " That's the only man who's seen me!" " I know, it's all right." "He's gone, he's gone." "You know what's funny?" "I wanted to ask him in." "Just once I wanted somebody." "What is the Ural Soviet up to?" "The Whites are three days away." " Can't you make up your minds?" " All right, comrade." "We've had fresh instructions from the Kremlin." "They express confidence in our ability to handle this difficult..." "What exactly did they say?" "Let me see." "I've committed it to memory." "The cable read: "We leave the matter in your hands."" "Well, that's taking a position, isn't it?" "Now, what are my orders?" "It's my duty as a member of the Ural Presidium to act as an observer..." "Observer?" "Of what?" "The execution." "That's already decided." "The question now is, how many?" "You're having a debate on it?" "Everything must be above reproach." "We hope to bring it to a vote this afternoon." "There's a division of opinion about the children." "But as for the Tsar..." "Was it necessary to remove the view?" "Security." "Good day." "Good day." "No sun today?" "What a shame." "I suppose you're not well enough." "What's it like being ill?" "What's it like having gray eyes?" "It can't be nice being an invalid at your age." "And they can't do anything to help one." "What a pity." "It's gold!" "Let it go!" "You're dead!" "That's all you know about." "You murder everything!" "You hurt him, and by God..." "You struck the Tsar!" "Bring him outside!" "First thing each morning put Alexis' brace on." "I won't let them hurt you!" "Strap it on tight, Your Majesty." "He doesn't like it, but it's good for him." "Dear God!" "I won't let them." "You can save him." "You can stop it." "Certainly." "Your man started it." "He should be punished." "He will be." "And Nagorny?" "Taking someone's life." "No man should have that power." "You had it." "Yes." "And I have learned that a strong man has no need of power." "And a weak man is destroyed by it." "I am being punished for what I have done." "Nagorny is innocent." "He's like a child." "You don't shoot children, do you?" "In your new world, are there penalties for innocence?" "Sometimes." "It takes a wise judge to know who is innocent and who is guilty." "I wish I knew." "I'll do what I can." "Thank you." "I'd like to kill him." "Wait and see." "He'll do what's right." "I know him." "He's a murderer." "He's a thoughtful man." "He'll send Nagorny back to us." "He's not a monster." "I've never known a heart without some murder in it." "I made these men." "They are our Russians." "I am responsible for what they are." "I let them starve." "I put them in prisons and I shot them." "If there's hatred in them now I put it there." "But they are filled with love." "And with mercy too." "You must remember that." "They are all murderers." "I'd like to kill them all." "Acid?" "Gasoline?" "Can't you just throw them down the mineshaft?" "You don't approve of this, comrade?" "No, I quite approve of terror, arson, murder." "Any tool that serves the revolution." "As a member of the Ural Presidium, it's my duty to see that..." "They must hurt very much." "My fingers." "They work well enough for this." "I couldn't play the piano now." "I used to hear you practicing when I was in my office." "Did you?" "Schumann and Schubert." "I never thought much of your voice." "Didn't you?" "Never told me that before." "I suddenly thought of the yacht this morning." "Remember how the band used to play all the time?" "And out of tune." "Do you think they drank?" "How did that waltz go?" "You're no better than the band." "Your beautiful hands." "The girls." "They won't come in." "We're alone." "I still want you so much." "Nothing can change that, Sunny." "I do love you." "I'm sure it's getting nearer." "How far now?" "It's hard to tell." "Perhaps thirty miles." "Thirty miles." "They've been here all morning." "Why don't they go away?" "Can't they make up their minds?" "I'm sure it's getting nearer." "I'm going to phone again." "Go on." "It's all of them." "I could have told you that." "It's about time." "I kept their mail." "I didn't know whether they ought to have it." "Shall I give it to them now?" "Would it be cruel or kind?" "I don't know how to judge these things." "I don't think anyone knows." "Listen." "Nikolasha writes:" ""Saw Vladimir walking in the Nevsky Prospect." "Old fool, all dressed up in his Imperial gold uniform." "Nobody seems to mind."" "Listen to Grandmama:" ""Remember to dress for dinner." "It keeps up one's dignity and impresses the people."" "Dress for dinner?" "Nikolasha says he'll join her soon in the Crimea." "Vladimir." "He says:" ""Ma chère, I've seen this Lenin." "His suit is wrinkled and he wears a worker's cap." "The man will never make a Tsar."" "Monsieur Gilliard's still in Ekaterinburg." "He's trying to come and see us." "Mama's off to England in a month or so." "She says the spring was late this year but very beautiful." "Lord, but it's good to be alive!" "The world is like a field in summer bursting with good things." "One day when all the wars are over someone young will lead us to the harvest." "As long as there are children anything is possible." "What's happened?" "Get your family dressed." " Why?" " We're leaving." "Don't be afraid." "The White Army must have broken through." "Help Anastasia." "Wait in here, please."