"
"Have you an appointment?"
"No."
"His Excellency sees no one without an appointment," the man told me
somewhat gruffly.
"I am not here on public business, but upon a private matter," I
explained. "Perhaps I may see his Excellency's secretary?"
"If you wish, but I repeat that his Excellency sees no one without a
previous appointment."
I knew this quite well, for the "Strangler of Finland," fearful of
assassination, was as unapproachable as the Czar himself. Following the
directions of the concierge, however, I crossed a great bare courtyard,
and, ascending a wide stone staircase, was confronted by a servant, who,
on hearing my inquiry took me into a waiting-room, and left with my card
to Colonel Luganski, whom he informed me was the Baron's private
secretary.
After ten minutes or so the man returned, saying:
"The Colonel will see you if you will please step this way," and
following him he conducted me into the richly furnished private
apartments of the Palace, across a great hall filled with fine
paintings, and then up a long thickly-carpeted passage to a small,
elegant room, where a tall bald-headed man in military uniform stood
awaiting me.
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