They alleged that the conspiracy
had been hatched in our house, color being lent to that theory by the
fact that a year before a well-known Russian with whom my father had had
many business dealings had been proved to be the author of the plot by
which the Czar's train was blown up near Lividia. They tore my mother
away from me and placed her in that gray prison-van, the sight of which
in the streets of Petersburg strikes terror into the heart of every
Russian, for a person once in that rumbling vehicle is, as you know,
lost for ever to the world. I watched her from the window being placed
in that fatal conveyance, and then I think I must have fainted, for I
recollect nothing more until I found myself upon the floor, with the
gray dawn spreading, and all the horrible truth came back to me. My
mother was gone from me for ever!
"In sheer desperation I went to the Ministry of the Interior and sought
an interview with the Baron, who, when I told him of the disaster,
appeared greatly concerned, and went at once to the Police Department to
make inquiry.
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