Alexander II_ The Last Great Tsar - Edvard Radzinsky [71]
Nicholas returned to Tsarskoe Selo. And soon again—“the tsar went to war.” As always, in the train car he found her letter. It was a ritual.
She: “Oct. 20th.… Twenty years to-morrow that you reign & I became orthodox! How the years have flown, how much we have lived through together….
“Oct. 22nd 1914.… How vile one having thrown bombs from aeroplans on to King Albert’s [the Belgian king] Villa.… thank God no harm was done but I have never known one trying to kill a sovereign because he is one’s enemy during the war!” (They were still living in the nineteenth century, and the new iron age shocked them.)
“Oct. 24th 1914.… There were many wounded … one officer had been 4 days in Olga’s hospital and said there was not such a second sister.”
Now the empress was working in the hospital alongside her daughters.
“Oct. 27th 1914.… Oh this miserable war! At moments one cannot bear it any more, the misery & bloodshed break one’s heart.… All over the world losses! Well, some good must come out of it, & they wont all have shed their blood in vain. Life is difficult to understand—It must be so—have patience; that is all one can say—One does so long for quiet happy times again! But we shall have long to wait.”
He: “27 October, 1914.… At last I am able to write a few lines.… I found old Petyusha [Prince Peter of Oldenburg, husband to the tsar’s sister Olga].… They spent three hours under the fire of the Austrian heavy artillery.… Petya conducted himself with the utmost coolness and requests an award for himself; I therefore gave him the Arms of St. George, which made him nearly mad [with joy].… I had the pleasure of spending the whole of Saturday with Misha, who has become quite his old self and is again charming.”
Yes, Michael Alexandrovich and his wife, who now bore the title Countess Brasova, were back. Misha would receive the Cross of St. George, commanding an irregular cavalry. They were alike, Nicky and Misha. They both loved their wives very much, and Misha, like Nicky, worried about his wife’s nerves; Countess Brasova had not forgiven her humiliation. Her salon would open the doors wide to the Duma’s left-wing deputies. “In court circles she is even accused of betraying tsarism.… She says things for which someone else would have been sentenced to twenty years in Siberia,” wrote Paléologue.
Again Nicky is at Tsarskoe Selo, only soon, once again….
She: “Nov. 17th 1914.… Once more the hour of separation has come—& always equally hard to bear … when you are gone … a bit of my life gone—we make one.… You always bring revival as our Friend says … comforting to know His prayers follow you—It is good you can have a thorough talk with N[icholas Nikolaevich] & tell him your opinion of some people & give him some ideas.”
News had already reached “our Friend” that the commander-in-chief was gathering evidence against him. He complained to “Mama”—and now Alix asked Nicholas to suggest “a few ideas” to the commander-in-chief.
She: “Our last night together, its horribly lonely without you—and so silent—nobody lives in this story. Holy angels guard you.”
He: “18 November, 1914. My beloved Sunny and darling Wify.… I have read your sweet, tender letter with moist eyes. This time I succeeded in keeping myself in hand at the moment of parting, but it was a hard struggle.… My love, I miss you terribly—more than I can express in words.… I shall try to write very often, as, to my amazement, I have come to the conclusion that I can write while the train is in motion. My hanging trapeze has proved very practical and useful. I swung on it many times and climbed up it before meals. It is really an excellent thing for the train, it stirs up the blood and the whole organism.