"It's a stupid form of government, it's a hodgepodge of cowardice, blindness, cunning, stupidity......"

Sergei Yulyevich Witt trembled and wrote this sentence ~.

An old woman with silver hair pushed the door in, and when she saw this, her face was worried: "Old man, why are you up, quick, obedient, lie down-"

While serving Werther to lie down, he turned his head and reprimanded the servant next to him: "What are you doing, don't persuade the old man to ......"

"Forget it, forget it, it's none of their business." Werther persuaded the old woman and nodded slightly to the servants: "You go down first." ”

When the servants had retreated, he told the old woman to close the door tightly, which shows the old gentleman's prudence.

Born into a German aristocratic family in the Baltic region, his mother was Russian, his father was a high-ranking official in the Caucasus Governor-General's Office, and he served two tsars: in 1889 he was appointed Commissioner of Railways, in 1892 he was promoted to Minister of Transport, in August of the same year he was changed to Chancellor of the Exchequer, in 1903 he was re-elected Chairman, and from 1905 to April 1906 he was Chancellor. After reaching the peak of his career, he fell sharply to the bottom, and he has been idle since then.

Now, in his sixty-sixth year of life, this outrageous minister, who had been comfortingly made an earl by the present Tsar before his death, had a faint glimpse of the entrance to hell or heaven.

Seeing that the door was closed, Witt slowly spoke to the old woman, his wife, "How's the manuscript going?" ”

"It's already been transferred from Paris to Baronna, and it's in a safe deposit box at a local bank, so don't worry." said. Madame shook Werther's hand, "It's you, take care of yourself, get well soon." ”

A smile finally wrinkled into Witt's shriveled cheeks: "God is calling me...... The Emperor is calling me...... The beginning and the end are not up to us. ”

Madame's eyes suddenly filled with tears: "Master, don't say it, rest well-"

Witt shook his head weakly: "Now that I can still speak, you can listen to me and help me up." ”

Holding back tears, Madame lifted Witt up and took a large duck down cushion and put it under Witt's back.

"I used to say that. I'm neither a liberal nor a conservative, I'm just a cultured person. I can't exile a man to Siberia just because he doesn't think the same way as I do, and I can't strip him of his citizenship because he doesn't pray in the same church as me—"

"Yes, your heart is so kind and noble." Madame lifted her handkerchief and wiped the corners of her eyes.

"Listen to me," Witte took Madame's hand with great difficulty, "and because of this, I have many enemies, and the various camps cannot tolerate me, and the princes of the palace call me a republican. The Liberals said that I was curtailing the rights of the people in order to curry favor with the Emperor, and the landlords said that I was trying to bankrupt them. The Cadets said that I had deceived the peasants for the benefit of the landlords, and in the end, I ceded the territory to the Chinese traitors...... God testifies that everything I do comes from my conscience, for the sake of the Empire and His Majesty, ahem! ”

A violent cough provoked the lady to hurry forward to serve.

Witte pushed Madame back to her seat: "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, listen to me-"

"The constitution I presided over offended many people, and even the emperor listened to slander. I don't trust me anymore, I don't have much to say about it, and I don't want to get involved in nasty quarrels. But I don't want my manuscript to fall into the hands of rogue bandits like Kokovsev. When I'm dead, those cockroach-like secret police will definitely touch here, leave them alone. They don't get anything here. We can't hide from our villa in Paris – is it cleaned up? ”

"Yes, not a single manuscript was left there."

"If the emperor sends someone to ask for the manuscript, you will say that it is kept abroad and cannot be delivered...... After taking care of everything, go to Sazonov and he will find a way to get you to France. ”

Madame was already in tears: "Yes, it's the earth, I remember it." ”

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

Madame was startled, and she got up and leaned in front of the window, and observed the situation in front of the courtyard downstairs through the glass.

"It seems to be Sazonov—"

Witt snorted lightly: "Come, my old friend, although he has now also become Kokoftsev's dog, but only he never bites me, you go and bring him up, tell him that I want to meet him alone." ”

"Yes—"

In a short time, a thin old gentleman in a tuxedo and a top hat strode in, he was the self-proclaimed "court economist" of the court figure Sazonov, the current Russian Prime Minister Kokovetsev's royal scholar, the palace is a close friend of the legendary priest (also known as the "demon monk") Rasputin who was favored by the Tsar's family.

"I don't have the strength to meet you in person—please be seated." Werther grinned at him.

Sazonov took off his top hat and looked apologetic: "I beg your pardon, I was going to visit you a week ago, but you know that I always have a lot to do, and I have to deal with the other when I'm done......"

"Okay, okay, I know, please take a seat."

Sazonov then sat down in front of the bed and inquired in detail about his condition with rare zeal.

Werther laughed, "You're still worried about my old bones - what's new?" I don't believe most of the things in the newspapers, but I just believe what you say. ”

Sazonov shrugged: What new do you want to hear? Is there anything else in this world that you find new? ”

"Tell me casually, my old bone has been in bed for a long time, and I want to listen to people, why, don't you want to?"

"Look at what you say, you are willing to serve, where to start, let me think about it......"

"Is the emperor okay?"

Although he had fallen out of favor for many years, the first thing Witte asked about was His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Russian Empire, who made him sad and helpless.

"Okay, very good." Sazonov smiled cynically. "The emperor listens to the queen, and the queen listens to Rasputin, and it has been like this for three years, and everyone in the palace says that Rasputin's words are worth 20 German divisions."

"Yes, always...... How about Grand Duke Nicholas? I've heard he's been in trouble lately? ”

Sazonov shook his head: "I heard that the emperor wants to remove him, and the queen speaks ill of him all day long, because he never looks at Rasputin squarely - there is no way, those who offend Rasputin, even if they are royal nobles, will never end well." ”