to fire!’...  At this point the officer stepped forward and, addressing me personally, said:  ’Do you know of any reason why you should not be shot for participating in the abduction of the Imperial family?’...  This was a puzzler....  I was innocent enough of such an accusation, BUT the officer before me looked about as much like a Royalist as I in my present disheveled condition looked like a member of the French Cabinet....  If I denied my guilt I felt certain of a bullet in my heart from such an ugly, unkempt mob....  Glancing at my apparel I looked fit to be one of their number, so I said courageously:  ’I am PROUD to say that I am the ringleader who engineered the whole business!...”

If it gives you any satisfaction to see me die, don’t waste your breath asking me any further questions,—­go ahead and fire!’...  ’Very well,’ he snapped and made me about-face to the firing squad ...  For a few seconds he held a silent conversation with the Sergeant....  That functionary approached with a handkerchief.  ‘Will you be blindfolded?’ he asked.  ‘Thank you, I prefer to see what’s going on,’ I answered....  The other prisoners followed my example....  We were ordered to step back against the wall....  The squad raised their rifles at the command of ’aim.’...  I now know that I felt positively nauseated at the moment, but I actually SMILED....  ’Fire!’...  There was a rattle of musketry and every prisoner beside me fell forward dead....  I STOOD THERE ALONE, uninjured and alive ... coming toward me down the path was the daring female acrobatic aviator with her friend, the performer of the Metropole, robed in a shimmering sport outing costume, and smiling very sweetly to the Officer of the Guard....

“...  I am certain now that this veiled lady from Buckingham is in league with this gang of Bolsheviki,—­and I am also certain that I owe my life to the boast I made of being a murderer myself!...”

19.  The following entry reads: 

“A man who has escaped death is not to be trusted on a point of discretion,—­he doesn’t know how to select his friends.  He is like a spirit emerging from nowhere in the eternal void and grabs at the first apparition that promises companionship in his embarrassing and momentary isolation....  Well, I was so glad to see that Buckingham Clorinda that I was willing to take her into my confidence at once....  She seemed so sympathetic!...  ‘I commend your bravery,’ she said prettily, offering me her hand....  It was small and beautifully moulded, yet firm and steady, and sent an electric thrill through me like a flash....  Her eyes would disarm the most suspicious diplomatic free-lance in the world....  Struck with admiration, hypnotized by her voice, I could only blurt, ‘I thank you.’