"One cannot imagine that terrifying moment when we suddenly felt the breath of death beside us, but at the same moment, we felt the greatness and power of the Lord, when He stretched out His gracious hand over us…"

Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia in a letter to King George I of Greece

17^th October 1888. 12:00.

With a black folder tucked under his arm, a young man in a thin coat was walking through the carriage of the Imperial Train. Suddenly, he caught the toe of his boot on a stray carpet runner and, before he knew it, ended up on the floor. The papers came fluttering out of his holder like a bird taking wing. The train, going at full speed, turned a corner and caught the wind through the windows, sending the papers flying even further. Dismayed, the young chap began to dart around the carriage in a hurried attempt to catch them all and stuff them back into his folder.

Once he seemed to have gathered them all up, he counted them and discovered that one document was missing. He looked around and spotted the corner of his missing piece of paper sticking out from under a closed wooden door that led to a compartment. The young man stepped towards the paper, bent down to snatch it up, and at that moment caught a glimpse of a girl through a crack in the door.

To this young chap, her face seemed truly angelic. And her laughter, oh, her laughter! He remembered that laugh for a long time thereafter, albeit with a cold shiver.

The young man knocked on the door and opened it, “I beg your pardon gentlemen,” he said, catching surprised looks from an elderly gentleman and a young woman sitting opposite each other. “I would not dare bother you if it were not for one circumstance…”

The young lady looked at the young man with interest. She noticed that he carried a leather folder embossed with the words “His Imperial Majesty's Chancellery” and graciously tilted her head, slightly lifting the corners of her lips. Her left arm was in a bandage. With a smile, the elderly fellow asked the young man, “Circumstance? You mean the circumstances that led you and I to end up on the Imperial train, instead of the one that would be more befitting of rank?” He laughed good-naturedly.

“Indeed. Forgive me,” said the young man, feeling ashamed for even being there. “The circumstance is actually that the wind blew my papers all over the carriage, and it was under your door that I found the last missing piece…”

“Oh, what a pickle, young man! Come, take a closer look, maybe you will find something. In fact, come on in! Sit with us, the more the merrier. Travelling with company is always more interesting. It makes time fly by. I truly enjoy talking with different people, and I am especially glad of any opportunity to converse with smart and decent human beings. I’m sure that we will have plenty in common to talk about.” The man smiled with a cunning flash of the eye, sneaking a kind glance at the young lady. He was extremely