One more layer, and I lost sight of them. Then I saw long battleships on a slack sea, airplanes with ridiculous short wings, soldiers in trenches. In my attempt to locate a trace of the imperial couple, I was now digging at random, mixing up all the cuttings. For a moment the tsar came into view on horseback, an icon in his hands, in front of a row of kneeling foot soldiers… His face seemed aged, somber. But I wanted him to be young again, accompanied by the beautiful Alexandra, cheered by the crowds, celebrated in fervent verses.

It was right at the bottom of the suitcase that I came upon a clue at last. The headline in large letters – "Glory to Russia!" – left no room for doubt. I smoothed out the paper on my knees, as Charlotte used to do, and began softly to mouth the lines:

Great God, there is good news to tell!

With joyful hearts we greet the day,

To see collapse the citadel,

Where slaves once groaned their lives away!

To see a people's pride reborn,

The torch of justice raised on high!

To celebrate this happy morn,

Friends, let your flags and banners fly!

It was only when I reached the chorus that I paused, seized by a doubt: "Glory to Russia "? But what had become of that land, "blond with her corn, white with the white of snow"? That "country fair" whose soul was "rich and rare"? And what were these slaves doing here, groaning their lives away? And who was the tyrant whose downfall was being celebrated?

In confusion, I went on to recite the chorus:

All hail, Russia, all hail to you! People and soldiers together stand! All hail to you, all hail to you, Who now redeem your Fatherland! All hail the Duma's newfound power, Its sovereign voice will soon have spoken, For happiness now comes the hour, With all your chains forever broken.

Suddenly some headlines caught my eye, poised above the lines of verse:

Nicholas II Abdicates: Russia 's 1789. Russia Finds Freedom. Kerensky – The Russian Danton. Peter and Paul Fortress – Russia 's Bastille – Taken by Storm. Collapse of Autocracy…