It was something Russian; some scandal in the Highest
Spheres which may see the light of day, centuries hence, when the
Imperial Archives are disclosed as musty court history to the eyes of
students curious in such matters. At this crisis, when 44,323 persons,
mostly liberals, were awaiting trial in the prisons of the Capital, the
ex-monk would doubtless have been quietly removed after the fashion of
court favourites, not by his adherents, now numbering many hundred
thousands, threatened a revolution. A secret compromise was effected.
He was banished, with every outward mark of disgrace, to a monastery in
the remote and inhospitable region of Viatka, there to meditate upon
the instability of human affairs. The illumined period was drawing
nigh. The Capital, on the whole, was glad to see the last of
him--particuarly the prisoners awaiting trial.
The diet and discipline nearly killed him at first. He was consoled by
knowing that his fame had spread far and wide. The Court being
unwilling to publish the true facts of his disgrace, he was regarded as
a martyr, a victim of political intrigue, an injured saint.
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