Something new about Rasputin

Sasha told me. I always thought Father Grigory was fairly harmless, that he is a very spiritual man and gives mother and father comfort about Alexei. But Sasha says he has influence. If he does not approve a minister, mother gets father to fire him. I can't believe this. But I believe Sasha, so I don't know what to think.

Worse than that, I overheard Count Witte talking to father about Rasputin. Father wanted to go and lead the armies himself in the war, but he has been persuaded against it. The people, Count Witte said, are suspicious of Mama, especially because of her ties to Father Grigory. He mentioned cartoons.

"Are you certain you want to see them?" Sasha asked me when we met in the gardens at the Alexander Palace.

"Of course, or I wouldn't ask."

Sometimes he makes me cross, assuming I can't take anything just because I am still young. But I really wanted to know.

"These are only two. Others are worse."

I stared at those cartoons for a long time. They made Father Grigory look like a demon, and Mama and Papa like puppets. Not just Mama and Papa, but ministers in the government.

"Is there any truth about these?" I asked.

Sasha shrugged. "It doesn't matter, really. What people believe is what matters."

I couldn't accept that. Surely only the truth was important! What did it matter what anyone believed?

Sasha wouldn't let me keep the cartoons. I wanted to show my sisters, but he thought it would be hard for me to explain how I got them. Instead, I'll just have to describe them, and we'll talk it all over, and decide together what to think.