Exit a Dictator by E. Phillips Oppenheim

The doors of the Counsellors' Chamber were locked, the windows, as always, hermetically sealed. Ventilation was only possible through the ceiling in a fashion which science called 'air conditioning'. Not a sound was heard from the street below. Ingress or egress to the apartment, except at the will of the man who sat at the end of the table with a bunch of keys before him, was an impossibility. There were twenty-two men present, including the Prince de Chambordine and Alexander, who presided. It was a secretly-called meeting of the directors who were responsible for the existence of European House, and the most important meeting that had ever been held. The men who sat around in conference were of various nationalities. The majority were Russians of high rank who had preserved in their exile a passionate devotion to the land from which they were outcasts. There was a famous American known everywhere as a great international statesman even in these latter days of his life. There were the two Pretenders to the throne of France, also an Austrian and a German, both men of royal birth who had withdrawn from the world as disaster came to their countries. There were three Englishmen, one of whom--Professor Leonard, a scholar and political economist of great distinction--had been made welcome in Russia until the arrival of the present dynasty. It was he who, breaking a somewhat prolonged silence, had just made the astonishing suggestion which had fallen like a bombshell amongst his auditors.

"There are probably, " he said, looking round with a quiet smile which was seldom absent from his lips but which was at no time an indication of any form of mirth, "two people outside Moscow who know the truth about this astounding invitation which Alexander has just laid before us. One is Nicolas Grodin. I have known Grodin for thirty years and it is my opinion that there does not exist a man present who could know at any time whether he was telling the truth or not. Personally I have found him, whenever we have come into contact, a shrewd and brilliant diplomat; also, when it suited him, an egregious, a convincing and a wicked liar. I have also known times when with seeming risk to himself he has told the bare and unvarnished truth. The other is a man who I believe at the present moment is a semi-prisoner under this roof--Marc Zaritsch. To appeal to Grodin would be a ridiculous waste of breath. It is otherwise with Zaritsch."