and vases that were moved over to one corner I came across a box of
paintings that must have been STOLEN from St. Petersburg.[A] ... Here
is the _Madonna del Latte_ of Corregio, or a mighty good imitation,
that everyone remembers, from the Hermitage. Here is Rembrandt's
'_Girl with the Broom_,' the _Portrait of Sobieski_, and the
'_Farmyard_' of Paul Potter. Here is the '_Expulsion of Hagar_' by
Rubens in which Sarah wears a white handkerchief and yellow veil
around her head, with one of her hands resting on her hip and the
other encased in a blue sleeve raised in a threatening gesture toward
Hagar, and here is '_Celestine and her Daughter_ _in Prison_,' that
one NEVER forgets because of the controversy between the partisans of
Murillo and Velasquez over which of these two painters did the
work. And here is Lossenke's '_Sunrise on the Black Sea_,' Ugrimov's
'_Capture of Kazan_' and '_Election of Michael Romanov_,' in which the
artist reaches the heights of Oriental splendor in color, composition
and design.... There is a FORTUNE going to the devil in this room!...
This house is L-shaped. The garden in the rear faces a pretentious
two-story dwelling surrounded by a wall, like a Governor General's
mansion in its yellow-pinkish coat. Tall poplar trees wave in front
and the classic columns running up to the entablature give the place
an official sort of front. There is a drug store on the corner across
the way doing business under the name of _Torkiani_. To the right,
at the end of the street, is a girls' college; to the left, about
800 feet away, in the center of the street, is the _Alexander Nevsky
Church_, if I'm not very much mistaken. This city must have been a
wonder before the war...." Then this entry: "Something is about
to happen!... My sentry seems very excited over the desertion 'on
Ekaterine Street' and swears quite often at the failure of some one to
appear '_along the Levashov_.'"