Gregory Rasputin is tricked into attending a dissolute Moscow soirée, and shares his sadness with Englishman Gerard Shelley.
One evening in April 1915, scandal-plagued holy man Gregory Rasputin (1864-1916), a close friend of Empress Alexandra, answered the invitation of pretty, young Marya Mlozov to visit her in Moscow. He was expecting to meet soldiers wounded in the Great War, but stumbled instead into a decidedly bohemian party in full swing. After disappointing Marya by shunning every temptation she put his way, he walked home with Gerard Shelley a picture of dejection.