To make sure we were out of danger’s reach, we took up lodgings in a private apartment belonging to my brother-in-law, Quartermaster General Baranovsky. General Cheremisov, the commander-in-chief, came to the apartment at my behest; as it turned out, however, he was already “flirting” with the Bolsheviks. The troops I’d asked to be dispatched to Petrograd had been halted on his orders. Following a rather brusque discussion, General Cheremisov left.