On May 22 there was a late snowstorm that gusted against the whitewashed windows and left the family huddling around the stove for warmth, blankets tight around their shoulders. The following morning, Maria ventured out into the yard, hoping the snow would not delay the arrival of her siblings. It was already melting, but the ground was slippery and the sky was gray and threatening. Soon rain began to fall in large, slushy drops, driving her indoors.

Avdeyev came to the drawing room at eleven to tell them that “the party” was on their way from the station. Maria looked wistfully at the whitewashed windows, wishing she could have watched out for them. What would her sisters make of this grim, faceless house?

Half an hour later, she heard a commotion in the hallway and rushed out to see Tatiana trudging up the stairs, her French bulldog Ortipo under one arm and a suitcase in her other hand. Next came Alexei, who was being carried by his carer, followed by the others and two more family dogs, Joy and Jemmy. They had all gotten soaked in the rain and looked bedraggled and bone-weary, but Maria embraced them one by one with great excitement.

“I’m thrilled to see you. Come in! It’s this way. You poor dears, you look half perished. I’ll have Sednev brew some tea.”

They greeted their parents, then slumped into chairs. Dr. Botkin, the family doctor, who had arrived with the party, crouched to examine Alexei, who looked pale and exhausted.

“What an appalling journey!” Tatiana sighed. “Four long days in a rusty steamship then a filthy third-class train carriage. At moments I felt sure we would not survive—but here we are.”

“This room is very dark,” Anastasia commented. “Where is our bedroom?”

“I’ll show you. Come with me.” Maria led her by the hand through the dining room to the newly opened up bedroom that the girls were to share. It had a parquet floor and floral wallpaper but did not as yet have any beds.

Once they were alone, Anastasia whispered, “Last night was awful. The guards were drunk and so disrespectful we did not get a wink of sleep. Such things they called to us . . . I hope never to hear the like again. Thank goodness Papa and Mama were not there or they would have caused an enormous fuss and who knows what would have happened?”

Maria hugged her. “It is safe here. Deadly boring, but safe. Now you’ve arrived I hope we can have some fun.”

“Where are we to sleep?” Anastasia looked around, her nose wrinkled. “And why are the windows whitewashed? It doesn’t seem like a place where we can have fun; it’s more like a mausoleum in which we have been interred.”

Maria sighed. Her sentiments exactly.

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