When a major appointment or a fat contract for one of the machine’s supporters was at stake he would concentrate on the tactical problem with the aid of several bottles of Madeira — his favorite drink — take a steam bath and then write himself a memo and put it under his pillow (before he learned to write he had used a notched stick as an aide-memoire). In the morning he would pick up the memo, declare, “My will has prevailed,” and telephone Anna Vyrubova to inform the Czarina, who would then give the necessary instructions to the Czar.
