Countess Kleinmichel, Memories of a Shipwrecked World

Another book I came across is The Countess Kleinmichel's, Memories of a Shipwreck World. I don't know if I will sell this one (I'll buy it myself for KiKi's operation.)
I have always liked this fireplace when entering a summer home; I will never forget it.

In my librarian inventory of books, I came across one of my favorites: Memories of a Shipwrecked World, by Countess Kleinmichel from 1922. She was from an ancient, noble family of immerse wealth, and really had "seen it all". Olga Woronoff--who wrote the famous "Upheaval"-- came from that family. The Countess Kleinmichel was a gossipy, mischievous member of what I call The Outer Court: they weren't close to Nicholas II, but existed in the world of gossip and intrigue that contributed to it's downfall. This was her summer villa on an island outside of St. Petersburg; it has been restored now.

The Countess Kleinmichel detailed how her St. Petersburg mansion was threatened by the Bolsheviks. During a dinner party in the final hours of Imperial Russia, her event was disturbed by the noise of the mansion across the street being looted by "the mob". They soon entered her front door, to which a gallant--and old--member of society drew his sword and exclaimed he would meet them on. The wise countess grabbed his arm and said, "How noble, but let's go out the back door." While the mansions of her peers were being sacked, Countess Kleinmichel posted a hand-made sign on hers that read, "This is the property if the St. Petersburg Soviet; The Countess has been arrested." Meanwhile she gathered her jewels and portable wealth. She was rounded up with most of the Tsarist and Provisional Government ministers in the fortress of St. Peter and Paul, but even the Bolsheviks couldn't find a reason to keep a gossipy septuagenarian locked up. She took every thing she could and escaped to Finland, like so many others.

There aren't many recollections like this.