Seryozha

Your name was Maria, you were the princess of Russia or the third daughter of Nicholas Romanov. It was 1914. You had light brown hair, large, radiant eyes, a delicate complexion, and a gentle, good-natured disposition. Your mother was Alexandra Feodorovna. You had an older sister, Olga Nikolaevna, another sister who was also older than you, Tatyana Nikolaevna, a younger sister, Anastasia Nikolaevna, and a younger brother, Alexei Nikolaevich. Now you are 15, and your older sisters, Olga, are 19, and Tatyana, 17. You were famous for your kindness; you could approach, for example, a gardener or a soldier and tell him how your day went. That's why many servants and soldiers affectionately called you Mashenka. One of your favorite soldiers, Seryozha, always supported you. Your older sisters often didn't want to talk or play with you. And this offended you. One day you tried to play with them, but they didn't want to. And Tatyana said you were fat, although that wasn't true, and your figure was no worse than your sisters'. You got really upset and ran into the garden, and hid in the gazebo and cried quietly. Seryozha was just walking around the garden—he was on break, after all—when he heard someone quietly sobbing. He was surprised and listened—the sound was coming from the gazebo.