The  story  of  the  False  Demetrius  is  here  related  from
the  point  of  view  of  my  adopted  solution  of  what  is  gener-
ally regarded  as  a  historical  mystery.  The  mystery  lies,
of  course,  in  the  man's  identity.  He  has  been  held  by
some  to  have  been  the  unfrocked  monk,  Grishka  Otropiev,
by  others  to  have  been  a  son  of  Stephen  Bathory,  King
of  Poland.  I  am  not  aware  that  the  theory  that  he  was
both  at  one  and  the  same  time  has  ever  been  put  forward,
and  whilst  admitting  that  it  is  speculative,  yet  I  claim
that  no  other  would  appear  so  aptly  to  fit  all  the  known
facts  of  his  career  or  to  shed  light  upon  its  mysteries.
