“Oh, I do, Colonel. I do.” She pulled off his ring.
“Your niece has not yet been proved guilty,” he protested.
“But you are quite sure she will be, or you would not have come. Please take this back. I do assure you that I have others.”
He hesitated a last time, he took the ring, giving another bow as he did so. “I shall always be your servant, madam.”
“I am certain of it,” Anna agreed.
CHAPTER 10 - THE EXILES
“What are we going to do?” Sophie asked.
“We are packing up and leaving St Petersburg,” Anna explained. “The moment the trial is over.”
“But...suppose Trish is acquitted.”
“Whether she is acquitted or not, Sophie, we are leaving St Petersburg. If she is acquitted, she will need a long period of rest and recuperation down in Bolugayen. If she is found guilty, well, then, I think it is we who will need that.”
“I wish to stay here,” Sophie said.
Anna raised her head. “Lewitski isn’t going to marry you now, you know. You have his letter.”
“I am very grateful for that,” Sophie said. “But I would still like to stay.”
“Sophie,” Anna said. “There are going to be no more invitations. Our own ball has been cancelled.”
“I don’t want any invitations. Not to balls.”
“You are going to be utterly ostracised.”
“Not utterly,” Sophie said, and looked at the door, where Dmitri was bowing.
“The Countess Grabowska is here, Your Excellency.”
“The Countess Grabowska? Well, show her in,” Anna said.
“She is waiting in her carriage, Your Excellency. She has come to take the Countess Sophie for a ride.”
Anna looked at Sophie in astonishment.
Sophie smiled. “You see, we are not being entirely ostracised, Aunt Anna.”
*
“This is a most unfortunate business, ma’am,” Collins remarked, brushing Anna’s hair.
“It is a great scandal,” she agreed. “Do you wish to return to Boston?”
Collins frowned at her in the mirror. “You will not be coming, ma’am?”
“No, I shall be remaining in Russia for a while yet. On Bolugayen.”
“Then I shall remain with you, ma’am.”
The two women gazed at each other in the mirror. “Why, that is very loyal of you, Collins,” Anna said. “What about the Chinese girl, ma’am?”
“What about her?”
“Well, ma’am, ever since the...ah, incident with your fiancé...”
“He is no longer my fiancé, Collins.”
“Yes, ma’am. But since that day, Li-su has been very uppity. I have had to chastise her. And in return she has attempted to hit me.”
“Oh, really, Collins? Why did you not tell me this?”
“Well, ma’am, you had a lot on your mind. And if you were going to marry the gentleman...”
“I understand. Yes, that was probably thoughtful of you. But as I am no longer going to marry the gentleman...I know, Collins, we will give Li-su to Count Pobrebski.”
“Give her, ma’am?”
“Well, she is mine, you know.”
“Suppose she does not wish to leave, ma’am?”
“Then have her delivered by some of the grooms. She may endeavour to resist, but when she thinks about it, she will realise that she will be much happier with Colonel Pobrebski here in Petersburg than with us down on Bolugayen.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Collins said doubtfully, and left.
Anna brooded at herself in the mirror.
*
“Aunt Anna!” Alexei ran into the study.
“Alexei!” Anna came round the desk to embrace him. “Why did you not let us know you were coming?”
“My colonel gave me leave as soon as we heard the news, and I can travel as fast as any letter. Tell me it isn’t true. The newspapers are saying that she has confessed to treason.”
“Heaven knows how they got hold of that story, when the case has not even come to trial yet. However, that is unfortunately true.”
“You mean they tortured a confession out of her. What will happen to her?”
“If she is convicted, the death sentence is mandatory.”
“My God, my God, my God!”
Anna rested her hand on his arm. “We are employing the best lawyers. If it is possible to get her off, we will do it.”
“But you are not hopeful.”
“It is never wise to be hopeful, in cases like this.”
He gazed at her, as other aspects of the situation became apparent. “What will it mean for the rest of us?”
“Social ostracism, certainly. I shall be returning to Bolugayen.”
“How you must regret ever having coming back to us.” Anna made a move. “I formed a resolution, long before you were born, never to regret anything.”
*
Anna sat in her study and rang the bell. Dmitri immediately appeared. “I wish to speak with the groom, Rurik,” she said.
Dmitri bowed, and withdrew. A moment later Rurik was standing before her. He exuded a mixture of apprehension and defiance. As it was more than a week since Patricia had been arrested; he had had some hopes that his own part in the business had been tacitly forgotten. But now...he did not like the expression on Anna’s face.
“Tell me,” she said, “of your relationship with the Countess Patricia.”
Rurik licked her lips. “She commanded me to accompany her, Your Excellency.”
“And you obeyed. Do you not suppose that it was your duty to report this ‘command’ to me?”
“I...” Another quick circle with his tongue.
“So, I wish to know what she gave you, or what she promised you, to make you obey her without question.” Rurik gazed at her. “I see,” Anna said. “Do you know what the penalty would be for having sexual relations with a countess, unmarried, and virginal?” She could lie when she had to. “There is also the fact that you were undoubtedly at the meeting with her. You have just confessed as much.”
“I went as her escort, Your Excellency,” Rurik said.
“You were there, Rurik. That is all Colonel Michaelin would need to know and you would find yourself in the dock beside the Countess. You would share the same scaffold.”
Rurik was trembling. “I am innocent, Your Excellency. I swear it. Anna! I love you. I adore you.”
“Do not ever call me Anna again, Rurik. You have betrayed me, you have betrayed my family, our trust in you. You are dismissed.” Rurik stared at her in disbelief. “You may collect a week’s wages, and leave,” Anna said. “Nor may you return to Bolugayen.”
“But Your Excellency, Bolugayen is my home.”
“You will have to make a new home.”
“But...my brother...”
“Your misbehaviour with the Countess Patricia does not involve your brother. Thank you, Rurik. That will be all.” Rurik remained standing there, his big hands opening and shutting. “I said. that will be all, Rurik.”
“I love you,” he said.
“I am sure you will find someone else to love.”
“I can destroy you.
Anna’s head came up. “If you attempt to tell anyone of our relationship, I shall inform Colonel Michaelin that you were at that meeting. In any event, no one would believe you, and Prince Peter would probably kill you. I should consider these things very seriously, if I were you. I am being very generous to you, Rurik, as I have always been very generous to you. If it is any solace to you, there are many moments that we have shared that I will cherish to the end of my days. Now leave this house.” Rurik hesitated a last time, then left the room. Anna waited for the door to close, then wiped a tear from her eye.
*
“Well?” Anna had waited in the study for Peter to return from the court. It was now midsummer, and most of St Petersburg society had long departed for the country.
He came into the room, sat behind the
desk. “Guilty. All of them.”
“Did you see her?”
“My sister, standing in the midst of those swine...” He sighed, opened a drawer, and pulled out a sheet of headed notepaper.
“I mean, did you see her to speak with,” Anna said. “No”
“But...how did she look?”
“She looked well enough, so far as I can make out. Carpinski tells me she is well. He has spoken with her.” He raised his head. “He does not know if she was actually tortured, you know. She refused to tell him. He suspects that she was so terrified that she signed that ‘confession’ anyway.”
“I would say that was sensible of her. What are you doing?”
“Writing out my resignation. There is nothing else I can do, my dearest. How can the Tsar have a colonel in his guards, whose job is to protect him at all times, whose sister has been convicted of plotting to blow him up?”
“It is so unfair,” Anna grumbled.
“We shall make a home on Bolugayen,” he promised. Tell me, what have you told your family?”
“I have written Duncan to inform him that Patricia is now married.”
“Do you think it is wise, to tell such a lie?”
“I do not see how he can ever find out, and anyway, there is nothing else we can do. Duncan is an incurable romantic, and if he found out that Patricia was to be hanged he would feel it his duty to attempt to rescue her. Do you wish to stay for the execution?”
He sighed. “I feel I must do that, Anna. Alexei certainly means to attend.”
Anna nodded. “I will attend also. Will we be able to see her, before?”
“I do not think they can possibly refuse us that.” Anna sighed. “That poor girl. Oh, I know she behaved in a wildly irresponsible manner, but to have to hang for it”
“Have you dealt with the groom?”
“Yes,” Anna said, and looked up as Dmitri appeared in the doorway.
“The Countess Grabowska is here, Your Excellency.”
“Is the Countess Sophie expecting her, Dmitri?”
“The Countess has come to see Prince Peter, Your Excellency.”
Peter stood up. “Then show her into the small parlour.”
He glanced at Anna. “Will you come? I wonder what she wants?”
“Probably to propose marriage, to Sophie.”
*
She followed Peter into the parlour, where Janine Grabowska waited. “Your Highness! Countess! Their Majesties wish to receive you. Now. But privately. You will come with me.”
Peter and Anna exchanged glances. “If you will give me the time to change my dress,” Anna said.
“My instructions are that you should come immediately, Countess.”
“Well, then, we had best leave,” Peter said. “I will just fetch that envelope.”
Anna just had time to snatch up a walking-out coat before they were ushered into the Countess Grabowska’s carriage. “Perhaps you will be good enough to tell us what this strange procedure is about,” she suggested, as they rumbled towards the Winter Palace. “I had supposed Their Majesties were at Tsarkoe Selo.” This was the summer palace outside the city itself.
“They have returned to town for the day,” Grabowska said. “As for the reason they have summoned you, I am sure they will tell you themselves.”
They drove under the arched entrance into the interior courtyard of the palace, and then under another arch to a secluded doorway. Flunkies waited to open the doors for them, and they were escorted up a flight of stairs.
Janine opened the door at the top and they found themselves in a private sitting-room, where there waited Nicholas and Alexandra, as well as Count Witte, and, to their surprise, General Kuropatkin, Chief of the General Staff. Peter saluted, and Anna curtsied. “Prince Peter!” The Tsar was on his feet, and he advanced to shake Peter’s hand, to Peter’s evident astonishment. “Countess! You grow more beautiful every time I see you.”
Anna’s brain was in a spin. “I apologise for my appearance, Sire. I was given no time to change.”
Nicholas waved his hand to dismiss Anna’s apology as he returned behind his desk and sat down. “This is a sad, a tragic business,” he remarked. “You understand, Prince Peter, that I could not receive you before, while the trial was actually in progress.”
“I understand, Sire.” Peter held out the envelope, and Witte took it.
“What is that?” asked the Tsaritsa.
“My resignation as an officer in the Guard, Your Majesty.”
Alexandra looked at Nicholas, who looked at Kuropatkin. “In all the circumstances, Sire,” Kuropatkin said.
“This does not alter my intentions,” the Tsar said. “Of course, Your Majesty.”
“Sit down, Prince Peter,” Alexandra invited, “and you, Countess.”
Peter and Anna seated themselves on a settee. Witte and Kuropatkin also sat, in chairs before the Tsar’s desk, one to either side of the settee. “I wish this to be an informal occasion,” Nicholas said. “Firstly, I wish to set your mind at rest regarding your sister, Prince Peter. She had been found guilty of treason, and of plotting against my life, and that of my wife. That is a crime which is hard to forgive. However,” he went on, “we have much in mind the debt we owe to the late Prince, and the promise we made to you, Countess. Equally, we have no doubt that the young woman was led astray by the bad company she seems to have been allowed to cultivate.” He gazed at Anna, as if holding her responsible for Patricia’s misdemeanours. “It is a terrible business to deprive a beautiful young woman of her life. Thus it is that after discussing the matter with my wife, and with my ministers, I have decided to commute her death sentence to exile in Irkutsk. For ten years.”
“Your Majesty!” Peter cried.
Anna was not in the mood to be so easily relieved. “You are sending the Countess Patricia to Siberia for ten years, Sire?”
“That is what I have just said, Countess.”
“Would it not be more simple, and more merciful, to hang her?”
Nicholas’ face reddened, and he glanced at his wife. Alexandra gave a wintry smile. “We are giving your niece a chance at life, Countess. That has to be better than no chance at all. And you can expect nothing more of us. I would have thought you should be grateful.” Anna bowed her head. “We realise, of course, that this tragic affair has had its effect upon your entire family,” the Tsaritsa continued. “You are aware that Count Alexei has also resigned his commission?”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Peter said.
“In the circumstances, we have considered it appropriate to accept his resignation,” the Tsar said. “Do you know what he intends to do, now?”
“He will return to Bolugayen, Sire, and assist me in the management of my estate.”
“Very commendable,” Alexandra acknowledged. “As for you, Countess Anna, I have a suspicion that the termination of your engagement, however unfortunate in social terms, is really rather a relief to you. And even more so in the case of the Countess Sophie.”
“I am content with my fate, Your Majesty,” Anna murmured.
“Which is, do you suppose?”
“To return to Bolugayen with my nephews.”
“But what of your mission?”
Anna raised her head. “My mission?”
“To return to Port Arthur.”
“Your Majesty, I have no husband.”
“But if you do not have a husband, Countess, you have a nephew, who has just resigned from the Guards and is therefore, shall we say, at a loose end.”
Anna gasped in surprise, while Peter, who had been studying the floor during the conversation, also abruptly raised his head. “It was a post your late father was happy to accept, in all the circumstances, Peter Colinovich,” Nicholas said. “And of course, it will only be a temporary one, until we have achieved our objectives. When that is done, and you have played your part, you will again be commissioned in the Guards, with the rank of general. To the hoi polloi, of course, it will appear that you h
ave been exiled because of your sister’s misdemeanours, and you must do nothing to argue against this. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Sire.” Peter was also clearly in a spin.
“Very good. Count Witte and General Kuropatkin will bring you up to date on the situation, and on your duties, Prince Bolugayevski.”
“When do I take up these duties, Sire?”
“As soon as possible. You understand that our negotiations with the Chinese have reached a critical stage, but we are hopeful of bringing a mutual agreement about in the near future. They will be sending an envoy with plenipotentiary powers to my coronation next year.” Peter bowed his head. “In the interim,” Nicholas went on, “your ‘banishment’ will commence immediately. You will return to Bolugayen, and await further instructions. Understood?”
“Yes, Sire.”
“However,” the Tsaritsa said. “There is another matter to be determined before you leave us. A matter which must be attended to with the greatest despatch.”
“Your Majesty?”
Alexandra gave a roguish smile. “The matter of your marriage, Peter Colinovich. You have been a widower for too long.”
Peter swallowed. “I am afraid, Your Majesty,” he said, “that I cannot imagine any young lady of good birth in Russia being willing to contemplate marriage to the brother of a convicted traitor. Especially with exile to follow.”
“Nonsense, Peter Colinovich. I have already selected the lady, and have informed her family that it is our wish this marriage take place as quickly as possible. It will have to be a quiet affair, of course. But it will take place, immediately.”
“May we ask who this young lady is, Your Majesty?” Anna ventured.
“Nathalie Taimanova.”
Anna frowned. “Taimanov is a Georgian name.”
“That is correct, Countess. And Georgia is an important bulwark of our southern empire, a resister of the Turks. Monsieur Taimanov now resides in St Petersburg, and is delighted that his daughter should marry into the aristocracy.”
Anna looked at Peter. They had certainly not met the Taimanovs at any of the balls or receptions they had attended before Patricia’s arrest. “The girl may have some rough edges,” Alexandra said. “However, I am sure that you will mould her into a true Princess Bolugayevska, Countess. Will you not?”
The Masters Page 19