Tarena clapped her hands together.
“That is marvellous! Oh, do let’s dance. I am sure my uncle will think it an excellent idea too. I believe he was a great dancer when he was a young man.”
“Then he can dance with the Baroness,” the Count suggested. “I have every intention of dancing with Your Royal Highness.”
“And I want to dance with you – ”
Their eyes met and for the briefest moment it was difficult to look away.
Then Tarena said quickly,
“The sun is still shining and I think we should play deck tennis.”
They went out into the fresh air.
Tarena was thinking that it would be a mistake if she grew too fond of Count Vladimir, as it would make her all the more hostile to the man she had to marry when she arrived at Karlova.
She had not talked to anyone about Prince Igor and she gathered that her uncle knew very little about him.
‘Surely they should tell me,’ she thought, ‘how old he is and what are his interests.’
She had the frightening feeling that because they were so afraid of the Russians, they would arrange for the wedding to take place almost before she had even met the Prince or had a chance to get to know him.
Then she thought that they could not force her to do anything she really detested.
‘After all I will be Queen,’ she said to herself, ‘and they must listen to what I have to say and obey at least some of my commands.’
However she dare not say this even to her uncle.
When she thought about Prince Igor, she felt that there was something mysterious , even sinister, about him.
That was why she was told so little about him.
Even the Count seemed to avoid any conversation with her about him.
*
The Royal Sovereign moved steadily and sedately down the Mediterranean.
Tarena was sure she was going to find something unpleasant that for the moment was deliberately being kept from her.
‘I must know more about him before I marry him,’ she pondered again and again.
Finally she could not bear it any longer and so she asked to see her uncle.
“Why does no one talk to me about Prince Igor?” she demanded. “Surely I should know something about this man before I actually marry him.”
Her uncle smiled.
“I think the truth is, my dearest, they know nothing about him themselves. As far as I can determine your father did not meet Prince Igor. He kept himself to himself and lived on the far side of Dubnik over four days journey from the Palace at Karlova.”
“Well, if we are married, he can hardly live in one Palace and me in another.”
“Of course not,” the Earl said quickly. “But you must forgive me for not knowing anything about the man except that he is the only person of any real importance in Dubnik. He therefore must take a significant part in the governing of the Kingdom in the future.”
That sounded reasonable.
Equally Tarena was gradually being convinced that there was something strange about Prince Igor they had not told her.
When she thought about it at night, she felt herself shiver.
It did seem most strange that no one had anything particularly good to say about him, even though they did not say anything unpleasant.
They rounded the South of Greece and steamed up the Aegean.
Tarena found her uncle sitting alone on deck when she had just finished another game of deck tennis with the Count. She sat down and slipped her arm through his.
“What are you thinking about, Uncle Richard?” she enquired.
“I was thinking about you, my dear,” he answered.
“And I have been thinking about myself. I want you to promise me that I will not be pushed into marrying Prince Igor until we have met each other several times and talked privately together.”
“Of course that is my idea too, but I must be honest and tell you, my dearest, that the Ambassador thinks the Prime Minister and everyone in the Cabinet will want your marriage to be solemnised as quickly as possible after you arrive in Karlova.”
“You must tell them I will not do it. I want to get to know the man whose wife I have to be. It would be crazy to marry anyone without knowing him first.”
She was aware that her uncle could not think of an answer and she kissed him on the cheek and sighed,
“Never mind, we have been lucky so far and let’s hope that we will continue to be lucky in the future.”
She moved away and had no idea that, as his eyes followed her, there was an extremely worried look in them.
But he could not tell Tarena that all he had heard so far of Prince Igor had not been in any way complimentary.
CHAPER THREE
At Athens the Ambassador had gone ashore to visit his Embassy there and sign the visitor’s book at others.
When he came back to the Battleship, he waited until he was alone with the Earl before telling him that the current situation was becoming extremely worrying.
“Why particularly?” the Earl enquired.
They were sitting together on deck and as Tarena and the Count were playing deck tennis, there was no one to overhear them.
Even so the Ambassador lowered his voice as he began,
“The Russians are not only causing trouble outside their country especially in the Balkans, but they are having revolutionary difficulties of their own in St. Petersburg.”
The Earl raised his eyebrows.
“Well, they had the same problems under the last Czar, who they eventually destroyed.”
“Alexander III is a hard man in more ways than one,” added the Ambassador. “He is strong physically, which is why he was able to save his family when the revolutionaries blew up the train he was in.”
“I have not heard about that, Your Excellency. Is it possible he will meet the same fate as his father?”
“He may well do. Apparently the Imperial train on its way from the Caucasus went off the rails near the town of Borki.”
“It sounds extremely worrying!” “The Czarina and the Czar were having luncheon with their children in the dining car. The roof caved in and the floor buckled as the carriage fell headlong onto its side. For once the Emperor’s Herculean strength proved itself worthy of the occasion.”
“What happened then?” the Earl enquired.
“By brute force he freed his wife and children from the wreck of the coach and servants and nannies climbed out through the window.”
“I have never heard anything so awful!” The Earl was wondering, if that sort of thing was going on in Russia itself, what might happen in Karlova. After a moment he reflected,
“Well, if Czar Alexander has to try and cope with all these revolutionaries at home, he may not be so anxious to pursue the Russian menace abroad.”
“Unfortunately, I was told at the Embassy that his ambition has not been diminished. He burns with endless indignation at the thought that Russia might have failed in her mission to dominate the Balkans.”
“We are aware of that, but I hoped that the new Czar would have more sense than his predecessor.”
“What he is doing is very subtle. As he cannot afford another war, he keeps his troops at home. In fact some of the more naïve Statesmen have already referred to him as The Czar Peacemaker.”
“Then they must be exceedingly stupid,” the Earl murmured almost beneath his breath.
“What his Foreign Minister, de Giers, is doing,” the Ambassador said, “is to encourage Russian revolutionaries to act as agents provocateurs to stir up trouble for the established regimes of the Balkans. “I am told that Russian agents are posing as icon-sellers and spreading all over the Balkan countries to set up subversive cells. The Russian Embassy officials even pay large crowds to stage riots.”
“Can they really be doing all this?” the Earl asked.
It seemed to him that the Ambassador had been extremely alarmed by all he had heard in Athens and he
tried to hope that he was now exaggerating the story.
“I have been told,” the Ambassador went on, “that Russian Officers in the Eastern Rumelian part of Bulgaria have opened gymnasiums where they train boys and girls in guerrilla warfare.”
“I really don’t believe it,” the Earl exclaimed.
“I do wish I had your optimism, my Lord.” “The Russians have had some setbacks. Equally it has been proved over and over again that only the British Union Jack over a Palace guarantees a certain amount of safety and peace for the occupants.”
There was silence between the two men before the the Ambassador added,
“There was another matter I learnt while I was in Athens, which I think I must warn my Government about when I reach home.”
“What is that?” the Earl asked him, feeling much more worried about Tarena that he had been before.
How could she possibly cope, as her father would have done, with the Russians doing everything they could think of to make and incite trouble?
And with being married to a man she had not yet met?
“The Russians,” the Ambassador was saying, “are determined to promote revolutions in the Balkans as soon as they can.”
“We have heard that before, but I can only hope that Karlova will be strong and can depend on their armed forces to watch out for those disgusting turncoats who are always prepared to go where there is money.”
“There I agree with you, my Lord. It is whispered that the Russian Intelligence Service in the Balkans is more than prepared to spend very large sums of money on those who will work for them.”
“I am surprised they have so much cash.” When the conversation was over, the Earl felt his head was in a whirl.
He was now even more concerned than he had been before about the future for Tarena.
‘How can she possibly survive?’ he asked himself. ‘Unless Prince Igor is really clever and will understand and deal with the country’s problems before the revolutionaries can actually establish a hold on the country.’
He thought he might say something to Tarena.
Yet he knew that he must be very careful not to prejudice her against the man she was to marry or indeed against Karlova itself before they actually arrived.
*
Because she was so fond of her uncle and they had always been so close, Tarena knew without being told that he was worried.
“What is upsetting you, Uncle Richard?” she asked. “I know there is something occupying you, because there is a little frown on your forehead that is only there when you are anticipating that something unpleasant will happen.”
The Earl laughed.
“Now you are disturbing me, Tarena, but I am, of course, if I am totally honest, worrying about you and the difficulties you will face as Queen.”
“Then I think I must leave anything to do with the Russians to my husband when I have one. Another thing that really horrifies me is that the new Czar is so cruel to the Jews.”
“Who has been talking to you about that?”
“Actually I read about it in one of the newspapers we bought in Athens. It said that the new Czar’s reign opened with a persecution of the Jews which has surpassed that in any other country.”
She gave a little sigh before she added,
“After all, no one can help how they are born. It’s not fair that people should be persecuted and killed because their rulers don’t like the blood in their veins.”
“I agree with you, my dearest, and I did hear that thousands of Jews have been murdered and their property confiscated.”
“Surely someone must have protested against such cruelty. What happened to the Jewish children?” “I think a great number of them survived.” It seemed, as The Royal Sovereign steamed nearer to Karlova, as if the problems that Tarena would have to face as soon as she became Queen became more and more forbidding day by day.
The Earl could only pray to God, as he had prayed already, that Prince Igor, who had lived in the Balkans all his life, would be able to save Karlova from the Russian menace.
But he fully recognised that the only real asset they had to protect and save them was the blessing of Queen Victoria in the guise of Tarena herself.
Their arrival in one of the latest and largest British Battleships would surely impress anyone, especially those Karlovans who were contemplating rebellion.
He could understand Tarena’s desire to get to know Prince Igor before she married him.
Yet to wait might be a danger to the people over whom she was to reign.
“Now tell me, Uncle Richard,” Tarena was asking, “why you are so worried at this particular moment. Is it because you heard bad news about Karlova while we were in Athens?”
The Earl thought that, with her quick brain and her undoubted knowledge of current affairs, she would not easily be deceived.
“All Embassies are inclined to give one bad news rather than good and, as you already know, all the Balkan countries with access to the Aegean Sea are particularly prized by the Russians.”
“In other words, Uncle Richard, we are more likely to be attacked than Principalities situated further inland?”
“Of course. It is something which has been known in England for a long time. That is why Her Majesty is so keen to place the crown on your head and have a stalwart King by your side.”
Tarena made a little murmur, but she did not speak and he continued,
“That will fully demonstrate to the Russians that the Union Jack is a very valuable asset and a prize they cannot steal, however much they scheme and plot.”
Tarena laughed, as he meant her to do.
“I do like the way you put it, but I have read the newspapers and things appear to be very difficult in Russia itself at the moment.”
The Earl nodded to show that he agreed. “I cannot imagine why, Uncle Richard, when they are so large and powerful already, they should bother about a small Kingdom like Karlova.”
“The greedy are always greedy, and it will be your job, Tarena, to keep them well outside your frontiers. And to make sure that any Russian who does infiltrate into Karlova is quickly thrown out before he can do any harm.”
“You make it sound simple, Uncle Richard, but if you are worried, I know the Count is worried too, although he is too tactful to say so to me.”
*
That evening after dinner she and the Count went on deck.
It was a lovely night and The Royal Sovereign was moving into a quiet bay, so that they could sleep peacefully without the disturbance of the engines.
There was a moon rising up in the sky and the stars were coming out one by one.
“It is so beautiful,” Tarena sighed softly.
“And so are you,” the Count added gently. “Far too beautiful for any man’s peace of mind.”
Tarena turned and smiled at him.
“That is the nicest compliment you could have ever paid me, Count Vladimir.”
“Surely you understand that I am trying not to tell you how beautiful you are and how I lie awake at night thinking of you, so I am unable to sleep.”
He spoke almost harshly as if he was trying to fight against her.
“I am sorry if I do that to you. Naturally you know how important it has been for me to have you with me and to learn from you so much about the country I have to rule over.”
“Karlova is the most fortunate country in the world because they will have you, but I am desperately afraid that you will find it too difficult.”
The Count paused for a moment and then he added reflectively,
“I just could not bear to see you disillusioned and unhappy.”
“Why should I be so?” Tarena questioned him.
He did not answer and after a moment, she probed him further,
“I have a distinct feeling that you don’t think I will be happy with Prince Igor.”
“I have not said so and it most certainly is not my business to interfere,” the Count replied hastily. “But I
sincerely want you to be happy and, as I have just said, I don’t want you to be upset by anyone in Karlova.”
Tarena was silent for a moment and then she said, gazing out at the silvery sea,
“I have always dreamed that one day I would meet someone with whom I would fall in love and be as happy as my Papa and Mama were. Everyone has told me – my uncle, the servants and everyone who knew them – that they were so much in love that for them the world was Heaven because they were together – ”
Her voice seemed to die away into the soft lap of the waves.
“Do you suppose I don’t want that for you too?” the Count asked. “I want you to be happy, so blissfully happy that you will never regret leaving England and coming to a place where to you everyone is a stranger.”
“Although I have never seen them, they are my people because they were Papa’s – ” “You are right, Your Royal Highness. You belong to them, as they belong to you, and because we bear the same name and the same blood, I also in my own way belong to you.”
Tarena turned and smiled at him.
“Of course you do, Count Vladimir. You have the same name as Papa and we are cousins. So you cannot fail to help me in what is going to be the biggest task I have ever undertaken in my life.”
“I will help you in every way I can,” the Count said. “I am prepared to dedicate my whole life not only to keeping you safe but keeping you happy.”
“That is a lovely thing to say!” Tarena exclaimed. “If everyone in Karlova is as kind as you have been to me, then I will be very happy and will not feel homesick for England.”
“You must promise me one thing.”
“What is that?” she asked.
“If you want anything, however difficult, however strange, you will ask me. Somehow, in some way, I will find it for you, even if it will mean climbing the highest mountain or diving to the very bottom of the sea.”
Tarena clapped her hands together.
“Now you are being poetic. We will, I feel sure, thwart the Russians together. When they see your soldiers and my crown, they will all run away!”
She was making it a game and the Count chuckled.
“You are turning it into a Fairy story and that is exactly what it will be. You will be the Fairy Queen, more exciting and more glamorous than any Queen has ever been before.”
The Queen Wins Page 5