The Count turned round.
“You are right, of course you are right. You are too astute for me to lie to you, Your Royal Highness.”
“I would be very disappointed if you did,” Tarena flashed back at him. “I have felt that I can trust you and we were always frank with each other when we were on The Royal Sovereign.”
The Count smiled and Tarena indicated to him to sit down opposite her.
“What I have learnt since I came back,” he began, “is that things are even more serious than I imagined.”
Tarena did not say anything.
She was looking at him wide-eyed and listening to everything he was saying.
“The trouble is,” the Count continued, “after your father died they were rather slow in asking for help from England. The Russians, thinking it was impossible for the Queen to find anyone to send, were encouraged to believe they could take over Karlova swiftly without any serious opposition.”
“I suppose that means,” Tarena replied after a little pause, “that there are not as many soldiers as we need and the Russian troops are more formidable than we thought.”
The Count gave a little laugh.
“You are so intelligent,” he said, “that sometimes you frighten me. I feel that you know more than I do and certainly a great deal more than the General whose job it is to defend Karlova.”
“Tell me exactly what has happened,” she begged.
“When I left here to come to England, it was not too bad. We knew that the dreadful Russians were stirring up trouble wherever they could and bribing in one way or another those who were out of work or critical of the way their country was ruled.”
“I have read that is what they have been doing in other parts of the Balkans and I know how successful they have been in certain other countries.”
“They have started to use the very same underhand methods here and unfortunately they have been to some extent successful.”
Tarena gave a deep sigh.
“Oh, what can we do about it?” she implored him.
The Count rose to his feet almost as if he found it impossible to keep still in a comfortable chair.
“The strongest and most effective weapon we have at the moment,” he asserted, “is still you!”
Tarena looked at him.
“Are you just flattering me or telling me the truth?” “I am telling the truth and I most certainly would not lie at this critical moment. The way you managed your arrival yesterday was not only brilliant on your part but a major blow the Russians did not anticipate.”
“Then what are they doing about it?” “What they are doing now,” the Count answered, “is bringing up more troops. A great number had already been positioned to threaten us whilst I was away.”
Tarena gave a little cry.
“So we are overpowered!” she exclaimed.
“All except for you,” the Count replied.
For a moment there was silence and then Tarena spread out her hands.
“Tell me what I can do, Count Vladimir.” He smiled at her.
“I thought you would understand. I am going to take you now right into the heart of the City, ostensibly to inspect the Cathedral. But I am confident that something will happen, as it did yesterday, that will make the people realise, as I have for a long time, just how wonderful you really are.”
He spoke in a way that was somehow very moving and Tarena looked up at him.
As their eyes met, it was difficult to look away.
“You are wonderful,” the Count said very quietly. “So wonderful that there are no words for me to tell you what you mean to – Karlova.”
Tarena knew at once that he had been about to say, “to me,” then changed it at the last moment.
She felt a little shy and there was a sharp feeling in her breast she had never known before.
She rose to her feet.
“I will fetch my hat,” she suggested, “and then – I will be ready to go wherever you wish to take me.”
She did not look at the Count as she went towards her bedroom.
But she felt that his eyes were following her.
She sensed that there was an expression in them that she did not dare put into words even to herself.
When they walked downstairs, she found that the Comtesse de Sâvairé was waiting for her with one of the Palace equerries.
She had hoped that she would be able to go alone with the Count, but she recognised that in her new position it would be impossible and so she had to have attendants waiting on her.
She also found when they went outside that there was an escort of six soldiers on horseback and they would ride on either side of her open carriage.
“I suppose all this is necessary,” she said in a low voice to the Count.
He understood exactly what she was asking.
“You are already the Queen of this country, Your Royal Highness.”
Tarena gave a little laugh.
“It is something I find very hard to remember!”
The Count smiled.
She stepped into the carriage, aware as she did so that the Lord Chamberlain had come hurrying into the hall behind them.
He was looking irritated as if he felt he should have been asked for his permission for the Queen to go into the City.
But it was too late for him to do anything.
As the carriage moved off, Tarena bent forward to raise her hand to him.
“I rather think he wanted to take you into the City himself,” the Count piped up. “That is why I suggested we leave so early and so quickly.”
The equerry sitting opposite them laughed.
“It is always the same with you, Vladimir,” he said. “You always strike first, and ask permission to do so when it is too late to stop you!”
“If that is my reputation, Ernest. I am not going to argue about it. But I do find listening to people wondering whether one should or should not do something is a terrible waste of time.”
They all laughed at this, except, Tarena noticed, the Comtesse.
She had curtsied low to her when she appeared, but again Tarena had the impression, as she had last night, that the Comtesse was somehow hostile.
She wondered why, but thought it a mistake to ask too many questions at this stage.
Therefore she sat back in the seat and tried to take in as much as she could of the City as they passed along the road.
She was, however, fully aware that the Count was looking from side to side as the horses drove them forward.
There was a pistol in his belt and the soldiers riding on either side of the carriage were heavily armed.
As they progressed further into the City, she saw that the buildings were now not so tall nor as substantial as those nearer to the Palace.
In fact as they drew into what she thought must be the centre of the City, the houses were in urgent need of repair and a number of what looked like factories were not working.
She could see the tall spires of the Cathedral long before they reached the Square in the City centre.
When they arrived, she was astonished to see that the Square was filled with people.
They were not looking towards the Cathedral, but towards the other side where there was a statue of one of the former Kings of Karlova.
Sitting below it, yet raised above ground level, was a man wearing what seemed to be a Judge’s wig.
She was then aware that the Count was staring at the crowd.
Finally he spoke up,
“I had no idea that this would be happening here today.”
“What is it?” Tarena asked apprehensively.
“Something I don’t want you to see,” he answered sharply. “I think it would be best if we turned back now and came back this afternoon.”
“I don’t understand. What is happening?”
Before the Count could reply, the equerry cried,
“I know what it is! A man is being punished for stealing by having his hand cut off
.”
“I was not told that this was happening,” the Count said angrily, “and I have no wish for Her Royal Highness to be involved in this sort of spectacle. We must turn round and go back.”
But this would not be easy.
By this time the horses were moving very slowly as the crowd was so thick and it was obvious that it would be impossible for them to turn round without a great deal of manoeuvring.
It was then that Tarena, looking towards the statue and the Judge sitting below it, demanded firmly,
“Stop the carriage!”
The equerry stared at her.
“But Your Royal Highness – ” he began.
“Stop the carriage!” Tarena insisted. “I intend to speak to the man and ask him why he is being punished.”
“I think that would be a great mistake,” the Count advised quickly.
“If I am the Queen,” Tarena answered, “you have to obey me. I wish the carriage to stop now and I intend to get out.”
For a moment she thought the Count was about to defy her.
Instead, as if he felt that it was something he was obliged to do, he said,
“Of course, Your Royal Highness’s orders must be obeyed.”
The Equerry ordered the coachman to draw in the horses and As the footman sprang down to open the carriage door, Tarena climbed out, followed by the Count and the equerry.
The large throng moved rapidly out of her way.
They stared at her in surprise as she walked through the crowd towards the statue.
It took Tarena a little time, but the people fell back as she approached.
While she thought that some of them smiled, the rest looked at her as they had yesterday, in what she felt was a somewhat hostile manner.
She reached the statue.
The Judge was sitting on a platform that was raised high enough for him to be seen by everyone in the Square.
Below him there was a man in handcuffs held by two large men who were obviously Policemen.
Facing them behind a heavy block of wood stood another man holding a sharp-edged axe in his hand.
As Tarena stood in front of the Judge, she looked up at him and said, speaking slowly and distinctively,
“I have come, Your Honour, to enquire, as Queen of Karlova, what judgement is being passed by you on this man who I can see is your prisoner?”
The Judge, who had been somewhat bewildered at her appearance and had not been aware that she was the Queen, rose and made a low bow.
“I am greatly honoured that Your Royal Highness should be interested in my duty today, which is to punish a low criminal.”
“Please be seated, Your Honour, and tell me what this man has done.”
The Judge seated himself and, putting his hands up to see that his wig was in the correct position, he replied,
“He has stolen, Your Royal Highness, and stealing is forbidden by law. If a man disobeys the law, then he has, if he is found guilty, to surrender one of his hands.”
Tarena glanced at the man with the axe.
She realised that it was sharp and shining and the block of wood had clearly been in use for many years – the blood of unfortunate criminals had left their mark on it.
“May I ask, Your Honour, what this man has stolen which will meet with such a terrible punishment.”
It was then, before the Judge could reply to her, that the prisoner who had been staring intently at Tarena in sheer astonishment, cried out,
“It were food, Your Majesty. Food for me children who be dying of starvation till they could hardly cry, they be so weak.”
As he finished speaking, Tarena looked up at the Judge.
“Is this true, Your Honour?” she enquired.
Before the Judge could reply, there was a scream from the crowd.
A woman in rags appeared, bringing with her three small children.
She flung herself on the ground in front of Tarena and sobbed,
“It be the whole truth, Your Majesty. The children here be starving as you can see for yourself. We has had nothing to eat for weeks except what we can find in the woods. He be a good father and when they cries he says he couldn’t take it no more and went out to steal a chicken.”
There was no doubt that the woman was telling the truth and Tarena had only to look at the children to see that they were painfully thin and emaciated.
As if the Judge thought matters were going too far, he declared,
“This man has committed a crime. And now, if Your Royal Highness will permit, we will go ahead and make him pay for it by losing his left hand.”
As the Judge was speaking loudly and clearly, there was not a murmur from the crowd.
As the two Policemen holding the prisoner, led him towards the block, Tarena held up her hand.
“No!” she cried out. “No! As long as I am Queen in Karlova, taking my father’s place and bringing to you, I hope, peace and happiness, no man shall suffer because he has quite naturally tried to save his children from dying. In fact I think that the removal of a man’s hand is a cruel punishment which is long out of date.”
For a moment, as she had spoken clearly, there was complete silence.
Then, as the crowd round her realised what she had said, they began to cheer.
It was the Judge who seemed to recover first.
“If that is Your Royal Highness’s order,” he said, “I can only obey it. I then presume, as the prisoner is not to be punished for his crime, that he be allowed to go free.”
“I wish to ask him a question first,” Tarena held up her hand.
The two Policemen, who were about to release the prisoner, kept a tight hold of him as she came nearer.
“Tell me,” she asked, “why you did not find work so that you could afford to buy food for your children?”
“Although I’ve tried and tried, there be no work for gardeners in the City,” he answered. “People who can afford it have left for the country. Although I’ve asked at many houses no one wants to pay a gardener right now.”
Tarena guessed that the richer people in the City knew what the Russians were intending.
They had therefore moved out as soon as possible so that when the fighting and bloodshed began they would not be involved.
“So you are a gardener,” she said. “Well I am quite certain a gardener can always be used at the Palace. If you will go there immediately, I will see that you are employed and that your children have enough food so they will no longer be hungry.”
“I’ll serve Your Majesty till I die,” the man cried.
Even as he spoke, Tarena turned round to face the crowd behind her.
“These children are starving,” she stated, raising her voice. “It is something that must never happen again to children in this City over which I reign. Is there anyone here now who will give them something to eat so they will look a little happier than they do now?”
There was a movement in the crowd.
Then, as the Count beckoned over a man selling sweets and fruit, they once again began to cheer.
As he joined them, Tarena took from his tray with her own hands something that looked to her like buns and handed them to the children.
The mother, who was still kneeling on the ground, kissed the hem of Tarena’s dress, murmuring as she did so that her prayers had been answered.
She was saying that God had sent Her Majesty like ‘an Angel from Heaven to save them.’
As the children grabbed the buns and stuffed them into their mouths, Tarena turned round and declared,
“I blame no one for this, but as long as I am here in Karlova it must not happen again. No child must ever go hungry and no one must again suffer this out-of-date and barbarous punishment.”
She paused and looked round at the crowd before she added,
“A professional thief must be sent to prison in the normal way. I only beg of you all to see that in the future my wishes are carried out and no child suffers as these poor mites have suffered.
”
The crowd was quiet while she spoke and then the cheers seemed to be carried up into the sky.
The men were waving their hats and the women their handkerchiefs.
When Tarena looked round, she saw that the Judge had very wisely withdrawn and his chair was now empty.
As the crowd came nearer, she moved a little closer to the Count as if she was afraid of being crushed by them.
“Now we must leave,” he suggested. “If you will walk to the Cathedral, Your Royal Highness, it is what the people will expect you to do.”
The Count was smiling as he spoke.
She knew that, although she had done something unexpected once again, he was not annoyed with her.
The equerry walked ahead to try to clear the way.
As she followed, the women went down on their knees to kiss the hem of her gown as the mother of the children had done.
The Count paid the seller of the sweets handsomely and he was looking pleased.
It took them some time to reach the Cathedral.
When they did so, it was to find the Archbishop and several of the Clergy standing on the steps ready to greet them.
Apparently they had wondered what was happening when they heard the crowd cheering and they had been told by the onlookers what had occurred.
As Tarena walked up the steps of the Cathedral, the crowd was still cheering.
A great number of them had followed her and she turned round and waved her hand.
They roared out their applause while waving their handkerchiefs and anything else they could find.
Tarena could see the children were still clustered round the man with the food, eating everything they were given with their mother still crying beside them and their father had his arm round her shoulders.
There was far too much noise for Tarena to say anything, so she could only wave.
When she disappeared into the Cathedral, followed by the Archbishop, they could still hear the cheers, even when the doors of the Cathedral were closed behind them.
“Is it really true, Your Royal Highness,” enquired the Archbishop, “that you have said that the traditional punishment for stealing, which has been in force in this country for at least five hundred years, is no longer to be carried out?”
“It is out of date and barbaric,” replied Tarena. “I am only totally surprised that Your Grace did not have it abolished a long time ago.”
The Queen Wins Page 9