The Wanton Princess

by Dennis Wheatley

  John Beefy was in his early forties: a tall, broad, fresh complexioned man with pleasant brown eyes in an open countenance. He escorted Roger to a bedroom at the top of the house, apologised that he could not give him a better one as the more spacious were already occupied, said that he had heard a great deal about him from Georgina, and expressed the hope that his stay with them would be a long one.

  Roger’s only disappointment was with regard to the children. At their age a year was such a great stretch of time that they hardly recognised him and looked quite startled when he swept them up, one in each arm, and kissed them both heartily. As he set them down they both ran to John Beefy for protection, scrambled on to his knees and buried their small faces in his broad chest.

  Glad as Roger was to see that Georgina’s husband loved and was loved by them, he could not help feeling a slight twinge of jealousy; although he felt none when Georgina entered the room at that moment, joined the group and gave all three of them a fond kiss. The life-long bond between her and Roger had long since rendered him impervious to any affection she might display for other men.

  Most of the other guests were people Roger had met and liked in the past. As he had no reason to conceal the fact that he had just come from France, he was able to entertain the company with accounts of the strange new society that now frequented the Tuileries, and the Christmas Eve dinner was a gay one.

  Later that evening he managed to get Georgina to himself for a few minutes. Having congratulated her on the success of her marriage and her skilful handling of the social side of it, and knowing she would not resent such a question from him, he asked:

  ‘And how does the good John please you as a lover?’

  She returned his smile,‘I have known several more accomplished, but I have no reason to complain about his virility and he is always most considerate.’ Then in a whisper behind her fan she added, ‘While here, with the house so full, we must be circumspect, but in January I’ll come to London for some weeks. While there I’ll let you nibble my ears again as oft as you may wish’

  On Christmas morning Roger produced for Georgina a petit-point reticule by Duvalroy and for the children a number of toys that he had had Maître Blanchard buy for him on his last day in Paris. The novelty of the playthings brought from France entranced the children and soon led to his regaining their affection. Later he enjoyed entering into all the old games and having again a real English Christmas dinner; turkey with all the trimmings, big dishes of mince pies and a huge plum pudding into which had been inserted a handful of guineas and a variety of lucky charms.

  Boxing Day was traditionally the servants’ feast. They all received their presents and, after a bumper dinner at which the guests served the food, assembled with them in the ball-room to dance. Georgina led off with her steward and John Beefy partnered the portly housekeeper. Roger danced with several of the prettier maids and took them out to be kissed under the mistletoe. Then, a little fatigued, he made his way to the small library to rest for a while.

  There he found Count Vorontzoff studying a map of Europe that he had spread out on a table. When Roger joined him he said, ‘I fear this recent victory of General Moreau’s may have a serious effect on the attitude of Austria. According to the latest reports I have received he is now no more than sixty miles from Vienna.’

  Roger nodded. ‘Things have certainly gone badly for our allies. It would not surprise me if, as they did before, they agreed to make a separate peace.’

  ‘It is that I fear; and the more so as I have reason to believe my master, the Czar, intends to enter the war against them.’

  Raising his eyebrows, Roger exclaimed, ‘Should Your Excellency prove right that would be little short of calamitous. I was, of course, aware that there had been a rapprochement between His Imperial Majesty and the First Consul, but had no idea that it was likely to develop into an active alliance.’

  ‘I can hardly doubt now that it will,’ Vorontzoff said with a worried frown. ‘As the Emperor Paul’s representative at the Court of St. James, I should be the last to speak ill of him, but there are certain facts that cannot be ignored. He is of a most unstable mind and dangerously susceptible to flattery. The First Consul, ably abetted by Monsieur de Talleyrand, has played upon that weakness with great skill. The state of things in France has changed during this past year to such a marked degree that my master is now persuaded that he and his fellow Monarchs no longer have cause to fear the spread of the dangerous doctrines of the Revolution. He has become convinced that, under the First Consul, the French people have been restored to sanity, and that the war of Britain and Austria against them is no longer justified.’

  ‘May I ask Your Excellency’s own opinion?’

  ‘It is that Bonaparte is not to be trusted, and that having upset the balance of power in Europe by making himself the master of Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, a considerable part of Germany and all Italy, he will remain a great danger to us all until that balance is restored.’

  ‘If Austria collapses and Russia comes in against us, it certainly will not be for many a long year to come.’

  ‘I agree; and with England left alone in arms against such a combination, how long can she survive?’

  Greatly as Roger had been in favour of a general peace when Bonaparte had made his offer, since then the Corsican’s resources had increased enormously and he had often said that nothing would give him greater joy than to crush the stiff-necked English. With Russia as his ally, secured from Austria attacking him in the rear, he might well be tempted to carry out his dream of invading Britain. Regarding the Ambassador gravely, Roger said:

  ‘Your Excellency is right, that with nothing to fear on the Continent, Bonaparte might yet prove a terrible menace to this country. I have always been given to understand that you are a good friend to us; so may I assume you are doing all you can to restrain His Imperial Majesty?’

  ‘Can you doubt it, Mr. Brook? Many of your country-men.…’ The Russian paused, then added with a slight smile, ‘and women, are dear to me. Having been en poste here for so many years I look on England as something more than a second home. To have to ask for my passports would distress me greatly. So on this question my personal interests coincide with what I believe to be best for my country. But at a distance of eighteen hundred miles it is far from easy to reason with anyone—let alone a madman.’

  ‘I had not realised that His Majesty’s mind was in quite so parlous a state.’

  ‘Unfortunately that is the case. My brother and others write to me that from unpredictable the Czar’s behaviour has become intolerable. He will brook no opposition to his craziest whims, regards everyone about him with deep suspicion and on an impulse will order the imprisonment of loyal subjects without cause.’

  ‘Surely then, the time has come when he should be put under restraint,’ Roger suggested. ‘Here in England, as you know, when a few years back King George’s mind became unbalanced, His Highness of Wales was by act of Parliament appointed Regent, and His Majesty kept more or less in confinement until he recovered.

  ‘In Russia we have no parliament,’ replied the Ambassador with a shrug. ‘The only means of staying our tyrant in his course would be through a Palace revolution by which he was deposed and locked up in a fortress.’

  ‘Think you, Your Excellency, that there is any chance of that?’

  ‘It is difficult to say. Should he continue acting in his present fashion, his principal ministers may be driven to such a measure for their own protection. I only pray God it may be so, for naught else now seems likely to avert his entering into a pact with the First Consul to assist him in his war against Britain.’

  This conversation gave Roger furiously to think. It foreshadowed a very different situation in Europe from that which had existed the previous year, and made him wish more than ever that Mr. Pitt had agreed to a pacification when conditions were so much more favourable to Britain. But there was nothing he could do about it; so he threw himself wholeheart
edly into the many pleasures enjoyed by the company during the following two days then, at Georgina’s pressing, stayed on with a few of the other guests at Stillwaters to see in the New Year.

  On the afternoon of January 1st, still with a slight head from an excess of Punch consumed the previous evening, he removed to London. Droopy Ned, he found, had returned there two days earlier after having spent Christmas at his father’s seat, Normanrood, in Wiltshire. Over a supper of cold lobster, broiled marrow bones and champagne, they gave each other their news.

  In Britain, during the past year, the foremost topic had been, not the war, but the Act of Union with Ireland. Pitt had long been in favour of such a union. To begin with, as far back as ‘85, and as a means of putting an end to the bickering between the two parliaments which prevented measures being passed that would have led to a great increase in trade between their countries, he had begun to work to that end. In ‘93 he had succeeded in putting through the Franchise Bill, which gave the majority of Irish people the vote; but as most Irishmen were Catholics the great majority of them were still excluded from sitting in their parliament.

  Later there had arisen a much more cogent reason for uniting the two countries. From the outbreak of war with Revolutionary France, the French had sent hundreds of agitators to Ireland. They had succeeded in stirring up the natural resentment that the Irish Catholics felt at being debarred from any voice in the government of their country and the general discontent that had long smouldered among the Irish at being subservient to Britain. This had led not only to a strong movement aimed at achieving independence, but an open rebellion in ‘98 that had been difficult to put down. Added to this was the fact that the French consistently encouraged potential rebels with promises of military support, had actually on one occasion landed a small force and, on another, been prevented from succeeding in a full-scale invasion only because their Fleet and troop transports had been scattered by a great tempest. And for Ireland to be occupied by a French army with the willing consent of the majority of its inhabitants would, strategically, have been fatal to England.

  The bases of Pitt’s proposals were that the Irish Parliament, which was notoriously corrupt, should be abolished; that twenty Irish Peers elected for life and four Protestant Bishops should be given seats in the House of Lords, and that representatives of the Irish cities and boroughs should sit in the House of Commons.

  It was also his intention that these newcomers to Westminster should not be required to take the Oaths of Supremacy and Abjuration but only the Oath of Allegiance, which would have been no bar to Catholics sitting.

  In a speech to Parliament on the subject, Pitt had said, ‘We must consider it as a measure of great national policy, the object of which is effectively to counteract the restless machinations of an inveterate enemy, who has uniformly and anxiously endeavoured to effect a separation between the two countries.’ And in September Pitt’s Cabinet had, with one important exception, agreed to give him their backing.

  This was Lord Loughborough who, as Lord Chancellor, was technically, ‘The King’s conscience’. Loughborough apart, King George III was a deeply religious man, a bigoted Protestant, and held the belief that as Head of the Church of England, religious matters were entirely his concern and that Parliament had not even the right to debate them. So he refused absolutely even to consider allowing any Catholic to become a member of a United Parliament. Upon this liberal and wise innovation depended the real success of the measure, but the King’s Veto had forced Pitt to shelve it indefinitely.

  In the meantime Lord Cornwallis who, as a General, had been compelled to surrender to the revolutionary American colonists at York Town, but who had since directed a brilliant campaign in India, had been sent by Pitt to Ireland as Viceroy. By a policy of leniency he had won the goodwill of the greater part of the people, and had overcome the reluctance of the Irish Parliament. Finally, when Pitt put the temporal clauses of the Bill to the House, he had achieved a great triumph. The Act of Union had been passed by 236 votes to only 30 and had become law that New Year’s Day of 1801.

  As the First Consul’s projected expedition to conquer India was still in its planning stage, Roger had felt no urgency about informing Mr. Pitt of it; so it was not until January 3rd that he rode out to Holwood House, just beyond Bromley, the home at which the Prime Minister always resided during Parliament’s Christmas recess.

  Having kept Roger waiting for over an hour, when Mr. Pitt did at length receive him it was standing and with a frigid mien. Roger had expected that and had in his pocket a remedy for it. Producing a piece of paper he said:

  ‘Sir, this document has long outgrown its usefulness and I have, on occasions, thought of destroying it; but it seemed to me that you might prefer to do so yourself. I have shown it to no-one and by consigning it to the flames you will be assured that it will never fall into the hands of any malicious person.’

  The paper was, of course, Mr. Pitt’s admission that he had used his powers arbitrarily to imprison Roger in the Tower. A pale smile lit up his lined grey face and, accepting the paper, he said, ‘I greatly appreciate your delicacy in this matter, Mr. Brook. Be pleased to sit down and inform me of the reason for this somewhat surprising return of yours to England, after your decision to remain for good in France. Is it that you have quarrelled with Bonaparte?’

  Taking a seat and crossing his legs, Roger replied affably, ‘By no means, sir. The First Consul and I continue to be on excellent terms, and I am still the happy recipient of Monsieur de Talleyrand’s confidences. But they are now planning an operation which might have a most unfortunate effect upon Britain’s interests in the East, so I felt it my duty to return and inform you of it.’ He then told the Prime Minister of the expedition being planned to conquer India.

  Mr. Pitt ran a hand over his sparse grey hair and said, ‘Mr. Brook, I am grateful to you for your timely warning. I had no previous knowledge of this but it fits in with other intelligence I have received. The Czar, as you may know, is about to go over to our active enemies. His imagination has been caught by the old Russian project of conquering the Turkish Empire. In recent years it has become so effete that it is in no state to resist him. Given an alliance with Bonaparte he might well overrun it, move east through Persia and, by way of Afghanistan, aid the French in depriving us of our possessions in the East.’

  After talking of the matter for a while, the Prime Minister said, ‘I pray you, Mr. Brook, remain on here to join us at dinner. With me I have Dundas, Castlereagh and Canning, now my staunchest supporters, and I should much like to discuss this matter further in their presence.’

  Roger had long known Henry Dundas well. This bluff Scot, a heavy drinker who never hesitated to call a spade a spade, but was a glutton for work and ruled the Scottish members with a rod of iron in Pitt’s interest, had for many years been a tower of strength to him. Viscount Castlereagh was the same age as Roger and George Canning a year his junior. These two had been Pitt’s principal lieutenants in getting the Act of Union passed, and Castlereagh had recently been appointed Chief Secretary to Ireland.

  When they talked over the meal of Bonaparte’s designs against India Dundas, who as the head of the India Board was responsible for British interests there, exclaimed to the Prime Minister, ‘Bloody my soul, Billy; but you see now how right I was to press you last October into sending an expedition to conquer Egypt. Does General Abercrombie succeed in that we’ll spike the Corsican’s guns in his plan to use the country as a staging base.’

  ‘Loath as I was to agree, I’ll now admit you were right in that, Hal,’ Pitt replied. ‘But the main thing we have to consider is can we by any means prevent this mad Czar from sending an army to take our Austrian allies in the rear and so putting them out of the war for good?’

  Roger then related his conversation at Stillwaters with Count Vorontzoff and added, ‘I gathered from him that we have many highly placed friends in St. Petersburg. Would it not be possible through our Ambassador there to incit
e them to take steps to restrain the Czar; I mean, if need be, arbitrarily?’

  The Prime Minister looked across at him and replied:

  ‘We are now without diplomatic representation in St. Petersburg. By last June the Czar’s attitude to this country had already become so hostile that as a mark of our resentment I recalled my Lord Whitworth. When about to depart he asked leave to present Mr. Justinian Casamajor, our Secretary of Legation, as Chargé d’Affaires; but the Czar refused to receive him and sent him, too, a passport. There is, though, just a chance that what you suggested might come about. On my Lord Whitworth’s return he told me that Paul’s principal advisers now go daily in fear that without reason he may suddenly turn upon them and send them to exile in Siberia. The Russians are a proud and violent people, and it would not be the first time that they had deposed a Sovereign.’

  Canning took him up quickly, ‘Could we persuade them to act, sir, our whole position would be saved. I am told that his Heir Apparent, the Grand Duke Alexander, is a most sensible young man: healthy, sane and, having been brought up by a Swiss tutor, liberal-minded, yet most opposed to Bonaparte and the revolutionary precepts with which he indoctrinates the people of other countries that he either conquers or becomes associated with.’

  They all discussed the matter for some while, then the Prime Minister said to Roger:

  ‘Mr. Brook, I appreciate that you have now become averse to acting against Bonaparte’s interests in any other than matters that may menace the security of your own country. But by reporting his intentions against India to me, you have entirely regained my confidence. This matter of the Czar is a thing apart from any feelings you may have for your friends in France. Time and again you have shown yourself to be an extraordinarily able secret agent. Will you not now consider travelling to Russia on our behalf, make an attempt to rally the forces in opposition to the Czar, and endeavour to concert measures which will prevent him from joining Bonaparte against us?’