Polonaise

by Jane Aiken Hodge

  ‘You’ve got it all worked out, then, you and my steward between you?’ She was hesitating between surprise, amusement and fury.

  ‘Why, yes, Highness. I thought best to lose no time, since if you are really going to Paris with Madame Potocka, you will want to take advantage of the frozen roads as far as Warsaw. If I am to do any good here, I must have my position secure before you go. And you will doubtless wish to be able to make a favourable report to our mutual friend whose ingenious idea the whole thing was.’ He was almost tempted to tell her of his relationship with Talleyrand, but that would be the act of a coward. And anyway, the reminder that he was in a sense Talleyrand’s man should be enough.

  ‘Paris?’ she said thoughtfully. ‘I doubt I could get there in time for the Emperor’s wedding, but the celebrations should prove interesting. And there is quite a Polish colony there, by what I hear from Anna Potocka. Send for Wysocki, Mr. Rendel. We had better finish what you two have taken upon yourselves to start.’

  ‘I do congratulate you.’ Jenny had been amazed and delighted to see an army of serfs set to work in the barn. ‘It will be much better than what we had here; I’m only sad you’ll be so far away.’

  ‘But, Miss Peverel, you are coming too! You cannot imagine I have any idea of doing without you. You are to have a suite of apartments on the ground floor of the barn, with a room for Marylka. My idea is that the two of you will be absolutely responsible for the boys’ physical well-being, while I try to knock some sense into them!’

  ‘And the Princess has agreed to this too?’

  ‘With enthusiasm. So –’ he held out his hand ‘– is it agreed? You and Marylka will temper the monastic simplicity I plan for my boys?’

  ‘Representing the gentler sex? A grave responsibility.’ She put her strong little hand in his. ‘Gladly, Mr. Rendel. And the Princess?’

  ‘Goes to Paris, or so I devoutly hope.’ It surprised him to hear himself say it.

  ‘Stay a little longer, Jan.’ Naked in his arms, the first night at Vinsk, Miriam put up a loving hand to touch his cheek. ‘I’ve missed you so, all these nights we’ve been apart.’

  ‘And I you! To be so near, and unable to touch you!’ They had made love passionately at first, then more gently, now were comfortable together in the friendly aftermath. ‘But it went well, don’t you think?’

  ‘Better than I could have imagined possible. I never thought he’d do it, did you?’

  ‘He must have been having things harder than I knew in England. Do you know, I actually found myself feeling sorry for him.’ He kissed her, laughing. ‘How surprised he would have been, if I’d told him I was expecting him when he turned up on my doorstep in Petersburg! Or, before that, when I got him into Talleyrand’s clutches at Tilsit. Ignorant, innocent Jan, the simple American, outsmarting him all the way! He, the great British aristocrat, friend of Ambassadors, so good to the poor American. Watching my tongue for me! And now he’s head tutor of a boys’ school in the depths of Poland. Not at all what he expected!’

  ‘He took it admirably.’

  ‘Yes, didn’t he! I felt a brute, when the Princess sprang it on him like that. I suppose that’s the other side of the aristocratic coin. They do have good behaviour drilled into them.’

  ‘Which he will do to Casimir.’

  ‘Yes. He’ll make a Prince of him. And a man.’

  ‘A great gentleman, like himself.’

  ‘In a moment, my love, you are going to make me jealous.’ He pulled her to him, laughing.

  For a man with a broken heart and hopes destroyed, Glynde found himself remarkably busy and cheerful. The Princess had given him carte blanche before she took the long road for Warsaw and Paris, and work on the new school-building went on apace. He had moved into the manor house, known for no good reason as the cottage, as soon as the Princess made it over to him, so he was on hand to direct the alterations to the barn that was to be his school. On Jenny’s advice, he had asked for Lech as his servant, and was amazed to find himself, all of a sudden, master of a thriving household, where his every wish was law.

  He still had one overriding anxiety. There had been no message from Talleyrand, and so he had no means of communicating with him. The instructions he had received in England had been precise. He was to get himself to Rendomierz, arrange his own channel to Petersburg, and then wait for Talleyrand to supply the westward link in the chain. Then – as Talleyrand’s man had told him – ‘accidentally’ met on Brighton beach, where the sea would mask their voices, Talleyrand would have his line of communications clear, all the way from Paris to Petersburg.

  He had his eastward link, by way of Miriam and Jan, but had no idea to what extent he could trust them. He had been almost tempted, before they left, to admit his knowledge of Polish, challenge them to explain their relationship, but what he thought were wiser counsels had prevailed. But he desperately needed to let Talleyrand know of this new hazard. Which brought him up sharp against another problem. How far could he trust this unknown father of his? The short answer was: not at all. Urging him to accept the Princess’s amazing invitation, Talleyrand’s man had said nothing about the reason for it. He had been left to make his idiotic mistake, to risk his life, a modern Quixote, all across Europe to a Dulcinea who merely wanted him to run a school. The fact that he was enjoying this enormously was neither here nor there. He had been shamelessly used, and would not forget it.

  It was the little boys who brought the first news that something had happened in the forest somewhere between Rendomierz and Warsaw. ‘They don’t much like to talk of it in the village,’ Casimir told Glynde, ‘but there are men missing. They can’t hide that. Mama will be angry when she hears. We’re short-handed enough as it is after that last draft went for soldiers. I don’t know how we’re going to get in the harvest.’

  ‘We’ll all have to help.’ Glynde was both touched and impressed by Casimir’s small assumption of authority. ‘I shall declare a school holiday. But – you mean there has been fighting in the forest?’

  ‘And no one will speak of it. Can I tell the boys about the holiday, Mr. Rendel?’ He was eager to be away; fighting in the forest was nothing new to him.

  ‘Yes, of course.’ Left alone, Glynde thought for a while, then went out to the stables, where he could be sure of finding Lech at this time of day. ‘Saddle two horses,’ he told him. ‘There’s something I need to look at.’

  ‘Yes, Pan Rendel.’ A look of total comprehension on Lech’s calm face.

  They started out with Glynde in the lead, but as soon as they were safe into the dark of the forest he slowed to let Lech come up beside him. ‘Now, what’s this about fighting in the forest?’

  ‘I was hoping for a chance to tell you. Trust the little Prince to know what is going on!’ He looked about him nervously, as if the trees might have ears. ‘It’s the Brotherhood. There’s been dissension among them for a long time. There was a meeting, between here and Warsaw, at a hunting lodge. It came to blows, to deaths. I’m glad to say that the Poles won.’

  ‘The Poles? The Brotherhood? What are you talking about, Lech?’

  The man looked appalled. ‘You mean, you don’t know?’ His face closed. ‘You’d best ask the Pani Peverel.’ And he would say no more.

  Chapter 27

  ‘The Brotherhood?’ ‘A hunting lodge south of Warsaw?’ Glynde had called on Jenny to ask her what Lech had meant. ‘They kidnapped you and took you there? You must have been terrified!’

  ‘Yes.’ She looked at him, faintly amused, over her glass of wine. ‘I was frightened at the time. Well – I still am, of the Brotherhood. But I think this has to be good news about them, Mr. Rendel. I have thought, for a long time, that they suffered extraordinarily from divided command. It would be so easy, don’t you see? All that dressing up, that disguise, those masks. Prince Ovinski was a member. While he was alive, I thought they veered between the French and the Russian side, but that could not explain the attack on you on your way here. I would have t
hought only the Prussians would want Casimir to grow up a little fool.’

  ‘The Prussians! There’s a secret society there called the Tugendbund; it started in East Prussia, I believe, at Königsberg when the court was there. You think they might have managed to infiltrate your Brotherhood?’

  ‘Not my Brotherhood,’ she said drily. ‘Though, it’s true, they have intervened in my favour in their time. But I can’t say my heart is going to bleed much over any deaths among them, on whichever side. I wonder if it is the French or the Russians who are in control now.’

  ‘You don’t imagine it could be the Poles?’

  ‘Never the Poles!’

  Two days later Marylka brought her the Brotherhood’s first message for a very long time indeed. ‘I am to tell you that they have set their house in order and that we are under their special protection. If you ever need their help, you have only to let me know. And they have reestablished their secret courier service, both to the west and to the east.’

  ‘And what in the world would I be needing a secret courier for?’

  ‘They seemed to think that the Pan Rendel might.’

  ‘Oh, they did, did they?’ And then, ‘I suppose you aren’t allowed to tell me how you would get in touch with them.’

  ‘No, pani.’ Marylka looked frightened.

  ‘Frankly, I’m just as glad not to know.’ It had been the most enormous relief to leave the little house by the stream, where she had always been aware of the secret tunnel, blocked off it was true, but still there. ‘Mr. Rendel must know about this. I’ll see him after school.’ And then, as Marylka still lingered, ‘What is it, Marylka? Is there something else?’

  ‘Yes, pani. I had news of Marta the other day.’

  ‘From the convent? Is she happy?’

  ‘Happy! She’s a drudge, Pani Jenny; starving for a crust. The endowment that was promised with her was never sent. They put her into the kitchen to earn her keep. She asked me to speak for her. We’re kin, of course, in a backstairs kind of way. But, pani, I dare not. Besides, it would do no good.’

  ‘No,’ said Jenny thoughtfully. ‘The question is, do I dare?’

  ‘I thought, perhaps, you might have a word with Pan Rendel? The Princess listens to him.’

  ‘When she’s here.’ But it was true that the Princess had given Glynde an absolutely free hand in his arrangements for the boys in his charge, and, so far, they were working out wonderfully well. He had formed them into what he called his band of Knights Crusaders, training for some mystic unspecified future purpose, their leader chosen weekly by a parliament of the whole group on the basis of reports from masters and boys alike. Casimir was often, but by no means always, the leader and Jenny had been amazed at how well he took his occasional demotions, and had said so to Glynde.

  ‘Oh, I think he is beginning to understand,’ Glynde had told her. ‘He’s a rational being, that boy.’

  Looking for Glynde now, she found him in the boys’ big common-room telling them stories before bedtime. Seeing her hesitant at the door, he smiled an apology across the spellbound heads and ended his story: ‘So the Prince George killed the dragon, and took the kingdom, and married the Princess, and they lived happily ever afterwards.’

  ‘But, sir,’ a hand went up. ‘How did he kill it? With his lance?’

  ‘No, his sword, idiot!’

  ‘But there’s a picture in the chapel at home, with his lance in its mouth –’

  ‘Silence,’ said Glynde, and got it. ‘You may ask the Master at Arms, with my compliments, what he thinks the best method for killing dragons. Personally, I believe I would favour a long lance, because of the fire he breathes.’

  ‘Or a pistol? Better still?’ suggested Casimir eagerly. ‘Or do you think that would be cheating?’

  ‘I think that would depend on what the dragon had done,’ said Glynde. ‘Perhaps you should discuss that with Father Ignatz, Casimir. Now, make your bows to Miss Peverel, and off to bed with the lot of you. Marylka will be waiting.’ He smiled at Jenny. ‘Come and join me by the fire, and tell me what I can do for you.’

  ‘It’s something Marylka told me.’ Jenny settled in her usual chair. ‘Do you remember Marta?’

  ‘The Princess’s companion? Of course I do. Lord, what a long time ago.’ He was grateful for the heat of the fire, masking the rush of colour to his face. It was Marta who had fetched him to his assignations with the Princess. But it had also been Marta who had lured Jenny Peverel into what he now realised must have been an ambush by the Brotherhood. ‘What of Marta?’

  ‘Marylka has heard from her. She’s starving, a penniless drudge in her convent. Her endowment was never sent. She begs for help, for a word said to the Princess.’

  ‘And you and Marylka have chosen me to bell the cat?’

  ‘Well.’ Surprised. ‘If you want to put it like that. I’m sorry! I’m telling my story back to front. I was so distressed to hear about poor Marta.’

  ‘Poor Marta, who got you ambushed by the Brotherhood?’

  ‘Oh! You worked that out?’

  ‘I’m not entirely a fool, Miss Peverel, though I do sometimes seem to behave like one. So what is the front of your story?’

  ‘A message from the Brotherhood. Marylka brought it. They say they have got their house in order, and we are under their protection. And that they have re-established their secret courier service, both to the east and to the west. They seem to think that would interest you.’ She smiled her friendly smile. ‘There’s a good deal you haven’t told me, is there not, Mr. Rendel?’ She got up and walked over to open the door and make sure that Marylka and the little boys were all safe upstairs. ‘You’re really a secret agent of some kind, are you not? I do devoutly hope it is for the British that you work?’

  He looked at her strangely. ‘Frankly, Miss Peverel, so do I.’

  ‘He ate nothing but artichokes.’ Anna Potocka had dined in state with the Emperor and new Empress at Saint Cloud, and summoned the Princess next morning to hear all about it. ‘As fast and untidy as you please. And hurried us through our dinners so that the poor little Empress never even got her ice! Sometimes I almost feel sorry for that girl. I’ll tell you someone else I was sorry for. Your old friend Davout, on duty as Captain of the Guard. Do you remember the royal airs he used to put on in Warsaw? Now I was the honoured guest, and he was just part of the retinue. I gave him my very friendliest smile as I passed him on my way into dinner. Have you seen him?’ she asked casually.

  ‘No, not yet.’

  ‘I thought not. Playing the family man, like his master. And your other old friend, Murat, busy being King of Naples. Sad for you. Napoleon was kindness itself to me last night. He said he did not think I should trouble myself too much about this ukase of the Emperor Alexander’s, this threat to confiscate the estates of absentee landowners. No hurry about packing my bags, he thinks. I told him I must await my husband’s permission, of course. Lucky you, to have no husband to defer to.’ She did not mean this, as both of them knew.

  ‘All very well for Napoleon to talk.’ Isobel ignored Anna’s last remark. ‘But suppose we don’t return to our Russian-held estates, and they really are confiscated, as the Tsar threatens. I’d never forgive myself.’

  ‘No.’ Thoughtfully. ‘In fact the estate near Vilno is your son’s, is it not? I suppose you could send orders for him to move there.’

  ‘Without me? Never.’ She was interrupted by a page, announcing the Prince of Benevento.

  ‘Monsieur Talleyrand,’ said Anna. ‘He will know what we should do for the best.’

  But first Talleyrand had to hear all about last night’s party. He was such a good listener that Anna remembered more of the conversation. ‘It was all hints,’ she said. ‘There was talk of the Indies. As if Napoleon meant to get there by way of Russia. Someone – I’ll leave you to guess his name asked me what I would like brought back from there. “From Moscow or Petersburg?” I asked him, playing the innocent.’

  ‘And what did
he say?’ asked Talleyrand.

  ‘Oh, he turned it off with a joke about the Pyramids, but everyone seemed to be sure in their hearts that war with Russia is inevitable. So what should we Poles do for the best?’

  ‘It won’t come,’ said Talleyrand comfortably. ‘But on mature consideration, I believe you ladies might be wise to pay some heed to the Tsar’s threats. It is never wise to flout a monarch’s wishes. And if enough of you great families who hold lands on both sides of the border show yourselves able to cooperate with both France and Russia, it must help put an end to this mad talk of war.’

  ‘You really think it is mad?’ asked Isobel.

  ‘Dear lady, I am sure of it. Now may I have the pleasure of seeing you home?’

  Outside: ‘I don’t care about Anna Potocka, but I think you should go,’ he told her. ‘Though I am sorry to have to advise it, when your presence here gives such pleasure to your friends. But, perhaps, a brief visit to Vinsk, to show the young Prince to his people? There will be no difficulty about crossing the border, I can promise you. Oh, by the way, I heard an interesting bit of news about your Mr. Rendel the other day. His father is dying, his brother ill, too. Your head tutor may suddenly find himself Lord Ringmer. I leave it to you, Princess, to decide whether to tell him of this, which is merely a rumour, come by underground channels from England. It would be a pity if he were to decide it was his duty to abandon his interesting charge and risk his life trying to get back to England.’

  ‘Lord Ringmer? His brother is still childless then?’

  ‘Yes. There was some tragedy. A huge estate, I believe. A barbarous district, mind you, Sussex. The worst roads in the country, but full of possibilities.’

  ‘How very interesting.’

  ‘I thought you might find it so.’