Vendetta in Spain

by Dennis Wheatley

  Next day he found that when waist deep in the water its buoyancy enabled him to keep his balance while putting only a very little weight on his injured leg; so he was able for the first time to exercise it. The following day he went for a short swim and after his fourth bathe he limped back up the beach to the bathing hut without Ricardo’s help.

  From then onward Ricardo and Gulia’s maid came down to the shore only to help them change into and out of their bathing things; but Doña Eulalia continued to be their constant companion. However, this plump and indolent ageing lady, whose function it was in the Spanish tradition to protect her beautiful young mistress from unwelcome—or welcome—attempts on her virtue, knew her place as well as her duties. From their first meeting, the strong-willed Gulia had made it plain that she did not consider it part of those duties for a duenna to participate in every conversation she might hold with her husband’s men friends, and that at such times Doña Eulalia would be expected to make herself as inconspicuous as possible. Anxious to secure the comforts and good food that went with such a post in a rich household, Doña Eulalia had made no bones about agreeing.

  In consequence, while she had had perforce to remain in their immediate proximity when in the bedroom or sitting out in the patio, here on the beach when after bathing they sunned themselves in deck-chairs, she sat under one of the striped umbrellas sewing or dosing a good fifty yards away from them.

  As the weather continued calm and warm they now spent a good part of each day down in the bay, usually having a picnic lunch brought out to them there. Sometimes de Vendôme joined them, either alone or with a party of young friends, but for long periods they were on their own and, during them, enjoyed listening to one another’s views on a great variety of subjects.

  While de Quesnoy swam or limped up and down the golden sands Gulia watched him with covert glances from under her long curling eyelashes. She decided that she had never seen a more beautifully made and supple male body, and that the premature greyness that, as the result of the ordeals he had been through, now streaked his slightly wavy dark hair, added the final touch of distinction to his aquiline features. Disguising her passionate personal interest in him under the guise of normal feminine curiosity, she asked him innumerable questions about himself and these often led to political discussions.

  Owing to the time de Quesnoy had spent at the Escuela Moderna he was now much better equipped to argue with her upon anarchism and the range of means suggested for bringing about its triumph—from the utter ruthlessness of Bakúnin and Stirner, through violent insurrections as envisaged by Kropotkin, to the peaceful propaganda advocated by Proudhon, the passive resistance of Benjamin Tucker and finally the spread of universal love hoped for by Count Tolstoi.

  That she was serious in her belief in anarchism he soon had no lingering doubts; but she was not of the category that would have made even a temporary marriage of convenience with Communism. Neither did she approve of violence. It was simply that she believed that complete anarchism could eliminate poverty and that every individual had the right to live as he pleased.

  To find out more about his life with Angela she frequently turned the conversation to England. Although she had never been to that country she had a great admiration for the British and on one occasion she spoke glowingly of the way in which, strong in their own freedom, they refused to be bullied by all the other great nations into refusing to give asylum to political refugees.

  He said that he personally had the best of reasons to be grateful to the British on that account, but that soon such refugees might find Switzerland the only country left open to them for, although he was convinced it was not so, there had been accusations from many quarters that the attempt to assasinate King Alfonso and his Queen had been planned in London; and the British were becoming tired of being labelled accessories to murder.

  ‘Had the attempt taken place a year ago they might have altered their law, but they won’t now,’ she asserted quickly. ‘Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman having ousted the Conservatives from office last December makes that a certainty. No Liberal Government would ever introduce a measure aimed at curtailing the march of humanity towards freedom.’

  De Quesnoy gave her an amused glance, and said, ‘I fear you are not quite so well up in British politics as you are in many other subjects. As I lived until recently for a good while in England allow me to enlighten you. Liberalism does not mean the same thing there as it does in Spain, Russia and most other Continental countries. The British Liberal party is descended from the Whigs—the great nobles of the eighteenth century who banded together to curb the powers of the Crown. Today it is true that in theory the Liberals represent the interests of the working classes, but whether that is so in fact is highly debatable.’

  Having paused to light a cigarette, he went on. ‘The main plank in the Liberal platform has for long been Free Trade, and with it they have won the votes of the masses in the towns because, on the face of it, their policy means cheap living. But go a little deeper into the matter and you will find that it has another altogether different aspect. The great strength of the Liberal party lies in the industrial north, and the money to finance industry comes from the rich manufacturers and the old Whig families who have invested their wealth in commerce. They are very shrewd people, and they know that if they can bring the cost of living down they will then be able to force down wages and derive bigger profits from their factories.’

  ‘Do you suggest, then, that the Liberal policy is nothing but an infamous plot?’ she asked indignantly.

  ‘Not altogether,’ he smiled, ‘and the Liberals have introduced many excellent reforms. But if you go deeply into the matter you will find that Tory governments have proved better protectors of the interests of the ordinary people. It was they who first introduced free education, it was they who put a stop to women working in the mines, it was they who passed the first factory acts and legislated to prevent little children being forced to labour as though they were slaves. But to revert to the question of Britain continuing to give asylum to political firebrands from all over Europe, the last thing the Liberals must want is for such people to spread discontent in the industrial areas; so they are just as likely to put up a bar to their entering the country as would be the Tories, who in your sense of the word are more genuinely Liberal-minded.’

  On another occasion they were talking about his early years spent in Russia when she said, ‘The condition of the peasants and the poorer people must be quite appalling. One cannot wonder that last year Father Gapon led a revolution there. I know it was put down with ferocious brutality by the Czar’s Cossacks; but now that the people have shown their teeth it seems unlikely that will be the end of the matter. What do you think of their prospects of gaining their freedom?’

  ‘It all depends what you mean by freedom,’ he smiled. ‘If they succeed in overthrowing the monarchy they certainly would not get it. That could only lead to a bloodbath, after which they would soon find themselves at the mercy of a committee of mob-leaders. All revolutions develop in much the same way, and you have only to recall how in the French Revolution the whole nation was held in subjection by Robespierre and his Committee of Public Safety.’

  ‘But it worked out in the end,’ she objected. ‘The Terror did not last for very long, and after it was over new laws secured to every Frenchman his rights as an individual.’

  He shrugged. ‘Perhaps; but at what a price to the nation. A million people died in the French Revolution, and that million represented nearly all that was best in integrity, brains and leadership that had been built up through many generations.’

  ‘Some of the nobles may have been clever, but many were stupid, and the great majority of them were parasites battening on the labour of the people.’

  ‘I was not referring to the nobility. Most of them escaped abroad. The people who were murdered were the solid bourgeoisie, who had made the cities of France richer than any others, the lawyers, doctors, scientists, philosopher
s and the best of the junior officers in the old Army and Navy.’

  ‘Nevertheless there was plenty of leadership shown by Frenchmen in the Napoleonic wars.’

  ‘You mean that there were plenty of brave men prepared blindly to give their lives in battle, because when the wars started they believed their country about to be invaded and overrun. Napoleon everyone admits to have been a genius; but he was an evil one and, remember, a product of the revolution. As a dictator he forced tyranny on the people far worse than they had suffered under their Kings, and he bled France white in wars with no other object than to achieve his own ambition to become the arbiter of Europe. It was he who took such a terrible toll of the male youth of France that he undermined the stamina of the race for generations. But it was during the Revolution that the worst damage was done. Except for self-seekers and the irresponsible the upper middle-class was virtually wiped out, and France has never recovered. She has since had two Emperors, a Directory, a Bourbon restoration, a Commune, a Constitutional Monarchy and three Republics: all within a hundred years. The strength given to a people by continuity and tradition has been lost, and for a long time now she has been at the mercy of Governments formed from little groups of unscrupulous intriguers who barter the votes they control for a share of power.’

  ‘You know too much about France for me to challenge you on what you say,’ she shrugged. ‘But unless the Russian people dethrone the Czar, how can they ever hope to better their lot?’

  ‘It is being bettered, although that is probably not apparent to people who don’t know very much about Russia. In recent years a lot more power has been given to the Zemstovs—that is, the provincial assemblies. They are local parliaments that have authority to pass laws for their own areas; and after the uprising last year they combined to press the Czar to give Russia a National Assembly as well. His Imperial Majesty consented and the first Duma met in the autumn. Nearly all its members are men of high principles and broad views; so given a little time many sound reforms should emerge from it.’

  Gulia nodded. ‘Yes, I read about that. But the Zemstovs can legislate only on matters concerning their own Provinces; and this new National Parliament has been given no power at all. It is only a consultative body.’

  ‘That is more or less true,’ de Quesnoy admitted. ‘At the root of the trouble are, of course, the Czar and Czarina. They shut themselves away with a little clique of hangerson; so they are hopelessly ill-informed and hear only opinions which lead them to believe that they are still beloved by the great majority of their subjects. Unfortunately the Czar is ill-educated, stupid and as weak as water; while the Czarina, who dominates him, is a convinced autocrat, both bigoted and superstitious. It is a tragedy that the throne is not occupied by the Grand Duke Nicholas, or some other Prince who is more in touch with realities.’

  ‘About that you must be right. Anyhow, if they can keep the lid on the pot only by continuing to send thousands of people every year to exile in Siberia, sooner or later it is bound to blow off.’

  Her gave her a smile. ‘In that, my dear Doña Gulia, you are arguing from false premises. It is only when governments show weakness that revolutions succeed. That in France might easily have been held in check had it not been that Louis XVI was too great a fool and sentimentalist to accept the advice of his courageous Queen, and would not allow his loyal troops to suppress the first revolts against his authority. What happened in England during the same period is a fair example of the results of the opposite policy.’

  She shook her head. ‘I fear I am not sufficiently well up in English history to know to what you are referring.’

  ‘To the effect of the French Revolution on England. At first all classes there welcomed the changes that were taking place on the other side of the Channel because they belived in constitutional government. It was only when the moderates were overthrown and the Royal Family imprisoned that they began to realise the menace to life, property, justice and true freedom that the revolution had become. By then the virus had spread among their own masses. Agitators started riots in all their principal cities, a mob of fifteen thousand people gathered in north London and at a great mass meeting voted for a Republic. King George III was stoned in his coach on the way to open Parliament. Fortunately for England, in the younger Pitt he had a Minister who would not allow his humanity to deter him from his duty. Pitt brought the garrisons from outlying towns into the suburbs of London, suspended Habeas Corpus, forbade gatherings of more than five persons, and made it a transportable offence to talk treason. A number of hot-heads and would-be demagogues suffered, of course; but by his firmness he saved England from a similar Terror to that which took place in France, and the great bulk of her people from years of misery.’

  ‘Am I to understand, then, that you consider the Czar’s Government is justified in sending all those poor people to slave for life in the salt mines of Siberia, simply because they demand better conditions for the masses?’

  Gulia’s voice held an angry note, and de Quesnoy sought to calm her by saying quietly, ‘Let us get this straight. Persons found guilty of political agitation are never sent to the salt mines. They are exiled only to some city on the far side of the Urals, to keep them from making further mischief in St. Petersburg or Moscow. While living in exile few restraints are placed upon them: they can send for their families, choose their own residence, own property, practise their trade or profession, and enjoy all reasonable freedom. It is only real criminals and people convicted of having participated in nihilist plots who are sent to the salt mines. By ridding European Russia, as far as possible, of agitators, the Government is at least keeping control of the situation. The longer it can continue to do that the better chance there is of the leaders of the Zemstovs, and of the Liberal nobility, persuading the Czar to agree to allow the new Duma a real voice in the Government. Better conditions for the masses can only be secured by reforms brought about by legal means. I am convinced of that. We can only pray that those already advocated by the best men in Russia will be adopted in time. If they are not I fear you will prove right, and the lid will be blown off the pot. But if it is, just as happened in France, it will mean the massacre not only of the rich, but also of the Liberal-minded intellectuals who are striving to better the lot of the poor, and for the Russian masses a long period of civil war, anarchy, and a far worse tyranny than that under which they live at present.’

  It was on the morning after this conversation that a telephone message was received to say that the King intended to come out to the villa. The Conde and de Vendôme had already gone into San Sebastian, so it was Gulia and de Quesnoy who received Don Alfonso. At the far end of the villa from the Count’s bedroom there was another patio. Beyond both, and also between them, there extended a delightful garden, with a fountain in its centre faced by a long curved stone seat and a semi-circle of fluted columns carrying busts of Roman Emperors. There, after doing the honours with refreshments, Gulia left the two men.

  ‘Well, my dear Count,’ said the young King, ‘it seems that you are extremely lucky to be alive; and I am delighted to find that the only ill effect you now show from your terrible ordeal is a game leg. I read with the greatest interest the report that you dictated for me to José de Cordoba.’

  De Quesnoy smiled. ‘I thank your Majesty; and I am most grateful, too, for the gracious messages you sent me during the bad time I went through. For some days it was touch and go, but in a week or two I should be completely recovered. My only regret is that I was found out before I could secure conclusive evidence against Ferrer and his fellow assassins.’

  ‘Yes, that was bad luck. But as things turned out their attempt to murder you has given us enough to get all those involved a life-sentence and, perhaps, linked to other charges, sufficient to justify the death penalty.’ The King lit a cigarette and went on. ‘In any case Alvaro Barbestro’s goose is cooked bebause he was actually seen shooting at General Quiroga; and, I think, Ferrer’s too, because you can give evidence that
the plot against Quiroga was mentioned before you when they had you in the foreman miller’s house, and Ferrer was present.’

  ‘True,’ murmured the Count. ‘And he is the one above all others that we must endeavour to put out of the way for good. I am convinced that he is their ring-leader. He could even continue to be dangerous in prison. May I ask how matters stand at the moment?’

  ‘Ferrer, his mistress, all his family with the exception of his younger son, and the whole staff of the Escuela Moderna are under arrest. The school, of course, is closed. When it was raided a considerable quantity of papers were seized, among them some letters from Morral. There is enough material, anyway, to justify holding these people on suspicion that some, if not all of them, were privy to the attempt made by Morral to assassinate me on my wedding day. Even without your evidence, Ferrer and his closest associates will have great difficulty in proving their innocence, and your testimony will make certain of their conviction.’

  ‘When, Sir, is their trial to take place?’

  ‘At your convenience, my friend,’ smiled the King. ‘After what they did to you I see no reason why they should not remain kicking their heels in prison for as long as you require treatment for your leg. Those who were not concerned in your attempted murder are tarred with the same brush as the others. Even if not guilty of active anarchism by openly expressing treasonable views, they stimulate fanatics to commit their abominable crimes.’

  ‘I have massage for my leg every morning to get the muscles back into condition, but I think that in about another fortnight I should be finished with that.’

  ‘Very well, then. The trial can take place towards the middle of October. It is my wish that when you go to Barcelona to attend it you should stay with General Quiroga. He will provide a special guard for your protection and you must promise me not to go out without it. The sooner, too, you can leave the city, the better.’