Bedlam: The Further Secret Adventures of Charlotte Brontë

by Laura Joh Rowland

  Lord Palmerston was sympathetic yet still skeptical. “Let me see if I understand you correctly. You heard about the scientist, the invention, and the Tsar’s plot from Slade. You believe that the man who interrogated you in Bedlam is Wilhelm Stieber, who uses the asylum as his personal prison and interrogation ward, because Slade told you as much. Slade also told you that he is innocent of all the crimes laid on him and he has been framed. Is that correct?”

  Dismay crept through me because I sensed where this was going. “. . . Yes.”

  “In fact, all your information comes from Slade,” Lord Palmerston said.

  “Also from Katerina,” the Queen reminded him.

  “The incoherent speech of a dying woman,” Palmerston said. “Your Majesty pointed that out earlier.” She looked nonplussed; he’d stymied her with her own statement. “We have only Slade’s word to support Miss Brontë’s story, and Slade has been officially discredited.” He said to me with regret, “The government cannot mount a search for a secret weapon that may not exist. Nor can it take action to protect Slade.”

  My heart plunged into despair. Rejected by the highest authority, at the end of my resources and strength, I wanted to put my head on the table and weep.

  “The government can take action if I say so,” the Queen declared. “And I say that it shall answer Miss Brontë’s plea for help, rescue John Slade, and save England from a Russian attack!”

  Surprise accompanied the hope that revived in me. Even though the Queen was in a contrary mood, I had not expected to find her my partisan. I’d thought she hated me too much.

  “That would be most unwise, Your Majesty,” Lord Palmerston said.

  “Why?” The Queen was flushed and exuberant, spoiling for another clash of wills with him. Her husband laid a cautioning hand on her arm, but she shook it off. “What is so unwise about helping a friend who once rendered me a heroic service?”

  “Should you come to the defense of a traitor, your reputation with the public would suffer,” Lord Palmerston said.

  “That is a valid point,” Prince Albert said.

  Now faced with two opponents, the Queen swelled with determination. “Then you shall act on my behalf.” She pointed dramatically at Lord Palmerston.

  “Me?” He flinched. “What do you expect me to do?”

  “You’re so clever, you’ll think of something.”

  “But there will be objections from everyone in Parliament.”

  “Just run roughshod over them, like you do over me,” the Queen said blithely.

  Palmerston tried but failed to hide his dismay. “I don’t have as much influence in Parliament as I once did.” His political exploits had made him not a few enemies.

  The Queen glowered at him. “Are you defying me?”

  “No, but—”

  “Well, it certainly seems you are. In fact, I begin to question your loyalty.”

  “I’ve always been your devoted servant,” Palmerston said, but his gallantry fell flat.

  “Oh?” The Queen leveled an accusatory stare on him. “You always go against my wishes when it comes to foreign policy. You supplied arms to Garibaldi and his rebels in Italy to use against King Ferdinand. You also supported the revolutionaries in Hungary against the Emperor of Austria. I begin to think this is a deliberate ploy to undermine my relations.” The Queen shared bloodlines with virtually every monarch in Europe. “I wonder if you are trying to take over the world.”

  Palmerston laughed. “That’s absurd.”

  But perhaps he did entertain such an ambition. I wouldn’t have put it past him. The evening air was thick with sweet, floral fragrances and danger. An insinuation of treason from the Queen was no joke. I could feel Lord Palmerston’s fear.

  “Dearest, please don’t say things you’ll regret later.” Prince Albert obviously dreaded the scandal that would ensue if she sent her foreign secretary to the gallows.

  The Queen rose up in a magnificent fury. “Don’t tell me what not to say! And don’t tell me to calm down, either! You don’t understand what I go through, ruling a nation while perpetuating the dynasty. Men!” She uttered the word with the same bitter exasperation as I’d heard women everywhere do. She pointed at her husband. “You enjoy yourself while I suffer!”

  Lord Palmerston winced: the royal couple’s argument had turned too intimate. He and the Prince seemed to realize that the conversation was headed for dangerous territory.

  “I’m sorry, dearest,” the Prince said contritely. “Please forgive me.”

  “Your wish is my pleasure to grant,” Lord Palmerston said. The Queen gleamed with triumph. “However, I must warn you that there will be repercussions when this business about Slade becomes public.”

  “Then don’t let it become public. That should be easy for you; you excel at covering things up. Work out the details with Miss Brontë. Don’t tell them to me. Wouldn’t you agree that it’s better if I don’t know?” Hinting that his actions must not be traceable to her, the Queen smiled sweetly.

  “Yes, Your Majesty,” Lord Palmerston said

  She said to her husband, “Darling, it’s time to say goodnight to the children.” As she and the Prince strolled hand in hand into the house, she called, “Farewell, Miss Brontë. I trust that we need not meet again soon.”

  Lord Palmerston and I looked at each other in mutual flabbergasted silence. The lamp seemed dimmer, as if the Queen had taken some of its light with her. Shadows encroached on the terrace. The evening breeze had turned chilly. Then Palmerston shrugged and smiled.

  “Well, that’s that, as far as Her Majesty is concerned. However, there remains a problem. Whoever removed you from Newgate Prison—whether it was Wilhelm Stieber or not—did so through unofficial channels. You are out of jail illegally, which makes you a fugitive.”

  “But I’m innocent,” I said, dismayed that he apparently did not intend to make my problems with the law go away. “I don’t belong in jail.”

  “I know,” he said with as much conviction as I could have hoped for, “but I’ve little influence with the police. And although I will put forth my best effort for John Slade, it may not be enough.” His smile was rueful. “Slade and I may both take a fall.”

  My shoulders slumped as defeat crushed me. If he couldn’t help Slade, who could?

  “However, there is a possible solution,” Lord Palmerston said.

  “What?” I didn’t like his dubious tone of voice.

  “A certain judge owes me a favor. I’ll persuade him to muddle up the records concerning your arrest. It will be a few days before the police realize you’re missing from Newgate. Until then, you’ll be free to help Slade. If you’re lucky, you’ll find evidence to support your story and prove that you’re both innocent. It would certainly help your cause if the weapon does exist and you could obtain it for the British government.”

  The daunting weight of responsibility settled on my spirit. “And if I can’t by that time?”

  “I suggest that you turn yourself in, stand trial for the murder of Katerina, and trust to the mercy of the court.”

  I nodded, for although I knew the court had little mercy and if convicted I would be sentenced to imprisonment, committed to Bedlam, or hanged, what other choice had I?

  “It’s too late to do anything tonight,” Lord Palmerston said. “You’ll stay here and recover your strength. Tomorrow, you’ll be given new clothes, money, whatever you need. My men will escort you anywhere you wish.”

  As a maid led me to my room, I thought back on what had been said on the terrace. I was too weary to reconstruct the whole conversation or identify all the motives beneath it, but I had a feeling that Lord Palmerston had manipulated the situation to come out exactly as he’d planned.

  20

  THE SECRET ADVENTURES OF JOHN SLADE

  1850 July. A feverish orange sun set over Moscow. Smoke veiled the red gothic tower that rose above the Saviour Gate to the Kremlin. Inside the tower, John Slade and Prince Orlov mounted the sta
irs to the lookout post at the top, a small, octagonal space with open arches that provided views in all directions. Tsar Nicholas stood looking over the city toward the Presnya quarter, where radicals had incited violence among workers angered by bad conditions in the factories and peasants starved by high food prices. A riot was underway, and riots inevitably led to fires. The Tsar turned away from the distant orange glow of the flames. He faced Slade and Prince Orlov, who bowed.

  “Your Highness,” Orlov said. “This is Ivan Zubov, the man I mentioned.”

  “Ah. The informant who warned us about the riot,” the Tsar said.

  As he and Slade studied each other, Slade saw an intelligent man burdened by responsibility yet determined to lead his kingdom to world supremacy. He knew that the Tsar saw in him a traitor to his own cause and a useful tool for the regime. That was exactly what Slade wanted the Tsar to see. This was a moment of professional triumph for Slade: at last he had breached the strict security around the Tsar.

  “Mr. Zubov spied on the radicals who planned the riot,” Prince Orlov said, eager to curry the Tsar’s favor. “Thanks to him, my men were able to contain it before it could spread to the rest of the city.”

  “Very good,” the Tsar said.

  “Perhaps Mr. Zubov is too good. Or perhaps not good enough.” The harsh voice belonged to a man who stood in a shadowed corner of the tower.

  Slade was disturbed that he hadn’t noticed the man. How could he, an expert spy, fail to detect someone who was only six feet away? The man emanated none of the signals by which people reveal their presence. His breathing was silent. His body had no odor, even on this hot night. He had stood perfectly still until now, when he shifted position. The lights from the city edged his face, whose skin was pitted, whose pale eyes gleamed like mercury.

  “Comrade Wilhelm Stieber,” Prince Orlov said. “I didn’t know you were there. What do you mean by your comment about Mr. Zubov?” He bristled at the criticism of Slade, his gift to the Tsar.

  Slade recalled the information he’d read in Stieber’s dossier. Stieber had been born in Prussian Saxony, had studied law at Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin, had worked for the Berlin police and risen to the rank of Inspector of the Criminal Division. After the revolutions of 1848, he’d been promoted to chief of police. He’d then ventured abroad and cropped up in courts all over Europe. According to his dossier, he was thirty-three years of age, but his gray hair, confident poise, and air of wisdom made him seem decades older, even though he had the vigor of youth. The dossier provided only the meager details that the Foreign Office had managed to compile. Stieber was an enigma.

  Now Stieber addressed Prince Orlov but watched Slade. “Mr. Zubov has warned us about many problems. The riot in Presnya, the anti-government propaganda strewn around the city, and the secret societies recruiting members among the workers and peasants, for example.”

  “That’s to his credit,” Prince Orlov said.

  “But he never warns us soon enough to prevent trouble,” Stieber said. “It always happens anyway.”

  The Tsar frowned as he listened. He was not a rash leader who jumped into disputes and imposed his own opinion; he would rather hear all sides first. Slade hid his own consternation. Did Stieber suspect that he was deliberately delaying his reports? Instinct warned him not to speak. He’d heard that Stieber excelled at reading people. One tiny lapse in his Russian accent could give him away. If there was anyone who could discern that Slade wasn’t whom he purported to be, it was Stieber.

  Prince Orlov said, “Even the best informant can’t always find things out as early as we would like. And if you’re implying that the Third Section is at fault—well, my men react as best they can on short notice.” His bald head and fleshy face glistened with sweat.

  “Those are good excuses,” Stieber said. “If excuses were horses, all men would ride.”

  “We’ve arrested many political enemies since Mr. Zubov began working for us.” Prince Orlov glanced at the Tsar, whose frown deepened.

  “Have you noticed that most of those ‘political enemies’ are thieves, street brawlers, confidence men, murderers, and other common criminals? They’re hardly the cream of the dissident intelligentsia, the people we want to crush,” Stieber said.

  “The three who tried to assassinate me were,” Prince Orlov retorted.

  “So it would seem. Have you also noticed that since Mr. Zubov began working for you, activity among the secret societies has increased, and so has civil unrest?”

  “What are you saying?” demanded Prince Orlov.

  Slade wondered if Stieber suspected the truth about him. Or perhaps Stieber automatically distrusted anyone new to the Tsar’s inner circle; perhaps he was jealous because he viewed Slade as a rival for influence over the Tsar. Slade waited, outwardly calm, tense inside.

  “Just that Mr. Zubov bears watching,” Stieber said evenly.

  His gaze locked with Slade’s. Antagonism sparked between the two men, hot and bright as the fires burning in the city. The figures of Prince Orlov and Tsar Nicholas seemed to waver, no more substantial than ghosts. For a moment Stieber and Slade were alone in the world. Slade realized that he’d met his match. Of the three powerful men, Stieber was the one from whom Slade—and the world—had the most to fear.

  21

  EVERYTHING IN THE WAY OF FOOD, CLOTHING, SHELTER, AND SERVICE was provided for me at Osborne House, but I didn’t like to impose on the Queen after the last, disastrous time I’d spent under her roof in 1848. I hardly slept. The next day I traveled to London and arrived in the evening. I trudged up the steps to 76 Gloucester Terrace and found the Smiths seated inside at dinner. They beheld me with surprise.

  “Charlotte,” George said as he rose from his chair. “I didn’t expect you back so soon.”

  So soon? I’d been gone for three days. I was surprised that he didn’t seem worried. “I’m sorry I left without telling you.”

  “Never mind,” George said. “You’re always welcome here.”

  “Indeed,” Mrs. Smith said, but her smile was false. “Please join us.”

  George pulled out a chair at the table for me and ordered the maid to set another place. “That’s a pretty frock,” his sister Eliza said. “Is it new?”

  “Yes.” The Queen’s servants had obtained it for me. It was a blue-and-white striped summer frock, much more fashionable than the clothes I usually wore. They’d also provided me with new undergarments, shoes, stockings, coat, and parasol. I hardly felt like myself.

  “I’m sorry you had to interrupt your visit because you’d been called home,” George said. “Is everything is all right with your family?”

  I regarded him in confusion. “I wasn’t called home. What gave you that idea?”

  He looked to his mother. Avoiding my gaze, she said, “Why, I just assumed that was what had happened.” She added, “I packed your things and sent them to Haworth.”

  “How kind of you.” I deduced that Mrs. Smith had been glad to have me gone and persuaded George to think I’d been called home. She hadn’t cared what had really become of me.

  “Then what did happen?” George asked. “Where did you go?”

  “I was arrested and put in Newgate Prison,” I said.

  Shocked gasps burst from everyone at the table. George said, “Whatever for?”

  I explained that I had gone to call on Katerina and described the condition in which I’d found her. “I didn’t kill her. I was wrongfully arrested.” I didn’t tell the Smiths what had happened afterward. If I told them where I’d been last night, they would never believe me. Indeed, there was much about me that they would never believe. But my manner must have convinced them that I was telling the truth about my arrest.

  “How terrible.” Mrs. Smith spoke with pity and distaste, but she couldn’t hide her delight.

  I suppose I should have been embarrassed about what had happened and fearful of what the Smiths would think of me; but I had other, bigger concerns.

 
George was aghast. “Why didn’t you let me know?”

  “I tried to send word.” I told him about the priest at the police station. “But it seems the priest didn’t bother to deliver the message.”

  “That’s unfortunate,” George said. “Had I received it, I would have hurried to your rescue at once.”

  Some impulse made me look at Mrs. Smith. Her expression was compounded of slyness and pleasure. George’s gaze followed mine. Astonishment appeared on his face as he drew the same conclusion that I had. “The priest did come,” he said. “I wasn’t at home. He delivered his message to you, didn’t he, Mother?”

  She stammered, then said, “Well, yes.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” George demanded.

  Guilt flushed her cheeks. “When the priest said Miss Brontë had been arrested, I didn’t believe him. I thought he was a prankster.” It was obvious to me that she was lying. I could tell by their expressions that it was obvious to George and her other children as well. They all looked appalled. “I didn’t want to bother you,” she finished lamely.

  I had turned the other cheek to her gibes, but this malicious act I could not tolerate. “You knew I was in trouble and you deliberately turned your back on me! Madam, you are a selfish, jealous, wicked woman!”

  She reacted with the chagrin of someone who has been tormenting a cat and had it suddenly scratch her. I could have raged at her until Christmas, but as her family gaped in shock at both of us, I remembered that George was my publisher and refrained from telling off his mother as thoroughly as I would have liked.

  “I won’t inconvenience you any further,” I said, icily polite now, to Mrs. Smith. Then I walked out of the room.

  I heard Mrs. Smith sputter and George say to her, “You and I will talk later.” He hurried after me. “Charlotte, wait!” He caught up with me outside the house. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s gotten into Mother. I thought she liked you.”

  Men are so thickheaded, I thought. “It’s quite all right.”