‘But, Alex, isn’t there something we can do?’
‘Not for the moment, kyria. That’s just what I have come to talk to you about. I’m ashamed to have to confess it, but I don’t think it’s safe for you to remain here.’
‘Safe?’ She could not believe her ears. ‘Here? At Aegina?’
‘It’s the Helena,’ he explained apologetically. ‘Your beautiful steamship, milord. You’ve heard, of course, of the excitement Captain Hastings’ steamship, the Karteria, created when she arrived? And she was invaluable up at Athens until she was damaged. We miss her badly now she’s being repaired. Well, you can see, the Helena, being so much smaller, might be even more useful for reconnaissance and inshore work. She’s a daily temptation to Kondouriotis and his pirates on Hydra and Spetsai. Suppose they should get control of the government, what’s to prevent them from seizing her, on some trumped-up charge, one day when there’s no ship of the Great Powers in port?’
‘Yes,’ Brett said. ‘I’ve been afraid of that. Captain Hastings himself warned me not to let any of the Greek captains on board, on any pretext whatever.’
‘You’re wise,’ said Alex. ‘Though I hate to admit it.’
Jenny laughed. ‘But you’re a Greek captain yourself, Alex. Shall we throw you into the harbour?’
‘Why, so I am, Kyria Jenny, but also, I hope, your friend.’
‘Of course. I was only teasing. But what do you want us to do? Disguise the Helena as a caique, or hide her in one of those secret bays Greece is so rich in?’
‘Precisely that. I should feel much safer if you were where only I could find you. Just until Cochrane gets here—’ He turned to Phyllida and Brett. ‘There’s a bay under Cape Sunion that we use, my friends and I. If you’d let me guide you there—’
‘On the mainland?’ Brett was amazed. ‘But the Turks?’
‘Would never come there in a thousand years. It’s as good as inaccessible by land, and invisible by sea. And it’s known as a haunt of mine and my friends. You’d be safe there. No Greek would dare molest you; no Turk would ever find you.’
‘That may be true enough,’ Brett agreed reluctantly. ‘But still I’m not sure—’
Alex took his arm to lead him a little apart from the others. ‘There’s something else.’ They were out of earshot now, their voices drowned by a fiddle being unmelodiously played on the crew’s bit of deck. ‘I was glad to hear you had not let the ladies go ashore. There’s talk of the plague in that camp of huts outside the town. It may only be talk, but if you’ve been there, you know what the conditions are like. And if it should get a hold—in a place as overcrowded as Aegina—anything could happen. Quite aside from the infection, there’s the question of panic. Suppose someone were to decide that the Helena would be a good way to escape?’
‘But this secret cove of yours: you really think we’d be safe there?’
‘My life for yours, milord.’ He held out his hand. ‘You know, I think, how I feel about the Kyria Phyllida. Do you think I would put her at risk?’
‘No, I don’t.’ Brett took his hand. ‘When shall we start?’
They encountered an unexpected obstacle in Phyllida herself. Their brief conference had given her time to think. When they returned to announce that they intended to sail that same night, she surprised them both with a decisive, ‘No.’ And then: ‘I’m sorry, Brett … Alex … I know you mean it for the best, but I can’t. Go and hide—out of touch—without news—while Peter is in danger every moment? Don’t you see, Cochrane might arrive when you were away, Alex. We might not hear of it—the moment for my intervention might pass without my even knowing about it. Besides, I cannot believe the Helena won’t be safe here at Aegina—safer, if you ask me, than hidden as you suggest. After all, the ships of the Allied Powers are in and out of the harbour here all the time. And I, personally, think better of your fellow countrymen than you seem to do.’
‘But there’s more—’ Brett intervened to explain about the threat of plague.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said again when he had finished. ‘Of course in that case we’ll all stay on board the Helena. You and Marcos will have to go ashore, I suppose, Brett, but I know you’ll take every precaution.’
‘But, Phyllida, think of the danger … To you, to your aunt, to Jenny—’
‘I am thinking of it, and I mind, horribly, that I must expose the rest of you to it. But—I’m sorry to have to remind you of this—I’ve chartered the Helena; I have the right to decide where she goes. And, please understand this, Brett, I have decided.’
‘Oh.’ His face tightened. ‘Of course, if you put it like that there’s no more to be said.’
Chapter 14
‘Forgive me, kyria.’ Alex contrived to snatch a moment alone with Phyllida in the lee of one of the paddle-wheels. ‘I understand now that I should never have suggested your hiding. There’s no end to the surprises you have for me. An Amazon! An Athene! But you will let me leave one of my own men on board with you, as a protection?’
‘Oh, thank you, Alex! You think of everything. I should be grateful! I’d never forgive myself if anything were to happen to Jenny and my aunt.’
‘And I, kyria, would never forgive myself if anything were to happen to you. I’ll speak to Milord Renshaw about the man, with your permission?’
‘Oh yes, please do. He’s angry with me, I’m afraid. It will come much better from you. And stay to dinner, Alex? It will make things easier…’
Was this a mistake? She wished, afterwards, that she knew just what Alex had said to Brett. It was certainly very far from having the effect she had intended. He treated her throughout the evening with a tight, controlled courtesy that she found hard to bear. But Alex was at his most charming and kept them absorbed with his stories of alarms and adventures at sea. Many of these involved Peter, and Phyllida could have listened to him for ever. ‘Oh, yes,’ Alex said. ‘He’s one who can take care of himself, my Brother Petros, but how should he not be, brought up by such a sister! You have never asked me, kyria, what Petros told me about you.’
‘Why, nor I have.’ She laughed. ‘That I was a domestic tyrant, I expect. I’ve always felt I must have failed him somehow, or why did he run away as he did?’
‘For love of a cause, kyria, an ideal. For freedom, and for us poor Greeks. He’s a man in a million, your Brother Petros.’ And, seeing how she enjoyed it, he embroidered on this theme for the rest of the evening.
* * *
Their self-imposed quarantine in the bay of Aegina was no pleasure. Each day, now, was hotter than the last, and as they sat under the awning on the burning deck, the sight of wooded hills and blue distances was merely maddening. Worst of all, for Phyllida, was the knowledge that she was responsible for this discomfort. And Brett continued equally polite and withdrawn. It would have made her furious if it had not made her so unhappy.
It was no comfort to wonder if he might not have been right in urging her to take Alex’s advice and quit the hot and crowded harbour at Aegina. He never raised the subject again, nor commented on the discomforts of their enforced confinement. He did not need to. She saw that Jenny was losing weight, and knew that her aunt was not sleeping. She herself was, simply, miserable. To watch Brett laughing and joking with Jenny, and then suffer his invariable cool courtesy to herself was curiously hard to bear. And yet, she told herself, she ought to be grateful. If she had been afraid, just once or twice, on Zante, that he was beginning to forget Helena for her sake, she had certainly managed a most effective cure. It made things, she kept telling herself, much easier. But it still made her miserable.
So she was immensely relieved when Lord Cochrane finally sailed into Aegina harbour one fine March morning. The handsome eighteen-gun brig bought for him by the Greek Committee of France had hardly downed anchor before emissaries began to swarm on board, both from the shore and from Hamilton’s Cambrian.
‘He’s getting a tremendous welcome.’ Phyllida had watched the whole scene from the deck of the
Helena.
‘Yes,’ Brett joined her at the rail. ‘They seem to think that his coming will solve all their problems. I only hope they are right.’
‘You don’t think so? Do you know Cochrane, Brett?’
‘No. He’s been a semi-exile since that disgraceful business in 1814. You must have heard about it.’
‘No.’ She was delighted to have him talking to her again. ‘What happened?’
‘It was a tremendous scandal at the time. Of course.’ Surprised. ‘Britain and the United States were at war then. You would not have heard. Cochrane engineered, or was supposed to have engineered a false rumour of peace with France, and made a fortune on the Stock Exchange in the resulting confusion. It was an extraordinary business altogether, and I don’t think anyone really knows the rights of it. There was immense popular sympathy with him at the time. He was goaled … escaped … stood again for his seat in Parliament and was actually reelected. He may have been innocent for all I know, but it finished his career in the navy. He’s seen a good deal of service in South America since then. He’s—well, I suppose you’d call him an adventurer.’
‘Then he should just suit the Greeks.’
‘I’m not so sure. What they need is someone who’ll restrain their tendencies that way, not pander to them. I’d rather see Frank Hastings in command of their navy any day, but I don’t think there’s any question but that Cochrane will carry all before him now he’s here. I just hope it works out for the best.’
‘And quickly, so they can set about the relief of Athens. I wish Alex would get back with news.’
‘We don’t need Alex to tell us that everyone admits the supreme importance of relieving Athens. Hastings says there’s a rumour going about that the Great Powers intend any liberation of Greece to apply only to such territory as they hold when the truce finally goes into effect. So they are bound to make every effort to hold the Acropolis, in order to be able to claim possession of at least part of Northern Greece.’
‘I see.’ She found it cold comfort. ‘And, on the same grounds, the Turks will be equally determined to take it at all costs.’
* * *
She met Cochrane at dinner on the Cambrian a couple of days later, and did not like him. ‘Though I can’t think why not,’ she admitted to Jenny afterwards. ‘He has charm enough for ten; I thought he didn’t much like us Americans, but he was certainly courtesy itself to me. And wonderfully confident and reassuring about the Acropolis.’
‘Too confident,’ said Jenny. ‘And did you notice how carefully he apportioned his favours?’ She laughed. ‘Will you think me a jealous cat, love, but it did occur to me someone might have told him you were thinking of giving money to the Greeks.’
‘Wretch! If Aunt Cass wasn’t watching, I’d pull your hair for that! And I so proud of my moment of triumph! No, seriously, it bothered me a little. Who could have told him?’
‘Not Brett, that’s certain.’ Wisely, Jenny left it at that. ‘I’ll tell you something else I didn’t like about Cochrane. Did you see him not seeing Aunt Cass?’
‘Yes, indeed,’ said Phyllida. ‘And how your brother came to her rescue when Cochrane left her stranded. I was grateful.’
‘Oh, you can always count on Brett.’
* * *
Likeable or not, Cochrane succeded where everyone else had failed. The rival Greek governments managed to compound their differences after a series of noisy meetings, and sent for Count Capodistrias to take office as the first President of the Republic of Greece. Cochrane was made Commander in Chief at sea, at Church on land, and a committee of three was elected to govern until Capodistrias arrived.
Oddly enough, it was Alex, now, who urged that Phyllida delay handing over her gift of money to the new government. ‘Pay it in instalments, kyria,’ he said. ‘That way, you will have some control of what is done with it. Besides, who knows, now Lord Cochrane is in command, Athens may be relieved any day. We may have my Brother Petros back with us, able to decide, himself, what’s best to do with it.’
‘What do you think, Brett?’
‘I think it very good advice. There are rumours, you know, that Lord Cochrane is living pretty lavishly at the expense of the Greek government. You don’t want to find yourself contributing to the upkeep of his establishment.’
‘No, indeed!’ The frugal American housewife in her was revolted by the idea. ‘Very well, by instalments it shall be. I’m glad your Cousin George is one of the council of three who are to govern until Count Capodistrias gets here, Alex. But I do wish they would hurry up with the relief of Athens.’
‘Take comfort, kyria. Lord Cochrane is quite as impatient as you.’
‘Yes,’ said Brett. ‘I believe he’s told the Greeks that if they don’t mount an attack soon, he’ll throw up his command and find himself a new adventure.’
‘Would he really do that?’
‘I wouldn’t be surprised. He likes results, does Lord Cochrane.’
They heard, next day, that the new government intended to move its headquarters to Poros. Alex advised that they go there too. ‘It’s a magnificent, landlocked bay. You should be able to find a private anchorage. But first, I hope you will let me take you to see the Temple of Aphaia here on Aegina. I know Miss Jenny has her heart set on that.’
‘Oh yes, please!’ Jenny had been gazing at the blue distances of the Morea and only half listening to the talk, but now joined in eagerly. ‘It’s so mortifying to have been in Greece all this time, and never seen so much as a bit of a classical ruin. Do let’s go. You’d like it, wouldn’t you, Phyllida?’
‘Yes, immensely—if you think it’s safe?’ She addressed the question equally to Brett and Alex.
‘Perfectly,’ said Alex emphatically. ‘We’ll sail around to the bay under the Temple—no threat of plague there.’
‘No,’ said Brett. ‘And, in fact, I’ve not heard any more talk of it here at Aegina.’
‘Very likely it was a false alarm,’ Alex agreed. ‘But—what is it my Brother Petros says? “Better safe than sorry”.’
‘You do speak English beautifully, Alex! You must have worked at it like a Trojan.’
‘Or like a Greek. How glad I am, now that I did.’
Next day dawned fine and windless, so Alex made the short trip round the island on the Helena with them. On his advice, Phyllida and Jenny had both put on full-trousered Turkish costume. ‘We shall need to go ashore and walk a little to get the best view of the temple,’ he explained.
One glance at the pine-covered hillside was enough for Aunt Cassandra. ‘I shall stay on board. You won’t go far, Phyllida?’ It was a plea.
‘No, Aunt.’ Phyllida had hoped that they might be able actually to climb up to the temple that stood high above them, brilliant white against the sapphire mid-day sky. But if she even breathed the idea of so extended an expedition, her aunt would feel in honour bound to come too. She would never get used to these English ideas of chaperonage, and might, perhaps have resisted on her own account, but there was Jenny to be considered. So she sighed and resigned herself to the compromise Alex proposed. A short walk through the pinewoods, he explained, would take them to a clearing from which they could get the best view of the temple, short of actually climbing up to it.
‘Better so,’ he consoled Phyllida as he helped her ashore. ‘Even here, you know, the modern Vandals have been at work. The carvings from the temple have been carried off to Bavaria, and the workmen who took them for Prince Louis were no respecters of antiquities. From down here, you will be able to imagine the building perfect as when it was first dedicated.’ Leading her along the shady path through the woods, he proved surprisingly knowledgeable about the temple. Absorbed in his account of the various theories about its dedication either to Aphaia, Pallas Athene or even Jupiter Panhellenius, Phyllida did not notice for some time that they had left Jenny and Brett far behind. But that was not surprising. As they pushed their way through thickets of flowering almond or purple Judas trees, each su
nlit glade they reached had its own splendour of spring flowers, white drifts of narcissi and daisies, scarlet ones of anemones and everywhere the purple and crimson of poppies. Jenny could never resist a flower she did not know, and any walk with her was punctuated by her exclamations of delight as she darted this way and that to investigate here an unusual iris or there something yellow she had never seen before. And after all she was safe with her brother. But just the same … Phyllida thought of Aunt Cassandra and slowed her pace: ‘We’d better wait for the others, Alex.’
‘But we’re just there. One more turning and you shall have your view of the Temple and think of Aphaia while you wait.’
‘Oh, in that case…’ She moved forward again at his side. ‘But will they be able to find their way?’ Distracted equally by his talk and by the spring glories all around them, she had still noticed that the path was little more than one among many sheep tracks.
‘They can hardly fail to. It’s just to keep going upwards as we have done. Miss Jenny is doubtless after her wild flowers again.’
‘I expect so.’ She continued by his side, but a little slower now, listening for the sound of Jenny’s voice and gay laughter.
‘Phyllida—’ He took her arm to guide her round a projecting piece of rock. ‘Forget about Jenny for once. She’s with her brother. They’ll catch us all too soon. Think of me. Think how I’ve schemed, planned, hoped for this moment.’
‘Planned?’ A little breathlessly, playing for time.
He laughed. ‘Why do you think I wanted, so badly, to get you to Sunion? How could we speak our hearts to each other, on the Helena, surrounded by a thousand eyes? I began almost to believe in our old fable of Argus; I would have despaired, I think, if your beautiful eyes had not sometimes told me to hope. Kyria, tell me I was not wrong! Oh—I’ve no right to ask you this! What have I to offer but a heart that beats only for you, and a castle on the bare rock, down in the Mani? Not even that, if the Turks should conquer us. But that I’ll never believe. And you, you’re rich, beyond imagination. Sometimes, I’m ashamed to have let myself dream of you. But, Phyllida, we shall not be beaten! We Greeks are a nation at last; a nation with pride, with a future. When the fighting is over; when the Turk has been driven from our shores and we establish our kingdom, once more, at Constantinople, who will govern the new Greece but men like me, men who fought and suffered for her? In the present, kyria, I offer you my poverty, but in the future I build you a palace of dreams.’
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