That was what the Duke had suspected, but at that moment the carriage came down the road from where Prince Alexander had concealed it.
“Goodnight,” he said and, hurrying down the path followed by Harry, he opened the door and stepped inside the carriage almost before the horse came to a standstill.
As they drove away, Harry made a sound that was one of relief and astonishment combined.
“I certainly did not expect anything like that when we set out this evening,” he said.
“Poor devils!” the Duke remarked. “I could hardly recognise Kerenski.”
“I am not surprised! Don’t forget when you send them clothes tomorrow they will also need a razor.”
“I think they have one,” the Duke answered. “The Grand Duke’s beard is very much the same as it was in the old days, only now his hair is white.”
“I suppose with those ragged clothes a beard is a disguise.”
“An effective one. I cannot believe that their own mothers would recognise them if they saw them in the street.”
“As you say – poor devils! What they must have gone through!” Harry said, “and all four of them look as if they are starving!”
“Well, they will have something to eat tonight at any rate,” the Duke said.
“What did you put in the parcel?” Harry asked.
“Only things which I thought were not likely to insult them,” the Duke answered, “but in the circumstances bread and perhaps some cooked meats would have been more sensible.”
“What did you give them?” Harry enquired.
“Paté de foie gras and caviar!” the Duke answered.
“My God, when they eat that, it will make them inevitably feel a sentimental nostalgia for the ‘good old days’.”
“I think it is more important that it will keep them from dying of starvation until tomorrow at any rate!” the Duke answered.
They drove in silence for a little while until, as they neared the yacht, Harry said,
“I felt damned uncomfortable when they spoke like that about the King refusing to let the Czar and Czarina come to England and I don’t suppose any Russian aristocrats left alive will ever forgive us.”
“It is most unlikely,” the Duke agreed.
He was thinking as he spoke of the anger and bitterness in Princess Militsa’s voice.
Chapter Three
The Duke and Harry sat up late talking over their plans and, when Harry finally retired to bed, he thought it was many years since he had known Buck to be so animated or so enthusiastic about anything.
‘What he always needs is some project that is difficult to keep him interested,’ he told himself.
He thought as he had often done before that if anyone with brains was overwhelmingly rich it was not always an asset.
They had decided they would not say anything to the rest of the party until the last moment.
“If they keep talking it over amongst themselves,” the Duke said wisely, “the Stewards will overhear and I have always believed that servants carry gossip quicker than the pigeons did at the time of the Napoleonic wars!”
They all breakfasted together as usual and Dolly enquired half-heartedly what plans the Duke had for them today.
“If the sightseeing is going to be like it was yesterday with the exception of the jewels in the Sultan’s Palace,” she said, “I would rather do something else.”
“I have a plan,” the Duke said, “but I will tell you about it after breakfast.”
Dolly looked at him enquiringly, but Harry attracted her attention by describing the jewels she would undoubtedly be able to buy in Cairo.
When breakfast was finished, the Duke said,
“I want to talk to you in my cabin. Will you all come along there?”
“What’s up?” Lord Radstock enquired.
As the Duke did not answer him, they all trooped to where the Duke’s special cabin was situated amidships.
He sat down at his desk and only when the door was closed did he say,
“I have something very important to tell you.”
Before he could go any further, Dolly interrupted, saying,
“You look just like a schoolmaster giving a lecture at the end of term. I feel quite certain my report is going to be a bad one!”
“That, of course, depends on you,” the Duke replied.
Because he spoke in a serious tone, both Dolly and Nancy looked at him questioningly.
“I have asked you to come in here where we shall not be overheard,” he went on, “because I am going to ask you today to act a part which, if it is badly done, could have very serious consequences.”
His guests, who did not know what he was talking about, looked puzzled and he went on,
“We have a chance to save the lives of several people, but one false step, one careless word, could result, and I am not being melodramatic, in their deaths.”
“Are you serious?” Dolly asked.
“Very serious!”
“I cannot believe it!” she cried. “Are you telling me that you are in the Secret Service or something like that?”
“Perhaps in a way it is something like that,” the Duke said, “and I am asking for your co-operation.”
“Of course, dear Buck, you have that wholeheartedly,” Nancy cried. “Just tell us what you want us to do and we will do it,”
“Very well.”
The Duke lowered his voice as if even in his private cabin he was afraid of eavesdroppers.
“I have sent one of my staff,” he said, “to procure an open car which I shall drive myself. That is the first step.”
“Where are we going?” Dolly asked.
“We will leave here at a quarter to eleven as if we were going on a sightseeing trip.”
He paused as if he expected an interruption, but as they were all listening intently he went on,
“When we get to the Galata Bridge, Harry will take you beneath it where there are a number of stalls at which you will appear interested and will buy anything that takes your fancy.”
“From what I saw yesterday in the bazaar I should think that is very little,” Dolly remarked.
“I agree it will be rubbish,” the Duke said, “nevertheless, you will make a number of purchases, which Harry will pay for. Then George will suggest that you hire a boat and it will seem a good idea!”
“Why?” Dolly asked.
The Duke ignored the question and went on,
“When a boat has been found, you will all get into it. On Harry’s instructions it will take you round the harbour where we are moored. You will approach the yacht and board it by climbing up the rope-ladders that will be let down on the seaward side.”
Nancy gave a little cry of excitement.
“I have never heard anything so intriguing!” she exclaimed. “And what will you be doing in the meantime?”
“That you will learn later,” the Duke answered, “and I expect to be on board soon after you get back.”
“Then what do we do?”
“The yacht will leave immediately,” the Duke answered. “We are going to Cairo.”
“But I don’t understand,” Dolly said. “What about the people whose lives we are saving?”
“You will meet them in due course,” the Duke replied, “but I wish to impress upon you that this is not a joke or a game. It is a deadly serious operation and, if any of you act at all unnaturally or suspiciously or say anything indiscreet, it might prove disastrous!”
“Are you saying,” Dolly asked, “that people – or spies is the right word I suppose – may be listening to us, watching us?”
“That is a distinct possibility.”
“It sounds creepy and rather frightening.”
“Nothing need frighten you,” the Duke said reassuringly, “if you do exactly what I have told you to do.”
“We will try, we will certainly try not to let you down,” Nancy promised, “and personally I find the whole escapade thrilling!”
“Be careful to say nothing in front of the Stewards,” the Duke warned. “In fact, I forbid any of you to speak of this again until we are steaming away from the City towards the open sea.”
Dolly walked up to the Duke, kissed his cheek and said,
“You certainly think of original ways to keep us amused, darting. I rather like you in the role of ‘Bulldog Drummond’!”
The Duke smiled, but as she and Nancy left the cabin, he said to George Radstock,
“Wait a minute, George!”
The women were out of earshot and the Duke said,
“Do you think you could get hold of one of your wife’s hats, a long coat and also a scarf, the type she would wear if she was going in an open car?”
“Yes, of course,” George Radstock answered.
The Duke hesitated and then he said,
“I would rather she did not know I need them, but if that is impossible then ask her not to tell Dolly.”
There was a faint smile of understanding on George Radstock’s lips as he said,
“I understand. Where shall I bring them?”
“Put them in Harry’s cabin,” the Duke replied.
George hurried after his wife and Harry said,
“I think that was sensible of you, Buck. Dolly is not going to like having another woman on board.”
“That is what I thought,” the Duke replied dryly.
He was in fact thinking that in an adventure of this sort the last person he would have wanted to participate was Dolly.
She was impetuous, impulsive, unreliable and insanely jealous.
There would be no good cause for her to be jealous over Princess Militsa, who had shown already that she disliked him. But the mere fact that she was a woman would be enough to upset Dolly and the less she knew about the Russians until they were safely aboard the better.
From the Duke’s point of view it was difficult to keep his soul in patience until it was time to leave.
Last night he had consulted with Harry over the clothes they would need to disguise the Grand Duke and the rest of his party.
“My trousers will be the right length because both the Princes are very tall,” the Duke had said, “but, as I imagine they are abnormally thin under those rags, your yachting jacket will fit them better than mine.”
“I only have one spare one,” Harry replied.
“Well, luckily I have several,” the Duke said. “I have had to trust my valet with what I need, but, as I have trusted him with my own life on many occasions, I know that he is as safe as houses.”
Harry knew that the Duke’s valet, Dawkins, had been with him in the war and, as he revered his Master, he would do anything that was asked of him.
“What Dawkins has suggested,” the Duke went on, “is that he should put the clothes in a large picnic basket. If there is anyone watching us he will think we are driving outside the City and, when we return quite soon, he will merely assume we have changed our minds.”
“That’s a good idea!” Harry approved.
“The only difficulty now is shoes,” the Duke went on, “although I think the Russians will take the same size as I do myself or perhaps something a little smaller.”
“You can have two pairs of mine,” Harry said. “I think. I do take a size smaller than you.”
“I’ll tell Dawkins,” the Duke said. “You will find everything we require is being accumulated in your cabin.”
There was no need for him to add that it was the one place where Dolly was not likely to see it.
An hour later talking and laughing gaily they went down the gangplank to where waiting for them on the quay was an ancient but large open touring car.
It was a German make and had once been an expensive vehicle that had been left behind after the war.
The Duke amongst his other achievements was an experienced driver and had often competed in the speed races at Brooklands.
He climbed in behind the wheel saying jokingly,
“I hope being somewhat ‘long in the tooth’ it will not strand us in some outlandish place!”
Dolly by right got in beside him, while the three others sat on the back seat.
The picnic basket was strapped behind on the luggage grid and they were off.
“Do you think anyone was watching us?” Dolly asked as they left the quay.
“One never knows,” the Duke replied, “and remember when you are under the bridge anyone in the crowd could be watching you for very much more sinister reasons than that you are very beautiful.”
Dolly preened herself.
“I want you to think me beautiful, Buck,” she said, “but sometimes you are tardy in telling me so.”
“I will make up for it when we have left Constantinople!” he said. “I dislike the place and I am sure that we shall enjoy Cairo much more. You will perhaps be able to find the emeralds there that you have set your heart on!”
“Oh, Buck, do you mean that? How divine of you! I am longing to have some emeralds and the bigger the better!”
Cynically the Duke told himself that he was deliberately bribing Dolly into a good humour and despised himself for doing so.
But there was too much at stake to risk her being in one of her difficult moods and, as he felt her hand on his knee, he knew that the thought of the emeralds would undoubtedly smooth over the rough moments ahead when she met Princess Militsa.
They arrived at the Galata Bridge and the Duke drove the car to the end of it where there were steps for people who wished to go down to sea level.
The Duke gave Harry some instructions and then, as they moved away casually, he drove on, as if he was intent on finding somewhere to park the car.
It was not easy to move quickly through the narrow streets of the Galata district, but he achieved it and soon he was on the road where they had been last night.
He thought, as he passed it, the house where they had met the Grand Duke, looked empty and desolate, which was encouraging.
He drove farther up the road and found the lane that the Prince had described to him and the trees growing down to the very edge of it.
He stopped the car, saw for a moment that there was no one in sight and wondered if he had dreamt the whole episode, or worse still, the Russians had been discovered and killed, as they were afraid they might be.
Then where the trees were thickest, Prince Alexander appeared.
At first sight of him the Duke jumped out of the car and started to undo the rope that held the picnic basket on the luggage grid.
Prince Alexander helped him and only as they lifted it from the grid did the Duke speak for the first time.
“How is His Royal Highness?”
“Very weak.”
The Duke put his hand in his pocket and drew out a flask.
“I thought he would need this.”
“Thank you,” Prince Alexander replied.
He picked up the picnic basket and started to walk back the way he had come.
The Duke wondered if he should offer to assist him, but felt that he might feel insulted. In fact before he reached the shelter of the trees, Prince Ivan appeared to help with the basket.
They disappeared and the Duke started up the car and edged it nearer to the trees.
There was no one about and the sun seeping through the branches was warm, but still not strong enough to melt the snow that lay on the sides of the roads and in the wood.
The Duke looked back and from where he was standing he had a magnificent view of the Golden Horn and how the City straddled Europe and Asia while the high minarets of the Suleymaniye Mosque overlooked the meeting of the waters protectively.
The sea was blue and the City portrayed the beauty and glory that had captivated and inspired artists since the time of the Crusades.
The Duke thought not for the first time that it was a pity the Turks had been on the wrong side in the last war and so
it would take longer than it need have done to bring them back to prosperity.
He seemed to have been waiting a long time and he looked anxiously up and down the lane in case there was anyone about. But it appeared deserted and the only traffic was on the road he had left.
At last, when he was wondering if he should go to see what had happened, he saw figures coming from between the trees.
The two Princes were supporting the Grand Duke and, since they were all now wearing yachting clothes, the Duke thought at a quick glance that they could quite easily be the party he had left at the Galata Bridge.
Wearing Nancy’s coat and hat with a long blue chiffon scarf swathed over it and falling over her shoulders, Princess Militsa looked very different from the scarecrow she had seemed last night.
But in the need to move quickly he barely noticed it,
The Duke helped the Princes lift the Grand Duke into the back seat and one look at His Royal Highness’s bloodless face was enough to tell that he was already exhausted by the effort.
“Give him some more brandy!” the Duke said sharply.
He realised that, while he had been helping with the Grand Duke, the Princess had climbed into the front seat of the car.
Without speaking, he started up the engine, put it in gear and with a sense of relief moved off.
He had been anxious in case, although everything had gone smoothly up until now, the hired car would not start.
He drove to the end of the road before turning round and then drove back the way he had come, crossing over the Galata Bridge without even wondering what had happened to Dolly and the rest, intent only on getting back to the yacht as quickly as possible.
As usual there was a confusion of horse-drawn drays and pedestrians who seemed intent on committing suicide. It was only as he drove down a comparatively empty road to the quay that the Duke had a moment to glance at the silent passenger at his side.
She was staring straight ahead and he realised that her profile was almost Grecian. The firm line of her nose might have been the model for Aphrodite, although the sharpness of her chin did betray how under-nourished she was.
When they reached the quay and bumped over the cobblestones to the yacht, the Duke brought the car as near to it as he could.
Without being told, the Princes hurried to get the Grand Duke out from the back and take him with some difficulty up the narrow gangplank onto the deck.
Princes and Princesses: Favourite Royal Romances Page 79