The Shadow of Tyburn Tree (41 page)

‘Then, Sir,' snapped Roger. ‘Should you persist in giving me the lie, my palm will itch so that it will inevitably make contact with your face.'

With a slight cough the Reverend Mr. Tooke intervened.

‘Gentlemen, this matter has gone far enough. Why you should imagine, Admiral, that the Chevalier is an Englishman I have no idea; but I trust you will be satisfied that he is a person of good standing when I tell you that he has brought me a letter of introduction from our old friend Sir James Harris.'

Roger was filled with admiration for the extraordinarily tactful way in which the learned churchman had provided a bridge while skilfully evading the point at issue. Mr. Tooke had made no admission that his visitor was not, to the best of his belief, a Frenchman, neither had he vouched for his integrity; but he had, by naming him a protégé of the ex-Ambassador, placed him at once on a respectable footing.

‘Ah! Then I'll say no more,' cried the Admiral with ready good humour, but he added with a broad wink at Roger:
‘Except to ask the Chevalier to remember me most kindly to Admiral and Lady Brook, should his travels ever take him to a little town called Lymington'

With a friendly grin Roger hid his confusion at being so completely bowled out. Then, feeling that in the circumstances it would now be both churlish and stupid to persist in, denying his true identity, he said: ‘I pray you pardon me, Sir, for my extreme rudeness, but I had good grounds for striving to preserve my incognito. Tell me now, I beg, how it comes about that you knew me the second you set eyes on me?'

The Admiral laughed. ‘You'd not remember me, but I've known you ever since you were a toddler, and I've a long memory for faces.'

‘I must confess I don't recall our meeting, Sir, though I've often heard my father speak of you with friendship and admiration. You served under him at the reduction of Havana, did you not?'

‘Aye, that was way back in '62 and long before you were born, boy. Your father and I were much of an age and became firm friends despite the deck that lay between us. 'Twas he who persuaded our captain to recommend me as suitable for a commission when the Russians asked for a few British seamen to help train their fleet. Years later, when my squadron re-victualled in England on our way round to Greece, he came aboard to see me, bringing both your mother and yourself. You were no more than a child of two then, but I saw you again at Lymington when you were about eight. You've altered little since then, except that you've grown into a fine figure of a man.'

‘I still marvel that you should have recognised me so instantly, Sir.'

‘ 'Twas the similarity of the name coupled with those dark blue eyes of yours, lad. They are your mother's very own, and I fell in love with her for them the first second I saw her. But tell that to Lady Greig and I'll have you keel-hauled out in Cronstadt Bay. I still see your father on the rare occasions when I get leave to spend a few weeks in the old country, and it chances that he is not at sea himself. Can you tell me how fares it with him?'

‘Why, yes, Sir. When I sailed from England towards the end of April I left him mightily well and in the best of spirits.'

‘Ah! The two of you are reconciled, then. I'm monstrous glad to hear it; for your defiance of him and running away to France near broke his heart.'

Roger flushed. ‘So you knew of that, then?'

‘He told me of it when I was last in England, two summers
back; and I had not heard that you had since made your peace. 'Twas that which made me at first suspicious of your intentions here. I thought mayhap that you were still living by your wits, and had come to Russia in the guise of a Frenchman as a precaution against disgracing your own name, should you be caught while up to some nefarious business. But since you come sponsored by our good Sir James that puts a very different complexion on the matter. I trust that you left that handsome rascal also in good health?'

‘In the very best, Sir. And, I am happy to report, about to be raised to the peerage as Baron Malmesbury, in recompense for his great services to the Crown.'

‘He well deserves the honour. 'Twould in fact have been earned alone by the splendid fight he put up while here against Frederick the Great's malign influence over the Empress.'

‘Let us then drink a glass of wine to his long enjoyment of his new title,'put in Mr. Tooke.

‘I thank you, William,' the Admiral smiled. ‘I'd not say nay to a glass of your good dry Sack.'

When they had drunk the toast, they all sat down, and the Admiral gave Roger a shrewd glance, as he said: ‘I'll ask no questions as to your purpose here, and thereby invite no lies. But your posting as a Frenchman while bringing a secret introduction from Sir James to my old friend, suggests certain possibilities which, in my position, it is difficult to ignore.'

‘I appreciate that, Sir,' Roger replied seriously, and the Admiral went on:

‘ 'Tis said that no man can serve two masters; yet we British—and there are quite a number of us here now that I have leavened the whole Russian Fleet with British officers—have, in effect, achieved an honourable compromise. Technically we are no more than loaned to the Russian Government and can be recalled at any time; but our recall could not be enforced, and many of us have made our homes here. Therefore, most of us feel that our first loyalty should be to the hand that feeds us and the land in which our fortunes lie; yet out of natural sentiment we have pledged ourselves never to take any action which would be definitely to the detriment of the land of our fathers.

‘For example, during the last war the Empress was persuaded by her Minister, Count Panin, to form the League of Armed Neutrality, by which Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Austria and Prussia bound themselves to defend their merchantmen from search for contraband of war being carried to Britain's enemies. Since Russia was the initiator of this pact she would normally have taken the foremost part in these anti-British
activities; but whenever a Russian ship-o'war commanded by a British officer appeared liable to be involved he put a blind eye to his telescope and sailed off in the opposite direction; thus rendering Russia's part in the Armed Neutrality a nullity.'

‘Tell Mr. Brook what came about from the arrival of Paul Jones, Samuel,' put in their host, ‘for that is a more recent example of our compatriots' feelings.'

‘Aye,' the Admiral nodded. ‘You'll have heard of the English renegade who turned pirate and played the very devil with our merchantmen, in the American interest, during our war with the Colonies. When the fighting was over he found that persons of quality in the United States had little time for such a rapscallion and traitor as himself. So, greatly disgruntled, on learning of the outbreak of the new war 'twixt the Russians and the Turks, he came here to offer his services to the Empress. He is a bold enough rascal, but ignorant, and never having directed the operations of more than one ship at a time, completely unfitted for high command. However, misled by tales of his courageous exploits Her Majesty was sufficiently ill-advised to offer him a high appointment in the Grand Fleet, which has been equipping these few months past at Cronstadt.

‘Immediately I was informed of this I called a meeting of the senior British officers in the Fleet. Their opinion was unanimous. Not one of us were prepared to serve either with or under an ex-pirate and a man who had played traitor to his country. Some thirty of us went to the Empress in a body and resigned our commissions.'

‘Well done, Sir,' murmured Roger.

The Admiral chuckled. ‘That put the poor lady in a pretty fix; for such a step being utterly impossible to her own officers it had never entered her mind that we might undertake it. To accept our resignations would have immobilised the Grand Fleet, which is soon due to sail again under Count Orlof for Turkish waters; while to give way to our demand that the man Jones should be dismissed from her service would have created a precedent which might have had most serious repercussions among her own countrymen. She solved this unique challenge to her authority with her usual ability, by sending Jones as second-in-command to the small fleet in the Black Sea. But this little passage of arms is enough to show you that, although far from home and the servants of an autocrat, we British still reserve our right to use our own judgment in all that we feel concerns us.'

Roger smiled his most winning smile. ‘I've never doubted that, Sir, and I trust that in my own case, whatever you may
suspect to be the object of my visit here, you will not disclose your thoughts to others.'

“Not so fast, young man,' the Admiral frowned. ‘If I catch you seeking information regarding the Fleet and its objectives in next winter's campaign against the Turks, I'll regard it as no less than my duty to the Empress to hang you from a yard-arm.'

‘You may be at rest on that score,' Roger volunteered. ‘My mission is political and diplomatic rather than military. Indeed, I am charged to do no more than assess the feelings of the Court on various international problems.'

‘Stick to such matters and I'll regard it as no affair of mine,' said the Admiral gruffly. ‘But please to understand that the Fleet and the port of Cronstadt are barred to you.'

‘ 'Tis a limit that I will willingly observe; and I thank you, Sir, for placing no other restriction upon me.'

The Admiral shrugged. ‘ 'Tis no part of my duty to prevent Court gossip finding its way to Whitehall; but, if I may advise you, I would suggest that you should seek to learn something of the Russian character before endeavouring to assess the value of such rumours as you may pick up. Your ignorance of it was clearly demonstrated by your demanding satisfaction of me a while back; and you will find many other traits in them which will appear fantastic to your English mind.'

‘In that I'd be prodigious grateful for any guidance you may care to give me,' Roger said quickly.

‘To start with then, there is no such thing as honour among the Russians. Neither man's nor woman's word is to be relied upon; so put your trust in no one. They lie more often than they tell the truth, and not from any sense of malice, but partly from habit and partly from the amusement it affords them. There is a law against gambling, yet it remains the principal national pastime, and rich and poor indulge their passion for it alike. Their improvidence is only equalled by their hospitality, and within a week you will find a dozen well-served tables at every one of which you will be welcome by merely appearing at meal-times every day. In fact the rich nobles measure their prestige by the number of hangers-on they can collect and feed gratis at their tables.'

‘Surely that robs their hospitality of much of its merit?' Roger remarked.

‘You are right there, lad. 'Tis mere childish vanity and ostentation which prompts the majority of them to it. And worse, in many cases, since some of them expect their guests to take a hand at cards with them after supper every night, and seek to
recoup themselves for the price of the meal by playing on credit.'

Roger gave the Admiral a puzzled look. ‘I fail to see, Sir, how that can benefit them; since, if they are losers, they must settle up just the same in the long run.'

‘Not a bit of it,' laughed the Admiral. ‘I tell you that the word “honour” has no equivalent in the Russian tongue. If you indulge in gambling and are fool enough to let one of your opponents play on credit, should he lose, it is entirely at his option whether he pays you his debt later, or not. Should he decline and you complain of it, everyone else will simply laugh at you, and he will go up in their estimation as a clever fellow. What is more, they boast openly of their ability at cheating, and are always on the look out for gullible strangers from whom they may make a picking.'

‘I would that I had known this a few months back,' Roger, said with a rueful grin. ‘I lost three hundred guineas one night to Count Vorontzoff, the Russian Ambassador to the Court of St. James. Had I but been aware that I could have so lightly laughed off the debt the following morning, it would have saved myself and others a multitude of complications.

‘That would be Count Sergius Vorontzoff,' remarked Mr. Tooke. ‘His father was the last Grand Chancellor. No other has been appointed since his death and the powers of the post are more or less shared by Prince Potemkin and Count Bezborodko, who succeeded Count Panin as the Empress's principal adviser on Foreign affairs. The latter is a connection of the Vorontzoffs, and the family's influence is still very great. One of the old man's daughters is the celebrated Princess Dashkof. At the age of eighteen she played a leading part in the conspiracy which placed Catherine on the throne. Her sister, Elizaveta Romanovna, was Peter the Third's mistress while he was Grand Duke, and during his short reign; and the other brother, Count Alexander, is the head of the College of Commerce.'

‘It seems strange to think that so violent a man as Count Sergius has a brother who is a Professor,' Roger remarked, ‘and stranger still that a country so backward as Russia should have a college devoted to training young men to enter trade.'

‘Nay,' Mr. Tooke smiled. ‘You are mistaken on both counts. Here, when one speaks of the College of Commerce, or War or Justice, one means the Government department, and the head of each is the responsible Minister. Yet the present Empress, herself a woman of quite exceptional culture, has performed prodigies in improving educational facilities. In addition to greatly increasing the number of military, naval and agricultural schools,
she has instituted academies of Medicine, Mines, Teaching, Art and the Theatre, and even founded a seminary for young ladies of the nobility. So that nearly seven thousand pupils now receive their education at the expense of the Imperial purse; as once nominated to these institutions there are no fees to pay, the whole cost being borne by the Empress.'

‘Russia certainly seems a land of extraordinary contrasts,' said Roger, thoughtfully.