The Shadow of Tyburn Tree (48 page)

Since his return from the front Roger had assiduously attended all Court functions and exercised his social talents to
cultivate the acquaintance of as many influential people as possible; so he was now
au courant
with all the general gossip of the day. But he still relied mainly on Natalia Androvna to supply him with the more intimate tid-bits which were let drop by the Empress when she was alone with her ladies. It was, therefore, from Natalia that he learned of the arrival of the Finnish deputation and that it was headed by Count Yager-horn.

As it was not always easy for Natalia to drive as far as St. Petersburg in the afternoons to visit Roger at his lodgings, they sometimes met at the
Krasnoë-Kabac,
some eight
versts
outside the city. The place was a small red-painted inn with a pleasant garden, where tables were set in creeper-covered arbours giving a welcome seclusion to couples who wished to dine in private and afterwards linger there in amorous dalliance. It was a favourite haunt of the rich bourgeois of the city on Sundays, but on weekdays was usually almost deserted. They had dined there off sturgeon and a well-hung reindeer-steak, and were well into their second bottle of wine when Natalia told Roger about the Finns.

He said nothing for a moment, but his mind instantly quickened with the most lively emotions. He was far from having forgotten his last meeting with Count Yagerhorn, and had sworn to himself that sooner or later he would get even with him.

At first sight, the Count's arrival in St. Petersburg seemed to present a most welcome opportunity, but on turning the matter over in his mind, Roger realised that as duelling was contrary to custom in Russia, it was unlikely that his enemy would accept a challenge, and that, owing to the vigilance of the night-watch, it would be highly perilous to waylay him in the street and force a fight upon him.

Natalia broke in upon his thoughts. ‘Will you give me an extra long kiss if I tell you what you are thinking? 'Tis how you can revenge yourself on Erik Yagerhorn for the beating that he gave you.'

He laughed. ‘ 'Twas easy to guess, but you shall have your kiss and more like it as soon as we have finished this dish of creamed rowanberries. Tell me, what are your feelings now towards the Count?'

‘I have none,' she shrugged. ‘You know as well as I that you have made me love you to distraction. There is no place in my heart for other lovers, old or new. Should it be your wish I will aid you to settle your score with him. But you must have a care how you set about it, for as a semi-official Ambassador he will be under the special protection of the Empress.'

Knowing Natalia to be an habitual liar, Roger took most of her statements with a grain of salt, but for once he thought she was giving true expression to her feelings. He knew that since he had adopted Russian methods with her he now represented in her eyes the best combined qualities of east and west, which it would have been difficult for her to find in another lover; and he was as certain as any man could be that she was faithful to him. Moreover, any project of revenge was calculated to appeal to the vicious streak in her nature.

‘You are an enchantress,' he said, after a moment. ‘And since you could offer me no better proof of your love, I accept it. 'Tis certain that you will see the Count, so I would have you renew your old friendship with him. Mark you, 'tis far from my mind that you should once more become his mistress, and did I catch you out as having pleasured him I would beat you till you are black and blue. But make it appear that you have pleasant memories of your former intercourse, and lead him on to hope that you will give him an assignation.'

Her green eyes brightened with amusement. ‘I take your thought; and when I eventually grant it to him 'twill be you that he will find tucked up in bed, instead of myself. So be it then; I make only one stipulation. I must be there hid behind a curtain to see the fun.'

Roger readily agreed and they both laughed heartily at the thought of the Count's discomfiture.

In the ten days that followed Natalia kept him informed both of the progress of this intrigue and the Empress's negotiations with the Finns. It seemed that a deadlock had been reached, as the deputation was divided into two factions. Both were prepared to turn their arms against Gustavus if Catherine would give them her support by prosecuting the war more vigorously; but one group demanded complete independence for Finland as the price of their treachery, while the other, led by Count Yagerhorn, was willing to see their country a Russian province provided only that she would assist them to expel the Swedes. Meanwhile Natalia had found it easy to enmesh Yager-horn in her toils again, and he was pressing her ardently for a private meeting.

On the afternoon of Monday, the 27th of August, while he was visiting Roger at his lodgings, she said to him: ‘The plum is ripe for the picking when you have a mind to it. No sooner did I show him that I was not averse to his attentions than he naturally assumed that I would be willing to, resume our old relations. He has taken my excuses in good part so far, but it will soon become difficult for me to find adequate ones with which to fob him off much longer.'

Roger grinned. ‘I should have realised how swiftly your charms would madden any man who had once known you, and have prepared a plan already. As it is I pray you keep him dangling for a day or two yet, while I work out the details.'

‘So be it then, Rojé Christorovitch, but delay not too long, for the affair of the Finns will shortly reach a crisis; and once a decision is taken they may hasten back to their own country.'

He looked up quickly. ‘How so? What new development has taken place to precipitate their reaching an agreement?'

‘ 'Tis the Danes,' she said softly. ‘But I beg you speak of it to no one, for 'tis still a State secret of the highest order. I learned it only because the Empress must have forgotten that she had left me in a closet adjacent to her room last night, while she received Bezborodko. She had set me to read through some papers concerning the hospital she established a few years back to which women of all classes can go in secret for the treatment of certain diseases. I was to report to her upon them, but I heard every word that was said. It seems that when she ceded her deceased husband's patrimony of Holstein to the Danes in exchange for the little duchies of Oldenberg and Delmenhorst, in '73, there was a secret clause in the treaty by which Denmark bound herself to come to Russia's assistance should she be attacked by Sweden.'

Roger's mind flashed back to his talks with Mr. Hugh Elliot the previous April in Copenhagen. This was the very thing that shrewd diplomat had suspected; but for something of the sort, Catherine appeared to have made such a poor bargain.

Leaning towards him, Natalia Andreovna went on in a whisper: ‘Last month the Empress called on the Danes to honour their bond, and they have now agreed to do so. As soon as their preparations are completed they intend to declare war on Sweden.'

With a swift glance at the thin, clever face so near to his own, Roger took her up. ‘And your conclusion is, that now the Empress knows that she can count upon the Danes she can tell these Finnish rebels that she no longer requires their aid; or will accept it only on her own terms of Finland becoming a Russian province?'

Natalia nodded. ‘You have it. So they will be forced to say yea or nay within the next few days. But Her Majesty and Bezborodko agreed that not even the Finns should be told what lies behind the ultimatum; so that the Danish attack on Sweden may come as a complete surprise, and prove the more deadly. I entreat you, therefore, not even to hint it to another soul.'

‘Be easy; no one in Petersburg shall learn of it from me,' he
assured her with swift duplicity. His mind was now working fast and furiously. It was just such advance information of coming events that Mr. Pitt had sent him to Russia to get. He must send a despatch that night via Mr. Tooke and the British Embassy, although the chances were against it reaching Whitehall before the Danes had acted, or their intention of doing so was an open secret. But, far more important, King Gustavus must be warned, because he was so intimately concerned in it. These tidings could hardly be less welcome to a man already in such a difficult situation, and Roger did not see what the Swedish King could do to counter this new threat. Still, that was beside the point. Good or ill, the news must be got to him with the least possible delay.

As Roger wondered how he could get a message to Gustavus, he recalled Natalia having told him some days earlier that, in order to win the confidence of the Finnish deputation and show them how strong she was, the Empress had ordered that all its members should be given
laisser-passer,
which would allow them to pass all military posts at will. It then occurred to him that Count Yagerhorn would be carrying such a pass, and that if he could entrap the Count he could not only give him a good beating, but also take it off him, thus killing two birds with one stone. Armed with the pass he should find no difficulty in getting through the Russian lines, and once in Swedish-held territory, he could himself carry the vital news to Gustavus.

‘You are right about Yagerhorn,' he murmured. ‘If we delay further he may slip through our fingers. Think you that tomorrow evening you could get leave of absence?'

Natalia smiled. ‘I am in personal attendance only every fourth night, so that should not be difficult.'

‘Then I suggest that you do so, and give the Count his assignation. Tell him that a discreet friend has lent you a lodging off the Nevski, and that you intend to pass the night there under the name of—let us say—Madame Zabof. The apartment, of course, will be my own. You can come there at any hour you wish and I will warn the landlord that a stranger will inquire for you, and that he is to say nothing of my presence but show the fellow up.'

‘I could get leave for the evening but not for the night,' replied Natalia. ‘I have told you oft enough that the Empress insists on all her ladies-in-waiting sleeping at Peterhof.'

‘I have had frequent cause to curse the rule for depriving me of your company,' he agreed, ‘yet hoped that for once you might get a dispensation from it.'

‘Nay, 'tis impossible. But no matter; I can gain admission
by the side door of the palace at any hour up to midnight. There will be ample time to settle Erik Yagerhorn's business before I have to leave you.'

Roger was still thinking quickly, and said: ‘I am all the more sorry that you will be unable to spend the night with me; in that, after tomorrow evening, I shall not see you for a few days. I have accepted an invitation to go fishing on Lake Ladoga.'

‘With whom?' she asked sharply.

‘Monsieur de Ste. Croix,' he lied, naming an elderly Frenchman who rarely came to Court. ‘The trip is but for three days. I leave on Wednesday morning, and expect to be back by Friday night.'

‘Why did you not tell me of this before?'

‘Because the invitation was offered to me only this morning!'

Her green eyes narrowed. ‘I believe you intend to deceive me and have invented this expedition in order to be free of me for a while, so that you can amuse yourself with another woman.'

For a second he was on the point of conforming to the Russian code that he had adopted towards her since they left Sweden, by giving her a good slap and telling her to mind her own business; but he thought better of it. To do so would quell her complaints but leave her still suspicious, and he did not want her to start inquiring into his movements while he was away. So he brushed her accusation aside with a laugh, and said:

‘I pray you use that good brain of yours, my beautiful Natalia Andreovna. Since you must perforce always occupy your bed in the palace, I could sleep with a different woman every night and you know nothing of it. But, having you for a mistress, none but a fool would waste himself in such infidelities, and I trust that there are as yet no signs that I am wanting in my wits.'

She smiled and kissed him. ‘You are right, my handsome one. I've enough experience of men to tell when they have begun to cheat me, from a falling-off of their ardour. Go then to your fishing, and may you have good sport. Tomorrow I will be at your lodging by four o'clock, so order a good dinner to be sent up, and I'll bid Eric Yagerhorn to rendezvous with me there at seven. His discomfiture will provide us with a most diverting dessert.'

Immediately Roger got back to his apartment he wrote a lengthy despatch, giving his impressions of the Russian Court and ending with the news that the Danes were preparing to intervene in the Russo-Swedish war.

The following morning he carried it round to the Reverend
William Tooke, who promised to arrange for its transmission to London with the minimum of delay.

He then set about his preparations for the culmination of this plot against Count Yagerhorn and his projected journey into Finland. At the pastrycook's he ordered an excellent meal to be sent to his lodgings that afternoon. He also bought some cold food and a couple of bottles of wine, which he carried round to the livery-stable where he kept the mare that Natalia had given him. Having assured himself that she was in good fettle to take the road, he packed the provisions into her saddlebags, and gave orders that she was to be saddled and ready for him at ten o'clock that night.

Returning to his lodgings he arranged with Ostermann to serve dinner and gave him his other instructions. Lastly he saw Zaria. First he impressed upon her that in no circumstance was she to come down from her attic that evening until he came up to fetch her; then he told her that she was to go to bed and sleep that afternoon, as he had a special task for her which would mean her staying up from ten o'clock till dawn.

Having thought the matter over with considerable care he had decided that whether he succeeded in securing Count Yagerhorn's
laisser-passer,
or not, he would set out that night. Natalia would have to start back for the Peterhof soon after ten. If all went well, Yagerhorn would by then have been
hors de combat
for some hours; so it should not be difficult to keep him captive until the following morning, in order to prevent him from going straight to the police, reporting that he had been attacked, and raising an immediate hue and cry. By the time the Count was free Roger hoped to have put many miles between himself and any possible pursuit. Natalia, Ostermann and Zaria would believe that he had gone off on his fishing-expedition, and the Finn would be baffled by his disappearance. If Yagerhorn did then go to the police Roger thought it unlikely that, the first excitement being over, they would interest themselves much in a fight between two foreigners; and that, although he might be called on to answer their questions on his return to St. Petersburg, providing he had not done the Count any serious injury, nothing would come of the matter.