An Innocent in Russia Read online

  “Everything was – arranged for me by the Russian – Embassy – and I think perhaps Aunt Kathleen thought – as I did – that they would send – someone to be with me.”

  Lord Charnock thought that it was what anyone might have expected, but the Countess either had not taken the trouble to enquire into the arrangements made for her niece or else was too mean to pay the fare for a lady’s maid.

  Aloud he then said,

  “You are certainly too young to be travelling alone.”

  He nearly added, ‘ – and too pretty,’ but he was aware that this would frighten Zelina even more.

  “It was – stupid of me not to stay in my – cabin after the way he – behaved last night,” Zelina said in a hesitating little voice, “but the Purser told me it would not – happen again.”

  “I am afraid that is the sort of thing you might encounter on any ship if you travel alone,” Lord Charnock remarked.

  It sounded to Zelina as if he was reprimanding her for being so foolish. She could think of nothing she could say in reply and only bent her head as if she was a schoolgirl who was being reproved.

  After a moment he asked,

  “Why are you going to Russia?”

  “Aunt Kathleen has – arranged for me to – stay in St. Petersburg with the Prince and Princess Volkonsky.”

  “In what capacity?”

  “She was rather – vague about it – but I think I will be – expected to – teach her children to speak English.”

  “Is that something you would like to do?”

  There was a perceptible pause.

  Then, as if Zelina felt that she must tell him the truth, she said,

  “It is – something I had never – thought of doing – but my mother and father are dead – and Aunt Kathleen is – my Guardian.”

  She spoke quite simply and there was no need to elaborate any further. Lord Charnock was well aware that the Countess of Rothbury would have no wish to chaperone a niece and certainly not such a pretty one.

  He never listened to gossip if he could help it, but it was impossible not to be aware that the Countess’s love affair with Lord Merrihew was the talk of the London Clubs.

  Lord Charnock was fond of Harry Merrihew, but he was aware that he had an eye for any pretty woman who came in sight and he was sure in consequence that the Countess had urgent personal reasons for sending Zelina as far away from London as possible.

  “Had you ever thought of going to Russia?” he next asked.

  “It had never been a country that – Papa and I – wished to visit,” Zelina answered, “but Aunt Kathleen thought it – appropriate because my Godmother was Russian and I have a Russian name.”

  “What is it?”

  “Zelina.”

  He thought that Russia, being further from England than any other European country, was the real reason for the Countess’s choice.

  “I am sure that you will find it very interesting once you become used to living there.”

  “I – hope so,” Zelina said in a small voice. “That is why I was – trying to find some – books about it.”

  She looked towards the open bookcase as if to explain to Lord Charnock why she was in the Writing Room in the first place.

  “I cannot imagine that there is anything of any great interest here,” he said scornfully, “but, as I have some books in my cabin, I will tell my valet to bring them to you and I am sure that you will find them informative if somewhat difficult to read.”

  Zelina smiled and it swept away some of the fear in her face and Lord Charnock realised that she was not trembling as violently as she had been when she had first sat down.

  “Nothing is too hard for me to read,” she said, “and thank you very much indeed for saying you will lend me your books. If you have one on Politics, I would like that more than anything else.”

  Lord Charnock raised his eyebrows.

  “Politics?” he enquired.

  “Papa explained to me about the Prussian occupation of Poland and the trouble in Turkey three years ago. I thought then how clever Lord Palmerston was being in coping with these problems.”

  “He is indeed,” Lord Charnock agreed.

  He was exceedingly surprised that Zelina was interested in such things, finding usually that women, especially if they are pretty, find Politics a bore.

  However he had no intention of discussing such matters with a young girl who might repeat or twist what he said and he therefore rose to his feet, saying as he did so,

  “If you feel better now, Miss Tiverton, I will escort you back to your cabin and I suggest that, as you have had an uncomfortable experience, it would be wise for you to have dinner there tonight,”

  “I meant to do that anyway,” Zelina replied, “and, if I could have something to read, I would not need to be seen until we reach Stockholm.”

  “Stockholm?” Lord Charnock questioned.

  “That is where I change onto a Russian ship.”

  She looked up at him and asked,

  “Are you getting off before that?”

  Even as she spoke, she thought that what she was implying was a definite imposition.

  Equally she could not bear to think that, if any further unpleasantness did arise with Mr. Adamson, Lord Charnock would not be on board.

  She had never dreamt and had never imagined that she would be involved with a man like Adamson and with nobody to turn to for protection.

  Now she thought frantically that she would lock herself in her cabin and stay there until the moment came when she must transfer to the Russian ship at Stockholm.

  Then it flashed through her mind that there would probably be other men of the same type in that ship and, if they were Russian instead of English, it might be even worse.

  As she was thinking, she had no idea how revealing her eyes were or perhaps, because Lord Charnock was perceptive, he was aware that her fears were mounting.

  He thought for a moment.

  And then he said,

  “Actually I am getting off at Copenhagen.”

  Zelina realised that when he did so there was still the voyage up the Baltic to Stockholm and she supposed that Mr. Adamson would still be aboard.

  She was silent for a moment.

  Then she suggested,

  “I have – no right to ask this, my Lord, but could you please – find out if that – man is leaving the ship at Copenhagen or travelling on to – Stockholm?”

  Then, as if it was difficult to speak as calmly as she was doing, she added frantically,

  “Y-you don’t think he will – be going on to – St. Petersburg?”

  “I will find out where he is going,” Lord Charnock promised, “and also make sure that he behaves himself. I promise you that the Captain will take a very serious view of men who thrust themselves on unprotected women, but you know as well as I do that you should not be travelling alone.”

  He spoke sharply because it made him so angry that the Countess of Rothbury should have put her niece in such an incredibly vulnerable position and had then tried to make him feel responsible for her.

  Zelina heard the anger in his voice and saw it in his face.

  “I am sorry – very sorry to be such a – nuisance. Please – forgive me – and I will try not to – b-bother you again, my Lord.”

  The way she spoke and the fact that the fear was back in her eyes made Lord Charnock feel that he was being cruel to someone who was so small and defenceless.

  “I told you to leave this to me,” he said, “and I think, if you will honour me by dining with me this evening, it will make it absolutely clear to that very unpleasant man that you are under my protection. In which case I am certain that he will not interfere with you again.”

  “Can I – do that?” Zelina asked in a low voice. “Do you – mean it, my Lord?”

  “I shall be delighted for you to do so and perhaps I will be able to tell you something of what you want to know about Russia.”

  Zelina drew in h
er breath and Lord Charnock saw that the stricken look had gone from her eyes and instead they were shining.

  “It is very – very kind of you, but you are – quite certain I will not be a bother – and you would not rather read your book than talk to me?”

  Lord Charnock smiled.

  “If we bore each other, we can both read our books. So bring yours with you, but I doubt if reading it will be necessary.”

  “I do hope not!”

  Because she spoke so fervently, he laughed.

  “I think we should dine a little later than usual,” he said, “and hope that the more rowdy elements amongst the passengers will have nearly finished their meal. I will wait for you in the Saloon at eight o’clock.”

  “Thank you – thank you – very much, my Lord.”

  *

  Zelina took a great deal of trouble in arranging her hair when she dressed for dinner.

  Her aunt’s maid had packed only three simple evening gowns for the voyage, telling her that her best one should not be worn until she reached St. Petersburg.

  Even so they were expensive gowns that had come from Bond Street and in Zelina’s eyes they were so beautiful that she was almost afraid to touch them.

  When her aunt had seemed so kind in buying them for her, she had had no idea that she was doing so because she was sending her away and in fact had provided her with enough clothing to last for a year or more.

  But whatever the reason, it was a relief to think that in St. Petersburg she would not feel like a beggarmaid or be treated as one.

  She was not quite sure that in Russian eyes she would be nothing but a Governess, whose treatment in English houses was something that had aroused her aunt’s compassion.

  “Poor creature,” she had said once when they had heard their hostess being rude to the Governess who looked after her children.

  “Surely it is very wrong for any lady to speak like that to somebody who cannot answer back?” Zelina had pointed out at the time.

  “Governesses have a particularly bad time of it because they are between the Devil and the deep blue sea,” her mother had replied.

  Zelina looked at her mother for an explanation and she said,

  “They are not considered to be the equal of their employers, but are a cut above the other servants. They are therefore in a world of their own with few privileges and I always feel sorry for them.”

  After that Zelina had always gone out of her way to speak to the Governesses at the houses they visited and she knew that they were grateful for any attention they might receive.

  That, she thought, was the position she would now find herself in. It was a frightening thought and a humiliating one.

  Then she decided that, if it was too unbearable, she would go home and, once she was back in England, there would be nothing that Aunt Kathleen could do about it.

  When she was finally dressed and looked at herself in the mirror, she did not appear in the least like a Governess.

  In fact, she thought, she might be going off to her first fashionable ball, which would be a thrill that she had never known.

  She could not help feeling a little sad that, while she was in London, she had never had the chance even of seeing one of the Society balls that were described in The Ladies Journal as being so spectacular.

  She had often imagined beautiful women like her aunt dancing under chandeliers lit with hundreds of tapers while an orchestra played romantic waltzes.

  The floor would be filled with elegant gentlemen dancing with ladies who in their lull gowns looked like swans as they moved over the polished floor.

  ‘Perhaps even in Russia I shall not be asked to a ball,’ Zelina thought despondently.

  Then she told herself that she should not speculate about what might lie in the future, but would enjoy herself tonight because she was dining with a man who had the answers to many of the questions that puzzled her.

  She was wary of being in the Saloon too early and having to wait alone, but, when she reached it, Lord Charnock was there, looking extremely smart in his evening clothes but somehow more awe-inspiring than he had been in the afternoon.

  Zelina curtseyed to him and he said,

  “I am sure by this time you are hungry, I have a feeling that, as the food will not be very palatable, our conversation must be a recompense for it.”

  “That is what I am looking forward to,” Zelina said, “and I am sure that when you talk about the things I want to hear, the food will taste like ambrosia.”

  “I only hope you will not be disappointed.”

  He spoke in such a dry way that it made Zelina wonder nervously if she had been too enthusiastic and she told herself humbly that she must behave in a very circumspect manner since he was being so kind in letting her dine with him when she was quite certain that he would rather read his book.

  When they appeared together in the Dining Saloon, Zelina was aware that there was a sudden hush amongst the other diners and every head was turned in their direction.

  She did not look, but she was quite certain that Mr. Adamson would get the message that Lord Charnock intended to protect her and he would not dare approach her again.

  They reached the alcove where there were two Stewards waiting to assist them to their chairs and there was a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket.

  When the food came, Zelina was quite certain that it was not the meal that she would have been eating if she had been at her own table.

  Instead they started with caviar and then there were other dishes that, while she found them delicious, Lord Charnock ate without comment.

  They talked and she was delighted that at last she had found somebody to tell her a little about Russia.

  She was intelligent enough to realise that everything Lord Charnock said was somehow impersonal and could have been printed in any guide book without anybody questioning its source.

  Yet she found it fascinating to listen to his description of the building of St. Petersburg when the Capital should really have been situated in another part of Russia where the climate was more salubrious.

  “Czar Peter the Great was a fantastic character,” Lord Charnock said, “and, although you will find St. Petersburg itself an awe-inspiring City, it is difficult to forget that the historians claim that more than two hundred thousand people died in twenty years while the City was being constructed.”

  Zelina gave an exclamation of horror and he continued,

  “While labourers were recruited from all parts of Europe, wages were not paid, desertion was chronic, sickness festered and death came in that delta marsh with the Neva constantly in flood.”

  Lord Charnock realised as he spoke that he was painting a picture that to Zelina was as vivid as if she saw it happening before her very eyes.

  He found it a compliment that he had not enjoyed before to be with a woman who was so absorbed by what he was saying that he was aware that she did not think of him as a man but almost as if he was an oracle.

  He went on to explain how occasionally the slaves rebelled, whilst Czar Peter, living for years in a small log cabin consisting of three rooms, flung himself into activities that ranged from personally hammering out sheets of iron weighing hundreds of pounds to performing an operation on a woman suffering from dropsy.

  “Was he really mad?” Zelina asked.

  “No – Russian!” Lord Charnock replied. “His reforms and innovations are impressive. He built up much heavy industry in the Urals, founded Military and Naval colleges, schools for engineers and introduced the first Russian newspapers, the first public theatre and the first hospital.”

  “He sounds quite fantastic!” Zelina exclaimed.

  “But the bonds of serfdom were always tight,” Lord Charnock went on. “The Nobility lost its last thread of independence and the Czar allowed no man to possess anything that he could call his own.”

  They talked until they were the last people left in the Dining Saloon.

  When Zelina then realised tha
t they must leave, she said in a voice that vibrated with sincerity,

  “Thank you! Thank you! I cannot tell you how wonderful it has been for me to listen to you and to learn so much. You have been very very kind, my Lord.”

  “I too have enjoyed the evening,” Lord Charnock replied. “I hope I can persuade you to dine with me tomorrow.”

  He did not miss the excitement in Zelina’s eyes.

  “You are quite – certain that you will not find it a – bore?” she asked.

  “I am being selfish in admitting that I would not ask you unless I wanted you to accept.”

  “Thank you. It is an invitation I shall look forward to all day, even when I am reading your books.”

  They left the Dining Saloon together and, when they reached the deck above, Zelina curtseyed.

  “Thank you a thousand times, my Lord, for the most delightful evening that I have ever spent,”

  She walked away towards her cabin without waiting for his reply.

  He thought as he watched her go that never before had he met a woman who did not try to stay with him for a little while longer or had been so attentive to anything that he might say.

  ‘She is certainly different from her aunt!’ he told himself.

  Then, as he went into his own cabin, he was thinking about the amount of work that was waiting for him there in the despatch-boxes.

  Chapter three

  “I hear, my Lord,” the Captain said, “that you’re thinking of leaving us at Copenhagen.”

  “I am indeed,” Lord Charnock nodded in reply. “His Imperial Majesty is sending the Royal Yacht, Ischora, for me.”

  “It’s an honour,” the Captain commented briefly.

  He was silent for a moment and Lord Charnock realised that he was debating in his mind what he should say.

  They were now passing through the narrow strait between Denmark and Sweden with beautiful scenery on each side and out of the strong wind the ship was moving smoothly and comparatively fast without the need of her auxiliary sails.

  “I’m worried, my Lord,” the Captain said at last, “about Miss Tiverton, who I gather is travelling with us as far as Stockholm.”

  “So she has informed me,” Lord Charnock replied coldly.