An Innocent in Russia Read online

  He wondered why the Captain should take it on himself to discuss Zelina with him, but his next words were very revealing,

  “And I understand from the Purser that you saved Miss Tiverton, my Lord, from a most uncomfortable situation with one of the passengers.”

  “I was going to report it to you myself,” Lord Charnock replied, “but I made it clear that if the man in question continued to annoy the young lady, he would be dealt with not only by you but also by me!”

  “Your methods were obviously most effective, my Lord,” the Captain responded, “but I am apprehensive as to what’ll happen when you leave us.”

  Lord Charnock did not reply and there was a scowl on his forehead.

  He resented being made responsible for Zelina and he thought it an impertinence for the Captain to speak in this way.

  “I can deal with Mr. Adamson and his like when they are English,” the Captain went on, “but at Copenhagen we often have a number of young Officers come aboard to travel with us as far as Stockholm. They’re young and they enjoy themselves in their own way. But your Lordship will understand that a very beautiful young woman travelling alone will be a heavy responsibility.”

  Lord Charnock was then instantly aware of what the Captain was insinuating by rather devious means.

  He told himself that he had no intention of taking Zelina with him on the Royal Yacht. At the same time he realised that, when he left the English ship, her position could become intolerable.

  He knew what young Army Officers from any country could be like when they were off-duty and determined to enjoy themselves before they reached yet another Barracks where they would again be under Military discipline.

  As he thought about it, he realised how hopelessly inadequate Zelina was to deal with a situation that would almost inevitably arise because she was so unusually attractive.

  During the night that she had dined with him he had found that she was intelligent and unusually well read, but he was well aware that she was also a complete innocent.

  He found himself becoming more and more angry that Kathleen Rothbury should have dared to send a girl who in some ways was as helpless as a child on a trip that might have been difficult enough for a very much older and experienced woman.

  Only yesterday he had seen an example of Zelina’s innocence and he knew that any outsider would have put a very different construction on it.

  When they were finishing dinner, Zelina had said,

  “I so much enjoyed the book you lent me on Russian folklaw and, although it seems greedy, I hope you have another one I may borrow.”

  ‘You have finished that one already?” he had asked in surprise.

  “I read very quickly.”

  “You must do, but fortunately I have quite a considerable library with me.”

  Her eyes lit up as if he had given her a present of inestimable value and she said,

  “You are so kind. Shall I bring the book I have finished to your cabin?”

  It flashed through Lord Charnock’s mind that it was the sort of suggestion that her aunt might have made or any other woman who was seeking to attract him physically.

  Then, as he looked into Zelina’s eyes, he knew that she was so unversed in the ways of the Social world that she had no idea that she had suggested something preposterous.

  “I will send my valet to your cabin after dinner,” he had replied, “with a book that I am sure you will enjoy reading. He can also collect the one that you have finished.”

  “Thank you very much,” Zelina had answered, “but I have no wish to cause you so much trouble.”

  Lord Charnock considered for a moment whether he should warn her that another man in his position might have taken advantage of her suggestion.

  Then he told himself that it would only make her more self-conscious, but perhaps the mere fact that she was so ingenuous would be a protection in itself.

  At the same time, he rather doubted it, especially in Russia.

  Now he knew that it would be impossible for him, as a gentleman or anyone with any human feeling, to leave Zelina to travel on alone in the ship to Stockholm with a shipload of rowdy young Officers and the man, Adamson, who had already tried to force his attentions on her.

  Stiffly, because he could also see that damaging insinuations might be made concerning his interference, he said,

  “I am glad that you mentioned this to me, Captain. I shall most certainly consider what should be done about Miss Tiverton and therefore I will discuss it with the British Minister Plenipotentiary at Copenhagen, Sir Henry Watkin Williams-Winn, who will doubtless be coming aboard on my arrival.”

  “Thank you, my Lord,” the Captain replied. “You’ve certainly taken a great weight off my shoulders.”

  To his own annoyance, because it interfered with his work, Lord Charnock found himself thinking about Zelina during the afternoon.

  When they had met at dinner, he realised that she was longing to talk to him about the book that he had loaned her.

  “It is a really interesting book,” she began, “especially where it refers to the Russians’ policy in regard to Poland, but I do not think it is quite honest about what happened there.”

  Lord Charnock looked at her in surprise.

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “I have only just remembered, because it was some years ago, what I read at the time of their cruelty when they abducted one hundred thousand Polish children from their parents and ‒ sent them to the interior of Russia.”

  Lord Charnock sipped the champagne that had been poured out for him and wondered how he should reply.

  He had been appalled and horrified at the reports of the Russian atrocities and he had joined in with the Radicals in Parliament in urging Lord Palmerston to make the strongest protest possible about it to the Czar.

  He had been amongst those who had been indignant that Lord Palmerston had defended the Russians by referring to the debt Europe owed them for driving back Napoleon’s invasion of their country in 1812.

  When he did not speak, Zelina said in a voice that vibrated with feeling,

  “I read a speech made in the House of Commons that described the children screaming as they were taken away from Warsaw while their mothers hurled themselves on the railway line in an attempt to stop the departing trains.”

  She looked at Lord Charnock as she spoke and he could see the horror in her expression before she added,

  “How can I even – consider being – friends with people who – behave like that?”

  There was a pause before Lord Charnock said,

  “I want to talk to you about your visit to Russia, but I would suggest that we first have something to eat and discuss a more cheerful subject than the one you have introduced so early in the meal!”

  Zelina thought that he was rebuking her and she blushed.

  “I am – sorry,” she murmured humbly.

  Lord Charnock talked about Denmark, saying that it was a pity that she would not be able to see the Danish cottages, which were only of one storey but were large and immensely tall.

  Because she found that anything he said was intensely interesting, Zelina listened to him attentively until the coffee which ended the meal was poured out and Lord Charnock ordered a brandy for himself.

  Then, as the Dining Saloon was emptying and it was easier to speak in a quieter voice, he said,

  “What I want to discuss with you is your visit to St. Petersburg.”

  He saw an expression of apprehension sweep away the eagerness on Zelina’s face as he went on,

  “You told me the first night we talked together that your aunt was rather vague about what you should do when you arrive there.”

  “She would not answer my questions – directly,” Zelina replied, “but I am sure that she – intends me to be a – Governess to the Princess’s children.”

  “If that is true,” Lord Charnock said, “it is not quite the same subservient position as it would be in an English
household.”

  Zelina looked at him enquiringly and he continued,

  “Two years ago Prince Khristofor de Lieven, who had been the Russian Ambassador in England for many years and whose wife was one of the acknowledged leaders of London Society, was recalled to his own country to become Governor and Tutor to the Czarevitch.”

  “Can that be true?” Zelina exclaimed in surprise.

  “I assure you I am usually extremely accurate in any statement I make,” Lord Charnock answered.

  She flushed again and said quickly,

  “I did not mean to be rude – but all the Governesses I have known have always been rather – crushed creatures who seemed almost – apologetic at being – alive.”

  “I thought that was what you were thinking and that is why you must make sure that it does not happen to you.”

  “But how can I prevent it?” Zelina asked.

  Lord Charnock sat back a little more comfortably in his chair with his glass of brandy in his hand.

  “The Russian aristocrats,” he explained, “are what you and I would call ‘snobs’ and they appreciate only what they consider to be the best and most expensive of anything.”

  Zelina looked puzzled and he went on,

  “If you approach them humbly and they find that you are subservient, then they will doubtless treat you with contempt and indifference just as they treat their own people.”

  As he spoke the last words, he thought that perhaps he was being a little too outspoken and he added quickly,

  “What I am suggesting is that you show the Princess from the very beginning that you come from a distinguished English family and that you are therefore the equal of anybody in Russia, except perhaps the Royal Family.”

  Zelina drew in her breath.

  “I understand what you are – saying, my Lord, but how can I make them think I am of any – importance when I arrive – unchaperoned and I am, as far as I know, engaged by the Princess to – attend only to her children?”

  Lord Charnock thought that it was bright of Zelina to have worked this out for herself and aloud he insisted firmly,

  “That is the impression you must destroy immediately on arrival.”

  “But – how? How?” Zelina asked him.

  “That is what I am going to tell you and the first person I intend to discuss this with is the British Minister in Copenhagen.”

  “Where you – leave the – ship,” Zelina murmured almost beneath her breath.

  “Which I intend that you should do too.”

  “You – mean I can – come with you?”

  He thought the light that appeared in her eyes was almost dazzling and then he asked her,

  “You knew I was leaving?”

  “Yes, indeed, my Lord, your valet told me that the Czar was sending his own private yacht for you.”

  “That is true,” Lord Charnock replied, thinking that he must tell Hibbert in future to keep his mouth shut.

  It was unlike the man to be talkative, but he was quite certain that because Zelina was so much alone and curious about what was happening, she had plied his servant with questions, being well aware how frightening it would be when he left the ship.

  “What I intend to tell Sir Henry Watkin Williams-Winn,” Lord Charnock said, “is that the chaperone arranged for you by your aunt was taken seriously ill at the very last moment before the ship left. She must have had food poisoning because her maid was incapacitated in the same way at the same time.”

  He paused and then went on slowly, as if he was still thinking out the plan.

  “Because it was impossible for her to travel, out of the kindness of your heart you left your own lady’s maid to attend to her and you were therefore left to travel alone to Russia.”

  Zelina listened wide-eyed.

  “And will Sir Henry – believe that – story?”

  “He will believe me.”

  “Yes – yes – of course and so I must tell the same – story when I do – arrive – in St. Petersburg.”

  “Naturally,” Lord Charnock agreed, “and, as neither Sir Henry nor I can allow a young English lady to travel alone to Stockholm and certainly not on a Russian ship, we will arrange for you to transfer to the Royal Yacht Ischora.”

  Zelina clasped her hands together.

  “How can you be so – kind and so wonderful to – me? I was very – very frightened as to what would – happen to me when I was – alone.”

  Lord Charnock knew that she was thinking of the man, Adamson, and he said sharply,

  “Forget him! And tell nobody that you have been insulted in such a manner. They would not be sorry for you, but merely shocked that you should be put in such an invidious position, which could reflect on your social status.”

  Zelina nodded and Lord Charnock went on,

  “When you arrive in St. Petersburg, you will make it obvious to the Princess the moment you arrive that you have come as a guest and that being employed in any capacity had never so much as entered your mind.”

  “How – can I do that?” Zelina enquired.

  “First, you will thank Her Highness for inviting you to stay, saying how much you have looked forward to seeing Russia because your Godmother was a Russian.”

  Lord Charnock paused.

  “You did say that was the reason for your name?”

  Zelina nodded.

  “My Godmother was the Countess Zelina Trubensov.”

  “I know the family,” Lord Charnock said. “And who was your father?”

  “My father was a Major in the Life Guards which Regiment my grandfather commanded at one time.”

  “What was his name?”

  “General Sir Edward Tiverton.”

  Lord Charnock smiled.

  “That will certainly impress the Czar, who has an obsession for anything Military!”

  “The – Czar?”

  As Zelina asked the question, she could not imagine how she would be of any interest to the Czar.

  “One thing you have not been told,” Lord Charnock replied, “is that your host, Prince Ivan Volkonsky, is the younger brother of Prince Peter, who is the most senior Officer at the Imperial Court. If you are a guest of the Princess, you will undoubtedly meet His Imperial Majesty quite frequently.”

  Zelina looked startled.

  At the same time she had not missed the emphasis that Lord Charnock had put on the word guest.

  “Now, as a guest,” he went on, “you will, when you arrive, present your hostess with a gift. That is something which is usual in foreign countries, but would not be thought of by anyone in a servile position.”

  “What – shall I – give her?” Zelina asked.

  “Something small that would not be in the least pretentious. I am sure that you have something of the sort with you, a scarf, a silk or lace handkerchief or even an Oriental fan.”

  “Yes, of course, I have things like that,” Zelina said, remembering all the purchases her aunt had made, many of which, she had thought, would never be of any use to her.

  “That is the start,” Lord Charnock carried on. “Then remember that your uncle and aunt are extremely important members of the British aristocracy and you must behave in the same manner as you think that they would in the same circumstances.”

  As he spoke, he thought cynically that the last thing Zelina should do was to behave like her aunt, but he knew that she had no idea of how Kathleen Rothbury would have behaved had she been unaccompanied on the ship with him.

  Zelina had not shown in any way that she thought of him as an attractive man nor had she made any effort to draw his attention to herself as a woman.

  She listened to him wide-eyed and attentively, she asked his opinions and Lord Charnock realised that she had done everything possible to pick his brains.

  But they had all been impersonal conversations such as he might easily have had with a man or one of the older and more intelligent women who in London still had an unassailable place in the Social world.


  He saw that Zelina was thinking over what he had just said to her and after a moment she responded,

  “How can I – thank you for being so – kind and – understanding? Now I know exactly what I must do – and I only hope that I am intelligent and strong enough to do it.”

  “Of course you are,” he said reassuringly. “And there is something else, Zelina, that I wish to say to you.”

  Neither Zelina nor Lord Charnock noticed that he had used her Christian name for the first time as he continued,

  “Russians have very fiery impulsive temperaments. Unless you wish to be involved in situations which you will find embarrassing and perhaps frightening, you must try never, in any circumstances, to be alone with a Russian man!”

  Again Zelina was surprised and actually considerably startled.

  She sat bolt upright and stared at Lord Charnock and after a moment she said,

  “Are you saying – are you suggesting that, if I was alone with him, a – Russian might try to – kiss me as that horrible – common man was – trying to do in the Writing Room?”

  “It would be quite a natural impulse on his part,” Lord Charnock said drily.

  “It is horrible – terrifying! Last night I woke up screaming ‒ because I dreamt that you had not rescued me.”

  “You must make sure that it does not happen again.”

  “I thought it was – just because he was such a – vulgar type of person who had had too much to – drink.”

  “Men are much the same all the world over. As I have already told you, the Russians are very impulsive and they find a beautiful woman irresistible.”

  Lord Charnock had not meant to compliment Zelina openly, but he saw her look at him incredulously.

  Then, as her eyelashes fluttered over her eyes, she said incoherently,

  “I-I will try very – very hard not to be put in such a – position.”

  She looked so young and so helpless as she spoke that Lord Charnock felt that he could understand almost any man except himself wanting to put his arms round her and promise to protect her.

  But that was something that he knew she would find very frightening and he thought angrily that it would undoubtedly happen unless she was very careful to follow his advice and arrange to be permanently chaperoned.